The Experental Teachng of Berln— Theoretcal Reflectons and Best Practces from a Study Abroad Ste Thomas Wagenknecht Humboldt University Berlin Introduction Experental learnng plays a key role n enhancng ntercultural sens- tvty and competence wthn the context of nternatonal educaton . Ult- mately, t s at the center of what leads the study abroad sojourn to become a postve and powerful learnng process (Savck, 2008) . The academc teach- ng n study abroad programs frequently draws from the wde and dverse pool of materal n and about the cty n order to enable ntercultural and experental learnng . Yet, creatng first hand experences of urban cultures that focus on reflecton and leave profound mpressons on students whle provdng the framng for future cycles of experental learnng s a complex and dfficult dynamc to navgate (Kolb, 1984) . The way urban manfesta- tons of a dfferent culture are drectly experenced vares dependng on the crcumstances of a concrete cross-cultural encounter and the student’s sub- jectve nterpretaton of t . To suggest a tentatve framework wthn whch the elusve nature of nterpretng an urban culture can be channeled, facltated, and made fer- tle for effectve teachng, n ths artcle I wll turn to my on-gong study conducted n Berln, Germany . The specfic study abroad program under nvestgaton s desgned around the study of the European metropols . The cty s approached from varous academc angles—archtecture, urban stud- es, vsual arts, economcs, gender, pop culture, European dentty studes, and lterary studes . For comparatve purposes the program ncludes two extended field trps to Pars and St . Petersburg . So far, both the analyss of ntervews and the revew of lterature used n the study have produced conceptual components that nform a framework for facltatng the experental teachng of urban cultures n ntercultural educaton . However, t s stll too early n the research process to yeld a sub- stantve theory for the experental educaton of urban cultures . Hence, I wll 137 Thomas Wagenknecht focus ths artcle on the role and consderatons of teachers who approach urban cultures by creatng epsodes of experental learnng . Frst, I wll elaborate on experental learnng theory and the phlosophy of experental educaton as two concepts that hghlght complex teacher- student-envronment recproctes . Second, the dscusson of an ntervew, read aganst other ntervews and the theory of experental learnng, wll demonstrate the challenges of desgnng and conductng experental learn- ng stuatons . The ensung dscusson of best practces n medatng urban cultures wll valdate the cty’s capacty for experental learnng and reveal solutons for the ntercultural hurdles nvolved n teachng “experentally .” Ultmately, I wll argue that more effort s requred to close the gap between the theoretcal and practcal consderatons of the experental teachng of urban cultures n order to safeguard postve learnng outcomes and ncrease the efficency of teachng and learnng n study abroad courses . From Experiential Learning to an Experiential Education in the City In hs theory of experental learnng, Kolb defines learnng as “the pro- cess whereby knowledge s created through the transformaton of experence” (Kolb 1984, p .41) . The model of the experental learnng cycle demonstrates a way n whch one can grasp experence and, from t, structure a learnng process . The model’s appeal les n ts applcablty to varous crcumstances rangng from Kolb’s own classficaton of dfferent learnng styles, wheren the four nodes of the model — concrete experence, reflectve observa- ton, abstract conceptualzaton and actve expermentaton — are decon- structed, to Savck’s adaptaton, n whch he suggests nterventons nter- natonal educators can use to ntervene n the cycle n an attempt to foster ntercultural competence (Kolb, 2000; Savck, 2008) . Another appeal and, at the same tme, essental connecton to ntercultural learnng can be found n the learner’s emotonal nvestment n dealng wth experences (Cushner, 2004) . Wth ts focus on the learner’s cogntve and emotonal processes n actvely engagng wth present experences and reflectng on them, the expe- rental learnng cycle model can be complemented wth Itn’s transactonal model of experental educaton (Itn, 1999) . To the changes n the learner based on drect experence, ths model adds the transactons among teach- ers, learners, and the learnng envronment n whch experences are nt- 138 Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad ated and facltated . Its underpnnng phlosophy of experental educaton, whch also provdes a way of thnkng about the study abroad experence per se, s based on . . . carefully chosen experences ssuuppppoorrtteedd bbyy rreeflfleeccttoonn,, ccrrttccaall aannaallyyssss,, and