Education with Experiential Learning

What’s the Goal of Education?

Should young people become educated to get prepared to enter the workforce or get a job, or should the purpose of education be focused more on social, academic, cultural and intellectual development so that students can grow up to be engaged citizens and life long learners.

There could be many aims of education. Most common aims that have been there for centuries are

1)Knowledge

Great philosophers Socrates, Aristotle, Dante, Comenim, Bacon have propounded knowledge as an important aim of education.

2) Character Development

Education finds its real meaning and value when its aim is character-building said T. Raymond.

Bertrand Russel emphasizes that the formation of character as the chief aim of education.

Herbart, the great educator of nineteenth century says, the whole work of education may be summing up the concept of “morality”.

Mahatma Gandhi viewed, “Character building is the aim of education. I would try to develop courage, strength, virtue, the ability to forget oneself in working towards great aims. I should feel that if we succeed in building the character of the individual, society will take care of itself”.

3) Livelihood and Vocation

Vocational aim of education is super-scripted as ‘Bread and Butter, aim
M. K. Gandhi says, “True education ought to be for the boys and girls a kind of insurance against unemployment”.

4) Self Realization

Sir Rabindranath Tagore said aim of education is self realisation

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan says, “The aim of education is neither national efficiency nor world solidarity, but making the individual feel that he has within himself something deeper than intellect, call it spirit if you like”.

Shri Aurobindo views, “The chief aim of education should be to help the growing soul to draw out that in itself which is best and make it perfect for a noble cause”. Thus, the central aim of education should be the development of spirituality in men.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore mentioned that the aim of education is self realization.

Based on the many aims of education we can concur that Education should prepare young people for life, work and citizenship. Education should be holistic and one that takes care of their physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual capabilities

Challenges of the Indian Educational System

Stating lofty aims and goals for education is great. The challenge is in implementation across a diversified student profile.

Some of the main challenges of education are

Old Teaching and Instructional Methodologies.
Our biggest challenge to education system in India is catering to students with different learning styles and capabilities with a singular and similar teaching and instruction method.

Lack of Student Engagement.
we need an education system that is student centered and one the creates engagement and leads to learning. Learning engagement best happens in the local environmental context in the here and now and one that the student can relate to.

How Experiential Learning can address education challenges.

What is experiential learning?

Broadly speaking, experiential learning is learning through doing – the learner is an active participant in the educational process, not a passive witness to it. The content, idea or concept being pursued must be largely relevant to the learner.

There are many ways of catering to different students learning styles and creating engagement through adoption of experiential learning methodologies like Place based learning, Service Based Learning, challenge based learning, Project Based Learning, Cooperative Learning. Social emotional learning.

Mahatma Gandhi – The father of the nature said Literacy in itself is no education. Literacy is not the end of education or even the beginning. By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in the child and man-body, mind and spirit.

Mahatma Gandhi "True education must correspond to the surrounding circumstances or it is not a healthy growth." The Nai taleem approach is based on learning from our environment and activities.

Learning through reflection and inference.

Instead of telling and giving answers and lectures our teachers should help children learn through inquiring, inferring and reflecting on the local environmental context and thereby bringing practice to the theory they assimilate from books.

Asking Meaningful Questions
Teachers need to ask more Why and How questions and allow students to developing critical thinking skills and arrive at their own answers.

Some of the questions that should be posed to the kids can be in terms of igniting their thinking.

How does Food arrives on the Table
Understanding architecture and reconstructing history from primary evidences. Thinking how was it then in the past. What aspects of the past are still visible in the culture etc.

John Dewey, philosopher, psychologist and education reformer mentioned that Abstract ideas should have concrete applications. Similarly, practical applications must have theoretical basis. Education should Combine Theory and Practice and vice versa

Its important to relate theory with practice and practice with theory back in our schools and homes and in the local context

Students Character Development

One of the most under looked aspect in school education is the inability of the system to develop behaviors of self-confidence, courage and risk taking in students.

This is primarily because of absence of participation in sports, outdoor and adventure activities.
As a result, students are not able to learn to develop a strong character that can help them deal with life’s challenges.

Regular participation in sports and outdoor and adventure activities helps the kids develop life skills that help them deal with life’s challenges such as:

Risk taking
Resilience
Team spirit
Leadership
Persistence
Learning to deal with failure.

What Educators and Teachers can do at Schools.

Include experiential learning with activities in the local context to supplement theory lessons. Arrange practice and observation for theory classes and theoretical concept for every observation and practice.

Other methods can be

Organise Mock-trials or debates
Organise internships with companies.
involve students to take responsibility school functions, like cleaning, administration, teaching lower classes.
Undertaking outdoor expeditions to develop specific physical and emotional skills through participation in outdoor and adventure actvities.
Community service opportunities, such as work trips to support disadvantaged communities
Conduct Filed Study Visits to industries, factories etc.
Every film or novel study in English, where a student enters the world of the story and lingers on the complexities of the perspective of the protagonist
Simulations, such as in a Business Studies class examining the factors behind stock market fluctuations
Scientific experiments or open-ended inquiries to determine cause and effect
Case studies of urban development in Geography

How to Implement Experiential learning at Schools

Create a intellectually, emotionally and socially safe and comfortable environment, where a learner can be confident to take bold risks in the pursuit of self-directed discovery.
Encourage students to make discoveries for themselves.
Let Students take responsibility for their own learning?
Take feedback from students if the the approach is working for them.
Let students understand why the lesson is beneficial to their personal lives.
Keep the chosen learning activities relevant to the interests, lives, values, perspectives and experiences of the individuals.
create a sense of contentedness between the classroom and the Local context they live in.
Include opportunities for quiet, contemplative reflection, where students can muse self-criticism of one’s own learning, available?
Let learners be emotionally invested in whatever they are doing.
Help participants to get beyond their personal comfort zones, whether they be physical, social or cultural.
Involve intellectual and emotional risk-taking. Encourage failure as an important part of the learning process.