Kolb's model of experiential learning: touchstone for students, trainers, counselors and clients

The article discusses the David. A. Kolb's model of experiential learning, his typology of learning styles and their implications for the counseling field. Kolb's model integrates into a single framework two dimensions of cognitive growth and learning typically employed by cognitive psychologists: the concrete-abstract dimension and the active-reflective dimension. Through these dimensions, put in orthogonal relation, Kolb uses the four polar positions to describe a four-stage, cyclical process of effective learning. The core of Kolb's model is a simple description of how experience is translated into concepts that can be used to guide the choice of new experiences. To test his theory, Kolb developed a simple self-description inventory, the Learning Styles Inventory, to measure individuals' strengths and weaknesses as learners. Kolb model's abstract quality allows it to be used flexibly and the specific manifestations of each stage to be a reflection of the goals of the user. Thus, Kolb's model can also be used to represent the counseling process, it can also benefit the counselors, trainers and students as well.