MENTAL unavailability of students in the classroom, when important discussions, activities and interactions are at its height during a project work can be a source of great displeasure for the teachers. However, few students partake in discussions and put forward their ideas and thoughts hence their physical presence in the classroom can be quantified very easily.But this greatly depends on the mode of teaching — whether it is child-centred or teacher-centred approach. No doubt, the child-centred approach focuses on the involvement of children through an exchange of ideas during the teaching-learning process, whereas the teacher-centred approach focuses on the teacher’s behaviour towards his or her students.
There is a Chinese proverb, “I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.” Experiential learning is that process of learning which invites the learners to partake and decide what they wish to learn. Until the student plans out what is it that has to be discovered, elaborated, identified, experimented upon, etc., active learning cannot take place. The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language describes learning as “the act, process, or experience of gaining knowledge or skill”. The Webster definition describes learning as “the cognitive process of acquiring skill or knowledge: “the child’s acquisition of language” however, there could be a variety of responses about “simply doing” or “the activity or participating in the experience.”
In the words of John Dewey, “Experiential learning takes place when a person involved in an activity looks back and evaluates it, determines what was useful or important to remember, and uses this information to perform another activity.”
Dewey in his book The School and Social Progress (1907) advocates the gap between the two. ‘School’, known as a learning institution, merely emphasises on the cognition rather than application. He thinks that discipline is acquired through experience and it comes from within. Today’s schooling is not providing ample opportunities to engage into constructing their own discipline, rather they are promoting behavioural responses.
He proposes ‘active inquiry learning’, a methodology for the children to develop knowledge, skills and attitude that further enable them to seek holistic development. Thus experiential learning infuses in them an ability to be self-developed and self-disciplined.
Socrates was known for using an oral questioning procedure and dialectical reasoning in his teaching. He would ask a question, receive an answer, and then ask another question to compel the student to think about the defects, limitations, or contradictions in the first answer. This method used by Socrates became the foundation of educational techniques, designed to motivate the learner to think carefully, to test himself, and to improve his knowledge.
According to Robert fisher (1990), “Thinking involves critical and creative aspects of the mind, both the use of reason and the generation of ideas. Thinking is involved in a mental activity that helps to formulate or solve a problem to make a decision or seek understanding.” Thus learning is seen as the creation of knowledge through the transformation of experience.
On the other hand, Dewey’s experiential learning is indeed an advance form of learning where learners are involved in a particular process to reach a point by creating experiences where they could contrast their own knowledge. During the whole process the quest for seeking new meaning would bring on a curiosity to explore and identify the skill to present knowledge.
The pedagogical approach enables learners to partake in the process embodied in constructivism (Jonassen, Peok and Wilson; 1999). On the other hand, constructivism rests on the notion that instead of absorbing or passively receiving knowledge that is out there, learners should gain thorough experiential learning — personal involvement, self-initiated deep thinking where they can actively construct knowledge by integrating new information and experiences into what was taught.
The pedagogy that is based on the constructivist theory such as class discussion, group presentation, project work is supportive in stimulating students’ creativity and fostering their learning.
My own teaching approach was based on constructivism where teaching strategies such as think-pair-share and group presentations, project work, role-plays, and skit presentation were commonly used.
Experiential learning opens new windows in teaching. Despite the fact that it is a time-consuming and effort-requiring teaching approach, it also creates the capacity in facilitators to strengthen the classroom environment by improving classroom attendance and the participation level with the ensuring of harmony between the facilitators and the learners.
According to Nayak and Rao (2002), “Effective learning in a classroom is negated if there is no enabling of professional caring and a dedicated and peaceful environment as learning is associated with a change in behaviour as a result of experience and practice.”
Bligh (1971) reports that “students are more attentive, display better comprehension, produce more work, and are more favourable to the teaching method when they work cooperatively in groups rather than compete as individuals.”
Researchers identify the following aspects that encourage students to become more self-motivated:
• Give frequent, early and positive feedback that supports students’ beliefs that they can do well.
• Ensure opportunities for students’ success by assigning tasks that are neither too easy nor too difficult.
• Help students find personal meaning and value in their work.
• Create an atmosphere that is open, positive, and conducive to learning.
• Help students feel that they are valued members of a learning community.
Thus experiential learning sets up learning situations where the participants are involved in learning through listening, reflecting and applying by raising questions that are then answered with more questions that make one think further about the topic at hand.
The writer is part of the teaching faculty in the education department of a private institution
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