Making sense together: participatory sensemaking, learning cycles, and group roles.
Christian Kronsted, Matthew Henley, Miriam Giguere
Frontiers in psychology January 1, 2026 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1746763 via PubMed
Summary
The Kolb Learning Cycle, a model of experiential learning with four phases—experimentation, concretization, observation, and conceptualization—is extended using 4E cognition (embodied, enactive, embedded, extended), ecological psychology, group role theory, and participatory sense-making. The authors argue that as individuals cycle through group roles (leader, follower, naysayer, observer), they shift into new Kolb phases, altering the group's emergent dynamics. Social interaction thus drives the learning cycle, and the group functions as a joint cognitive system that cannot be reduced to individual contributions.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Social interaction, through group roles and participatory sense-making, drives the Kolb learning cycle at the group level, making the group a joint cognitive system. |
Abstract
The Kolb Learning Cycle is a popular model of experiential learning in which agents move through four phases: experimentation, concretization, observation, and conceptualization. This model is a dynamic learning model that aligns well with embodied approaches to cognition, as it centers on student agency, inquiry, and exploration. However, there is currently no 4E (embodied, enactive, embedded, and extended) account of the learning cycle. Furthermore, Kolb's theory focuses solely on behavior and learning in the individual. We here create a 4E account of the Kolb learning cycle by combining it with group role theory, ecological psychology, and participatory sense-making (PSM). We argue that, as individual members cycle through various group roles and their associated Kolb phases, they aid the group as a joint cognitive system in transitioning to new modes of engagement at the group level. Moving through group roles (leader, follower, naysayer, observer) often moves the agent into a new Kolb phase, which, in turn, changes the emergent dynamics of the entire group. Thus, social interaction can drive the learning cycle. Because the behavior of the individual is emergent, we cannot rely on reductivist accounts to explain group learning behaviors as the outcome of individual contributions. Rather, we consider the group as a cognitive system that drives learning.