Use Kolb’s Learning Cycle to Grasp New Concepts

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If you really want Understand what you learn, not just memorizing it in the short term for a test, you must familiarize yourself with the Kolb learning cycle. Hell, even if you just want to take a test, you have to familiarize yourself with Kolb’s learning cycle. The education theorist, David A. Kolb, published his theory of experiential learning in 1984 and has been popular since, at least among teachers. If you have not heard of it, this is not a problem; Let’s review what it is so that you can learn better.

What is the cycle in four stages of Kolb?

Kolb has offered a cycle of four steps which, once past, will result in effective learning:

• Concrete learning: This happens when the learner has a new experience and uses it to reinterpret or crop an existing. For example, let’s say that you made a presentation and that it did not go as well as you hoped, even if you felt like you have prepared for it. You have had a new experience and it made you refer what you considered a solid preparation.

• Reflective observation: This happens when the learner thinks of the experience in a personal way. In our example of presentation, this could mean that you have thought about how the disengagement or confusion of your audience looks, then wondered if it was your speech speed or your PowerPoint -congested PowerPoint slides that contributed to it.

• Abstract conceptualization: This is the part when the learner forms or modifies ideas after having thought. Perhaps here, you have offered ideas to improve your next presentation, such as cutting additional information from your slides or speaking more slowly and with better visual contact.

• Active experimentation: Finally, this happens when the learner applies The new thought and the notes change. In an active experiment, let’s say that you applied what you learned during the last presentation and that you paid attention to see how the public responded to your new approach.

Essentially, this method is a rigid and more academic means of describing the phenomenon of doing something, to think about how you have done it and to redo it with changes according to this reflection, which returns to the starting point to “do something”.

Although these steps tend to occur in order, it is important to note that you can technically enter the cycle at any stage. For example, you might have an experience and think about it, form an idea and apply your reflection to your broader understanding of it, then learn more details and concrete information on this subject in a new class a year later. Do not hang too much to master this in order, but familiarize yourself with the steps so that you can learn to recognize and use them.

What the kolb cycle looks like in practice

Let’s say that you are studying accounting. You have personal experience like making your own taxes or budget your pay check, which is concrete learning. You gain more experience in class, being introduced to higher level accounting concepts.

After learning these concepts, you can do reflective observation By reflecting on how your own budgeting experiences correspond to what you have just been taught and if what you have just learned could have improved your old results.

In Abstract conceptualizationYou apply these reflections, considering if they have an impact on how you approach accounting in your life and if you would do something different the next time you go on a budget.

In active experimentationYou can try to implement new class lessons in your own financial planning or work on practice exercises, informed by your own experiences and new information. When you consider the result of the practical application, you start again with the concrete learning that you have experienced during the exercise.

What to keep in mind of the Kolb cycle

For me, the most crucial element here is reflecting observation. If you get a B on a quiz and do not pass what you have done wrong, you will be mistaken these same questions in mid-term. Thinking about what has happened and what you can change is the way you make the changes you need in the future and what distinguishes this as a learning and study technique. After studying a new concept, try methods that force an active recall – such as jamming, which says or writes all the content you remember the chapter or the section – and take your time when you were wrong.

It should not be a solo company either. If you are stuck on something, ask a teacher or a colleague to guide you. Obtaining an external perspective can help reflect observation and abstract conceptualization, allowing you to crop your reflections on a subject.

The Kolb cycle is generally intended for teachers to think about planning lessons. Structural learning, for example, encourages educators to use this model in lessons to improve students understanding and problem solving. But as the objective of using the method is to encourage the acquisition of more abstract concepts – which can then be applied to a variety of subjects and situations – it works for anyone. Keep the four steps in mind while you are studying a new concept and reflecting on how you can hit each will help you think more flexibly about the whole subject and help you keep what you learn.