Experiential Learning Over Interim

As most Dartmouth students finished exams and began their winter break, three classes reconvened after Thanksgiving to travel abroad for the culminating experiences of their fall term courses.

Economics 70, “Macroeconomics Policy in Latin America,” traveled to Argentina and Chile, Public Policy 85, “Topics in Global Policy Leadership,” went to Colombia and Biology 70, “Biologic Lessons of the Eye,” visited India.

 

Economics professors Douglas Irwin and Marjorie Rose spent the fall term co-teaching a 16-student course studying economics in Argentina and Chile. After Thanksgiving, the class spent two weeks traveling around the two countries and meeting with policymakers.

“The travel component allows students to see economic challenges first-hand and do some intensive field work on team research projects,” Rose said.

 

In Colombia, the students met with policymakers, representatives from non-governmental organizations, participants in the conflict and FARC kidnapping victims to gain new insight into the topics they studied in the fall.

“[The trip] puts a much finer point on all of the things that we studied,” public policy professor Charles Wheelan '88 said. “It’s one thing to study something, [but] it’s quite another to speak to people who are working on the conflict [and] who were affected personally by it.”

Ashley DuPuis ’19 noted that the trip impacted her own career interests and how she envisions her career trajectory in the future.

“The trip had a huge effect on me,” Daniels said. “Reading about a conflict is much different than actually meeting with those who were involved. I think we all gained a greater appreciation for experiential learning.”

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