A Teacher's Guide to Experiential Learning: In the Critical Skills Classroom

The Critical Skills Classroom gives conscious attention to the idea of experiential learning. It engages students both in active processes and in reflection on those processes. Experiential learning offers a multi-sensory, multi-modal environment that allows students the opportunity to interact in real-life contexts, construct individual meaning, and to engage in complex actions that mirror life outside school.

Experiential learning that is consistently of high quality is not an accident. It is thoughtfully designed and skillfully facilitated. It takes time to understand and to master. The Critical Skills Experiential Cycle was developed to guide teachers in the processes of the design and coaching of experiential learning. It lies at the heart of understanding how teachers and students move together through a learning experience. It is an essential tool for describing the phases that make up a quality-learning event