Teaching How-to: Chapter 4.4: Experiential Learning

Experiential Learning Outside the Classroom 

Experiential learning connects academic concepts with real-world contexts. These experiences offer more than just a change of scenery; they let students engage with environments, objects, and artifacts that bring the course content to life. Moreover, stepping outside the classroom can be liberating for some students, particularly those who may feel less comfortable participating in traditional academic settings.  

Experiential learning activities—like museum visits, fieldwork, and community-based projects—help students bridge the gap between abstract ideas and concrete experiences. Volk and Milkova (2012) have named this approach crossing the street pedagogy, a model that encourages students and instructors to physically step beyond the traditional classroom and engage with immersive learning environments. By combining these experiences with structured reflection, you foster a more meaningful and memorable learning experience and also help students form lasting connections between theory and practice. In this section, we’ll cover: 

Forms of Experiential Learning

Experiential learning can take many forms. Some common examples include:

  1. Field Trips: Visiting relevant sites, such as museums, historical landmarks, observatories, laboratories, or natural habitats, can help students contextualize concepts that might otherwise seem abstract.
  2. Gallery and Archive Visits: Galleries and archives are places where students can interact with primary sources, like art, manuscripts, documents, and rare books, that bring their studies to life. Engaging with original materials motivates students to embark on independent research, hone their observational and descriptive skills, and build community by moving beyond the traditional classroom. 
  3. Service Learning and Community Engagement: Working with local organizations, tutoring, conducting community interviews, or participating in environmental projects are experiences that allow students to apply course concepts in practical, meaningful settings.

Structuring and Supporting Experiential Learning

Experiential learning requires thoughtful planning and follow-through to ensure it’s both productive and impactful. When implementing experiential learning opportunities in your course, consider the following: 

  • Set clear learning goals and contextualize: Before the activity, prepare students with background information and a clear understanding of the learning goals. Provide helpful readings, discussion points, or key concepts, and let students know what they should focus on and how the visit or experience connects to the course objectives. 
  • Use active assignments: Ask students to document their experiences through field notes, photographs, or mapping exercises. These materials will later form the basis for their discussions or presentations.
  • Guide reflection: Post-activity reflection is a crucial part of experiential learning. Encourage students to analyze what they observed, how it relates to course material, and what insights or questions it raised. Reflection prompts can include:
    • What surprised you about this experience?
    • How did it change your understanding of the topic?
    • What connections can you draw between this experience and our broader course themes?
  • Encourage sharing: Create opportunities for students to share their reflections, whether through presentations, written observations, or group discussions. Creating a space for synthesis helps students learn from each other’s perspectives.

Some examples of locations you can visit at Yale that facilitate experiential learning are: 

You can find a more comprehensive list as well as additional information about teaching with collections here.

Summary 

Experiential learning adds depth and dimension to your teaching because students engage with course material in ways that resonate beyond the classroom. By connecting academic content with real-world experiences, you foster curiosity, critical thinking, and a personal investment in one’s learning that will benefit students in the course and beyond.

Works Cited

Volk, S. S. & Milkova, L. (2012). Crossing the street pedagogy: Using college art museums to leverage significant learning across the campus. In S. S. Jandl & M. S. Gold (Eds.), A Handbook for Academic Museums: Exhibitions and Education.