Kolb Learning Styles

David A. Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory and the Learning Styles Inventory |

IntroductionDavid Kolb’s prominent work is his Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI). After a 17 year process of exploring the implications of the experiential learning theory and experimenting with techniques of learning from experience, Kolb published his theory in his 1984 book Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development.Kolb’s (1984) book provides a systematic statement of the theory of experiential learning and how it applies to work, education, and adult development (p. xi). Kolb asserts the principle that a person learns through his or her discovery and experience. He developed the ELT theory in order to explain the connections between the human developmental stages of maturation, learning processes, and experiences. He believes that experience shapes the way learners grasp knowledge, which then affects their cognitive development.The Kolb ELT model (1984) outlines the following four adaptive approaches to learning: concrete experience (CE), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualization (AC), and active experimentation (AE). It also defines four distinct learning styles: diverging, assimilating, converging, and accommodating (pp. 75-78).Description of the Experiential Learning TheoryKolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory consists of a four stage learning cycle where a learner will encounter all four stages of the cycle in varying degrees: experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting; however, at the most basic level, a learner will generally show a preference or strength in only one of the stages. The preferred learning stage determines a learner’s learning style defined in Kolb’s LSI. Kolb’s theory draws on the origins of experiential learning from the works of the prominent 20th century scholars Dewey, Lewin, and Piaget (Kolb 1984), and develops a holistic model of the experiential...