Experiential education is a type of education in which students learn through direct experiences and interactions rather than lectures or reading. Students are more likely to take field trips and learn outside of the classroom in this type of education, and teachers will frequently bring outside materials into the classroom when possible. Certain fields of study, particularly science and technology, benefit greatly from this type of learning rather than traditional classroom instruction. Experiential education is usually a two-way interaction between a teacher and a student who creates meaning.
They’re often linked to experiential learning, but they’re not the same thing. Experiential learning is the actual process which experiential education is applied and made real for students, so the distinction is not merely semantic. To put it another way, experiential learning is more closely linked to the student and how he or she creates meaning during the learning process. Experiential education is a broad term that refers to a study of the entire learning process, including the teacher and the learning environment.
Understanding how a student experiences the learning process and how that can be used to improve his or her education is central to this type of education. Students and teachers collaborate to create an experience that provides new information and practical meaning for a student in an experiential education. This is frequently accomplished determining how to make what is being studied relevant for students, as students are more likely to learn materials if they understand why the information is important to them.
Students learning about different animals, for example, could benefit from seeing pictures of the animals and hearing the names and descriptions of the various species. Experiential education, on the other hand, would take students outside of the classroom and to a zoo where they could see the animals up close. Students become more interested in animal classifications as they learn how birds, mammals, fish, and sub-species are all related and how classifications make it easier to discuss animals.
In experiential education, a teacher creates an environment conducive to learning and assists students in the construction of meaning. In the previous example, the teacher would point out various animals and discuss similarities among species and orders of animals. This teacher would most likely ask questions to determine the relevance of the material being taught to the students. As a facilitator, the teacher would most likely guide students’ thinking toward a better understanding of what they are supposed to be learning and challenge them to create their own meaning and knowledge.