The Role of Experience in Learning: Giving Meaning and Authenticity to the Learning Process in Schools

Recent studies of technological education teachers in Germany, England, and Canada indicate that the socialization process these teachers undergo while adjusting to the profession is a difficult one (Hansen, 1998). Among other things, the adjustment is complicated by a preference for learning which is out of harmony with the teaching and learning strategies employed by teachers from other subject areas in the secondary school curriculum. The preconceptions and tendencies these technology teachers bring to the profession reveals a strong bias towards experience as a framework for learning. In Ontario, Canada, technology teachers are required to have a minimum of five years work experience in their technological specialization before qualifying for teacher education. Most of these teacher candidates entering the profession have ten to twelve years of such experience. They have already been socialized into a business and industry culture which preaches the virtues of experience over rote learning. Meanwhile the Ontario secondary schools in which these technology teachers work tend to devalue courses with experiential learning traditions. The purpose of this manuscript is to explicate what constitutes an experiential frame of reference for learning, for these adult professionals and for people generally. How effective is learning when actions, project work, and personal experience (the non-discursive world) transcend or precede signs and symbols (the discursive world)? What are the benefits to students? What can be learned from technology teachers about the value of experience? What are the implications of this way of learning for the secondary school system and the curriculum as we know it?