Diana Laufenberg Promotes Experiential Learning

As I watched teacher Diana Laufenberg's TED Talk about experiential learning, I wished she had been my teacher when I was in school. Her use of interactive, experiential learning opportunities is very motivating for students. My three main "take-aways" from this video are:

1. Experiential learning is the most engaging method to motivate and encourage students to apply knowledge and skills.
2. Students should be empowered to "use their own voice" to describe their learning, meaning that they should apply knowledge to their own lives and be moved to create change in the world.
3. Students should embrace their failures as opportunities to learn more authentically--we fail, we reflect, we try again, and we improve each time we have more experience to apply to new situations.

As she pointed out, when students are faced with high-stakes testing and an emphasis on competition and getting ahead, the desire to learn takes a back seat to merely collecting points to earn a grade, and just getting through the day. Students need to be able to experience learning, not just go through the motions.

I agree with Ms. Laufenberg's view that learning "should not just be about coming to school to get the learning," because learning can happen anywhere. A truly motivated learner who is hungry for knowledge will seek it at every opportunity. Unfortunately, our schools have demotivated students so that learning anything is an enormous chore, and students are judged harshly when they do not "get the right answer."

Ms. Laufenberg  describes that an authentic learning process allows students to fail, learn from the experience, and do better next time. This is also much more motivating for the instructor--the positive energy created when students are experiencing authentic learning experiences fuels the desire to go on to the next challenge.

Unfortunately, Ms. Laufenberg's willingness to allow students to make mistakes and learn from them is uncommon. Unfortunately, this type of teaching is rare in most of our overcrowded, underfunded public schools. Few teachers will take on such an initiative when faced with the massive obstacles that public school teachers face. This is not to say that it is impossible, but it is the rare educator who has as much energy to beat the system as she does.