How to Effectively Adapt the Experiential Learning Process for Any Age Group

The experiential learning process is very specific. So, the experiential learning approach is similar regardless of age group, skill level, subject area, and learning environment. 

My classroom teaching experience is with high school life science students at a small charter school. I am now home with my own young kids and use the same principles of experiential learning with them as I did with my secondary students. This blog post is all about how I do that; how I adapt the experiential learning process to work for all ages.

A lot of what I write about here on this blog is about my experiences with high schoolers, and my resources are geared toward high schoolers as well. This leads to a lot of teachers and parents wondering if the experiential learning activities that I talk about or create resources for can be modified for younger audiences. The answer is a resounding yes! But how?

How to Implement the Experiential Learning Process with Any Age Group

Tip 1: Use the Characteristics of Experiential Learning as the Framework for the Process

Using experiential learning principles as your foundation for any learning experience regardless of age group might seem obvious, but I think the way that I talk about experiential learning has a secondary undertone, making it seem as if only high school students have the skills and capacity for such an undertaking. 

This just isn't the case. There are specific characteristics of experiential learning. Age is irrelevant. The learning the process is experiential as long as you embrace the following:

• The purpose of the learning experience is clear. Students need to see how it is relevant or matters in their lives.
• Students are actively involved vs. passively receiving information.
• The activity or process embraces trial and error, promoting learning through mistakes.
• The learning experience is personalized.
• The experience is student-directed to some degree. This means incorporating choice where you can. The level of self-direction or independence is the piece that varies the most amongst age groups.
• The experience ties in real-world topics.
• The learning activity incorporates authentic experiences, such as sharing new skills and knowledge with a relevant and public audience rather than sharing only with the class, or learning about a concept by working alongside an expert vs. reading about that concept in a textbook.
• Reflection is an essential component. Students spend time looking back on the experience.

You can make any learning activity experiential with these things in mind. You know your students, you know what they’re capable of. Plan with these elements and your student population in mind.

I have a free experiential learning activity planning mind map that you can use to iron out these details. Go grab that, and as you brainstorm activity ideas, keep factors such as age, subject area, class size, etc. in mind. 

I'll Take the Mind Map!

Tip 2: Personalize the Experiential Learning Process

As I mentioned above, personalization is a key element of experiential learning. So one of the most effective ways of adapting learning experiences to different age groups is to make sure the experience is personalized. Then, not only is the experience catered to an age group, but it’s fitting with each student’s unique abilities and needs as well. 

In my experience, “age” in a learning context is fairly arbitrary. Learning experiences should be modified to support every students’ needs as an individual rather than age. 

So, as you plan experiential learning activities I encourage you to consider more than age. Look at the skill levels, interests, challenges, strengths, and backstories of your students as well. I do this with personal learning plans.

Tip 3: Consider Your Level of Involvement in the Experiential Learning Process and Tweak as You Go

As I’ve already mentioned, the level of self-direction, one element of experiential learning, will vary by age and/or skill level. 

My high school students design and lead their own project-based learning experiences from start to finish. They choose their own topics, determine how they will gather information, write their own research questions, identify and communicate with community experts on their own, plan and create their own final products, coordinate and plan authentic presentations, etc. 

My high schoolers have planning, design, and execution templates to guide them through the process. I facilitate these experiences, but these projects are mostly student-designed and -directed.

My 5 and 7-year-old children, on the other hand, couldn’t approach this experience in the same way. My five-year-old can’t read or write. They are in different phases of cognitive, social, and emotional development then my high schoolers. My 5 and 7 year olds are even in different phases of development from each other. 

Needless to say, young kids would need different levels of support than would high school students.

What I do with my young children, then, is direct the experience while offering opportunities for choice on their part. They might choose the topic based on their interests, for example. Or they might choose a final product to create that reflects their interests or goals.

A high school student might choose to create a documentary, for example, while a younger student might demonstrate learning with a more age-appropriate final product such as a 2-minute stop motion video.

