I learned that having facilitation skills such as asking generalising, processing and application questions are especially effective when working with the primary four students. The generalising, processing and application questions fall under Kolb’s experimental learning cycle, which has four main stages; concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation (NYC Justice Corps, n.d.). These type of questions were incorporated into all of our three sessions, to enable the students to recap on what they have learnt for the day.

 

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I learned the importance of these questions when the students were able to brainstorm and think of possible answers to the given questions. Allowing the students to think through the processing, generalising and application questions made them bond and have a greater understanding of themselves. This is also part of Norming, under another theory called Tuckman’s stages of group development. The students were able to have a greater appreciation and understanding amongst themselves, making them process the questions deeper than they were to do individually. An example of a processing question given to them would be “What was the Spider Web activity about?”, this will get them thinking about the experience that they just carried out in the early part of the session. “What kind of skills did we use in Spider Web?” was a generalising question to facilitate the thinking of the students on how the activity relates to their lives. An application question would be something like “How will you use the teamwork skills learnt in Spider Web in your school?”. By doing so, it helps the students to connect all of the learning points from the activity to a practical use in their lives.

 

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This learning of Kolb’s experimental learning cycle and Tuckman’s stages of group development matters because students are able to work on their knowledge application skills and group dynamics amongst themselves. By engaging students in Kolb’s experimental learning cycle, it helps to facilitate their performance and knowledge application skills in learning of the activity they are doing (Ahn, 2008). This is because processing questions enables students to examine what they experienced and how they felt about it, allowing them to review on their new experience and actions. Generalising questions make the students connect the learning outcomes of the activity to their everyday lives. Allowing them to conclude their learning from their experience from the activity that they did and relate it to their daily routine such as school. Application questions help to close up the whole reflection as it guides the students in applying the learning outcomes to real life situations. What kind of changes students can make in the near future through the activity being carried out.

 

In light of this learning, in the future I will ensure that time for summary and recap is allocated for any workshop that would be conducted, to ensure the students understand and review the activities they did for the day. In addition, the Kolb’s experimental learning cycle would be used to help come up with the guiding questions for the summary and recap time. This will enable the students to think deeper and explore the respective questions in detail.