Page 26 - THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | Cooperative Education

The Experiential Learning Cycle
Phase
Guiding Question
Description
Participate
What?
Students are immersed in an experience, acknowledging what they are doing, what they are thinking, and what they are feeling during the experience .
Reflect
So what?
Students think about their experience, guided by reflective questions and prompts, and identify what they learned as a result of the experience – about themselves, other people, the world, their opportunities, or the topic of study .
Apply
Now what?
Students describe how their learning stimulates further inquiry: how it has influenced – or may influence – their decisions, opinions, goals, and plans; and what they might do differently if they have a similar experience in future .
THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | Cooperative Education
The Importance of Reflection
Reflection is the foundation from which students develop a wide range of transferable skills and knowledge, or “global competencies”, including critical thinking, innovation, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Reflection is a fundamental feature of metacognition – that is, of “learning the process of learning” and of self-aware and self-directed learning. It is also critical to developing a growth mindset – a belief in the ability to learn and grow with the aid of perseverance, self-regulation skills, emotional intelligence, resilience, and self-management (including self-advocacy) skills.
Metacognitive competencies include the ability to monitor one’s own progress and take action towards achieving a learning goal. Students with highly developed metacognitive competencies have higher degrees of resilience and well-being, which support student success in challenging times.15 Students who apply metacognitive thinking habitually are able to deepen and monitor their learning, make connections across a wider range of contexts and environments, and support more robust inquiries by creating a wider range of inquiry questions.
All students benefit from explicit instruction in the skills of reflection, and from assistance in developing the habit of looking for what can be learned from lived experience. The simplicity of the experiential learning cycle makes it appropriate for all students. By adapting guiding questions and prompts in each phase of the cycle, educators and students can adjust the complexity, focus, and depth of the process to suit the student’s particular developmental needs.
Developing and Implementing the Student’s Cooperative Education Learning Plan
The Student’s Cooperative Education Learning Plan provides a framework for purposeful learning in the cooperative education course. The development of the learning plan is a dynamic process requiring ongoing participation by the student, with the collaboration and support of the cooperative education teacher and the placement supervisor. In developing
15. Charles Fadel, Maya Bialik, and Bernie Trilling, Four-Dimensional Education: The Competencies Learners Need to Succeed (Boston: Center for Curriculum Redesign, 2015).
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