Even with this example of students having choice, the level of direct involvement by me would differ significantly between the two age groups. I wouldn't need to be by the side of a high school student every second of filming their documentary. They can do the research, figure out the technology, coordinate interviews, etc. on their own, with my guidance when needed.

My preschooler and second grader, on the other hand, would need me to be present and directly involved in the stop-motion creation process, especially if they have never done stop-motion before. We would all be learning together. The overall experience could still be experiential with real-world, community-based, and authentic elements, but I do the bulk of the planning and my level of direct involvement is higher than it would be with my high schoolers. 

And of course, there is some in-between. As mentioned in the “personalization” piece of this, you’ll need to get a good read on your audience, and that means learning about their individual needs, skill levels, interests, etc. When you know the students you're working with, you will have a better understanding of the level of support and direction that they'll need from you.

Look at the experiential learning experience and the level of teacher involvement on a spectrum:

Teacher-directed --> Teacher-guided --> Student-directed.

Over time and with with continued implementation of the experiential learning process, students will start to move along the spectrum, gradually gaining more skills and confidence in self-directing their own learning experiences. 

In summary, with each feature or aspect of any learning experience ask yourself, “Can my students do this themselves, will I do this part with them, or will I do this part for them?” 

For example, project-based learning includes an authentic presentation piece where students share new skills and knowledge with a public and relevant audience. 

Many of my high school students could coordinate this piece on their own. Some are not quite there yet and I would help them coordinate an authentic presentation. I would organize an authentic presentation for my 5 and 7-year-olds. They would offer their input along the way.

Experiential learning is personalized and self-directed. So I can’t tell each of you exactly what to do for your specific age group or your level of involvement because each scenario is going to be unique. 

Developing learning experiences for ANY age group requires that you gauge their level of need and tweak as you go. Check out the examples below for clarity and inspiration.

Tip 4: Keep Age and Skill-appropriate Content in Mind When Coordinating Experiences

This tip is pretty self-explanatory. If I have to keep certain standards in mind, I would design learning experiences around age-specific standards.

If I am not tied to the standards, I would still design learning experiences around concepts that are developmentally appropriate. You'll also consider skills. As you spend more time working with your students you'll be able to gauge age or skill appropriate paths while adhering to the elements of experiential learning. 

Tip 5: Adjust Your Expectations

I have had my high school students create similar end products. I wouldn't expect the same results from my 5 year old as I would from my senior.

That is fairly obvious, but again, the personalization piece matters here. I wouldn't necessarily expect all of my students to produce similar quality final products because "quality" is subjective. You're looking at growth, progress, improvement, and the ability to overcome challenges for EACH individual in addition to quality or as a gauge for quality.

​A final product from one student might not "wow" the average person, but that student might have produced something for the first time or have overcome an incredible road block. So again, get to know your students, and adjust your expectations from there.

Examples of Adapting the Experiential Learning Process for Different Age Groups

1. Habitats Project-Based Learning:

I’m going to go over an example of modifying a similar experiential learning activity and concept to an older and younger audience. I have done this activity with my classroom students, which ranges from 7th-12th grade, and with my own children who are 5 and 7 years old. This example, then, will show modifications for those two age groups.

Again, how much direction you offer will depend on your students or your group as a whole. So take a look at this habitats project-based learning example and work with it in your own way. The concepts revolve around ecological communities, populations, symbiotic relationships, etc., and the experience is designed around project-based learning principles.

High School/Middle School Experiential Learning Process:

