Application of the Experiential Learning Cycle in Learning from a Business Simulation Game

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of engaging students in Kolb's experiential learning cycle on facilitating students' simulation game performance and knowledge application skills in learning with a business simulation game. A sample was drawn from a population of business-major undergraduate students at the School of Business at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. A total of 57 subjects, who were enrolled in the entrepreneurship course in the fall semester of the 2006 school year, participated in the study. This study used two different types of prompt questions – the strategy question and the knowledge application questions – to engage subjects in the reflective observation step and the abstract conceptualisation step of Kolb's experiential learning cycle respectively. The results of data analysis revealed that subjects, who were engaged both in the reflective observation step and the abstract conceptualisation step of Kolb's experiential learning cycle, scored higher in the knowledge application posttest, and performed better in the business simulation game than subjects who were engaged only in the reflective observation step. Data analysis also found that subjects' knowledge application skills were positively correlated with their simulation game performance scores. The survey results indicated that subjects who were engaged both in the reflective observation step and the abstract conceptualisation step of Kolb's experiential learning cycle perceived their learning experience more positively than subjects who were engaged only in the reflective observation step did, and furthermore, subjects' positive perceptions of their learning experience were positively correlated with their simulation game performance scores.