Exploring the Experiential Learning Cycle. Enter, engage, experience!

Once again I decided to take the mind map route (See below to the right) to try and decipher how the second lens of Reflection, ethics and creativity related to my practice. Personally, I find this lens the most captivating out of the three we are advised to study, especially as the main segment of my practice is dance teaching. Therefore, I am always interested in the psychology of how people learn in various ways and it has made me reflect individually on how I process information through reflection and action.

This all looks a bit of a mess! But it has helped me to categorise my thoughts, and I have found a few things particularly interesting, triggering paths for further research. I thought I would firstly focus on Kolb's Learning cycle. David Kolb's concept seemed significant to my practice as I feel it is imperative to understand how people can enter the cycle at different stages according to their learning preferences. Knowing a person's (and your own) learning style enables learning to be orientated according to the preferred method. (Mcleod, 2017). When applying this to teaching children in a dance studio I can conclude that a wide range of teaching methods aimed to target these contrasting learning pathways, would perhaps be the most effective approach.

So how would that look in action? What would be involved in answering the desired dimension of learning for each individual student? This prompted me to reflect on my past experiences as a teacher, and furthermore think about how I can improve the diversity of my delivery.

1. REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION

As I have mentioned before, I believe this is where I often enter the learning cycle and this was certainly the case when I was training as a dancer. I often benefitted more from watching my peers or performers I admired in action than actually engaging in the movements myself. I could almost picture in my mind's eye how a particular dancer embodied a routine which assisted me in emulating the same. (Or at least attempting!)

In my practice, this is exampled in the way I observe other teachers in my community. As part of the DDE qualification I had to carry out teaching observations and I found it mesmerising to notice how a teacher could captivate the class with various techniques. Even in moments of observing teachers briefly before my class in due to start, I use these pockets of opportunity to embrace learning via observation.

I believe this spreads wider in the form of media which has supported me in my understanding of children's behaviour. For instance 'The secret life of four year olds' has helped educate me on methods to effectively capture a child's attention and consider the stages of socialisation in youngsters. I feel these observations have supported me in my teaching. How can I help my students to embrace this learning pathway?

TEACHING METHODS TO SUPPORT REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION?

• Demonstrating the dancing myself.
• Peer observation and feedback. Eg. Performing to the class in groups and asking each child to explain what they liked about the demo.
• Showing media Eg. Videos of performances.

In other areas of my practice I can see that I use this stage of the cycle regularly. As a Princess Party entertainer I often watch the mannerisms of other employees as they portray a different character. Watching YouTube videos about individual Princess's mannerisms assists me in delivering a polished performance. I learnt from my employer as to how the administrative system worked online so that I could effectively take over her duties. I am frequently inspired by choreography I see, perhaps the way a dancer has been instructed to express the music which subsequently helps me in choreographing future work.

2. ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISATION

At first, I assumed this was perhaps less common in the arts industry as I associated it with 'working it out in your head' seeming more academic, theoretical. However, looking deeper into this concept I realised it is more complex than just thinking about an idea as it is at this stage that the learner must formulate concepts which “integrate their observations into logically sound theories.” (Kolb 1984, p 30) I see this almost as the web between reflection, observation, theory and experience. I wonder whether this is more prevalent in older students due to the requirement of a more advanced cognition. In trying to think of an example which applies to myself, what springs to mind is the strand of my practice which involves Pilates instructing. It wasn't until I embarked on my study for this that I really understood the notion of engaging the pelvic floor. I knew what 'it' was to some extent, I knew that the pelvic floor had to be switched on to aid technique and I vaguely knew the difference between 'engaged' and 'unengaged'.

However, by hearing how imagery can help with the feeling (imagining my core was an elevator and needed to go from the ground floor, to floor ten, to floor three) I attained more understanding. I connected the imagery to the physical feeling. In turn I observed the visual effect of the pelvic floor being engaged on other students and through anatomical study, I further understood how the position of the skeletal muscles supported the notion of it's purpose. I suddenly found myself linking accumulated knowledge to past experiences which intensified my understanding. For instance I inferred why the arms were used in certain ISTD modern core strength exercises as they helped students to stimulate the correct muscles. The dots all joined up and through considering all of these facets of learning, I achieved the 'CONCEPT' of the pelvic floor.

TEACHING METHODS TO SUPPORT ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISATION

• Questioning students to stimulate their exploration. Eg: What does this movement remind you of? What do you think would help in strengthening your supporting leg? Etc.
• Ask students to conjure up their own imagery.
• Work as a group to create a piece of choreography through integrative ideas.
• Ask questions: How could you make your performance better?
• Encourage students to research between sessions.

3. ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION

Attempting to try out different ideas through an exploratory method. The catch 22 in this approach is that one must generate ideas first in order to trial a methodology. The need to trial new ideas is often triggered by a problem, lacking or acknowledgement of 'not knowing'. In a creative practice such a dancing this is a method which is often engaged in.

