Experiential Education. Research Brief

Overview & Synopsis

Experiential education is essentially an educational philosophy first developed in the late 19th century and has since been articulated in a variety of fields including cooperative education, internships, outdoor education, organizational development and training, and service-learning. The essence of Experiential Education was captured by the philosopher John Dewey, who argued that "Events are present and operative anyway; what concerns us is their meaning." The problem for teachers and students is how to make meaning out of the experience. In its purest forms, Experiential Education is inductive, beginning with "raw" experience that is processed through an intentional learning format and transformed into working, useable knowledge. Experiential Education has been shown to positively impact at-risk students, put learning into context, and make learning more meaningful for students. (Contains 10 online resources.)