AN INTERDISCIPLINARY TEACHING APPROACH TO STUDY ABROAD TRIPS THAT IMPROVE SCIENCE LITERACY IN THE GEOSCIENCES

Here we present a case study that combines interdisciplinary and experiential teaching pedagogies in a short-term immersion study abroad course in Italy. Formal and informal assessments before, during, and after the field experiences document increased self-assessed learning, and comprehensive knowledge of scientific concepts. We found that providing pre-service teachers with interdisciplinary learning opportunities, accompanied by a field teaching component, increased students’ science literacy. Students’ reflections of their experiences indicate that immersion in a linguistically different culture augments the benefits of interdisciplinary experiential pedagogy.