An Internship Program based on Experiential Learning Theory

When my own sons were in high school I wondered, like many parents, if their current academic interests would continue through college, perhaps leading to a career. Would their interests change over time? Would they be like so many other students, switching from one college major to another?

I felt that early career exposure could provide the opportunity to discover what it would be like to work in their chosen field. Certainly a high school internship could be advantageous, not just for my sons but for other students as well. With very few opportunities at the time, and as an education professor versed in curriculum design, I set out to create an internship program based on the concepts of Experiential Learning.

As the name suggests, experiential learning involves learning from experience. The theory was first proposed by psychologist David Kolb who was influenced by the work of other theorists including John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Jean Piaget.

The Principles of Experiential Learning are:

• Reflection
• Critical Analysis
• Synthesis

The learner is actively engaged in posing questions, investigating, experimenting, being curious, solving problems, assuming responsibility, being creative, and constructing meaning.

                How does our Internship Curriculum Incorporate these Ideas?

1. Concrete Experience - A new experience or situation is encountered.

·     After an extensive listening session with each student, we establish an internship with a carefully chosen mentor, based on a student’s interests or talents.

2. Reflective Observation of the New Experience - Of particular importance are any inconsistencies between experience and understanding.

·     Each student receives the Internship Connection Curriculum, a step-by-step learning sequence designed for observation and reflection. Life Skills learned: resume development, interview skills, workplace expectations, professionalism and personal responsibility. Students respond to a series of journals that foster reflective observation and receive feedback from program counselors.

3. Abstract Conceptualization-  Reflection gives rise to a new idea, or a modification of an existing abstract concept (the person has learned from their experience).   

Internship Connection Journal titles meant to facilitate this type of learning include:·     

What are you learning about the job and yourself?

 Interview your mentor with our questions or questions of your own

Taking a Risk. Describe a time when you “stepped up” and took initiative, or went beyond what was asked of you. What did you do, how did it make you feel and what did you learn about yourself?

4. Active Experimentation - The learner applies their idea(s) to the world around them.

As our students progress through college and beyond, we stay in touch and enjoy hearing  what their first internship meant to them. Did it lead to an additional internship in the same or different field? What are their reflections on their chosen career path and what would they now tell their 16-year-old self?

Katharine, pictured above with her mentor, the Executive Director of Watertown TV, truly enjoyed her high school internship at the cable news station and went on to be a Producer at CBS News in New York City.

Parents have told us that the life skills their children have learned are just as important as the actual internship itself.  An early internship can either confirm or reject a student’s interest in a particular career field, which is after all, the purpose of experiential learning.