Evolving Kolb: Experiential Education in the Age of Neuroscience

In pursuing a refined Learning Styles Inventory (LSI), Kolb has moved away from the original cyclical nature of his model of experiential learning. Kolb’s model has not adapted to current research and has failed to increase understanding of learning. A critical examination of Kolb’s experiential learning theory in terms of epistemology, educational neuroscience, and model analysis reveals the need for an experiential learning theory that addresses these issues. This article re-conceptualizes experiential learning by building from cognitive neuroscience, Dynamic Skill Theory, and effective experiential education practices into a self-adjusting fractal-like cycle that we call CoConstructed Developmental Teaching Theory (CDTT). CDTT is a biologically driven model of teaching. It is a cohesive framework of ideas that have been presented before but not linked in a coherent manner to the biology of the learning process. In addition, it orders the steps in a neurobiologically supported sequence. CDTT opens new avenues of research utilizing evidenced-based teaching practices and provides a basis for a new conversation. However, thorough testing remains.