• Basic Setup: Each student chooses a habitat of interest to explore and learn more about.​
• Project Design: Students design their own project-based learning experiences based on standards associated with habitats, their interests, goals, needs, challenges, strengths, etc. My high school PBL tool kit guides them through this process.
• Research: Students write some, if not all research questions or categories to explore such as climate, symbiotic relationships, biodiversity, human use, etc., and then conduct their own research.
• Gathering Information: My students track down their own sources of information. They identify relevant community excerpts, reach out to those experts, write their own questions for that expert or coordinate an authentic learning experience with that expert. They gather books, publications, interviews, and more to apply to their projects.
• Final Product: Students choose a final product to demonstrate learning. Their final product choices mirror their personal interests, goals, needed standards, etc. 
• Authentic Presentations: My students are required to share their final products with an audience that is relevant; one that could benefit from the shared information or product. For example, a student might create a mini-documentary to put in a nature center. Now, I don’t always have my high school students plan their own authentic presentations. Sometimes I organize a group share. In this case, I could put together a community exhibition event or work with a local nature center to have students’ final products on display in their visitor center. Again, read your audience and do what makes the most sense for your group.
• Evaluations: Many of my older students create their own rubrics. Because these experiences are self-directed and personalized, it only makes sense that evaluations would be personalized as well. I approve of self-generated rubrics before they use them. Some students require more involvement on my part. I often write rubrics with my students until they have gained the confidence and skills to create one on their own. Again, the personalization piece of experiential learning helps me identify which students need more direction than others.
• My Role: I facilitate the self-directed project-based learning experiences. I implement deadlines, organize and implement check-in procedures and feedback sessions, answer questions, plan and host evaluation meetings, etc. Students take the lead, I help them to do that. My digital self-directed PBL planner helps me iron out all of these facilitation details in one space.

Note: If you have already clicked on the button above for the free experiential learning mind map, you will also be sent an experiential learning activities spreadsheet. One of the pages on that spreadsheet is dedicated to self-directed PBL. That PBL spreadsheet includes common implementation steps that I take to facilitate self-directed PBL.

Pre K/Elementary Experiential Learning Process:

• Basic Setup: I did this habitat project with my own young children and we chose a habitat to explore together. That habitat was cattail marsh. I incorporated choice by letting my children choose the habitat. They chose cattail marsh because we had just visited Wood Lake, a local nature preserve. Already, just in the process of choosing a topic, the experience is real-world, authentic, and personalized based on interests and relevance.
• Project Design: I designed the bulk of the experience. I used 2nd grade Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and knowledge about my own children’s personal interests and skill levels.
• Research: We wrote research questions together. I asked my children what they wondered about cattail marshes and included some questions of my own, and we researched those questions together.
• Gathering Information: This piece of the experience is largely teacher-led for students this age. This is a great opportunity for young kids to gain experience finding information. I introduce a variety of ways to locate credible and authentic information, including community experts. We used citizen science apps, spent time in the library studying books and magazines, watched video interviews with scientists. I connected with several community experts, including naturalists at the nature preserve for my children to meet with. I assisted my kids in writing interview questions for the experts.
• Final Product: I offered my children a few final product options that they could choose from. I based these options on what I know about my children, what I knew would engage them, and what I knew they were capable of. I select only a few to choose from because at this age too may options can become overwhelming. Both of my children chose to create a moving model of the habitat. The models included dominant plant and animal species found in the habitat, symbiotic relationships in action, abiotic factors, and more. Of course, the expectations of a moving model made by kindergartener should be widely different than the expectations of a moving model made by an 18-year-old. Again, another reason why personalization is important.
• Authentic Presentations: With kids this age, I wouldn’t expect them to organize their own authentic presentations. I plan and coordinate this part of the experience myself. 
• Evaluations: I develop the rubric or formative assessments for my younger students. In time and with experience we could move along the self-direction spectrum. Eventually students will be able to weigh into their own evaluations, and as they get older and more experienced they will be able to design their own evaluations entirely.
• My Role: I plan and direct the bulk of pre K/elementary aged project-based learning experiences AT FIRST. That is the way it starts. I incorporate age-appropriate opportunities for input and self-direction. I add more and more opportunities for student-direction and choice as they gain more experience. Again, I gauge their abilities as we go and tweak the level of involvement and direction on my part in response. 

2. Energy Budget Experimental Inquiry:

Experimental inquiry is a fun experiential learning activity that is easy to modify for a variety of ages and skill levels. Experimental inquiry is one of those experiences that spans a spectrum of self-direction. 

