ETD RECORD
Tourism as a vehicle for experiential learning :a phenomenological study of group educational travel for rural middle school students
Citation
Johnson, Darren S.. (2008). Tourism as a vehicle for experiential learning :a phenomenological study of group educational travel for rural middle school students. Theses and Dissertations Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections. https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/etd/items/etd_246.html
- Title:
- Tourism as a vehicle for experiential learning :a phenomenological study of group educational travel for rural middle school students
- Author:
- Johnson, Darren S.
- Date:
- 2008
- Keywords:
- Middle school students--Education Experiential Learning School field trips
- Program:
- Education
- Abstract:
- Experiential education is defined as learning outside the walls of the regular school program and building (Kraft & Sakofs, 1988). Experiential education takes many forms such as after-school programs, athletic, music, dance, or other types of camps, field trips, and educational travel, etc. The focus of the study was a six-day group educational trip by rural 8th grade students from the northwestern United States to Washington, D.C. and New York City from March 24-29, 2007. Due to the large number of U.S. students who travel each year with the different educational travel companies, phenomenological data was needed to understand the experiences of the youth on such trips. The ten participants were either 13 or 14 years old at the time of the trip. In-depth interviews before and after the trip were conducted with ten students who participated in this trip. The ten participants were also asked to write in daily journals about their experiences. The interview and journal data was examined and transformed into individual phenomenological protocols, and from these protocols, conclusions were drawn about the learning that took place for the participants on this trip. Participants offered their views about the impact of the trip in their lives. From the ten study participants, five produced data that yielded the "rich, thick descriptions" characteristic of a phenomenological study (Creswell, 1998; Moustakas, 1994). Four themes and seventeen sub-themes were developed from the data that resulted in students developing intellectually, emotionally, socially, and culturally. The results of this study provide an in-depth narrative account of the experiences of rural middle school youth on a six-day group educational trip to important cultural and heritage sites in the United States.
- Description:
- Thesis (Ph. D., Education)--University of Idaho, April 2008.
- Major Professor:
- Russell A. Joki.
- Defense Date:
- April 2008.
- Type:
- Text
- Format Original:
- xi, 283 leaves :col. ill. ;29 cm.
- Format:
- record
Rights
- Rights:
- In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted. For more information, please contact University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives Department at libspec@uidaho.edu.
- Standardized Rights:
- http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/