Tuesday 26 April 2005

Principles of experiential education practice

Adopted from the outdoor experiential programs, the US Army War College's Strategic Experiential Education Group has put the theory into practice through the use of role play simulations.

The principles are:
  • Experiential learning occurs when carefully chosen experiences are supported by reflection, critical analysis, and synthesis.
  • Experiences are structured to require the learner to take initiative, make decisions, and be accountable for the results.
  • Throughout the experiential learningprocess, the learner is actively engaged in posing questions, investigating,experimenting, being curious, solving problems, assuming responsibility, being creative, and constructing meaning.
  • Learners are engaged intellectually, emotionally, socially, soulfully, and/or physically. This involvement produces a perception that the learning task is authentic.
  • The results of the learning are personaland form the basis for future experience and learning.
  • Relationships are developed and nurtured: learner to self, learner to others, and learner to the world at large.
  • The educator and learner may experience success, failure, adventure, risk-taking, and uncertainty, since the outcomes of experience cannot be totally predicted.
  • Opportunities are nurtured for learners and educators to explore and examine their own values.
  • The educator's primary roles include setting suitable experiences,posing problems, setting boundaries, supporting learners, insuring physical and emotional safety, and facilitating the learning process.
  • The educator recognizes and encourages spontaneous opportunities for learning.
  • Educators strive to be aware of their biases, judgments, and pre-conceptions and how they influence the learner
  • The design of the learning experience includes the possibility to learn from natural consequences, mistakes, and successes.


  • This is very much the same principles behind role play simulation.

    Tagged as

    No comments: