[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-594818-105":59,"doc-detail-594818-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-value-of-experiential-learning-a-case-study-with-an-interdisciplinary-study-abroad-course","The Value of Experiential Learning: a Case Study with an Interdisciplinary Study Abroad Course","","Experiential learning gives students time and space to learn in real, modern situations through hands-on engagement and structured reflection. This study evaluates ten days of experiential learning in Tanzania, Africa, measuring how it changes students’ understanding and retention of evolution, ecology, and ethology. Using pre- and post-tests with 25 college students, results show non-biology majors improve more substantially, supporting the course’s interdisciplinary value.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-value-of-experiential-learning-a-case-study-with-an-interdisciplinary-study-abroad-course/594818/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-value-of-experiential-learning-a-case-study-with-an-interdisciplinary-study-abroad-course/594818.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Mary Man","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is experiential learning, according to the document?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Experiential learning is education where students actively participate and interact with their surroundings in real situations, supported by hands-on activities and reflection.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How did the study assess learning outcomes?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The study used a pre-test given before travel and an unannounced post-test administered four weeks after travel.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What were the key findings about non-biology versus biology majors?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Non-biology majors showed about a 15–30% higher improvement on the post-exam than on the pre-exam, while biology majors improved about 5–10%.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},594818,1792208799,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":34,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},7421720224475,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","The Value of Experiential Learning: a Case Study with an Interdisciplinary Study Abroad Course  \nTara Prestholdt* Departments of Biology and Environmental Studies Vail Fletcher Department of Communication Studies The University of Portland, 5000 N Willamette Blvd., Portland, OR 97203  \n*[Corresponding Author:](Corresponding Author: holdt@up.edu)[ ](Corresponding Author: holdt@up.edu)[holdt@up.edu](Corresponding Author: holdt@up.edu)  \nAbstract  \nExperiential learning provides students the time and space to participate in the process of learning by engaging in real, modern situations. Via hands on activities and reflection, students are able to assimilate new experiences with previous ones, and it has been repeatedly shown to improve student learning. We assessed how ten days of experiential learning in Tanzania, Africa affected student understanding and retainment of fundamental concepts in evolution, ecology, and ethology. We assessed 25 college students (n = 12 biology majors, n = 13 non-biology majors) with a pre-and post-test. The pre-test was announced to the students and given before travel, and a nearly identical post-test was unannounced and given four weeks after travel. Non-biology majors performed at least ~15- 30% higher on their post-exam compared to their pre-exam, and biology majors performed 5-10% higher on their post-exam compared to their pre-exam. The success of our interdisciplinary course can partially be attributed to experiential learning, and our results suggest that experiential learning has a particular value to non-majors.  \nKeywords: experiential learning, assessment, non-majors, interdisciplinary, study abroad  \nIntroduction  \nExperiential learning is the type of education that occurs when students actively participate and interact with their surroundings. Originally proposed in the 1930’s, the application of experiential learning as part of the higher education process has been growing exponentially since Kolb introduced his Experiential Learning Model in the 1970’s (Dewey, 1938; Kolb, 1984; Manolis et al., 2013) . Although the details of the experiential learning model (as well as other closely related learning models) continue tobe refined in the literature, the fundamentals of all experiential learning theories are the same: in experiential learning students are given the time and space to participate in the process of learning by engaging their senses real, modern situations (Cantor, 1997; Kolb, 1984; Kolb et al., 2001; Kolb & Kolb, 2005; Lewis & Williams, 1994; Manolis et al., 2013; Schwartz, 2013; Wenger, 2009) . Student learning takes place via hands on activities, via contextualization of information in real world examples or scenarios, and with reflection, they assimilate new experiences with previous ones. Studies documenting the value of experiential learning are plentiful (especially compared to a“knowledge transfer” based education), and it is a powerful teaching tool across many disciplines (for reviews see Kolb & Kolb, 2006 and Springer et al., 1999) .  \nLike experiential learning, interdisciplinary course offerings are also growing in popularity. Cross-curricular programs allow faculty to weave together timely fields of study and allow students to learn about topics through multiple, and different,  \nfaculty lenses (Coops et al., 2015; Jacobs, 1989; Klein, 1997; Kurland et al., 2010; Matthews et al., 2010; Sherchan et al., 2016; Smit & Tremthick, 2013; Weinberg & Harding, 2004) . Interdisciplinary courses provide the opportunity to make explicit connections with topics that might otherwise be treated as insular, and this can be especially true in undergraduate programs where departments, divisions, or schools separate academic topics (i.e., a Department of History and a School of Engineering) . The value of interdisciplinary coursework can be directly seen in the trend for many colleges and universities having adopted “globalization” or“internationalization” as part of their missio","cbCais3Y2TuhBcqs","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCais3Y2TuhBcqs","pdf",260042,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Experiential learning foundations\n## Interdisciplinary course benefits\n## Study abroad course context and learning outcomes","[{\"question\":\"What is experiential learning, according to the document?\",\"answer\":\"Experiential learning is education where students actively participate and interact with their surroundings in real situations, supported by hands-on activities and reflection.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the study assess learning outcomes?\",\"answer\":\"The study used a pre-test given before travel and an unannounced post-test administered four weeks after travel.\"},{\"question\":\"What were the key findings about non-biology versus biology majors?\",\"answer\":\"Non-biology majors showed about a 15–30% higher improvement on the post-exam than on the pre-exam, while biology majors improved about 5–10%.\"}]","The Value of Experiential Learning: a Case Study with an Interdisciplinary Study Abroad Course | PDF",1792079912,18]