Alicia, Ephriam, Christy

Today’s Plan :

● Check-In session (45 min) (5:00 - 5:45)

● Think Pair Share (30 mins: 5:45-6:15)

This activity is meant to get everybody on the same page with some of the main ideas
from the reading. Think pair share is being used to promote active/collaborative learning,
students can clear up any small confusions with each other and don’t need to worry
about being ‘wrong’ in front of the whole class.
○ What is Cartesian Dualism?
○ What does the author mean when addressing the intersection of inner and outer
worlds?
■ Since the room has moveable white-boards, each pair can draw or write
out their own definitions/interpretations
We thought the task of drawing the ideas would help keep the discussion on track and
encourage people to work collaboratively and share their ideas. This also pushes
students to use other creative ways to express their understanding of the reading.
○ Group Share
■ Popcorn style - whoever wants to share with their partners
Sharing a few interpretations will help kickstart discussion and make sure everybody is
on the same page. Students can compare and contrast the possible different
interpretations of the reading.

● BREAK- 6:15-6:30

● Group Discussion Questions (30 mins) (6:30- 7:00)

1. The article talks about the intersection of the inner and outer worlds and the
learning disconnect that people can experience when they are faced with
challenges. We’ve all experienced some big changes in our perception of the
outside world recently (COVID-19), how has this been affecting you and your
learning? What do you think you can learn from this whole experience?
■ How are your previous experiences affecting the way you approach this
new learning style?
2. What’s an example of experiential learning that you’ve experienced?
3. How did you reflect on that particular experience? Why is it meaningful to you?
4. As a peer mentor, how would you facilitate experiential learning for the students
in your host class?

Highlighted questions are the ones that will be posted on the d2l discussion board. We
want everybody to think about their own experience with this type of learning and how
they can facilitate experiential learning in their host course. In addition, we wanted to try
and improve understanding of a more complex concept (existential learning) by making
 it more personal through the common experience of switching to remote learning
recently.

● Activity (15 mins 7:00-7:15)

○ Create a mind map of a secondary (teacher mediated) learning experience in
your degree that you feel was transformative.
○ Students must add any intrinsic or extrinsic functions/influences of the human
being to solidify their mind map. For example: Let's say my third-grade teacher
had us do a skit to describe the stages of the butterfly’s life cycle. Based on the
stage I was given, how did that make me feel? What did I think about it? And
why did that help me learn better? Did I make any connections to my life
personally? Etc.
○ We could show an example to the class to familiarize them with the concept of a
mind map, but they are definitely not limited to the ones that we will show them.

The mindmap is meant to help students to identify one of their own learning experiences
as an example of the learning described in the article- we chose a mind map since there
is a similar idea in the article itself. Creating a similar graphic individual helps the student
to see the idea of the human learning process in a personal light.

BRAIN BREAAAAK!- sit quietly and reflect on the learning experiences you’ve
had. Don't write anything down for a little bit! (allows students to reflect on their
experience, get a handle on the ‘big picture’ of what they want to say before writing)

- What were your attitudes and assumptions before the experience?

- How do you feel as you went through this experience? How did your feelings
change?
- Did you take time to reflect on what you had learned, or was it more
spontaneous?
- How did this change in attitude/emotion affect your actions?
- In what ways did the experience change you, as a learner and as a person?
- Within this exposure, would you say that your mind and body were independent
of each other OR your mind, emotions, and feelings were all intertwined to elicit a
greater depth of experience?
- How do all these attitudes, emotions, and the experience itself connect to one
another and lead to meaningful learning?

(These questions help guide the content and flow of the mind map, but students should
arrange it and connect the ideas in their own way)

● Wrap Up (15 minutes) (7:15 - 7:30)

○ Voluntary sharing of their mind map
Sharing of a few people’s learning experiences helps to bring the focus of the class back
to group discussion. We chose not to have each person share because we thought
some experiences/emotions might be very personal and the student might not feel
totally comfortable sharing. If nobody felt like sharing, then one of us would do it to get
the summary discussion going!