Creating experiential cycles...

…for meaningful learning.

Hello all. Welcome to the 121st edition of TEPS Weekly! 

Experiential learning is an educational approach that prioritises learning by doing. It involves hands-on interactions with the subject matter inside or outside the classroom.

How does one learn through experiences? 

• Imagine an individual has an interesting experience (feels). A young boy notices that his alarm clock has stopped working. 

• The individual then reflects on (watches) their experience. The boy reflects on why the clock might have stopped. He checks the clock. Are the hands broken? Are the batteries drained?

• Next, they integrate their observation and reflection with prior knowledge (thinks) to form theories or models. The boy knows that energy is needed to make things work. He identifies batteries as the source of energy for the clock. He changes the battery and the clock works. He forms a theory – batteries can run out of energy. 

The individual can apply these theories or ideas to new situations (does). A few days later, the boy notices that the TV remote is not working. He changes the batteries.

This process can be represented as a cycle with four stages, as shown. David Kolb proposed this cycle. 

This cycle is not isolated. Learning is continuous. After a learner applies their knowledge (doing), they have another experience (feeling). Thus, a new cycle begins again. 

Why experiential learning? 

1. Learning by doing increases students’ engagement with the curriculum. Real experiences motivate them to know more. Internal motivation of students and more student engagement is directly linked to higher retention rates.

2. The educational landscape is changing, and the focus is now on holistic development. The NEP 2020 stresses on essential 21st-century skills like critical thinking, creativity and collaboration. As will be evident ahead, experiential learning involves activities that are highly effective in developing these skills. 

3. The NCF 2023 highlights the impact of experiential learning in improving learning efficiency in schools and encourages its adoption across grades and subjects in India. 

Breaking down experiential learning

• Concrete experience: This stage involves "feeling" or "having an experience." It is characterised by direct interaction with the subject matter where learners try new things using their five senses (vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell) and their feelings and emotions.

For example, a science teacher takes students to a garden as an educational trip to observe different leaf shapes. In such a real-life experience, students use their sense of sight and touch for the leaf shapes and may feel a sense of wonder about the diversity. 

• Reflective observation: This stage involves "watching" or "reflecting on the experience." Learners consciously ponder on the experience, assessing what went well, identifying areas for improvement and considering alternative approaches. 

For example, a history teacher asks students to journal after watching a short political documentary. The students ponder and write about the actions/approaches they agreed and disagreed with and what they would have done differently. 

• Abstract conceptualisation: In this "thinking" stage, learners analyse their reflections and derive conclusions. They use their existing knowledge to construct new ideas. This stage involves developing theories or models that deepen their understanding of concepts.

For example, an English teacher asks students to derive general rules for persuasive writing by reading an article. Students may derive a rule like “provide evidence or reasoning” based on sentences that give reasons or a rule like “include the reader” when they come across words like us or we. 

• Active experimentation: The final stage is about "doing" or "applying" the newly acquired understanding. Learners test their ideas in real-world scenarios and apply concepts in new contexts. This iterative application validates and reinforces their learning.

For example, students calculate expected profits and selling prices for items for their school canteen as a real-world application of studying profit. In this case, students have previously learned how to calculate the selling price and profit. Students start with an estimate of the cost price (either provided by the teacher or researched by students) to calculate the profit for a given selling price. 

Imagine now that their calculations do not hold – there is some loss due to spoiling of food. This is a new concrete experience. The students will enter the cycle again, which will likely result in them devising a new formula that covers both profit and loss.

Experiential learning in the classroom

With experiential learning, we aim to achieve long-term learning and outcomes in the given curriculum. Here are some examples of implementing experiential learning in middle school. 

1. This is a plan for the topic on Types of Government for Grade 7 Social Studies. 

• Concrete experience

The topic starts with a roleplay. Student groups perform short roleplays – one student is a "dictator", another group "makes rules as a democracy", and a third uses a lottery for decisions (random ruler). 

• Reflective observation

Next, the teacher facilitates group reflection. They ask prompting questions like: 

• How did it feel to have power?

• How did it feel to have no power?

• Which system felt fair?

• Abstract conceptualisation

Next, the teacher guides students to create general principles. The teacher introduces terms like democracy, monarchy and dictatorship. Students compare these systems.

• Active experimentation

Finally, students create a prototype. Students design their own classroom government, picking roles and justifying why their system works best.

2. This is a plan for the topic States of Water for Grade 6 Science.  

• Concrete experience

The teacher begins by showing a short video or actual demonstration of water boiling and ice melting. 

• Reflective observation

Students fill in a personal log. The teacher asks questions like: 

• Where have you seen this?

• What do you notice?

• Abstract conceptualisation

The teacher introduces the concepts of solid, liquid and gas using diagrams and explanations. Next, the teacher facilitates a class discussion. Students then make a concept map of the states of water.

• Active experimentation

Students design and conduct an experiment. Students predict what will happen if a glass filled with ice cubes is kept at room temperature or a glass of water is kept out at noon. They design simple test setups.

Teachers can select activities suitable for different stages while planning their lessons.

A circle has no start…

Since the learning process is cyclical, it does not have a defined start point. A learner can enter the experiential learning cycle at any stage. 

So, teachers need NOT plan their topics or lessons to always start with a real-life experience. In fact, we propose that teachers purposefully plan to start different topics at different stages because: 

• Individuals prefer different ways of absorbing knowledge and expressing their understanding. Some students learn better through doing, some through feeling, and some through thinking. Starting topics at different stages allows a teacher to engage students with different learning preferences. 

• More importantly, students do not need to learn in only one way. Young students must try different ways of initiating their learning. This will help develop learning flexibility, which is important for becoming good life-long learners and for adapting to different formats of working/learning in the modern world.

The changing role of a teacher

From the teachers’ perspective, moving from traditional instructional methods to experiential learning is a big pedagogical shift. Even as students engage more meaningfully with the material, the teacher’s role becomes more dynamic – sometimes the teacher is a facilitator, sometimes a coach and sometimes an instructor. 

To make the shift, teachers must themselves embark on an experiential learning journey: sensing how students learn best, reflecting on student needs, framing lesson plans based on their understanding, and applying the powerful approach of experiential learning in their classrooms. After all, as John Keats said, ‘Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.’

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Edition: 4.28