The Learning Cycle

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Experiencing | Reflecting | Theorizing | Experimenting | So what

A way of using Kolb's learning styles is a cycle whereby we learn. This is different from Kolb's styles which state that people have preferred static positions regarding these.

Experiencing

First of all, we have an experience. Most experiences are not worth further movement on the cycle as we are already familiar with them and they need no further interpretation and hence no need for learning.

Reflecting

Having experienced something which does not fit well into our current system of understanding, we then have to stop and think harder about what it really means. This reflection is typically a series of attempts to fit the experience to memories and our internal models (or schemata).

Theorizing

When we find that we cannot fit what we have experienced into any of our memories or internal models, then we have to build new models. This theorizing gives us a possible answer to our puzzling experiences.

Experimenting

After building a theoretical model, the next step is to prove it in practice, either in 'real time' or by deliberate experimentation in some safe arena. If the model does not work, then we go through the loop again, reflecting on what happened and either adjusting the model or building a new one.

So what?

So help people learn by giving them experiences, helping them reflect and build internal models, and then giving them the means of trying out those models to see if they work in practice.

See also

Kolb's Learning Styles, Schema