Megan and I researched experiential learning education in the classroom. This is a major part of my educational philosophy, and I am very passionate about its use and importance in the classroom. I was surprised to find that experiential learning involves group work, discussion and journaling which are methods I always considered to be productive for students, but more repetitious than exploratory. Through my research I learned about many new and exciting activities that can be used in an experiential classroom; I also began to think about how experiential education can be a great, easy way to incorporate other educational philosophies such as multicultural education, curriculum integration and motivation.
For our presentation, both Megan and I completed research by finding and analyzing at least five sources; my contribution was the books we used while Megan focused on the websites and internet journals. Megan sent me all of her information, and together with mine I organized our information into themes, then wrote the paper for our issue. Megan used this paper to compose our Power Point presentation with our major themes, and used our resources to find images and pictures to go on our slides. Megan and I worked very well together so that neither of us did more work; furthermore, to prepare for our presentation we met with Dr. Grace and discussed activities that could engage and teach the students about our issue. For our presentation, Megan and I decided to use primary topics from each content area and provide an opportunity for the students to think curriculum integration as well. It bothered me that our Power Point didn’t work, but I think Megan and I handled it very well and were able to stay focused and retain our composure. My own downfall being that I kept losing my place when reading the paper on screen and so might have paused too much, but I am confident that our peers learned valuable information from our presentation despite the technological glitches.
So what did I learn from the reflections of my peers? Unfortunately, some of our peers did not understand why we didn’t give them more guidance in the activity, but the point was to show them what student-oriented education looks like, and to make their own learning experiences based on their own knowledge and their own understandings of the topic given to them in each of five major content areas. We wanted our peers to realize that fun and engaging activities allow students to attain deeper understanding of the required concepts; and in fact many of our peers did make this connection. I mentioned that experiential education makes less workload for the teacher, and one of our peers didn’t understand what I meant by this: I should make it more clear by stating that workload is easier because students are doing all of the work choosing their activities and finding their own materials. Yes, it is true that teachers still have to make handouts, get a lot of materials, and compose organizers for student learning, but teachers still have less workload because they aren’t required to instruct the students and plan supplements.
One of our peers stated that there were still many questions running around in her head, and I don’t consider that a failure, but rather a success: educational issues cannot be a solve-all but rather a way of getting people thinking and questioning so they will learn more and strengthen their teaching skills. There is only one question still on my mind: when doesn't experiential education work? I tend to believe there is no answer to this question, but finding the answer should keep me busy for years to come.
For our presentation, both Megan and I completed research by finding and analyzing at least five sources; my contribution was the books we used while Megan focused on the websites and internet journals. Megan sent me all of her information, and together with mine I organized our information into themes, then wrote the paper for our issue. Megan used this paper to compose our Power Point presentation with our major themes, and used our resources to find images and pictures to go on our slides. Megan and I worked very well together so that neither of us did more work; furthermore, to prepare for our presentation we met with Dr. Grace and discussed activities that could engage and teach the students about our issue. For our presentation, Megan and I decided to use primary topics from each content area and provide an opportunity for the students to think curriculum integration as well. It bothered me that our Power Point didn’t work, but I think Megan and I handled it very well and were able to stay focused and retain our composure. My own downfall being that I kept losing my place when reading the paper on screen and so might have paused too much, but I am confident that our peers learned valuable information from our presentation despite the technological glitches.
So what did I learn from the reflections of my peers? Unfortunately, some of our peers did not understand why we didn’t give them more guidance in the activity, but the point was to show them what student-oriented education looks like, and to make their own learning experiences based on their own knowledge and their own understandings of the topic given to them in each of five major content areas. We wanted our peers to realize that fun and engaging activities allow students to attain deeper understanding of the required concepts; and in fact many of our peers did make this connection. I mentioned that experiential education makes less workload for the teacher, and one of our peers didn’t understand what I meant by this: I should make it more clear by stating that workload is easier because students are doing all of the work choosing their activities and finding their own materials. Yes, it is true that teachers still have to make handouts, get a lot of materials, and compose organizers for student learning, but teachers still have less workload because they aren’t required to instruct the students and plan supplements.
One of our peers stated that there were still many questions running around in her head, and I don’t consider that a failure, but rather a success: educational issues cannot be a solve-all but rather a way of getting people thinking and questioning so they will learn more and strengthen their teaching skills. There is only one question still on my mind: when doesn't experiential education work? I tend to believe there is no answer to this question, but finding the answer should keep me busy for years to come.
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