WE DO WE REFLECT WE LEARN

06:16:00 PICT Model School 0 Comments

Like a chapter in a good textbook, a lecture is an efficient way to deliver course content. However, delivering course content is not always the same thing as fostering actual learning. Studies have shown that during a typical lecture, a learner’s attention begins to diminish after the first ten minutes.

One teaching strategy to enhance the learning process is experiential learning. Learning that is based on the learners being directly involved in a learning experience rather than being mere recipients of ready-made content in the form of lectures can be termed as Experiential Learning.

Aristotle wrote in the Nichomachean Ethics "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them".

Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience, and is more specifically defined as "learning through reflection on doing." Experiential learning considers the individual learning process. This kind of experiential learning is probably what Benjamin Franklin had in mind in the eighteenth century when he wrote, "Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I will learn."

The notion of experiential learning was explored further in the twentieth century by educational psychologists such as John Dewey, Carl Rogers, and David Kolb. Kolb asserted that “Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience,” and he proposed a “learning cycle” that comprises these four phases:

The following table elaborates the learning cycle with examples.

Stage	Example
The learner has a “concrete experience.”	Ex.1. Covering the books Ex.2. Going to an aquarium
The learner makes observations and reflections based upon that experience.	Learning through observation and interaction with the aquarium environment or covering the book, contrary to the traditional method of reading about water animals from a book or following instructions to cover a book. The learner has the opportunity to consider what is working or failing (reflective observation).
The observations and reflections are synthesized into a new conceptual understanding and interpretation of the experience.	To think about ways to improve on the next attempt made at covering the book (abstract conceptualization).  Thus one makes discoveries and experiments with knowledge firsthand, instead of hearing or reading about others' experiences.
This conceptual understanding is applied and is used to guide new and purposeful experiences.	Every new attempt to ‘cover the book’ is informed by a cyclical pattern of previous experience, thought and reflection (active experimentation). The new abstract conceptual understanding enhances the learning process and guides new experiences.

Retention levels are highest when WE DO,WE REFLECT AND LEARN.

Experiential learning to be effective requires self-initiative, an "intention to learn" and an "active phase of learning". This process of learning can result in "changes in judgment, feeling or skills" for the learner. Most educators understand the important role experience plays in the learning process. The role of emotion and feelings in learning from experience has been recognised as an important part of experiential learning. Reflection is a crucial part of the experiential learning process, and like experiential learning itself, it can be facilitated or independent.

Facilitation of experiential learning and reflection is challenging, but "a skilled facilitator, asking the right questions and guiding reflective conversation before, during, and after an experience, can help open a gateway to powerful new thinking and learning.

While it is the learner's experience that is most important to the learning process, it is equally important to give credit to the wealth of experience a good facilitator brings to the learning process.

PICT Model School not only facilitates Experiential Learning  across grades but also values the efforts of the educators in facilitating the process of learning through reflection of the learner’s experiences. The philosophy of the school We Do, We Reflect ,We Learn is in sync with the Experiential Learning cycle.