ACTIVE LEARNING: THE IMPACT ON STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN AN EXTENDED FIELD TRIP TO PUERTO RICO

Abstract

Students in the Penn State course entitled Problem Solving in Tropical Agriculture (INTAG 481) participated in an extended field trip to Puerto Rico. They were interviewed prior to boarding the plane about their expectations and what they had learned at the inception of the semester. The students were randomly selected for interviews. The interviews suggest that students perceived the field trip to Puerto Rico to be a significant and valuable learning experience that could not have been duplicated in the classroom. This direct, hands-on involvement and meaningful exposure to a "real world" situation provided a learning experience students recognized as being both valuable and unattainable within the confines of the classroom. Their learning experience included not only learning the content material but also applying what they learned, developing sensitivity to another culture, and growing personally and professionally.