synthess, [whch] are structured to requre the learner to take ntatve, make decsons, aanndd bbee aaccccoouunnttaabbllee ffoorr tthhee rreessuullttss tthhrroouugghh actvely posng questons, nvestgatng, expermentng, beng curous, solvng problems, assumng responsblty, beng creatve, constructng meanng and ntegratng prevously developed knowledge . Learners are engaged ntellectually, emotonally, socally, poltcally, sprtually, and physcally n an uncertan envronment where the learner may experence success, falure, adventure, and rsk takng . (Itn, p .93) Ths definton rases a central queston; how can teachers deploy exper- ences to medate between the cty, whch s the learnng object as well as the envronment, and students from a dfferent cultural background? In order to approach ths queston, t s worthwhle to contemplate the dspostons the actors nvolved n the process of teachng/learnng about the cty brng to the table and how the complexty of the relatonshp among teacher, stu- dent, and urban manfestatons s augmented by the ntercultural dynamcs at work . The followng remarks are nformed by what teachers n the study abroad program n Berln artculated about the subject matter, and by my own experence of teachng and workng wth study abroad students . Teaching/Learning About the City from a Teacher’s/Learner’s Perspective Teachers’ dspostons can be constructed from ther personal and profes- sonal understandng of study abroad students and the subject of the cty, the knd of role for themselves they nfer from ther understandng of students, and the knd of approach to teachng they derve from ther understand- ng of the cty . Varous educatonal phlosophes have proposed that the role of the teacher transcends that of the presenters and nstructors . Thus, the teachng role should be thought of plurally n the sense that teachers assume specfic functons dependng on the gven dynamc of a teachng/learnng stuaton . Yet, t s not only the stuatonal demands that favor certan roles over others . In lght of the students’ dfferent cultural backgrounds, teachers 139 Thomas Wagenknecht should adapt ther pedagogcal consderatons to dfferent target groups . Further, the cty’s manfestatons, n partcular the meanngs and symbol- sms they yeld, and the nterpretaton of these by students, may be nformed by a dfferent understandng of ctes than the teacher’s, or, dependng on the student’s home envronment, nformed only by vague notons of the cty . Ths dynamc means that n study abroad, effort may be requred to facltate the use of the cty as a ste of experental learnng . Examples of such efforts are teachers conductng topcally focused walkng tours or becomng facl- tators between study abroad students and cultural protagonsts of the cty, thereby provdng rcher and more authentc learnng envronments . As for a teacher’s approach toward the cty, much depends on the teach- er’s academc tranng and how the teacher’s dscplne conceptualzes ct- es . The varety of academc dscplnes yelds an array of perspectves on the essence of ctes as well as how to employ an ntellgble schema to make sense of “the human jungle .” Whether a teacher s nterested n the form and space of the cty, ts mores and habts, or the consumpton and means of cul- tural producton of ts protagonsts, the dscplnary focus determnes f ths teacher wll be nspred solely by Weber, Weber and Benjamn or, Benjamn, Lefebvre, Smmel and Weber all together (Parker, 2004) . In any case, the choce of approach has an effect on the applcablty of experental teach- ng . Approachng the cty wth a focus on ts vsual cultures, for example, provdes more mmedate potental for practces of experental teachng than lookng at the cty through lterature and film, where the engagement between students and the cty s overlad by fictonal “texts .” The study abroad student’s perspectve on the host cty can be framed along the coordnates of pror cty savvy and knowledge, specfic expecta- tons of lvng and studyng n the host cty, and engagement wth the cty’s manfold cultural offerngs . The host cty’s novelty and unqueness str an exctement whch often leads to experences beng much more profound and ntrgung, both n terms of lesure and academc engagement . Whether a student notces the lack of publc drnkng fountans, starts to solely rely on publc transportaton, or uses bke lanes; whether he or she travels exten- svely through Europe or observes the new nhabtants of a recently gentrfied neghborhood, the cty as the ste of study abroad provdes almost lmtless opportuntes to engage wth t n varous ways, to experence t and to cult- vate a better understandng of t . Out of the multtude of experences that stu- 140 Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad dents are confronted