Is the 'Kolb cycle' helpful or a hindrance in planning a church's Essay

Is the 'Kolb cycle' helpful or a hindrance in planning a church's strategy for Christian education of adults - Essay Example The experimentation stage involves planning out and implementing what they have learnt. The cycle attempts to explain learning behaviours in group environments, and how the group members support one another to learn. At the core of the cycle’s understanding is the belief that learning is solely based on internal cognitive processes (Kolb 1984, pp. 43-44). The cycle considers an individual to be effectively learning when they; experience a scenario; observe and reflect on their experience; reviewed their knowledge based on the observations and reflections; and test their new knowledge to have new experiences. In essence, effective learning involves an individual going through all the four sequential stages in a never ending cycle. While describing the four stages in the learning cycle, Kolb also identified four types of students based on the students’ response to the cycle. The first type includes those who prefer observation and theoretical solution of problems at the expense of taking action. The second type includes those who organise ideas into logical formats. The third type includes those who apply theories and ideas in practical problem solving. The fourth type includes those who rely on intuition at the expense of logic in solving problems (Kolb 1999, p. 47; McLeod 2010). Each learner will show a strong inclination and preference for a specific learning type approach, and differences in the ability to switch between different types. Learners with a clearly preferred learning style will tend to learn more effectively if the learning experience is oriented towards their preference. Tensions can develop when teachers and students use different learning types in the same setting. If possible, it is imperative that teachers identify their students learning style and facilitate learning environments that build on their strengths, though the students must develop abilities