Children are integrated learners

Just as a child learns naturally, he or she naturally learns in an integrated way. Rather than separating out the learning into subjects or categories, the child comes to it whole and explores all its aspects.

One reason that experiential learning is so effective is that it is automatically integrated learning. For example, figuring out a child’s pocket change isn’t “mathematics” to him; it’s part of his daily living. It’s much more than addition and subtraction to him.

Experiential learning, learning by doing, facilitates the child’s learning in an integrated way. There’s an old Chinese proverb: "Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand."

Integrated learning means not only the academic subjects or topics, but also one’s feelings and social relations, are part of the learning process.

Remembering how people learn—that people naturally learn in an integrated way—allows teachers to present things in ways that integrate with other areas and that make use of our life experiences.

If a child’s tendency to learn in an integrated way is regarded, preserved and encouraged throughout his or her education, it can produce an adult who is a flexible thinker, a systems thinker, a problem-solver, someone who can see the big picture and the relations of its individual parts.  Integrated learning doesn’t cost any more, can often be done on the spot, and makes everything more interesting.