Foundations Of Experiential Learning

Experiential learning is a powerful and proven approach to teaching and learning that is based on one incontrovertible reality: people learn best through experience. Now, in this extensively updated book, David A. Kolb offers a systematic and up-to-date statement of the theory of experiential learning and its modern applications to education, work, and adult development. Experiential Learning, Second Edition builds on the intellectual origins of experiential learning as defined by figures such as John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget, and L.S. Vygotsky, while also reflecting three full decades of research and practice since the classic first edition. Kolb models the underlying structures of the learning process based on the latest insights in psychology, philosophy, and physiology. Building on his comprehensive structural model, he offers an exceptionally useful typology of individual learning styles and corresponding structures of knowledge in different academic disciplines and careers. Kolb also applies experiential learning to higher education and lifelong learning, especially with regard to adult education. This edition reviews recent applications and uses of experiential learning, updates Kolb's framework to address the current organizational and educational landscape, and features current examples of experiential learning both in the field and in the classroom. It will be an indispensable resource for everyone who wants to promote more effective learning: in higher education, training, organizational development, lifelong learning environments, and online.

This book is appropriate for courses in First-Year Experience, College Success, and Study Skills. The focus of Foundations for Learning is on academic adjustment with personal development issues seamlessly integrated into the academic emphasis theme of 'claiming an education' and taking responsibility for one's own education. Foundations for Learning addresses both the attitudinal variables and personality traits that affect college achievement like locus of control, conceptions of intelligence, and intellectual curiosity in relation to specific study-related behaviors such as text annotation and active listening. At its core, this text is based on the psychology of adjustment. Students are pushed to consider how each mindset, perception, and attitude connects with their skill sets, and how one influences the other. The text encourages students to use this insight to make the necessary adjustments to their new role as college students. It offers an acute awareness of first-year student needs, an intellectual approach, and a tight framework. It is primarily focused on the development of academic adjustment issues and meta-cognitive strategies as they naturally unfold during the first semester, as opposed to primarily focusing on social adjustment issues or issues that aren't immediately relevant such as career development and is written in a challenging yet accessible way. This revision covers emerging technologies, broadens its audience, and more.

The Handbook of Experiential Learning is a comprehensiveresource that draws together contemporary thought and practice on awide range of experiential learning applications from thebest-known authorities on the topic. In this book, volume editorand leading experiential learning expert, Mel Silberman presents acontemporary review of experiential learning in the workplacecomplete with models, applications, and innovative uses. Thehandbook covers a broad range of experiential learning methodsincluding: Games and simulations Action learning Role-play and Improv Story-telling Adventure activity Reflective practice Creative play It also describes the use of experiential learning in topicssuch as technical skills, leadership, team building, diversity andcross-cultural training, and emotional intelligence.

As academic service-learning continues to grow rapidly, practitioners are discovering a pressing need for solid empirical research about learning outcomes. Where's the Learning in Service-Learning? helps define learning expectations, presents data about learning, and links program characteristics with learning outcomes. It is the first book to explore the experience of service-learning as a valid learning activity.

What are the key ideas that underpin learning from experience? How do we learn from experience? How does context and purpose influence learning? How does experience impact on individual and group learning? How can we help others to learn from their experience? "Using Experience for Learning" reflects current interest in the importance of experience in informal and formal learning, whether it be applied for course credit, new forms of learning in the workplace, or acknowledging autonomous learning outside educational institutions. It also emphasizes the role of personal experience in learning: ideas are not separate from experience; relationships and personal interests impact on learning; and emotions have a vital part to play in intellectual learning. All the contributors write themselves into their chapters, giving an autobiographical account of how their experiences have influenced their learning and what has led them to their current views and practice. "Using Experience for Learning" brings together a wide range of perspectives and conceptual frameworks with contributors from four continents, and should be a valuable addition to the field of experiential learning.

Experiential Learning Design comprehensively demonstrates the key theories and applications for the design of experiential approaches to learning and training. Learning is gradually moving away from management and delivery of content, and toward experiences that encourage learners to engage and take greater responsibility for their own progress. This book’s empirically sound, multi-disciplinary approach balances technical-rational and artistic-intuitive design elements to accommodate the complex, fluctuating capacities of human learning. In-depth chapters cover design principles, social and environmental factors in learning, the importance of senses and emotions, and links between body and brain. This bold, unique perspective shift will enrich the work of learning scientists, instructional designers, educational technologists, and beyond.

Experiential education is a philosophy and methodology for building knowledge, developing skills, and clarifying values by engaging learners in direct experience and focused reflection. To understand experiential education, what should one be reading? This sourcebook introduces philosophers, educators, and other practitioners whose work is relevant to anyone seeking answers to this question. Following brief snapshots of John Dewey and Kurt Hahn, the book is organized in four sections: Philosophers and Educational Theorists Nature Educators and Outdoor Educators Psychologists and Sociologists School and Program Founders. Each chapter focuses on an individual whose philosophy and practice exemplify a biographical and historical model for reaching a deeper understanding of experiential education. An appendix includes short biographical sketches of forty-five additional people whose contributions to experiential education deserve a closer look. This volume provides a much-needed overview and foundations for the field – for students in courses addressing experiential education, challenge education, outdoor experiential education, recreation education, and related fields; for learning theorists and curriculum specialists; for experiential educators; and for educational philosophers.