The 2009 Kurt Hahn Address: Seeking Deeper Understandings from Experiences

Abstract

This address used a narrative style to convey several stories drawn from the speaker's life. These stories illustrated various points about the value of experience for expanding learners’ deep understandings of the content through the use of know-how knowledge. Know-how knowledge was contrasted with know-that knowledge in order to demonstrate the value of experiential learning. Stories taken from the presenter's life experiences include making maple syrup, building fires by the bow-and-drill method, taking four Lakota-based vision quests, and participating in a kayaking course. The value of questioning was discussed by examining how educators can ask questions and by addressing how questioning can be used as a teaching technique. All the examples used in this address yielded what is known as slow knowledge—a result of learning through direct experience in particular contexts. Knapp concluded by stating that the field of experiential education was gaining ground in mainstream education circles and was becoming more popular as educators discovered its power to motivate students and to develop in them a deeper understanding of the subject-matter.

Keywords

Deep Understanding Experiential Method of Learning Know-That and Know-How Knowledge Questioning Skills Slow Knowledge Reflection

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