Abstract
This chapter critically examines experiential learning cycles using Kolb’s (Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice Hall, 1984) model as an exemplar. The discussion explores the development of experiential education from the progressive education movement with a particular focus on cyclical models of experiential learning developed from a constructivist perspective. It reviews contemporary critiques of progressivism suggesting that the concepts of recapitulation and effortless learning, endemic to progressive education and also found in experiential education, fail to adequately address the learning process. The chapter then reviews a critique of Kolb’s model, suggesting it was formed by drawing on an eclectic array of progressive progenitors and misinterpreting foundational concepts, particularly those of John Dewey. Ways of moving beyond experiential learning cycles include (a) employing new perspectives such as psychoanalytic, situative, critical-cultural, and enactivist, (b) dropping ‘experiential’ as a qualifier to the concept of learning, and (c) adopting units of analysis that help to resolve the concrete experience/abstract conceptualization dialectic contained in, but not adequately addressed by, cyclic models.
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Meyer, J., Seaman, J. (2021). Beyond Experiential Learning Cycles. In: Thomas, G., Dyment, J., Prince, H. (eds) Outdoor Environmental Education in Higher Education. International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75980-3_7
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