Open AccessPowerful learning at SEA
Author(s) -
Gordon Rowland,
Allison L. Kitchen-Meyer
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
formakademisk
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1890-9515
DOI - 10.7577/formakademisk.2004
Subject(s) - extant taxon , openness to experience , reputation , point (geometry) , psychology , sociology , social psychology , social science , biology , geometry , mathematics , evolutionary biology
The Sea Education Association (SEA) has an international reputation for creating powerful learning experiences in semester-long programs that involve conducting scientific research while sailing tall ships. To what extent, how and why these experiences occur was studied through interviews, extant data analysis, and participant observation of the SEA Semester program Marine Biodiversity and Conservation. Themes consistent with past studies of powerful learning emerged, for example, authenticity, openness, relationships with others, and intense engagement, while outcomes continued to be highly individual. Relationships among these themes point toward complexity, design, and systemic design and suggest seeds of a theory of powerful learning systems.