Learning by doing: Enhancing life and social skills in early childhood through an experiential learning management model

Abstract

This study aimed to (1) compare the life skills and social skills of children before and after the learning intervention and (2) compare learning outcomes between the experimental and control groups. The study was conducted in a kindergarten in Northeast Thailand, involving 56 children who were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group participated in a two-month intervention consisting of 24 sessions of structured experiential learning activities, while the control group received face-to-face traditional instruction. Life skills and social skills were assessed using validated scales before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests and one-way MANOVA. The experimental group demonstrated significant improvements in life skills (pre-test M=24.75; post-test M=29.28, p<0.05) and social skills (pre-test M=26.78; post-test M=29.10, p<0.05). Comparisons between the experimental and control groups indicated that the experiential learning model was more effective in fostering these skills (p<0.05). The findings highlight the effectiveness of the experiential learning model in enhancing preschool children's life and social skills. The study supports the adoption of experiential learning in early childhood education.