Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Experiential learning is a powerful and proven approach to teaching and learning that is based on one incontrovertible reality: people learn best through experience. Now, in this extensively updated book, David A. Kolb offers a systematic and up-to-date statement of the theory of experiential learning and its modern applications to education, work, and adult development.

Experiential Learning, Second Edition builds on the intellectual origins of experiential learning as defined by figures such as John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget, and L.S. Vygotsky, while also reflecting three full decades of research and practice since the classic first edition.

Kolb models the underlying structures of the learning process based on the latest insights in psychology, philosophy, and physiology. Building on his comprehensive structural model, he offers an exceptionally useful typology of individual learning styles and corresponding structures of knowledge in different academic disciplines and careers. Kolb also applies experiential learning to higher education and lifelong learning, especially with regard to adult education.

This edition reviews recent applications and uses of experiential learning, updates Kolb's framework to address the current organizational and educational landscape, and features current examples of experiential learning both in the field and in the classroom. It will be an indispensable resource for everyone who wants to promote more effective learning: in higher education, training, organizational development, lifelong learning environments, and online.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword (p. x)
• About the Author (p. xii)
• Preface (p. xiii)
• Introduction (p. xvi)
• Part I Experience and Learning
• Chapter 1 The Foundations of Contemporary Approaches to Experiential Learning (p. 1)
• Experiential Learning in Higher Education: The Legacy of John Dewey (p. 4)
• Experiential Learning in Training and Organization Development: The Contributions of Kurt Lewin (p. 8)
• Jean Piaget and the Cognitive-Development Tradition of Experiential Learning (p. 12)
• Other Contributions to Experiential Learning Theory (p. 15)
• Update and Reflections (p. 19)
• Foundational Scholars of Experiential Learning Theory (p. 19)
• Liminal Scholars (p. 20)
• Contributions to Experiential Learning (p. 23)
• Chapter 2 The Process of Experiential Learning (p. 31)
• Three Models of the Experiential Learning Process (p. 32)
• Characteristics of Experiential Learning (p. 37)
• Summary: A Deinition of Learning (p. 49)
• Update and Reflections (p. 50)
• The Learning Cycle and the Learning Spiral (p. 50)
• Understanding the Learning Cycle (p. 50)
• The Learning Spiral (p. 61)
• Part II The Structure of Learning and Knowledge
• Chapter 3 Structural Foundations of the Learning Process (p. 65)
• Process and Structure in Experiential Learning (p. 66)
• The Prehension Dimension-Apprehension Versus Comprehension (p. 69)
• The Transformation Dimension-Intention and Extension (p. 77)
• Summary (p. 85)
• Update and Reflections (p. 87)
• Experiential Learning and the Brain (p. 87)
• James Zull and the Link between the Learning Cycle and Brain Functioning (p. 88)
• My Brain Made Me Do It? (p. 94)
• Chapter 4 Individuality in Learning and the Concept of Learning Styles (p. 97)
• The Scientific Study of Individuality (p. 98)
• Learning Styles as Possibility-Processing Structures (p. 100)
• Assessing Individual Learning Styles: The Learning Style Inventory (p. 104)
• Evidence for the Structure of Learning (p. 111)
• Characteristics of the Basic Learning Styles (p. 114)
• Summary and Conclusion (p. 135)
• Update and Reflections (p. 137)
• Individuality, the Self, and Learning Style (p. 137)
• Western and Eastern Views of the Self (p. 138)
• Experiential Learning and the Self (p. 139)
• Learning Style (p. 141)
• Chapter 5 The Structure of Knowledge (p. 153)
• Apprehension vs. Comprehension-A Dual-Knowledge Theory (p. 154)
• The Dialectics of Apprehension and Comprehension (p. 159)
• The Structure of Social Knowledge: World Hypothese (p. 164)
• Summary (p. 173)
• Social Knowledge as Living Systems of Inquiry-The Relation between the Structure of Knowledge and Fields of Inquiry and Endeavor (p. 175)
• Update and Reflections (p. 186)
• The Spiral of Knowledge Creation (p. 186)
• Personal Characteristics and Ways of Knowing (p. 188)
• Knowledge Structures and Disciplinary Learning Spaces (p. 190)
• The Knowledge Structures of Experiential Learning (p. 192)
• Part III Learning and Development
• Chapter 6 The Experiential Learning Theory of Development (p. 197)
• Learning and Development as Transactions between Person and Environment (p. 198)
• Differentiation and Integration in Development (p. 199)
• Unilinear vs. Multilinear Development (p. 201)
• The Experiential Learning Theory of Development (p. 205)
• Consciousness, Learning, and Development (p. 210)
• Adaptation, Consciousness, and Development (p. 216)
• Update and Reflections (p. 225)
• Culture and Context (p. 226)
• Individual Differences and Multilinear Development (p. 227)
• Integration and Advanced Stages of Adult Development (p. 228)
• Implications for Experiential Learning Theory Development Theory (p. 234)
• Chapter 7 Learning and Development in Higher Education (p. 239)
• Specialized Development and the Process of Accentuation (p. 242)
• Undergraduate Student Development in a Technological University (p. 244)
• Professional Education and Career Adaptation (p. 261)
• A Comparative Study of Professional Education in Social Work and Engineering (p. 263)
• Managing the Learning Process (p. 276)
• Implications for Higher Education (p. 283)
• Update and Reflections (p. 287)
• Becoming an Experiential Educator (p. 287)
• Chapter 8 Lifelong Learning and Integrative Development (p. 311)
• Adaptive Flexibility and Integrative Development (p. 315)
• On Integrity and Integrative Knowledge (p. 327)
• Update and Reflection (p. 333)
• Lifelong Learning and the Learning Way (p. 333)
• Bibliography (p. 355)
• Index (p. 377)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

David A. Kolb is the Chairman of Experience Based Learning Systems (EBLS), an organization that he founded in 1980 to advance research and practice on experiential learning. EBLS conducts basic research on Experiential Learning Theory and has developed many experiential exercises and self-assessment instruments including the latest Kolb Learning Style Inventory 4.0. The EBLS program of research on experiential learning is ongoing in collaboration with an international network of researchers, practitioners and learning partners.

He received his BA in psychology, philosophy, and religion at Knox College and his Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University. He was a professor of organizational behavior and management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, where he is currently Emeritus Professor of Organizational Behavior.

He is best known for his research on experiential learning and learning styles described in this book, Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development . Other books include Conversational Learning: An Experiential Approach to Knowledge Creation, Innovation in Professional Education: Steps on a Journey from Teaching to Learning , and Organizational Behavior: An Experiential Approach . In addition, he has authored many journal articles and book chapters on experiential learning.

David A. Kolb has received several research recognition awards and four honorary degrees recognizing his contributions to experiential learning in higher education.

For more information about his work, go to www.learningfromexperience.com.