In the modern-day classrooms, one sees a shift from the conventional methods of teaching to learning from experiences. While the experiential learning seems to be appropriate in the current scenario, I believe that the traditional mode of conveying knowledge appears to have a wider scope for learning. This essay will discuss both sides of the argument with reasons and relevant examples.
Experiential learning has a positive impact on student learning in several ways. Firstly, in this type of teaching methodology, students learn by doing such as role plays, projects, and experiments. In my experience, students were provided with real life experiences in the classroom to enhance their knowledge of real language use. For example, to teach the language to be used in a restaurant, a real-life situation was created to provide opportunities to the learners to use the relevant language like ordering food from the menu. Secondly, students can learn at their own pace and would become creative coming up with innovative ideas. For instance, students could be given project work like creating a new product from waste or conducting experiments on their own. Furthermore, learners could go on field trips to observe and learn directly from their environment. These instances indicate that experiential learning is beneficial to the students in a modern classroom.
On the other hand, some people argue that the conventional teaching methods are the most suitable for many reasons. The first reason is in a traditional classroom students learn from an experienced teacher who mentors the students at every step to achieve the learning objectives which might be uniform among all students. In my experience, although students seem to be passive learners in these classrooms, the environment is conducive for students to interact and compete. Another reason is a traditional classroom is structured which aids in enhancing discipline and building each student’s character and personality. For instance, the lessons are uniformly taught across all classrooms with a well-defined testing and grading system. Furthermore, the students are provided with homework and tasks to keep them occupied at their homes and the entire process is regularized and fast paced. These instances indicate that a traditional classroom might continue in the future for a long time.
To sum up, learning by doing and conventional teaching methods are both suitable and appropriate in the modern learning environment. However, in my opinion, learning through real life experiences is far better than the traditional way of learning which I think would be more in demand in the future.