Kiva Microloans in a Learning Community: An Assignment for Interdisciplinary Synthesis
| Autor: | Susan K. Staats, Alfonso Sintjago, Renata Fitzpatrick |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: |
Microfinance
Higher education business.industry media_common.quotation_subject Learning community Experiential learning Education law.invention World literature law ComputingMilieux_COMPUTERSANDEDUCATION Mathematics education Integrative learning Consciousness Algebra over a field business media_common |
| Zdroj: | Innovative Higher Education. 38:173-187 |
| ISSN: | 1573-1758 0742-5627 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10755-012-9235-y |
| Popis: | Learning communities can strengthen early undergraduates’ learning, but planning them can be daunting for instructors. Learning communities usually rely on integrative assignments that encourage interdisciplinary analysis. This article reports on our experiences using microloans as an interdisciplinary assignment in a learning community that united algebra with world literature. Students used the microfinance website www.kiva.org to make small loans of real money to entrepreneurs in low-income countries. Four themes emerged from student reaction to the assignment: awareness of Africa, community impact, mathematical consciousness, and productive collaboration among students. Our reflections suggest that microfinance assignments may support integrative learning across many other disciplines. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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