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SPIRAL LEARNING: Experience, Reflection, Abstraction & Action
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DAVID A. KOLB (born 1939) is an American educational theorist whose interests and publications focus on experiential learning, the individual and social change, career development, and executive and professional education.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Kolb
"The Experiential Learning Model," composed of four elements:
- concrete experience
- observation of and reflection on that experience
- formation of abstract concepts based upon the reflection
- testing the new concepts
- (repeat).
2) Goal Setting - Where do I want to be? The learner considers his or her aspirations, and sets personal goals or targets.
3) Action Plan - How can I close the gap between where I am and where I want to be?
4) Action! Carry out the action plan, monitoring its implementation.
BACK TO 1)
These four elements are the essence of a spiral of learning that can begin with any one of the four elements, but typically begins with a concrete experience.
His model was developed predominantly for use with adult education, but has found widespread pedagogical implications in higher education.
Dr. Kolb is renowned in educational circles for his Learning Style Inventory (LSI). His model is built upon the idea that learning preferences can be described using two continuums: active experimentation-reflective observation and abstract conceptualization-concrete experience.
The result is four types of learners:
1) converger (active experimentation-abstract conceptualization)
2) accommodator (active experimentation-concrete experience)
3) assimilator (reflective observation-abstract conceptualization)
4) diverger (reflective observation-concrete experience)
