Research & History 
Experiential Education is Multi-Sensory
Experiential education engages participants and fosters the enjoyment, growth and success of all participants by accommodating different learning styles. The combination of auditory, visual and bodily-kinesthetic stimuli focuses students’ attention with greater meaning to allow information to be absorbed.
- Learning is best through EXPERIENCE that includes the whole mind and body with all its emotions, senses and receptors.
- Learning is CREATION, not consumption. Learning happens when a learner integrates new knowledge and skill into his or her existing structure of self.
- COLLABERATION aids learning. A genuine learning community is always better for learning than a collection of isolated individuals.
- Learning takes place on many levels SIMULTANEOUSLY. The brain thrives when it is challenged to do many things at once.
- Learning comes from doing the work itself with FEEDBACK. The real and concrete are far better teachers than the hypothetical and abstract—provided there is time for total immersion, feedback and reflection.
- POSITIVE emotions greatly improve learning. Learning that is stressful, painful, and dreary can’t hold a candle to learning that is joyful, relaxed, and engaging.
- The IMAGE brain absorbs information instantly and automatically. Concrete images are easier for the brain to grasp than verbal abstractions.
The Research
Research completed at Colorado University1 showed that spending just three hours on a low ropes course showed significant positive increases in team development and behaviors.
John Hopkins University has an institute for American Indian youth that includes a ropes and group initiatives course that has been proven clinically to decrease the use of drugs and depression.
Research has also shown that the majority of all students who drop out are tactile, kinesthetic learners. The use of challenge courses promotes auditory, visual and tactile kinesthetic stimuli which focuses student‘s attention so greater meaning and information can be absorbed.
1Title: Effects of Ropes Course Therapy on Individual Perceptions of The Classroom Environment (Adolescents), Author: Daheim, Timothy Joseph
“In summary, the results from Defining Issues Test and the two measures of self-esteem lend support to the hypothesis that experiential programs can effectively promote psychological development to adolescents and do so at least somewhat more effectively than classroom-based programs. The data further suggests that the impact is strongest when the experience is most intensive, most dissimilar from ordinary classroom activities.”
Excerpt from a review by Dr. Dan Conrad and Diane Hedin, in the book entitled Experiential Learning in Schools and Higher Education, regarding the impact of experiential education.
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