Learning from experience require a four stage process

In 1934 D. A. Kolb published a book

"Experimental Learning-Experience as the source of learning and development."

Kolb suggested that as we grow up, we develop preferences or tendencies to learn new things in a particular way, without necessarily realising that it is so. The more choice there is as to how we learn, the more likely we are to let our preferred learning style influence out choice.

As a result of this research he put forward a theory that people learn in a cyclical pattern as shown below.

A simple example easily applied to the learning cycle is that of a young child's first experience with fire.

• STAGE 1: Child puts hand in or near to fire and feels pain
• STAGE 2: Child reflects on what happened
• STAGE 3: Child begins to form theory or conclusion that contact with fire produces pain.
• STAGE 4: Child may approach the fire again in order to test out the theory or check with a parent that fire equals pain.

Whilst Kolb's theory described learning as an integrated process in which all stages have to be completed, he went on to say that people are rarely fully effective in all stages.