Learning Through Experiencing: Travel Study Supporting Preservice Educators to Embrace Family, School, and Community Partnership in Costa Rica

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:40 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Informing and Improving Preservice and In-Service Teachers' Engagement With Families (Table 8)

Abstract

This session will cover our short-term community-engaged travel study course for preservice educators in which we explored family, school, and community resiliency in a small community in a rural area of Costa Rica in March, 2024. Our research question was, How does a short-term travel study experience in which U.S. preservice educators engaged with families and the community affect students’ perceptions of family partnership? Four major themes emerged from our data: (a) building relationships with families was fun and brought joy to students; (b) spending time with families and students increased students’ appreciation of families, students, and the community; (c) getting to know families was a more important part of education than they had realized.

Authors

• Shana J. Haines, University of Vermont

• Kristabel Stark, University of Vermont

• Jessica Strolin-Goltzman, University of Vermont