NCRM Bitesize Lessons for Teaching Social Science Research Methods 2: Experiential Learning

This document is the second guide in the series NCRM Bitesize Lessons for Teaching Social Science Research Methods. It focuses on experiential learning.

Experiential learning is rooted in the idea that experience plays a critical role in learning. The core idea is that you learn by doing and by reflecting on that doing. The experience in experiential learning tends to be in an authentic context or, if it has to be simulated, readily translatable to an authentic context. Experiences thus support holistic learning and this kind of learning is often contrasted with more fragmented, classroom-based or textbook style learning.

The underpinning ideas include:

• Learners benefit from exposure to (or immersion in) novel experiences and real-world problems that make the learning meaningful to them. Dialogue with others helps them to make sense of what they are learning.

• To learn something we need to experience it. In experiential learning (rather than just active learning), the learning is grounded in experience in an ongoing way.

• The theory of Kolb, that is, that there is a learning cycle involving experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting. In this way the student is able to act on their learning in an applied way.

• The theory of Schön about the need for reflection to inform professional practice.