Wake Up!
Experiential Learning in the Classroom

Heather R. Theijsmeijer
CASCA Education Coordinator
Email: cascaed@astro.utoronto.ca

I recently attended a conference for Physics teachers, and was treated to a presentation by the tag-team duo of Ben Newling and Dennis Tokaryk from the University of New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada Association of Science Educators. After a morning of talks on the latest advancements in medical physics and the applications of biophotonics, their workshop stood out: within the first five minutes the speakers had us all standing up, running around the room and demonstrating vectors with our arms. It was silly, a little bit tiring, and a good eye opener for those of us who hadn’t thought about “what is a vector?” in a very long time.

The activity, and the rest of the talk, focused on experiential learning – basically learning by doing. While in the past, this has often meant “learning through experience” (performing a lab, in order to see a concept at work in a contrived setting), the term has recently come to mean any kind of learning which occurs by physically doing something.

Developed initially by Dr. David Kolb in the early 1980s, the learning process can be divided into four sections, taught in any order, with one leading directly into the other: active experimentation, concrete experience, reflective observation and abstract conceptualization. From an educational psychologist’s point of view, this cycle is ideal in the sense that is exercises both the left (logical, symbolic) and right (intuitive, concrete) sides of the brain, as well as teaches to the kinesthetic and tactile learners in the class. It also provides a framework for how the material learned in class can be applied in the real world.

For educators, it gives you a chance to be creative in the classroom, and shift the onus of learning on to the students. This also means giving up a bit of control, and letting the students run the show for a bit. While you may not wish to leave all the learning in the hands of your students, a task designed with experiential learning in mind provides a good break from the typical routine of your class.

Some examples of experiential learning activities are included below. You may find that you already use some of these in your courses. Try taking it a step further and experiment with your students to see what works best – you yourself will then also be learning by doing!

• Performing Labs: Given a set of equipment and a series of instructions, demonstrate a previously-known law or result. This is one of the more basic applications of Experiential Learning
  
• Designing Labs: This takes labs one step further. Using a particular set of equipment, have your students demonstrate a previously-known law or result. The catch? They have to come up with the procedure themselves and the level of accuracy needed. They then experiment with the lab until it works.
  
• Active and Original Research: Have your students answer an open-ended question, which may or may not have a correct answer. Decision making exercises
  
• Debating and Role Playing: Give the students an issue and have groups debate both sides. Sometimes forcing them to argue for the side they do not agree with is an even more valuable experience
  
• Game Shows: A game show style of lesson has students competing, communicating their knowledge and taking risks in the best interest of their team. Definitely not an everyday activity, but this one certainly breaks up the routine. Try Jeopardy!, Pictionary, Hollywood Squares or any of your favourites.
  

These types of activities will keep students interested in your courses, engaged with the material and provide them with experiences which they will remember. The skills developed in this way will not only help them as students, but will also encourage them to continue on into astronomy or astrophysical research.

For more information on experiential learning, visit the following websites:

• An overview: http://www.agelesslearner.com/intros/experiential.html
  
• David A. Kolb on Experiential Learning: http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm
  
• Experiential Learning in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of Calgary: http://phas.ucalgary.ca/undergraduate/experiential-learning-centre/what-experiential-learning
  

CASCA education Webteam (2009)