Experimental inquiry is conducting scientific experimentation from an inquiry approach. Experimentation is largely open-ended for my older, more experienced students. My younger students have more guidance and structure with inquiry based activities for science.

The following is how I have modified an experimental inquiry activity on the concept of the energy budget (solar energy, absorption, reflection, etc.)

High School Experiential Learning Process:

• Experimental Design: My high school students design their own experiments from start to finish. They make observations about the theme (energy budget, for example), ask their own testable questions, design experiments to answer those questions, and conduct/lead their own experiments. They use my experimental inquiry tool kit to do so. 
• Example Experiments: The variety of experiments that can be conducted around the same concept is fascinating. Along the lines of the energy budget, I have had some students test the efficacy of different sunscreens. A pair of students tested absorption rates of different ground materials such as clay, dirt, concrete, gravel, etc. Another looked at the rate at which ice melts when sprinkled with different substances. They each focus on the energy budget in some way but the experiments are unique in nature because the students asked their own questions and designed their own experiments.

Middle School Experiential Learning Process:

• Experimental Design: Middle school-aged kids might need more scaffolding to start. I might do this by giving them a testable question to design their experiments around. Or I might lay out specific materials for them and ask that they design experiments with those materials in mind. 
• Example Experiment: I might put out pie tins, tin foil, different colored construction paper, cement, sand, etc., and ask that they write an energy budget-related testable question that they could test using the materials provided. This approach gives the students a little more structure. Experiments might include testing heat absorption/reflection of different colored surfaces, thickness of surfaces, position or angle of different materials toward the sun, etc. All of these concepts could be tested using the materials provided.​

​Pre K/Elementary Experiential Learning Process:

• Experimental Design: We would design an experiment together. We would discuss and research age-appropriate concepts related to the energy budget. We would make observations together and I would scaffold this observation experience. For example, I might ask that they observe the warmth of different surfaces outside on a sunny day. Then I would ask them what they wonder about those observations, and so on until we have designed an experiment together. Then we would do the experiment together.
• Example Experiment: My own children noticed that darker colored surfaces were warmer than lighter surfaces. With their questions and my personal understanding of their interests and skills, we designed an experiment together that looked at how colors influence absorption and reflection. In short, we laid out different colors of construction paper in the sun, placed pattern blocks on top of each paper, and removed the pattern blocks several hours later. My children made predictions about the outcomes and we discussed why their predictions may or may not have come to fruition. 

3. Animal Shelter Community Action Project:

My students of all ages love community action projects. In short, my students examine community issues (local/national/global), explore solutions, develop an action plan to tackle solutions, and take action. This experience is, regardless of age, real-world, personalized, and authentic. Again, the level of self-direction is what will vary amongst age groups. This example shows how different age groups have participated in domestic animal issues, such as the need for shelter.

High School/Middle School Experiential Learning Process:

• Community Action Project Design: Again, my older students design their own projects based on interests, goals, personal relevance, and more. They also use my community action project tool kit. I might throw out a theme such as pets or domesticated animals, but the rest of the experience is designed around individual choices. I have also done large group community action projects with students. Evaluate those factors that I've already talked about to determine if independent projects or a large group project is more fitting for the situation.
• My role: I facilitate these experiences. Similar to project-based learning, I help students brainstorm solutions, connect with relevant experts or collaborators, keep them accountable for deadlines, host feedback meetings, and more.
• Example Project: In my community action project class, students get to choose their own topics. One particular student was interested in pit bulls, specifically as they relate to dogfighting. She, with my assistance, connected with several pit bull-specific organizations in the community. This student ended up working alongside one specific organization. She volunteered at adoption events with this organization, and in doing so, learned a lot about pit bull perception in the community. So she chose to develop an awareness campaign about pit bulls. 
• Note: I think it’s important to note here that this project was designed around THIS STUDENT’S interest. She was moved by the issue of dog-fighting especially with pit bulls.  Regardless of my opinion about pit bulls, this was her project, not mine, and this issue was important to her. It’s not my place in this situation (or ever as a teacher) to tell my students what is or should be important, meaningful, or interesting to them. That is experiential learning. It is student-centered and child-focused. It is also highly research-based, so this student took all of the steps of gathering authentic, credible information on the topic.​

