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The Role of Experiential Education in Pedagogy and Andragogy

Working Paper · November 2011

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Andrew Bernier
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The Role of Experiential Education in

Pedagogy and Andragogy
The Role of Experiential Education in Pedagogy and Andragogy

Sustainability Education & Transformational Change

Andrew Bernier

Prescott College – Prescott, AZ

November 21st, 2011

Rick Medrick, EdD & Denise Mitten, PhD

Abstract

The author in this piece writes from the perspective as a current high school teacher and former

elementary level teacher. Through the paper, the author takes the fields of andragogy (education

of adults) and compares/contrasts it to the field of pedagogy (education of children), highlighting

the key differences in the approaches of each field. Then, the author takes a critical component to

each field, experience, and discusses how that element of education affects one field to the other

and back again.

It is Never too Early or Late to Learn from Experience:

The Role of Experiential Education in Pedagogy and Andragogy

Experience is the ultimate teacher, regardless of age, but the amount and quality of experiences

one can have may shape their ability to positively contribute to a just and socially sustainable

future in significant ways. As a high school teacher and young adult learner myself, I have found

that enriching experiences are what have best shaped my views, perspectives and abilities, and

subsequently help my students form theirs as well. Experiences also are not limited to any certain

capacity, as they can evoke all senses or even just one, or even take place at once or across
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multiple places at multiple times, so long as they are a break from the norm and continuously

challenge the learner’s prior knowledge and perception to the subject at hand.

In this paper, we will investigate what it takes to create effective adult learning (andragogy), and

how the styles of effect child instruction (pedagogy) compare, contrast to and later impact adult

learning. A common mantra stated in public education is the pursuit of “lifelong learners;”or

what I like to think as developing folks whom seem to have an insatiable thirst for knowledge

and betterment. While teaching now, I often think how my students will act and respond to

situations in the future. Though I work within the realm of practicing pedagogy, I know that my

student’s ability to learn now will greatly impact their ability to learn later as adults. I firmly

believe that the ability of a student in their youth to have as many quality experiences as possible

will craft the most apt adult learners who can then draw upon those experiences. Strong

experiences within pedagogy leads to successful andragogy.

It is important to note that the approaches of andragogy are considerably different than that of

pedagogy. According to Dr. Malcolm Knowles, andragogy follows the suit of six essential

principles (Holton, Swanson & Naquin, 2001):

• Adults need to know why they need to know something before they are taught it

• The Self-Concept of adults is heavily dependent upon a move towards self direction

• Prior experiences provide a rich resource for learning

• Adults typically become ready to learn when they experience a need to cope with a life

situation or perform a task

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• Adult’s orientation to learning is life-centered, and they see education as a process of

developing increased competency levels to achieve their full potential

• The motivation for adult learners is internal and not external

When looking at these principles it is evident that the adult learner takes on more of the

responsibility then what is typically taught to students in elementary and secondary levels,

where teachers assume more of the responsibility in the overall learning process. When

juxtaposing the two approaches to education, we end up with a near polarization in the role of

teacher and student, where the two nearly exchange roles (Holmes & Abington- Cooper, 2000):

Andragogy (Adult) Pedagogy (Child)

Self-Directed Other Directed

Autonomous / More Experience Less on Experience

Teacher = Facilitator Teacher = Instructor

Problem Centered Content Centered

One key element to focus on here is how in andragogy, a student pulls more from

experience than a child does, simply because more time living allows more time for

experiences. But the question is what if a child student does not have access or opportunity to

enriching experiences, other than the routines that they go through outside of school, such as

helping raise siblings or video games? As Richard Louv states repeatedly throughout his book

“Last Child in the Woods,”many parents are disallowing their children to venture outside or

participate in experience outside of the parents control in fear of the student being hurt (Louv,

2005). This lack of experience then becomes a learned lack of wanting to experience (as is
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evidenced by his repeated encounters of children just wanting to play video games or watch a

screen), which then would limit the experience bank that an adult learner could exercise in an

andragogic setting. If the possibilities of enriching experiences are becoming limited at home,

should we then not start to increase those opportunities in a safe setting such as school? Even if

adult learners are freer to control their own learning in andragogy, what quality of learning can

we really expect from adults if they don’t have an enriched background of experiences to pull

from?

Learning Styles Theories – Social Interaction Models, Instructional Preferences,

Information Processing and Personality

Teaching at a public high school, I am on the frontlines of witnessing mainstream education. In

that environment, the elements needed to shift towards an education that provides rich

experiential based education is dwindling. Though I don’t lose hope in being able to create the

change in education needed to start crafting the learning foundations for future adults to move

towards a sustainable future, I see more and more work needing to be done to reverse trends

within public education.

In Anne Lindsay and Alan Ewert’s Learning at the Edge: Can Experiential Education

Contribute to Educational Reform?, the authors elaborate on what types of environments are

conducive to experiential education and then to mainstream education. They touch upon several

areas such as the goals, knowledge concepts, teaching strategies, resources and evaluation

strategies for both experiential and mainstream.

