Experiential Learning

Most students in my country don’t think experiential learning is more beneficial than rote learning in school, but I disagree with them for three reasons. First, students can concentrate easily and learn well and happily during the experiential activities or games. For example, students are put in several groups and have a competition with brainstorming. In order to win the game, students always try hard and enjoy thinking. In another hand, forcing students to memorize vocabulary or other knowledge in a tented atmosphere might make them hate learning and easily forget what they have learned. Second, I think impressive events always can emphasize the information which is important. For instance, a meaningful event like a chemistry camp for students might become a special experience for them. You may find a lot of students who have passion in chemistry and like to share their learning experience in the camp. By communicating with them, students can receive useful study tips, increase their interest in chemistry, and, even make friends with others. Third, most people like to have company, and students are easily influenced by peer pressure; therefore, students can do well in learning, studying, or discussing if they are put in a study group. For example, when I was in elementary school, my history teacher liked to put us in several groups during the class. We played games, helped each other with homework, and taught other groups several chapters. In order to be outstanding among our classmates, we studied very hard to get victory in the final games; eventually, we found out that we enjoyed it and had fun during the meeting with the entire class. Consequently, in the end of the semester, our class had the highest average history score of all the classes. In conclusion, learning through activities can help engage students and make them interested in studying, so it is much better than learning by boring memorization.