Tuazon, Sharjah B.

An Experiential Learning cycle is used to

represent the order in which this learning takes
BSEd 3A place.
Experiential Learning

- is the process of acquiring skills and

expertise by doing things.

Carl Rogers (1902- 1987) - “Experience is, for

me, the highest authority. The touchstone of
validity is my own experience. No other
Experiential Learning Cycle 3-Stage Model
person’s ideas, and none of my own ideas,
are as authoritative as my experience. It is to
experience that I must return again and
again, to discover a closer approximation to
truth as it is in the process of becoming in me.”

- Is essentially a way of acquiring

Teacher and Learner together:
knowledge or skills through direct and
keen observations followed by an analysis  Plan
of what has been sensed and understood.
 Consider curriculum goals
Experiential learning requires:
 Decide expected learning outcomes
 Self-Initiative
 Decide on activities to meet these goals
 Self-Assessment
The purpose of experiential learning is to learn  Do
from one’s:
 Engaging activities
 Mistakes
 Consequences  Self-directed learning
 Achievements
 Review
Why is experiential learning effective way to
learn?  Check the effectiveness

1. Learn from Experience  Compare actual outcomes to

expected outcomes
2. Learn from their own Mistake
 Repeat the cycle
3. Positive experiences make learning fun
 The review in new input for planning!
4. Negative experiences can sometimes
hinder learning The 21st Century Classroom

How do we implement experiential learning?  Employs the whole learning cycle.

 Learn new skills, new attitudes or new
 Prepare learners for the experience ways of thinking
 Reflection of experience  Stages of the Experiential Learning
Cycle
 Concrete Experience
  Reflective Observation
 Training
Advantages of Experiential Learning
1. Develop leadership capabilities to a
significant level
2. Easy to transfer knowledge and skills
3. People and consequences are real
Pointers / Suggestion
4. Memorable Activities
5. Motivation to learn
Disadvantages of Experiential Learning
1. It is not helpful to experienced people
2. Too much entertainment results in loss of
focus on learning
3. Learning outcomes are not predictable
4. Negative emotions that the learner may
experience
Experiential Learning
1. Effectiveness
a. Children learn best from experiences
with natural occurrences and with
concrete objects in the environment.
b. Experiences gained through interactions
with other individuals also promote
learning situation.
c. Such accumulated experiences are
further examined and evaluated by
themselves.
2. Requirements
a. A child should be personally involved in
the learning task.
b. The knowledge or information must be
discovered by the child herself.
c. The objectives of the learning activity
must be clearly understood.
3. Can be distinguished from other
teaching models in that it emphasizes
directly experiencing what one is studying,
also making conclusions and
generalizations based on direct
experiences.
 Involve the students in planning learning
activity.
 Allow sufficient time for student
reflection.
 During analysis of a learning experience,
pay attention to positive feelings.
 Encourage students to communicate
their experience to others.
 Have an adequate supply of materials
and tools available in order to facilitate
simple investigations and instant
explorations in the environment.
 Include variety of real-life in planning a
lesson.
 Encourage the students to record their
observations in order to assist in their
recall and interpretations.
 On the teachers’ part, a journal would
be of great help in keeping track of
observable changes. The journal entry
should include.
a. description of the learning event;
b. outcomes of consequences of the
event;
c. causes of success and failures; and
d. value of such event.
How to achieve Experiential Learning
1. For Beginning Teachers
a. Experiential learning for beginning
teachers can be promoted through
interaction with colleagues.
b. Joining professional organizations that
convene members regularly.
c. Travelling is the best way to enrich
ones knowledge about a lifetime
profession.
2. For Students
Take the class out on educational tours to
the following:
a. nature
b. cultural centers
c. their own communities
d. industrial and commercial establishment
e. Academic institutions
Principles of Experiential Learning
 Human beings have a natural
potentiality to learn.
 Significant learning occurs when the
learner perceives the relevance of the
subject matter.
 Learning involves a change in self-
organization and self-perception.
 Learning that threatens self-perception
is more easily perceived and assimilated
when the external threats are at a
minimum.
 Learning occurs when the self is not
threatened.
 Much significant learning is acquired by
doing.
 Learning is facilitated when the learner
participates responsibly in the learning
process.
 Self-initiated learning involves the whole
person.
 Independence, creativity, and self-
reliance are all facilitated when self-
criticism and self-evaluated are basic.
 Much socially useful learning is learning
the process of learning and retaining
openness to experience, so that the
process of change maybe incorporated
into the self.
Conclusion: Experiential Learning takes place
when learners gain knowledge through their
reflections based on daily experiences
Discovery Learning
- A teaching strategy in which students are
given a problem situation, for which they
find an answer by making an hypothesis,
testing the hypothesis, recording and
analyzing their results, and coming up with
a conclusion (the main point of the lesson.)
- Bruner believes that students must be
active—they must identify key principles
for themselves rather than simply
accepting teachers’ explanations.
- A method of inquiry-based instruction in
which learners discover facts, relationships
and solutions.
Advantages of Discovery Learning
 Active engagement
 Promotes motivation
 Promotes ownership of learning
 The development of creativity and
problem solving skills.
  A tailored learning experience
 Have fun
Students:
 Enjoy discovering the answer to the
question or problem they are given.
 Are generally engaged throughout the
lesson.
 Feel a sense of control over their own
learning.
Disadvantages of Discovery Learning
 Must be set up so that students first use
prior knowledge, and then build on new
skills and knowledge as they go through
the lesson.
Criticisms of Discovery Learning
 Too much information (cognitive
overload).
 Often requires vast resources
unavailable in traditional classroom.
 Lack of teacher control
 Potential misconceptions
 Teacher may fail to recognise
misconceptions
Examples of Discovery Learning
 Learning with and through narratives
 Case-based learning
 Guided discovery
 Problem-based learning
 Simulation-based learning
 Incidental learning
How can discovery be integrated in the
classroom?
- Students are given a purpose question and
must come up with their own hypothesis,
then test their prediction through an
experiment set up by the teacher.
- Students are given a set of step-by-step
instructions followed by a set of questions
in which the students discover something
new.
In upper elementary and secondary
classrooms:
- Can be an opportunity to research a
subject of interest.
- Students can use technology to do
research and to prepare a presentation.
- Online encyclopedias and other internet
sites can be used to research the
information.
Discovery in Action
 A distinction is usually made between
pure discovery learning, in which the
students work on their own to a very
great extent, and guided discovery, in
which the teacher provides some
direction
 Discovery Learning- Bruner’s approach,
in which students work on their own to
discover basic principles.
 Guided Discovery- An adaptation of
discovery learning, in which the teacher
provides some direction.