Pre K/Elementary Experiential Learning Process:

• Community Action Project Design: My younger students and I plan these experiences and carry them out together. I do the bulk of the coordinating and they offer input here and there. For example, I would throw out a topic idea such as “animals”, we would explore animal issues in the community together, choose an issue important to them, and develop a community action project together around that important issue. Community action projects with young kids are group experiences because students are independently directing the projects.
• My Role: I am more directly involved in elementary community action projects. I lead brainstorming sessions, I gather sources of information for research and we research the issue(s) together. I connect with potential collaborators and community experts. I arrange all of the details, gather the materials, manage the actual project steps, and so on. Young students have input and offer ideas. Together we develop and execute community action projects based on that input and those ideas, but I deal with the execution details.
• Example Project: During the early days of Covid, our local animal shelter was desperate for supplies. So my 5 and 7 year olds started a supplies drive. My kids collected six large boxes of supplies from our neighborhood alone. I showed my oldest how to use Canva to make flyers and he made the flyers. I advertised the supplies drive on social media, and my kids told me what to write. I gathered the supplies, they put drop boxes together. They also organized a cat toy-making session with all of the neighborhood kids.  I gathered the toy-making supplies, my kids made invitations to help, and all the neighbor buddies hand-made cat toys together. We drove all of the supplies to the shelter together. This is an example of a community action project that was designed around the age and abilities of my child. ​

Experiential learning, as you can see, is easily adapted to a variety of age groups. The trick is gauging the level of involvement on your part.

None of the examples above are specific to one age - 10 year olds, for example. Even an 18 year old might not have the confidence to completely direct their own learning experience. It takes time for any age group to travel along that spectrum for teacher-directed to student-directed. And that's okay!

If you're looking for more examples of adapting experiential learning activities to fit different age groups and skills levels, check out some of the blog posts below, specifically, those that focus on examples of experiential learning activities for a variety of ages. The examples in those posts are less detailed than the ones provided here, but there are many examples that can be used for inspiration.

Looking for relevant blog posts? Look no further!

Looking for helpful resources?

,Yes, it is true that most of my ready-made resources are geared toward high school students; age-relevant standards, skill-levels, level of independence, etc. I do, however, have useful tools for experiential educators to apply to all age groups. 

1. Project-Based Learning Design Workbook:

I love this resource because it is a great way for younger students, beginner project-based learners (regardless of age), and even beginner experiential educators to design PBL's. The workbook includes a series of brainstorming templates to scaffold students (or you) through the PBL design process.

This is a great tool for helping students gradually move along that spectrum noted above. Students can use this workbook to aid them in inching little by little along that spectrum, from teacher-directed to student-directed, over time. 

2. Self-Directed Project-Based Learning Digital Planner:

Project-based learning is my go-to experiential learning activity 99% of the time, so the majority of my examples and resources are geared toward PBL. This digital planner is currently organized for students that are 100% self-directed. However, the planner is editable, meaning it can be adjusted to fall along the spectrum of self-direction. Just tweak it to your needs.

3. Digital, Editable Personal Learning Plan:

Experiential learning is largely about personalizing the experiences for students. Part of that requires learning about your students and understanding their needs, challenges, interests, etc. My high school students complete these personal learning plans independently. We then meet regularly to revisit those PLP's and tweak them. For younger students, we go through these personal learning plans together. I also edit the PLP's in a way that is fitting for the age group I'm working with.

Are you looking for other forms of support from Experiential Learning Depot?

• Start by reaching out and staying in touch. Feel free to add questions to the comments or send me an email.
• I am also willing to create resources upon request. If you love the concept of one of my high school resources and would like to see it modified for upper elementary students, for example, get in touch and let me know. I'll see what I can do!
• I am currently working on developing other ways (aside from learning resources) of supporting teachers with experiential learning such as coaching, in-person PD, and digital courses. Reach out if you're interested! 

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