The most effective learning is learning from experience.
The best use we can make of such learning is to apply the lessons to the rest of our lives, and to the good of others.
Ideally, lessons learned from experience should lead to change.
If this sounds like reflection—yes it is! I wrote in another post: "Reflection is a deliberate and purposeful, imaginative and analytical exploration of events.... Research suggests that reflection, done constructively, leads to personal growth ...."
As we know, a tarot reading explores events from various angles until understanding is achieved. Here is a spread in the form of a funnel with six filters. The experience is 'poured' into the top, filtered through the cards, and the lesson(s) extracted at the bottom.
- (The top four cards) Describe the event as thoroughly as you can.
- (The second row of three cards) What effect did this event have on you, others around you, and the situation?
- (The third row of two cards) What did you learn from this experience?
- How can you best use what you have learned?
- Commit yourself to use what you have learned.
- What is the next action that you can take?
I based this spread on work done in 'adventure education,' in which experience takes place through various 'adventures' undertaken by the learners (Gass & Stevens, 2007). These adventures, if thoroughly explored, should lead to change when the learner internalizes knowledge gained.
The authors model this process on the idea of a funnel filter. The experience is 'poured' into the top, then filtered through a succession of questions until change is 'extracted.' The filters in this model (see image below) are review; recall & remember; affect & effect; summation; application; and commitment. By the end of this process, the learner should thoroughly understand the material and be able to apply it in the workplace.
The filter model is an expansion of the three questions asked by Terry Barton: What? So what? Now what?
In my spread, the questions correspond to What? (card 1), So what? (cards 2 and 3), and Now what? (Cards 4 to 6).
Sources
Borton, T. (1970). Applying the process approach. In In reach touch and teach: Student concerns and process education (pp. 93–105). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Gass, M. A., & Stevens, C. A. (2007). Facilitating the adventure process. In D. Pouty, J. Panicucci, & R. Collinson (Eds.), Adventure education: Theory and applications (pp. 101–123). IL: Human Kinetics.