Term 3 Newsletter - Anglo Singapore International School

What is Experiential Education? By Jinnawat (P6)The things we have to learn before we do them, we learn by doing them.- AristotleSince Anglo has just returned from another Math & Science Camp and we often go on class outings to various locations around Bangkokand even outside of Bangkok, we at the newsletter felt it was appropriate to do a report on experiential education. So, what really isexperiential education?Students are actively involvedIn experiential education, the student becomes moreactively involved in the learning process than intraditional classroom education. For example, going to azoo and learning through observation and interactionwith the zoo environment is experiential and in contrastto reading and talking about animals in aclassroom. The main difference here is that the teacherwho takes his/her students to the zoo rather than stay inthe classroom probably values direct experience morehighly than abstract knowledge. In short, learning bydoing or firsthand observation is the key to experientialeducational.Educators' value the students' experienceExperiential education is based on experiential learning. Experiential educators operate under the assumption that: Educational goals canbe effectively met by allowing the learner's educational experience to influence the educational process. To learn by actually doing tasks intheir natural environment is key.Experiential educators are aware that random experiences alone are not always good for learning. Thus, experiential educators try toarrange particular sets of experiences which target specific educational goals within an environment that the experiences would naturallyoccur – much like “on the job experience” for working adults. The setting for the experiences is often the most important feature as thismakes the experience “real”. Educators must make use of the setting/environment. If the experience is to be natural science-based,successful teachers will make use of the natural environment and conduct such “classes” in a forest, near a lake or similar setting. Thenatural environment becomes the classroom and nature itself becomes the classroom materials.Experiential education comes in many shapes and sizesExperiential education is widely implemented across many topics - for example,outdoor education, service learning, internships, and group-basedlearning projects. Many other educational projects are experiential, but donot refer to themselves as “experiential education” (e.g., class outings,physical education, drama, and so on).So what is it exactly?• experiential education is learning by doing• experiential education integrates the classroom with the real world• experiential education integrates students' experiences into the curriculumareas• experiential education is any form of teaching that utilizes direct"hands-on" experience• experiential education is about students experiencing a natural, yetoften unfamiliar environment• experiential education is the process of actively engaging students inan experience that will have real consequences in a real life environment