wth by ctes and ther populatons, t s the experences that do not correlate wth pror knowledge that requre the student to nvest a heghtened effort n observng, reflectng, analyzng and syntheszng . It s n ths context especally, that aspects of experental learnng can be appled to studyng the cty’s manfestatons and meanngs on an academc level . Reflections of a Visual Urban Cultures Teacher My remarks wll prmarly relate to an ntervew conducted on Aprl 29, 2009 wth a professor teachng a course on vsual cultures and the urban landscape . Out of the classes offered n the study abroad program at hand, the subject and methodology of ths course n partcular opened up many opportuntes for experental teachng . The ntervewee’s comments wll dsclose further thought on the mplcatons of experental educaton n the cty . The one-hour ntervew was conducted n the form of an expert ntervew,  .e . t was focused on the ntervewee’s professonal reflectons on experental educaton, and assumed the truth value of hs comments (Helff- erch, 2009) . The ntervew was conducted n German but the passages cted n ths artcle have been translated nto Englsh . The man ponts rased from the ntervew analyss wll be put nto perspectve wth the responses of other ntervewees and then checked aganst the mplcatons of the models of experental learnng and experental educaton . The ntervew was structured to llumnate three research questons . Frst, I was nterested n the ntervewee’s approach to experental educaton and the way he understands how hs role and hs subject mght cater to stuatons of experental learnng . Second, I wanted to tap nto hs reflectons on how to manage the relatonshp between academc qualty and experental learnng, and thrd, I wanted to learn about best practces for experental learnng and how to address ntercultural hurdles that emerged n the course of teachng . Initiating Experiential Teaching The vsual cultures course follows an nterdscplnary approach to Berln as a European cty whose physcal appearance carres the marks of many hstorcal, and often deologcally antagonstc, poltcal, archtec- tural, artstc, and aesthetc perods . The course attempts to elaborate on the nterdependences between the varous modes of human thought and 141 Thomas Wagenknecht actvty, and ther respectve manfestatons n the urban landscape . To do so the nstructor makes ample use of ste vsts, cty walks, and ntervews wth artsts and local protagonsts . Whle the ntervewee dd not explctly refer to hs teachng approach as experental untl I used the term, hs remarks reveal an ntutve understandng of experental educaton and ts centralty as a pedagogcal method for teachng the cty . Accordng to hm, successful experental teachng requres a number of preparatons . Students need to understand that the teacher demands ther actve engagement wth the cty; the focus of the class supersedes conventonal standards of n-class partc- paton . Ths expectaton resonates wth that of other ntervewed teachers and t concurs wth Itn's observaton of a general unfamlarty of students wth “beng engaged n an educatonal process that nvolves ther actve engagement and partcpaton” (Itn, p .97) . Such ncreased engagement s reflected n the course requrements whch call for a final ndependent proj- ect n whch students choose one aspect of the cty as dscussed earler n the semester for ntensve focus . Of all assessed course actvtes, oral par- tcpaton carres the greatest weght . Further, to avod confuson about the demands the students wll n the course face, the teacher communcates hs expectatons more thoroughly as follows: . . .of course ths s also a learnng experence for me as the teacher . In the begnnng, the students are very shy, reserved, and cautous . It must be made clear to them that t s not harmful to gve wrong answers or to develop deas whch are not close to what wll finally be establshed . One carefully approaches a subject and that creates learnng processes . I do emphasze actve partcpaton n class whch does not mean that I expect a fully-fledged and perfect presentaton . I leave that for the final project where I gve more tme and demand a lttle more thought and perfecton . But n class I want them to be more spontaneous and to take a rsk once n a whle . Of course, ths needs to be prepared for . [ . . .] It s for ther own good not n order to please me or to satsfy my duty to grade them . In ths passage, the teacher characterzes the dynamc between hmself and hs students . He ponts to the necessty of settng the stage for experental teachng and learnng . Ths process of preparaton and negotaton s a mutual and transactve learnng process throughout the course and establshes a com- 142 Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad mon ground (Itn, 