Experiential learning techniques can be helpful in fostering learning transfer. Techniques such as project-based learning, reflective learning, and cooperative learning provide authentic platforms for developing rich learning experiences. In contrast to more didactic forms of instruction, experiential learning techniques foster a depth of learning…

This volume has explored embodied knowing in formal and informal education, including the university classroom, the workplace, the health professions, and the community. Educators considered the role of intuition, theater, dance, yoga, and outdoor education activities as forms of embodied learning. While the contexts of education were different,…

Most people can recall a time when they learned a skill or came to understand an idea while participating in an experience: learning in such a way that the action being taken and the resulting learning outcomes were synonymous. Time spent in hands-on efforts tend to engage learners physically and emotionally in both the process of learning and the…

Educating adults to tap into the wisdom of their inner life can happen in many contexts: (1) higher education classrooms; (2) workshop and retreat settings; and (3) psychotherapy settings. Adults can also facilitate the development of their inner life through various self-directed learning efforts, by learning from life experience, and through…

Wisdom is a complex phenomenon: it finds its home primarily but not exclusively in theology, philosophy, psychology, education--that is, in the humanities--and in life itself. In a paradoxical manner, wisdom finds its home in the world of the unanswerable, where there are no empirical proofs and no obvious answers. Wisdom actually finds its place…

Careful course design sets the stage for effective learning, whether in a formal or informal setting. Designers of learning experiences seek a balance among several learning objectives that compete for time in the classroom and for space on the syllabus. The nature of community based learning with adults multiplies the design decisions that must…

Community based learning and education can be viewed from at least two perspectives. One is a lens that focuses on engagement with service to the community, with all of the explicit and implicit values reflected by those contexts and activities. Another focuses on the learning and associated processes, objects for consideration in and of…

This article looks at the ways in which people learn informally through artistic expression such as dance, drama, poetry, music, literature, film, and all of the visual arts and how people access this learning through their emotions. The author begins with a look at the limitations of relying primarily on technical-rational learning processes.…

The purpose of this chapter is to consider the important influence that spirituality has in adult learning and how discussions of it are affecting the field of adult education. In so doing, the author begins by attempting to define spirituality and then considers the nature of spiritual experience and its relationship to adult development.…

Research on the executive functions of the brain supports a constructivist, experiential approach to teaching and learning.

Recent discoveries about brain function explain how best practices in adult learning may lead to adult learners' developmental growth.

Community Performance Theater is a vehicle for creating collective knowledge based on oral history, opening dialogue in an urban setting, and paving the way for social change.

Collaborative inquiry is an effective strategy for facilitating experiential learning through the use of peer participation, multiple ways of knowing, and systematic validity processes for meaning making. (Contains 21 references.) (SK)

Collaborative inquiry was facilitated among six nursing managers learning to be more holistic in their work. They moved through eight cycles of action-reflection as they attempted to improve communication and respect, increase self-understanding, and use new skills and understanding to build community throughout the hospital. (SK)

A group of 10 women developing peer education services participated in collaborative inquiry in order to remove barriers to peer counseling. The following themes emerged: (1) adding experiential knowledge to textbook knowledge; (2) crossing cultures using difference as a creative resource; and (3) using public discourse to transfer knowledge to…