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A Meta‐Analysis of the Relationship Between Experiential Learning and Learning Outcomes
Author(s) -
Burch Gerald F.,
Giambatista Robert,
Batchelor John H.,
Burch Jana J.,
Hoover J. Duane,
Heller Nathan A.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
decision sciences journal of innovative education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1540-4609
pISSN - 1540-4595
DOI - 10.1111/dsji.12188
Subject(s) - experiential learning , psychology , meta analysis , experiential education , empirical research , mathematics education , medicine , epistemology , philosophy
Experiential learning activities have been used for over 40 years with the hope that they increase students learning. However, a definitive study that showed their overall effectiveness has not been produced. The purpose of this study is to address this gap in the literature. This meta‐analysis examined a 43‐year span and identified 13,626 journal articles, dissertations, thesis articles, and conference proceedings written about experiential learning and found only 89 of these studies contained empirical data with both a treatment and control group. Meta‐analysis of these studies show that students experienced superior learning outcomes when experiential pedagogies were employed. Further, learning outcomes were almost a half standard deviation higher ( d = .43) in classes employing experiential learning pedagogies versus traditional learning environments. This review definitively, and quantitatively, shows the importance of experiential learning activities. We use these results to discuss future research areas that need to be addressed based on our analysis of potential moderators and provide recommendations on how to best employ experiential learning pedagogies.