David Allen Kolb (born December 12, 1939, in
Moline, Illinois
Moline ( ) is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in 2020, it is the largest city in Rock Island County. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Island ...
) is an
American educational theorist whose interests and publications focus on
experiential learning
Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students ...
, the individual and social change, career development, and executive and professional education. He is the founder and chairman of Experience Based Learning Systems, Inc. (EBLS), and an Emeritus Professor of Organizational Behavior in the
Weatherhead School of Management,
Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland, Ohio.
Kolb earned his BA from
Knox College in 1961 and his MA and Ph.D. from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1964 and 1967 respectively, in
social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...
.
Experiential learning
In the early 1970s, Kolb and Ron Fry (now both at the
Weatherhead School of Management) developed the Experiential Learning Model (ELM), composed of four elements:
*concrete experience,
*observation of and reflection on that experience,
*formation of abstract concepts based upon the reflection,
*testing the new concepts,
*(repeat).
These four elements are the essence of a spiral of learning that can begin with any one of the four elements, but typically begins with a concrete experience.
While this model is used widely in fields such as management education, it has been criticised for its inflexibility and over-simplification.
Learning Style Inventory
Kolb is renowned in educational circles for his Learning Style Inventory (LSI). His model is built upon the idea that learning preferences can be described using two continuums:
* Active experimentation ↔ Reflective observation
* Abstract conceptualization ↔ Concrete experience.
The result is four types of learners: converger (Active experimentation - Abstract conceptualization), accommodator (Active experimentation - Concrete experience), assimilator (Reflective observation - Abstract conceptualization), and diverger (Reflective observation - Concrete experience). The LSI is designed to determine an individual's learning preference.
Experience Based Learning Systems, Inc. (EBLS)
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Bibliography
* Kolb, D.A., Rubin, I.M., McIntyre, J.M. (1974).
''Organizational Psychology: A Book of Readings, 2nd edition.''
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
* Kolb, D.A., Fry, R.E. (1974). Toward an Applied Theory of Experiential Learning
* Kolb, D. A., Kolb, A.Y. (2011)
''The Kolb Learning Style Inventory 4.0''
* Peterson, K., & Kolb, D. A. (2017). How You Learn Is How You Live: Using Nine Ways of Learning to Transform Your Life. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
See also
*Experiential learning
Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students ...
*Constructivism (philosophy of education)
Constructivism may refer to:
Art and architecture
* Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes
* Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
References
External links
Kolb's Faculty Profile at Case Western University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolb, David A.
21st-century American psychologists
Knox College (Illinois) alumni
Harvard University alumni
Living people
Case Western Reserve University faculty
1939 births
20th-century American psychologists