Experiential Mainstream
Sets high expectations for personal growth to Conform to have common view, to teach
then contribute to larger community about as opposed to living out
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Incorporates all domains of learning into a Isolation of sensory stimulation in learning

holistic take on knowledge
Small group environments sharing
experiences that teach the lesson
Self-Organizing and task dependent on intra-
group communication
Constructivist approach to connect
knowledge to other areas of student’s life
Uses settings outside of classroom and
focuses on direct experience
Critiques self, focuses on task
accomplishment
Large, singular groups; students responsible
for singular success
I do (teacher), We do (class), You do
(student) instruction; teacher focused
Little expansion of topics outside of specific
subject
Learn though examples/thoughts of others
Unable to assess to one’s own standard

When the above strategies are applied to pedagogy, you achieve a certain type of adult with this

type of early instruction. In Russell Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg’s Turning Learning Right Side

Up, the two would suggest that the mainstream characteristics are the strongholds of an outdated

education system that “was ushered in by the industrial revolution…to teach (the masses) the

kinds of behavior and rudimentary skills they needed to work in the industrial era”(Ackoff &

Greenberg, 2008). Essentially that mainstream education is geared towards producing the mass

quantities of obedient workers needed to mass produce goods that highlighted the industrial era.

On the other side, the characteristics that experiential education is pushing would be more

inclined to foster a style of adult learner to move towards a more sustainable future. Stephen

Sterling may argue that experiential education is what “takes us into the depth of things,” what

he argues is the core essence of sustainable education (Sterling, 2001). He echoes the call for

deep interdependency of elements, such as economic, social and ecological, when it comes to

holistic learning. Experience leads to learning and “with learning comes change, and you cannot
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change without learning”(2001).

Skills and Capacities teachers Need when Working with Adults

It is incredibly difficult for someone to teach, instruct and convey the value of an experience if

they themselves have not gone through it. Referencing back to Ackoff and Greenberg,they

criticize the nature of teacher training, in that those who are often placed in the classroom often

don’t have the deep experience in that field to properly convey the skills and perspectives needed

to prepare students in that subject or field. They talk on how not employing masters of

knowledge in a given field is intentional by schools because districts want standards taught, not

to be challenged, as masters “tend to be independent, have their own approaches and ideas, and

may even lead to change” (Ackoff & Greenberg, 2008).

Although Ackoff and Greenberg’s argument is focused on the traditional education systems of

making “industrial workers” and not critical thinkers, it needs to be regarded that the experiences

of the teacher directly impacts the learning of the student. What makes a master in a given field

is the time and energy spent in experience in that field. Most teachers are taught about a subject

with limited experience, making them able to convey essential information but not really able to

make major advancements in the field of knowledge. With that, teachers MUST have enough

experience in a field in order to be an effective cultivator of problem solvers, problem solvers

that could potentially go on to help develop the sustainable future that we are seeking.

Role of Dialogue in Consensus making and Collaborative Problem Solving

Being a science teacher at the elementary level and now secondary level has been a delight and

challenge for a wholly myriad of reasons (trying to find materials, ah-ha moments, students

being cut by glass, etc.), but the number one thing that science instructors want us to push in the
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inquiry processes, also referred to as the scientific method. When I first started teaching the

process, I had the same mind-set as most of my students; it is a series of steps that I have to

memorize in order to conduct science. They were often confusing, disjointed and didn’t actually

make a ton of sense. It wasn’t until about year three of teaching science that I finally started to

get the core essence of science; curiosity. Basically those kids who can’t stop asking “why?”

should turn out to be the world’s best scientists.

In teaching sustainability, we are in essence teaching collaborative problem solving. It should be

stressed that in any start to a scientific investigation or even a conversation, one must observe

and then ask questions, or in essence be curious. In Margaret J. Wheatley’s Finding Our Way,

she regards curiosity as a way to see what “someone else sees and refrain from convincing them

of our interpretations; we develop a richer view of what might be going on. We also create

collegial relations that enable us to work together with greater speed and effectiveness”

(Wheatley, 2005).

If we are to achieve a just and socially sustainable future, we need not only develop learners who

are observant and know how to pursue curiosity in a scientific way, but also be able to share,

communicate and collaborate with others what it is that we find. Though to encourage curiosity,

we must increase the chance for experiential learning in our young students (pedagogy). As those

students grow and continue to exercise their ability to pursue their curiosities, then the large bank

of experiences that they can draw upon is increased, positively affecting their ability to learn as

an adult (andragogy), safely saying we have established a life-long learner. The ever present

push for knowledge driven by our need to experience and then our want to share what we find is

what will lead us collectively to a more just and sustainable society.

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References

Ackoff, Russell L. & Greenberg, Daniel. 2008. Turning Learning Right Side Up. Upper Saddle
River, NJ. Wharton School Publishing.

Holmes, G. & Abington-Cooper, M. (2000). Pedagogy vs. Andragogy: A False Dichotomy? The
Journal of Technology Studies. Vol. 26 No. 2

Holton, E. F., Swanson, R. A., & Naquin, S. (2001). Andragogy in Practice: Clarifying the
andragogical model of adult learning. Performance Improvement Quarterly. 14(1), 118 – 143

Lindsay, A. & Ewert, A. (1999). Learning at the Edge: Can Experiential Education Contribute
to Education Reform?Theory and Practice of Experiential Education. 24-36. Boulder, CO.
Association for Experiential Education.

Louv, R. (2005).Last child in the woods. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.

Sterling, S. (2001). Sustainability education: Re-visioning learning and change. Schumacher

Briefings Number 6, Devon: Green Books.

Wheatley, Margaret J. Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time. 2005. San
Francisco, CA. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

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