Experience = education

Courtney Prieur, Director of Community Service and Student Leadership at Selwyn House, began her January 21 presentation to the Selwyn House Parents’ Association with a Chinese proverb: “Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.”

This is the essence of experiential education, a concept that is catching fire in schools, colleges and universities.

It’s not entirely new. The back-to-school outdoor trips Selwyn House students take each fall are examples of experiential education. But it is also increasingly seen as a way to make course content more relevant to students’ lives.

Experiential education seeks to increase student motivation through active hands-on engagement that is relevant to the student, personally challenging and self-guided, includes a vision of responsibility for one’s self and others, and provides opportunities for reflection on what is learned, says Courtney.

This could mean theme-based outdoor education in which each student becomes an expert on a chosen topic of natural science. Or it could be community service projects designed to connect students to their social group, their community and their world.

For Senior students, this could include building projects in the developing world, or visits to local seniors’ homes. For Elementary students it could consist of field trips to learn more about their city.

But Courtney stresses that the goal should be service learning, rather than simply community service. Not only to teach civic responsibility and promote a sense of community, but to enrich a student’s learning experience.

“Service needs to be an exchange, a reciprocal relationship,” Courtney points out. “It’s all about helping students learn about themselves and develop real-life skills from experience.”

Furthermore, these activities have to be undertaken for their own reward, and not merely to fill an academic requirement. “Students start by building their CVs, and somewhere along the line they catch on and find their passion,” says Courtney.

Leadership activities are also a type of experiential learning. At Selwyn House, Senior School students are increasingly asked to take responsibilities for planning events like their Winter Carnival. If things don’t go as planned, that, too, is a lesson learned. “It doesn’t have to be perfect,” says Courtney. “That’s all part of the experience.”

“Schools that have an aggressive leadership program have a much safer environment,” Stu Saunders told Selwyn House teachers. A leadership motivator who has spoken to millions of students throughout North America, Stu gave a talk to SHS students on February 1 that was a hit with Grades 7-11.

Encouraging uninvolved students to become fully engaged in school life can tap an enormous source of school spirit, he says, describing Selwyn House as “a school that is dying to do stuff.”

Courtney wrapped up her talk to parents with a challenge to help students “connect to a public purpose” through their school activities: “What are our kids doing now to make the world a better place, and what are they learning about themselves while doing it?”