How to Incorporate Experiential Learning in the School Curriculum
Experiential Learning is the process of learning by doing. It helps students to connect theories and knowledge learned in the classroom to real-world situations through hands-on experiences and reflection.
With real-world projects, teachers can instill 21st Century skills in students that will serve students well into their future careers.
Benefits of Experiential Learning
- Better understanding of course material
- Students gain insight into their own skills, interests & passions
- Improves self-confidence and leadership skills
Here’s how teachers can deliver Experiential Learning in their schools:
Four-phase framework: Learn, Do, Reflect, Act
Teachers can adopt the Four-phase framework – Learn, Do, Reflect, Act – to deliver experiential learning in the classroom. Let’s understand this with an example where students learn to develop an app.
Learn: For a project focused on app development skills, teachers should allow students to first learn/understand how an app works.
Do: Teachers should encourage students to practice design and coding skills that are needed to develop an app that serves a purpose or solves a given problem.
Reflect: Teachers should let students reflect on areas that went well/needs improvement, then motivate students to work on improving the app till it meets the needs and solves the problem of the user.
Act: Teachers should allow these students to teach their classmates/younger students, how to build an app, based on their project experience.
Real-world projects
To foster experiential learning in schools, teachers can collaborate with essential stakeholder groups such as subject matter experts or business owners to serve as audience members and panelist judges when students research, develop, and present their real-world project ideas/business start-up pitches and proposals. Another way to give students the opportunity to gain skills/confidence to develop and present their project ideas is to encourage students to participate in national/international design competitions where industry experts evaluate student projects, interact with them, and give their expert feedback on the projects. The guidance/feedback helps students to generate ideas and prepare better projects/prototypes in the future.
Ready-to-use experiential learning content
Advanced ICT programs offer ready-to-use experiential learning content to schools for subjects like app design, game design, 3D design, web design and more. By engaging students with fun, creative and tech-based education programs, teachers can enhance student learning experience and outcome while developing essential 21st Century skills in students which include critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, decision making, collaboration, communication skills, perseverance, global awareness, technology skills, digital literacy, social skills, innovation skills, entrepreneurship skills, life skills and career skills.
ICT 360 provides NEP aligned, STEM accredited ICT curriculum with ready-to-use content, design and computational thinking approach to projects as well as interdisciplinary learning material on an online platform that caters to today’s relevant technologies and future skills requirements. It is designed to help teachers improve their instructional practices with 21st century teaching skills through train-the-teacher program, build a strong foundation to empower students with the ability and skills to design & create amazing things on their own in a fun & engaging environment, excel in academics and prepare them to be industry- and career-ready.
With 50+ partner schools across India, it aims to empower students with creativity, problem-solving, design and advanced tech skills from an early age. These skills are essential for future job roles like AI & ML Specialist, Game Designer, Graphic Designer, Software & Applications Developer, Animator, Robotics Engineer, Data Analyst, and IOT Specialist.
