2+-+Experiential+Education

// The Experiential Learning Cycle (from [|Exeter, 2001], adapted from [|Kolb, 1984]).

"I believe that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform. All reforms which rest simply upon the law, or the threatening of certain penalties, or upon changes in mechanical or outward arrangements, are transitory and futile.... But through education society can formulate its own purposes, can organize its own means and resources, and thus shape itself with definiteness and economy in the direction in which it wishes to move.... Education thus conceived marks the most perfect and intimate union of science and art conceivable in human experience." --John Dewey, //My Pedagogic Creed//, 1897

Dewey's Educational philosophy was centred on the experience of doing to achieve learning. He believed that students should be challenged with real problems and exposed to real situations in order to develop.

The active learning approach should be at the core of the learning experience by actively participating in scenarios that are child focused and teacher initiated. He was opposed to completely free choice for children as he did not believe that they have the capacity to "maximise their learning".

The concept of individual needs was also an important area for Dewey as he believed that pedagogical approaches should be tailored to meet the needs of each child and that each child was uniquely different.

Dewey thought that education should not be purely about the learner developing knowledge but that education must provide experiences that will prepare learners for life beyond school. This relates very well to the outline of Curriculum for Excellence in that Dewey believed educators had a responsibility for developing responsible citizens that contribute to society and that they are valued and equal. This view opposed the strict deictic approach favoured in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.//

Kolb's Model of Experiential Learning Theory Contributors