Chapter One: Theory and Styles of Learning

According to Credit for Prior Learning criteria at Boise State University, students get credit for the learning they’ve achieved through experience, not just for the experience itself.

In order to demonstrate the learning you’ve done, it’s key to understand how we as humans learn. In this chapter, we’ll look at several important theories for experiential learning, and begin to understand what you learned by how you learned it.

This chapter will cover Kolb’s Learning Theory, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Multiple Intelligences, and Emotional Intelligence. We will also take a close look at what makes experiential learning equivalent to college-level learning.

Learning Objectives

• Comprehend Kolb’s theory of experiential learning.
• Synthesize experiential concepts and tie them to your past experiences.
• Analyze Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning and how it can be applied to prior learning.
• Expand cognitive funtion into multiple intelligences.
• Define college-level learning as acquired through experience.