Experiential Learning: History, Ideology, Theory

Synonyms

Epistemology; Experiential education; Experiential learning theory; Human relations; Psychology

Introduction

Experiential learning is notoriously difficult to define and even harder to accomplish in mainstream educational settings given myriad institutional constraints and the inertia of tradition. Experiential learning is said to have existed as a pedagogical concern since Plato’s era (Stonehouse et al. 2011), but John Dewey is often regarded as the idea’s modern founder (Miettinen 2000). Throughout the twentieth century, various reforms promoting experiential learning in one form or another have ebbed and flowed, exerting influence for a time but often succumbing to curricular or logistical pressures from other areas. Dewey’s lab school at the University of Chicago was one exemplary case, and manual training and the experience curriculum provide two other early examples. Today, service learning, outdoor and place-based education, study-abroad, internships, and capstone...