For example when choreographing the studio is an inviting haven for creative experiment and even when one feels like the desired result has been met, there is always that drive in the back of one's mind to make improvements. As Schon explains 'the experimenter might keep on experimenting indefinitely- as long as he is able to invent new, plausible hypothesis.' (Schon, 1987, p 73) Linking this to my practice I associate my choreographic work with this approach, and even when I try and pre plan a lesson or dance, I often change my mind once I see how the moves are reflected on the dancers in front of me.

Equally, from reflective observation my learning from external situations then encourages me to experiment with ideas in my own way. Discovering new tactics to promote spacial awareness in the dance studio or allowing my students to improvise to see how it can benefit them is an example of this.

TEACHING METHODS TO SUPPORT ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION

• Work in partners or groups to create choreography.
• Ask the students to practice 'what works' on their body.
• Get pupils to practice technique in the wrong way momentarily so they can explore how it feels to execute correctly.
• Encourage the use of props to support learning. Eg Instruments to strengthen rhythmical awareness.
• Recommend additional training programs to help strengthen dance eg: Does going to Pilates help with your control?
  
  
  4) CONCRETE EXPERIENCE

“Even though I am a professional, and I know what the steps are, I don't quite know how I'm going to do them, because I haven't lived that moment yet.”

Suzanne Farrel.

I'm sure many dancers can relate to the above quote, namely because dancing is a physical art so can only be perfected by the athleticism of doing it. You can think, visualise, mark and talk about a movement but it is only in doing it that you can actually achieve that kinaesthetic knowledge. This isn't to deny that this stage of the the cycle is irrelevant without the processes of reflection and observation, where improvement would never be possible if it wasn't for contemplation. 

 

The 'here and now' practice could potentially be enhanced by reflection in action as I have discussed in my previous post. In choreography I am naturally led to formulate movements in my head and I feel so sure that they will work in practice, only to then dance them in my body and realise the flow just isn't right. Additionally with my administrative work I believe I have gained most accomplishment by doing, so much so that it almost feels like an automatic process where repetition leads to mastery. The reflection of my concrete experiences can be strengthened through the emotional connection to a situation. Eg: Seeing a young child fully engaged and inspired by a storytelling dance ignites joy in my heart, which then persuades me to engage in this concrete experience again and again!

TEACHING METHODS TO SUPPORT CONCRETE EXPERIENCE

• Repeating exercises with the music numerous times.
• Giving opportunity to practice.
• Switching up spacing when performing in the studio makes the experience more engaging.
• Encourage practice time away from the studio.
• Develop reflective time through questioning: What will you improve for next week?

This diagram shows the Experiential learning cycle in more detail and introduces another additional theory:

This shows how Kolb's two continuums separate thinking and feeling. The east-west axis is labelled as “the Processing Continuum (how we approach a task), and the north-south axis is called thePerception Continuum (our emotional response, or how we think or feel about it).”

(McLeod 2017)

In other worlds Assimilating is a learning style which is logical, systematic, and cognitive. Maybe more favoured by natural scientists and mathematicians. Similarly, converging is technical in style and learners typically favour problem solving. This doesn't mean these kinds of learning can't be utilised in my practice and if a student was more inclined to think in this manner, I could use inventive ways to communicate my teachings via this approach.

Diverging and Accommodating are more aligned with feeling and expression. They involve seeing things from different points of views and generally encapsulate an open minded approach. This style is possibly more in harmony with the dance profession.

I would be interested in researching how much of the preferred learning style is influenced by genetics vs environment. Does a Teacher have the power to switch one's preferred learning style? Is it down to frequency of exposure? I hope to explore this further.

In conclusion, when thinking about this cycle I recognise that it is all in vain unless one is active in the process. “Experiential learning requires self-initiative, an "intention to learn" and an "active phase of learning" (Moon, 2004) and it cannot just be forced by the teacher alone.

Encouraging my students to recognise the benefit of being active in their own learning process would hopefully reduce the strain of trying to drag the learners through the motions, devoid of passion and interest. My past experiences of learning have always motivated me to want to learn even more. It feels satisfying. Enriching. Perhaps this is more evident when one has a passion for the topic? I know my engagement in the learning process was stronger in the performing arts as opposed to say, Geography! I question whether the educational system is dulling the ability to be a collaborative learner as the school set up is frequently a set of delivered instructions without the opportunity for innovation. This has made me consider how important creativity is in my teaching and how my own self improvement in my practice can hopefully facilitate a more effective learning process for my students.

Where do you typically enter the learning cycle? Is it different according to the situation?

 

Bibliography

Chapman, A. (2006, May). Kolb Learning Styles. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm

Mcleod, S. (2017, February 5). Kolb's Learning Styles and Experiential Learning Cycle. Retrieved October 13        2019, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html.

McLeod, S. (2017, Oct 24). Kolb - learning styles. Simply Psychology. Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html

Moon, J. (2004). A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning:Theory and Practice. London: Routledge Falmer. p.126.

Kolb, David. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Schœn, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions by Donald A. Schon. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Suzanne Farrell Quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/suzanne-farrell-quotes.