Preparing the Next Generation for Success in College, Career and Life

Andrew H. Potter, M.A.; M.A. NEJS

Originally published as Potter, Andrew H. (2013) Experiential Learning and Student Engagement: Preparing the Next Generation for Success in College, Career and Life. The Mid-Atlantic Currents, Winter 2013, 9-10. Used and edited with permission.

Approximately 80 percent of currently enrolled ninth graders will not obtain a bachelor’s degree within six years of their high school graduation. Perhaps even more concerning, the vast majority of these current ninth graders will be unable to both compete and cooperate on a global scale. Simply put, they will lack the skills and the behaviors required of innovative leaders in a globalized, 21^st century world.^[1]

While no silver bullet exists, experiential learning is well positioned to both increase student engagement and strengthen key cognitive strategies and academic behaviors that form the foundation for college, career and life success. 

Source: The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems Progress and Completion Data

Experiential Learning:  Advantages

Experiential learning methodologies that increase student engagement will prepare students with the attitudes, skills and behaviors that result in college and career success. Specifically, experiential learning can positively impact the acquisition of cognitive strategies (problem solving, analysis, intellectual openness, interpretation, et al.) and academic behaviors (communication, collaboration, creativity, curiosity et al.).

These two “skill based” areas form the heart of the modern 21^st Century Skill and College & Career Readiness movements.^[2] Experiential learning methodologies have been delivering on these critical outcomes for centuries.  Unfortunately, instructors often fail to publicly align their instructional outcomes against leading educational research.

Experiential learning is often ill defined, poorly implemented and, as a result, viewed with skepticism by some. Experiential learning aims to involve a student physically, emotionally and intellectually through hands-on instructional methods. In particular, inquiry-based learning methods – including problem- and project-based learning – are practical manifestations of this method.

The proven BSCS 5E Instructional Model provides a clear basis for both curriculum mapping and outcome alignment.^[3] It facilitates a process of conceptual change and utilizes five key learning phases:

1. Engagement – access the student’s prior knowledge and involve him in the phenomenon to be studied.
2. Exploration – participation in an activity that facilitates conceptual change.
3. Explanation – generation of an explanation of the phenomenon.
4. Elaboration – challenge and deepen students’ understanding of the phenomenon through new experiences.
5. Evaluation – student assessment of their understanding of the conceptual change that has occurred.

This model enables the instructor to design rigorous experiential learning that can be assessed and aligned with national and international benchmarks.

Drawing on the insights of educational leaders like Johann Herbart and John Dewey, the BSCS 5E Model emerged in the 1980’s through a curricular design study funded by IBM. Primarily envisioned as an instructional methodology for the sciences, the BSCS 5E Model is now supported by a wide sampling of cognitive research. This research has repeatedly demonstrated that learning is an active process with the learner as a key player in the instructional environment.

Thus, with its dual emphasis on experience and reflective thinking, the BSCS 5E model can be aligned directly with experiential learning and also provide a rigorous, research-informed instructional methodology.

Experiential Learning: The Pathway to Success

In a data-saturated world where the ability to use knowledge is absolutely critical, experiential learning can emerge as the vanguard instructional methodology that prepares students for the complexities of 21^st century living. Purveyors of experiential learning should adopt a rigorous instructional model like the BSCS 5E model, while also leveraging their instructional outcomes against identified 21^st century skills and behaviors.

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About the Author

Andrew H. Potter is the Vice President of Education at Envision, one of the nation’s leaders in preparing students at the K-12 and postsecondary level with the skills and experiences they need to succeed in college and in their future careers. The curriculum for Envision programs is based on the experiential learning model. He can be contacted at apotter@envisionexperience.com. Educators who have questions about Envision should call (877) 587-9659 or email programinfo@envisionexperience.com.

[1] See Tony Wagner. (2012).  Creating Innovators. (New York:  Scribner).

[2] See David T. Conley. (2010).  College and Career Ready:  Helping All Students Succeed Beyond High School. (San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass).  Conley’s research isolates four dimensions of college and career readiness including “Key Cognitive Strategies”, “Key Content Knowledge”, “Academic Behaviors”, and “Contextual Skills and Awareness”.

[3] R.W.  Bybee  et al. (2006). The BSCS 5E Instructional Model:  Origins and Effectiveness.  Office of Science Education Report, National Institutes of Health.