Experiential Learning=Hands-On+Minds-On

The experiential learning approach to teaching marketing emphasizes “hands-on” experiences and experimentation activities, often at the expense of conceptual knowledge. These “hands-on” activities must be explicitly supplemented with reflective observation and abstract conceptualization “minds-on” exercises to complete the learning cycle and provide meaningful conceptual understanding. This article describes Kolb's (1984) experiential learning cycle, provides guidelines for effective reflection activities, offers conceptual mapping as a technique to incorporate abstract conceptualization, and illustrates how these techniques can be implemented in a principles of marketing class.