What is the Kolb cycle?
The Kolb Cycle is one of the extremely fascinating educational methods, which is based on the belief that a person most effectively acquires knowledge through specific action. The basis of David A. Kolb’s theory is learning through life experience and actual practice, which enable continuous development and improvement of skills.
According to the American researcher, the entire learning cycle can be defined as a four-stage learning process in which knowledge is the result of gaining experience and experimenting with various problem-solving methods. According to this model, learners must actively participate in learning by acting flexibly, reflecting and trying to understand issues in different ways. Only then can they experience effective learning, which is not the case with traditional information acquisition, based only on theory learning and repetition of material.
Kolb’s method is not new. When creating his theory, David A. Kolb relied largely on the statement of John Dewey, who believed that experience is the source of acquiring and verifying knowledge. He also used the achievements of other psychologists and philosophers, such as Jean Piaget and Kurt Lewin (Lewin’s method). Although its experiential learning cycle was created in the 1970s (1974 to be precise), it is still one of the basic tools of many trainers’ work. The Kolb Cycle is a method that engages and encourages training participants to boldly and experimentally acquire new skills.
Stages of experiential learning according to Kolb
According to Kolb’s theory, learning is a four-stage, never-ending process in which a person acquires knowledge by gaining new experiences. All such activities and information obtained are part of holistic development, increase creativity and promote the emergence of new ideas. According to David A. Kolb, we can talk about effective learning when a training participant or student goes through the subsequent stages of the cycle, which are: experience, reflection, conceptualization and experimentation.
Let’s take a closer look at the components of Kolb’s cycle.
Concrete Experience
In the first phase of Kolb’s cycle, a person encounters a specific experience that creates an incredible opportunity to gain new knowledge. According to the researcher, at this stage commitment is extremely important, which, in the case of professional work, may concern completely new tasks or new ways of implementing already known projects. The main goal here is to participate in a situation that in itself can be a good opportunity to acquire new knowledge.
Reflective Observation
In the second stage of Kolb’s cycle, immediately after engaging in the experience, reflection occurs, during which the learner can reflect on the task or specific activities. This phase allows, for example, questions to be asked and discussed in the group. For many people, this is a time when they can confront their experience with their personal point of view and their own ideas. Reflection helps to compare new experiences with current practice.
Abstract Conceptualisation
In Kolb’s series, reflection leads to the next stage, i.e. abstract conceptualization. In this phase, learners create completely new ideas or try to change their current thinking based on previous considerations. This is the time to formulate new conclusions and look for applications that can be implemented in everyday life. The more abstract the solutions, the greater the chance of remembering given issues and developing related skills.
Active Experimentation
The final phase of Kolb’s experiential learning cycle is active experimentation. In this stage, the learner begins to apply new ideas to the world around him. This is the moment when we test new solutions and actively experiment with different concepts. Such action allows you to solve completely new problems and make new decisions. The results of experiments, of course, are completely new experiences that trigger another cycle. In this way, our life becomes a nexus of various practices that interpenetrate each other, creating further fields for development.
According to Kolb, learners can enter the cycle at any stage because each of the four phases is dependent on the others. However, to ensure effective knowledge transfer, you must complete each of them.
The Kolb cycle in practice
According to David A. Kolb, acquiring experiential knowledge has two purposes. One of them is to thoroughly learn the specifics of a given issue. The second is getting to know yourself and your own learning process. The Kolb cycle is easiest to illustrate with a practical example.
Imagine that your task is to bake a cake for your best friend’s birthday. You’re taking a delicious sponge cake out of the oven and it doesn’t quite look like the recipe describes. Here’s what the Kolb cycle looks like in practice, based on the example given:
- EXPERIENCE. After removing the sponge cake from the oven, it turns out that its bottom is burnt. However, the top of the cake still looks raw. Something clearly went wrong!
- REFLECTION. You read the recipe again and check whether your actions followed the instructions. You simply compare your expectations with the actual result.
- CONCEPTUALIZATION. Based on your observations, you determine that you have set or set the oven temperature too high. What’s more, the oven is not new and unfortunately bakes unevenly.
- EXPERIMENTATION. You don’t get discouraged. You prepare the dough again. This time you control the temperature and baking time more carefully. In the future, you will also consider replacing your kitchen equipment. All subsequent attempts will result in new experiences.
Our example shows in a simple way how a learner builds his or her knowledge in a specific field. The entire experiential learning process is based on trial and error, experimenting with various factors and reflecting on the results. And all this to try to achieve the intended goal.
Taking our example, you will now learn some details about baking. Plus, you’ll learn something about how you build your baking knowledge. This happens through trial and error as you experiment with different factors and reflect on the results to try to achieve your desired goal.
Flask cycle – application examples
The Kolb series undoubtedly accompanies us in our everyday life and practically whenever we are looking for creative ways to solve a given problem. In the era of dynamic technological progress, efficient learning through experience is guaranteed by, among others: online training and modern tools that not only engage, but also accelerate the learning process based on distance learning. Here are what solutions work well in training adult employees.
Serious games
Serious games are training tools that work well in highly specialized areas of the economy, such as industry or medicine. These types of solutions, based on gamification, are not for entertainment, but allow course participants to immerse themselves in a specific reality and fully engage in the training process. Experience plays a key role in training games, which is why these tools are based on the Kolb method.
Simulations
E-learning training scenarios using the Kolb method can also be found in all types of training simulators that enable learning by participating in situations that imitate reality. Business simulations, based, for example, on VR technologies and augmented reality, are useful primarily at the stage of experimenting with a given issue. Experimenting using simulators is not only safe, risk-free learning, but also the opportunity to learn from repeated mistakes.
Explainer videos
Online training using Kolb’s cycle may require participants to search for solutions to a problem on their own. Ideal sources of knowledge (e.g. at the conceptualization stage) can be condensed explainer videos, which quickly explain complex issues and are available on-demand. Such microlearning, of course, does not only include online courses. As Internet users, we use explainer videos almost every day. In this way, we practice knowledge acquisition based on multidimensional activities.
Kolb series in e-learning
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