The Importance of Experiential Learning// Torrence Campbell

3/11/2016

"In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught."

Baba Dioum, 1968.

 

This was the quote camp director Ken Wold began with when he introduced this project, the Preston Outdoor Education Station, to our Design+Make studio. It is both his and Camp Wood’s goal to instill in those that visit a passion for the ecosystem of the Flint Hills’ Tallgrass Prairie in which the camp is situated. Many children living in Kansas are exposed to the basic principles of this ecosystem at some point in their education, but Ken and the camp staff wanted to do more than teach students about the basic geology. They wanted the students to leave with a lasting memory of this landscape.

 

How does one effectively teach the intricate details of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem to young students of elementary and middle school age? Our studio was tasked with creating a shade structure that could house a gathering space for educational talks and a permanent display of informational material. This material covers information on the grasses, insects, the prairie burns effects on the region, and the geological makeup of the earth. However upon study we determined that the initial scope of our proposed design would not create the desired effect of a lasting impression on the site because the students would still be receiving the information in a similar manner as they would in their classroom. In order to create profound memories of the Tallgrass Prairie for the visiting students it was clear that we would need to use different forms of teaching than those found in a typical classroom.

 

To fully immerse the students in the landscape we split up the learning center into stations and placed them in specific locations around the site to take the students directly to the source material. By combining our goals of creating a memory and gaining knowledge of the prairie we designed environments based around the teaching philosophy of experiential learning developed by educational theorist David Kolb (1). Experiential learning techniques have been determined to have a greater and more profound impact on the students. And this is not a new concept;

 

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I will learn.”

Benjamin Franklin, 1750

The fact is it’s just easier to create an environment in which students are orally given information, but that doesn’t make it the right way to present it. So we set about understanding how architectural devices can call out specific strata of the ecosystem and create a memorable and lasting impression on the students who visit the camp. We wanted to create an environment that only existed here, that uses our interventions to create a more interactive learning environment.

 

Experiential learning allows students to learn through the process of observing and gathering common knowledge from a collection of experiences (4). Studies conducted by Jean Piaget have concluded that teaching students in a linear verbal manner restricts the eagerness of children to learn (5). Taking this line of thought we wanted to create an environment that fostered a curious and eager mind toward this landscape, we created scenarios where the students could explore and make observations and realizations on their own.