1999) . At the same tme ths negotatory process calls for ntercultural senstvty . The ntervewee acknowledges the student's reserved- ness, whch s qute typcal and promnent at the begnnng of a semester . Other respondents smlarly acknowledged the presence of ths atttude n ther classes whch, accordng to them, can be attrbuted to the cross-cultural encounter that s dramatzed by subtle detals such as the teacher's accent whle speakng Eng- lsh, or more serous msconcepton such as underestmatng the students' abl- ty to crtcally reflect on ther own cultural background . In addton to emphaszng the mportance of oral partcpaton n expe- rental learnng, t s necessary to encourage students to rely on ther senses and strateges of meanng makng as mpulses for experental and ntercultural learnng . The threshold to gve n to one's subjectve observatons and nterpre- tatons as sources for expandng one's knowledge s hgh, especally at the outset of one's study abroad sojourn when students are partcularly senstve to aspects of the host culture that are not yet famlar . The search for vald parameters n order to more aptly navgate wthn the host culture often takes a back seat to the more nstant and effortless creaton of a comfort zone centered around one's fellow compatrots n the program or ther homes, va Internet communcaton . The ntervew under dscusson, as well as other ntervews, revealed a general tendency of program students to avod falures and rsks both n nformal and n-class nteracton . Preparng, as the ntervewee puts t, students to be ready for spontanety and rsk, therefore, requres work on two fronts, both amng at the establshment of greater certanty . Frst, the ntervewee repeatedly extends the nvtaton for actve partc- paton n the ongong class dscourse and creates stuatons that ask for stu- dents to observe, characterze, compare and, ultmately, to define the cty's mages, sgns, and symbols . Second, the ntervewee recognzes the necessty of provdng the students wth theoretcal knowledge and vocabulary . Only when thus equpped can students observe and nterpret wth more accuracy and, thereby, do justce to the descrpton of the cty whle reducng ther fear of gvng wrong answers . Reconciling Experiential Learning and Academic Learning For a number of reasons the tenets of experental educaton and those of academc learnng seem to contradct each other . Experental learnng fre- 143 Thomas Wagenknecht quently emerges n progressve educaton that s assocated wth adventure and fun . Wth ts stress on the sensory and affectve aspects of learnng, expe- rental learnng s perceved as formng a somewhat antagonstc relatonshp wth academc learnng and certan levels of theoretcal reflecton . It s not wthout reason that lterature on these two seemngly adverse notons ether challenges them, n an attempt to advocate one over the other, or makes a cause for ther compatblty (Stavenga de Jong, 2006; Stenberg, 2002) . Theorzng about the cty n order to tap nto and grasp ts complextes s not only necessary to meet academc standards, but also to frame Kolb's so-called cycles of experental learnng . In these cycles students buld more nformed hypotheses based on reflecton on concrete experences . Asked to explan hs use of excursons, the ntervewee commented on the straned connecton between experental learnng and theoretcal reflecton: We have a lmted amount of tme and we have the cty and the cty s the star and the object . Of course, a college course needs to be theoretcally undergrded, but I try to make ths mplct, whch means that n the reflecton of what one sees, one has to have a theoretcal standard . But I thnk I keep the ball low regardng theoretcal dscourses and the engagement wth dfferent theoretcal approaches smply to do justce to the hstorcal and prmarly vsual object . Ths s also due to the fact that students come from dfferent academc dscplnes . How do they finally benefit from masterng the glass bead game of sgn, sgnfier and sgnfied, f they do not have an overvew of the factors that shape a cty and that consttute dfferent nterests n the cty’s hstory? And ths s where a dfferent, a hstorcal, maybe even socologcal but above all an art-hstorcal moment appears and there s also theory . But ths s always, how shall I put t, ths theory s always ted to the [vsual] objects . I consder these objects as manfests . For example, a graffit s not only somethng vrtually open to any nterpretaton . There are ndeed conveyed messages . Those can carry a double meanng . They mght allow for a certan amount of free nterpretaton, yet always confined . There s no arbtrarness because everythng takes place wthn certan hstorcal contexts and n certan envronments of the cty . Ths passage presents a way of maneuverng between