Background: Experiential learning environments are beneficial for the development of generic learning outcomes, such as critical thinking, communication, and self-regulation. However, research about the variation in experiential learning activities and their benefits is scattered across several bodies of discipline-specific literature. Purpose:…

Background: Although the literature on education and learning sciences determined how student identities influence their experiential learning process, this link is less clear in the agricultural context, where farmers have faced unique value chain challenges i.e., production to marketing. Purpose: This study contributes to examining how farmers'…

Background: Career-focused education programs in the United States increasingly emphasize 21st century workplace readiness. These programs use project-based learning to develop a holistic, noncognitive skillset linked to an entrepreneurial mindset. Purpose: This study assesses the relationship between entrepreneurial mindset development and…

Equine-assisted occupational therapy (EAOT) employs horse and human cooperation in activities that facilitate social, emotional, and cognitive development. The potential benefits of equine-assisted activities for students may influence the development of these types of skills in professional occupational therapy practice. This study explored the…

Background: Evidence suggests experiential learning promotes the development of a range of transferrable skills including communication, responsibility, and social skills. However, many students are unable to participate in internships or other common forms of experiential education because they need to work for pay. University employment has been…

This study examines the impact of field trip experiences on teachers' mathematical problem posing. Teachers from a large urban public school system in the Midwest participated in a professional development program that incorporated experiential learning with mathematical problem formulation experiences. During 2 weeks of summer 2011, 68 teachers…

An authentic learning strategy fostering students' active learning was studied using the scenario of a real-world project. Students from two different classes at two different universities worked as clients or consultants to develop an apparel sourcing strategy. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from 44 undergraduates enrolled in…

Service-learning is a teaching strategy that offers students opportunities to learn both in the classroom and in the wider world. This pedagogical tool provides students with chances to directly interact with local agencies and effect change in the community. Thus, service-learning holds the potential to broaden and significantly enhance the…

Examination of problem-focused and solution-focused facilitation approaches used with functional and dysfunctional corporate groups found that both approaches were equally effective at increasing teamwork in functional corporate groups; that problem-focused facilitation was less effective with dysfunctional corporate groups; and that…

Maintaining that adventure based programs serving delinquent populations are proliferating, the author identifies five adventure education properties which impel a delinquent to rearrange his destructive ways: gamelike atmosphere; organization of participants into a primary peer group; use of the outdoors; nature of the problems posed; and…

Presents a problem-solving model for outdoor group leaders. Describes assessment, analytical and creative phases of the model, and emphasizes the importance of experience-based judgment. Discusses ways of providing experiential problem-solving opportunities in outdoor leadership preparation programs. (SV)

A solution-focused therapeutic approach to processing adventure experiences shifts the focus of debriefing sessions from problem to solution, helps clients recognize exceptions to their problem behavior, and sensitizes clients to seeking positive behaviors versus avoiding negative ones. Techniques include clients' rating of their own abilities on…

Metaphors are guiding images that influence one's approach to problem solving. Experiential learning is a process of metaphor change; the task of educators is to facilitate development of new metaphors that generate new potential when old metaphors don't work. Discusses stages of metaphor development, creating an open learning space, and…

Recounts evolution of School Concern Project, begun in Oxfordshire, England, in 1978 and staffed by professional teachers and therapists, into minimally budgeted organization staffed by physically disabled volunteers in 1984. Describes how students, including those with learning and behavioral needs, were involved in design and production of items…

Describes a course used to teach freshwater ecology to graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Michigan Biological Station. Explains how students receive an introduction to lake ecology and work on applied resource management questions concerning local lakes and streams. Gives case study examples. (SB)