REAL Program

The REAL Program: Student Feedback

Students responded to open-ended questions regarding nontraditional learning activities. Below are some of the responses, demonstrating how these activities were able to:

1. Provide an enhanced sense of career path and goals along with skills needed for a career.

• After going on this trip to New York City and visiting the many wonderful art galleries, I began to appreciate art a lot more. I will apply this to my future art classroom, for many students to learn from.
• Attending my first psychology conference allowed me to reflect on my goals and experiences. This experience exposed me to new therapies, and strengthened my decision to become a clinical psychologist.
• I believe that this field trip showed me new ways that would help me better my teaching ability and help my students more.
• I had the chance to learn about wet plate collodions and how to get your work up in galleries.

2. Increase knowledge, curiosity and love of learning.

• As a result of the knowledge gained from this conference, I, as well as my peers who attended the conference, have formulated a research topic which we plan to begin investigating soon.
• I was able to expand my knowledge of chemistry and make connections with chemistry and biology topics.
• Participation in the programming contest caused me to reaffirm my goals in the Computer Science field.

3. Result in an improved confidence, independence and sense of self-discipline.

• Greek poet Archilochus stated the fox knows many things while the hedgehog knows one great thing. Up until now, I was looking at my direction through a single lens like a hedgehog; field work and conservation. Working in this lab has given me more perspective and has given me an interest in other avenues of discovery such as genetics work and immunology to tackle problems facing our environment. I can now envision myself in an integrated approach using many different methods ranging from field work to molecular biology and now I have some experience in that area. This has been invaluable.
• It enhanced my desire to become a chemist and start doing beneficial research for society.
• This trip helped me to strengthen my social skills and networks, increased my knowledge about the way our government works, and exposed me to a plethora of various backgrounds, ideologies, and beliefs.

4. Help them to develop an appreciation of others’ values and the world beyond.

• Being submerged in a new culture is the best way to learn about it and fully grasp someone else's life style and views. I could not learn what I did from a book or a class that was in the USA. I had self-discovery and gained new understanding about politics, art, social norms, habits, and ultimately how to be comfortable going outside of my element to try doing new, foreign things on my own.
• I learned more about the world outside of the US and realized that we have just as many misconceptions about the world as they have about us. Also, by being able to actually see and experience things I have been and am being taught about makes it easier to understand.
• I saw that not every teacher has to be strict and raise their voice to keep their class under control. The behavior management in this school was amazing!
• This activity greatly influenced my knowledge and value systems in more ways than one. It allowed me to explore the uniqueness of different cultures while reflecting upon my own.

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