experental learn- ng and theoretcal reflecton . The ntervewee calls for the selectve appl- 144 Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad caton of theory that s dctated by the respectve manfestaton and/or consttutve force of that manfestaton n the cty — graffit, a squatter, or a publc square under survellance . At the same tme, such selectve applca- ton stll allows for, f not even enhances, experental learnng as t adds to the development of a more thorough understandng of the cty’s physcal and functonal features . However, ths s not to say that teachers and students can jump rght nto an ntensve analyss of the cty from sesson one . The ntervewee repeatedly hghlghts the mportance of preparng stuatons of experen- tal learnng both n terms of senstzng students to experental learnng technques and ntroducng methods of readng the cty’s open and hdden meanngs . Thus, he spends the first half of the semester n the classroom lecturng, provdng knowledge, and preparng for the excursons . To put t n hs own words: [My] approach s to evoke assocaton through mages . Not just to look at mages, but to create opportuntes for comparsons va a multtude of sngle mages whch are grouped n blocks . Characterzng, comparng, definng! Frst of all, you have to provde an nput, then complement t wth the lterature, and then we have the excursons where the students’ actve role becomes much more promnent . There, you can dscuss rght away . The precedng quotes also serve to thwart a common concern that often desgnates experental learnng as too subjectve, too ted to the students’ cogntve and emotonal responses, and thus, too removed from tradtonal pedagogcal structures to be graded and granted academc credt . Gven ts subjectve nature, experental learnng s sometmes stgmatzed as arbtrary . Yet, the ntervewee stresses the preparatory phase as a frame for experental learnng wthn a certan confine, namely, the acqured ablty to engage wth the cty’s vsual nature and to approach t theoretcally . Experiential Teaching and Learning in Practice The followng examples of experental teachng and learnng practces have been put to use n courses at the study abroad program under nvestga- ton . The goal s to descrbe ther desgns and underpnnng deas and to sub- 145 Thomas Wagenknecht sequently reflect on ther effect on experental and ntercultural learnng . Walking Through Two City Neighborhoods As mentoned earler, the ntervewee embraces prepared excursons through the cty as a way of creatng epsodes of experental learnng . Hs excursons take on dfferent formats because they serve dfferent purposes . Yet they share three general characterstcs — they follow an nterdscpln- ary desgn, try to encourage students to realze the recprocty between the consttutve forces of hstory and culture that help to shape the cty, and try to deconstruct the noton of urban space as a culturally and socally homo- geneous contaner, n order to acknowledge the nternal varety of the cty, whch s manfested n ts neghborhoods (Lefebvre, 1991) . For ths pur- pose, nothng s more applcable than havng students walk through two neghborng cty dstrcts n Berln . The first has been more recently trans- formed from a workng-class neghborhood nto a popular area for toursts and temporarly resdng muscans, artsts and globetrotters and the sec- ond, a tradtonal mmgrant neghborhood . Whle walkng, the students hear languages whch are obvously dverse but dstnct to the neghbor- hoods, and they see dfferent but dstnct knds of ethnc food offered on the streets as well as dfferent products dsplayed on shelves and n wndow dsplays that cater to dfferent clenteles . Pror knowledge and/or exper- ence comes nto play here . It soon becomes apparent that ths s not the transplanted mnature of a Chnatown or a Lttle Italy as t can be found n Amerca . Though one mght conjecture that the students find themselves, then, n a more nterspersed model of an mmgrant neghborhood, ths too s false — at least as t s known from an Amercan contextual perspec- tve . Hypothess-buldng starts to set n . Fed by earler nput from teachers about the dfferences between Amercan and German 19th and 20th century hstory, and mmgrant hstory n partcular, t becomes clear why one can find socal housng bult n the Bauhaus style of the 1950s and 60s to fill the empty lots left by the bombng of World War II next to Wlhelmnan style houses n these sectons of the cty . One starts to understand how the Neo- Romanesque church n the same street can be regarded as a sgn ndcatng an early wave of mmgraton of Catholcs from Slesa . If one juxtaposes the adjacent Turksh Communty Center to ths church, the dversty of the cty’s populace s hghlghted and poses questons about the coexstence of 146