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Experiential Learning: Embrace the Unknown by Roger Lewis Fischel
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Experiential Learning: Embrace the Unknown |
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Education
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In 1916, John Dewey wrote: "Experience is primarily an active-passive affair; it is not primarily cognitive. But the measure of the value of an experience lies in the perception of relationships or continuities to which it leads up." My approach is to dissect Dewey's radical idea to see how it might make the act of effective study meaningful to students. In short, how experiential learning trumps all other theories about learning. Experience as an Active-Passive Affair In a past article I wrote about the idea that learning is a social/solitary undertaking. I understand Dewey as meaning very much the same idea. Active learning is often a social, team effort. But exposure to new ideas requires one to privately absorb the radical before it becomes commonplace. The overall effect of the play between teamwork and solitary integration is what Dewey called 'experience.' One thing experience always encounters is the novel or new ideas. Without something new to absorb there is no experience that we might call learning. To learn, then, means to create or be exposed to new experiences. It is incumbent on the learner to seek out relationships with past understandings. Relationships may be contradictions, paradoxes or continuities. They cannot, however, be a repeat of what is already known. The known is no longer something experienced. The Measure of Relationships Exposure to new ideas or conditions creates a dissonance in understanding. Let's say you were an indigenous resident of an island in the Caribbean when, from over the horizon to the east you saw three ships with sails approaching your beach. You have never been exposed to such ships. You have no idea what is approaching. You hide in the forest beyond the beach to watch. Sometime later, two row-boats approach the shore, each with ten men aboard. They had metal vests and helmets on. Each man had facial hair, something alien to you. The closer they came the more pungent was the odor wafting through the clean air became. Once on the shore, one man stepped forward. He took a piece of painted cloth tied on a stick and thrust it into the sand. He spoke some very strange words, none of which made sense to you. The mens' faces appeared to have no color. They made noise when they walked. They carried long sticks that appeared to be made of wood and metal but you are too far away to know for sure what they were. This first contact is, for you, what we could call an experience. But, how do you measure the value of this experience. Since what you are seeing is completely outside of everything you know we could agree that what you have is a contradiction. How you decide to integrate the contradiction is something of a puzzle. If Dewey is correct, that the measure of the value of an experience is tied to how one judges relationships then what are we to make of these strangers? Can it be that we begin to think of these strangers who come across the sea from beyond the house of the sun anything but gods? Or do we see them as men like ourselves. Do we make the leap to think of them as extensions of ourselves or as contradictions. Lessons for Study I believe that we all have had experiences just like the Carib people had when Columbus landed on their island. We have all witnessed things that are unexplained through the knowledge we take for granted. To be honest, when this happens, there is a tendency to revert to our taken-for-granteds rather than to try to absorb the experience into our existing knowns. This is exactly what Dewey was being critical of when he wrote about the value of experience. Rather than rejecting the unknown for the known, it is far better to explore that unknown to see if there are regularities that connect with what we already know. This is the whole process of education through experience. Fear not the unknown, rather, seek to make connections that are verifiable through experimentation. This is the stuff of true learning. Adopt the idea and learn or reject it and live in ignorance. _______________ Dr. Roger Lewis is the owner of Effective Study Tips where he introduces parents and their children to the most effective study habits we know of. Dr. Lewis is a career educator teaching in both middle-school settings and in university departments of education. His specialty is in the teaching of reading methods for k-12 students. He is now retired concentrating on sharing his knowledge with a broader audience.">In 1916, John Dewey wrote: Experience is primarily an active-passive affair; it is not primarily cognitive. But the measure of the value of an experience lies in the perception of relationships or continuities to which it leads up. My approach is to dissect Dewey's radical idea to see how it might make the act of effective study meaningful to students. In short, how experiential learning trumps all other theories about learning. Experience as an Active-Passive Affair In a past article I wrote about the idea that learning is a social/solitary undertaking. I understand Dewey as meaning very much the same idea. Active learning is often a social, team effort. But exposure to new ideas requires one to privately absorb the radical before it becomes commonplace. The overall effect of the play between teamwork and solitary integration is what Dewey called 'experience.' One thing experience always encounters is the novel or new ideas. Without something new to absorb there is no experience that we might call learning. To learn, then, means to create or be exposed to new experiences. It is incumbent on the learner to seek out relationships with past understandings. Relationships may be contradictions, paradoxes or continuities. They cannot, however, be a repeat of what is already known. The known is no longer something experienced. The Measure of Relationships Exposure to new ideas or conditions creates a dissonance in understanding. Let's say you were an indigenous resident of an island in the Caribbean when, from over the horizon to the east you saw three ships with sails approaching your beach. You have never been exposed to such ships. You have no idea what is approaching. You hide in the forest beyond the beach to watch. Sometime later, two row-boats approach the shore, each with ten men aboard. They had metal vests and helmets on. Each man had facial hair, something alien to you. The closer they came the more pungent was the odor wafting through the clean air became. Once on the shore, one man stepped forward. He took a piece of painted cloth tied on a stick and thrust it into the sand. He spoke some very strange words, none of which made sense to you. The mens' faces appeared to have no color. They made noise when they walked. They carried long sticks that appeared to be made of wood and metal but you are too far away to know for sure what they were. This first contact is, for you, what we could call an experience. But, how do you measure the value of this experience. Since what you are seeing is completely outside of everything you know we could agree that what you have is a contradiction. How you decide to integrate the contradiction is something of a puzzle. If Dewey is correct, that the measure of the value of an experience is tied to how one judges relationships then what are we to make of these strangers? Can it be that we begin to think of these strangers who come across the sea from beyond the house of the sun anything but gods? Or do we see them as men like ourselves. Do we make the leap to think of them as extensions of ourselves or as contradictions. Lessons for Study I believe that we all have had experiences just like the Carib people had when Columbus landed on their island. We have all witnessed things that are unexplained through the knowledge we take for granted. To be honest, when this happens, there is a tendency to revert to our taken-for-granteds rather than to try to absorb the experience into our existing knowns. This is exactly what Dewey was being critical of when he wrote about the value of experience. Rather than rejecting the unknown for the known, it is far better to explore that unknown to see if there are regularities that connect with what we already know. This is the whole process of education through experience. Fear not the unknown, rather, seek to make connections that are verifiable through experimentation. This is the stuff of true learning. Adopt the idea and learn or reject it and live in ignorance. _______________ Dr. Roger Lewis is the owner of Effective Study Tips where he introduces parents and their children to the most effective study habits we know of. Dr. Lewis is a career educator teaching in both middle-school settings and in university departments of education. His specialty is in the teaching of reading methods for k-12 students. He is now retired concentrating on sharing his knowledge with a broader audience.
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experiential learning, effective study tips, relationships, dewey,
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