The Association for Experiential Education (AEE) defines experiential education as “a philosophy and methodology in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills and clarify values.” Anyone who teaches her students through direct experience is considered by the AEE to be an experiential educator.
Experiential Learning and the Millennial Generation
The Millennial Generation (also known as “Generation Y”) – children born in the 1980s and 1990s – are a particularly active, impatient group. They are heavily involved in extra-curricular and community activities, and they want to know that the activities they engage in, particularly in a classroom setting, will have an impact on their present and future lives. Actively engaging this generation both inside and outside the classroom will help them to better learn and retain information.
Types of Experiential Education
Experiential learning techniques run the gamut from outdoor wilderness activities (“adventure education”) to the traditional medical school internship. However, experiential education can be incorporated into classrooms at all levels. For example, students in an English class can be asked to observe something and then journal about the observational experience. Or students in a political science class can design and participate in a mock debate. Experiential education can take place in any classroom in which students are learning by doing.
Service Learning and Internships
While students can have experiential learning experiences inside a traditional classroom setting, with a little planning, teachers can offer rich experiences outside the classroom as well. Teachers can design a service learning project in which course theories and concepts are applied within the local community (tutoring immigrants in English for a foreign language class, for example). A university career service and internship office can be invaluable for teachers looking to make experiential education connections for their students with the local community. Students can also seek individual experiential learning outlets via internships relevant to their chosen field, which can be a great way to learn about a future career.
Reflection is Essential
Any learning gained by doing will be quickly lost on students if teachers do not ask them to reflect upon that experience, either through class discussion, a journal, or some type of writing assignment. Reflection on the learning experience asks students to not only critically examine and perhaps apply what they have learned, but reflection also forces students to re-examine any assumptions they may have had going into the experiential learning activity. Without teacher-guided reflection, an experiential activity is merely students going through the motions without truly learning and retaining knowledge.
Students learn and retain course concepts better when they are able to actively experience how those course concepts manifest themselves in the “real world.” With some careful planning and structuring of guided reflection, teachers can create powerful experiential learning activities for students both inside and outside the traditional classroom setting.
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