Programs falling under the general rubric of "experiential education" take a number of forms, varying on several dimensions; what is offered here is a schematic overview. In general, they all involve students in activities that look rather different from more traditional classroom-based methods: (1) the formal lecture and discussion; (2) the…

Focusing on the intellectual, cognitive mental domain of learning, the article discusses the kind of mental work one is expected to perform and the social relationships one engages in academic learning and field learning. (SB)

A three-year study of student interns investigated the experience of newcomers in various work organizations. This article compares internships in two settings: a furniture-making shop and an animal protection league to help determine how workers learn their jobs. (LHW)

The nature of education as a social process in workplace settings outside of schools was explored over 3 years at 35 intern settings for an alternative high school program in a large city. The experiences of students at the 35 sites were compared to identify essential features of work tasks and the social means to accomplish these tasks. Two…

A study tested the claim that work-based learning can have positive effects on academic learning. Data were obtained through interviews with faculty, staff, students, and employers, and observation of classroom-based links to the work-based learning components at three sites involved in a work-based learning project. At the three sites, a total of…

The term "curriculum" has been used almost exclusively in educational circles to refer to plans for the conduct of learning lessons in school classrooms. This paper argues that the concept can be productively expanded to describe learning processes in workplaces, including those in which learning is not the intentional outcome of an interaction.…

This document, which is based on 3 years of research on 14 school-to-work programs across the United States, outlines pedagogical strategies for work-based learning. Pedagogy is defined as the organization of the social activities, organizational structures, and cultural practices by which newcomers, such as student interns, come to acquire and…

The claim that work-based experience improves students' academic performance was examined through a study of the academic progress of 25 high school and community college student interns employed in various health care workplaces. Data were collected from the following activities: (1) review of the literature on academic reinforcement and academic…