What is Experiential Learning?

Experiential learning is learning based on direct experience. What makes something an experience is that it is a psychological state generated by sensation or introspection (rather than by intuition or reason). What makes an experience direct is that it is not mediated by a linguistic or pictorial representation of something experienced (as in the case of books or photographs). What makes a direct experience a source of learning is that the person who has had the experience engages in active reflection on the experience in such a way as to acquire understanding or knowledge on the basis of the experience.

Artists, Scientists, and the Natural World

Yesterday we saw Carlsbad Caverns. This beautiful and interesting system of caves draws both artists and scientists to study its wonders. The former come to see and portray the stunning formations as they appear; the latter come to examine and understand these fascinating “speleothems” as they have developed. C.P. Snow observed that these two groups tend to inhabit two different cultures. But they can find common ground in their love for natural wonders. The artists help us experience them more fully and the scientists enable us to know them more deeply. A complete awareness of God’s creation requires both approaches.

Knowing a God Who is Worthy of Worship

Recently I attended a talk by philosopher Paul Moser about his latest book, The Evidence for God: Religious Knowledge Reexamined. In this book he argues that traditional philosophical arguments for God’s existence (ontological, cosmological, teleological) fail to justify belief in a God who is worthy of worship. He contends that we acquire adequate reasons to believe in such a God by means of an ongoing experience of interacting personally with God as God discloses himself to us and we submit our wills to his transforming love. Moser says we can know God only as participants and not as mere spectators.