well as self-reporting on a questionnaire and extensive interviews, indicated

that those who had experienced guided study experiences abroad, such as SST,

dramatically increased their interest in and ability for reflective thought in

academic activities, and such stimulation continued to climb after the study-

abroad experience was over.⁴⁹On SST, critical thought enters into reworking

notions of gender norms and roles, wealth and poverty, and justice and

injustice. One student who had some background in Latin American liberation

theology and in working with issues of faith, justice and peacemaking prior to

her SST experience, wrote in her journal:

There are three aspects of this campothat I think are really valuable -- connection with the land, close community and meaningful work. It is because of those things that life here is rich, despite financial poverty. Basing wealth upon only dollars, then, is indeed a deeply engrained

on interviews with returned SST students, note that findings vary depending
on research methodology, and on what terms such as "interpersonal skills"
mean. For other studies which would confirm the basic results reported here,
see, e.g., S. Cohen and C. Sovet, "Human Service Education, Experiential
Learning and Service Development," College Student Journal 23:2 (1989):117-
122; D. Conrad and D. Hedin, "The Impact of Experiential Education on Youth
Development," in J. Kendall, ed., Combining Service and Learning:A Resource
Book for Community and Public Service, Vol. 1 (Raleigh:National Society for
Internships and Experiential Education, 1990):119-129; and Thomas H.
Batchelder and Susan Root, "Effects of an Undergraduate Program to Integrate
Academic Learning and Service:Cognitive, Prosocial Cognitive, and Identity
Outcomes," Journal of Adolescence17 (August 1994):341-355. The latter article
revealed "significant gains for the service-learning participants on certain
cognitive dimensions, such as awareness of multidimensionality," particularly
with high-quality on-site supervision, as is true for SST. My own experience
in co-leading four Goshen College SST unitsalso would confirm the
Kauffmann et. al. study.

49_{See also, e.g., J. Bransford, S. Goldman and N. Vye, "Making a Difference in}
People's Ability to Think:Reflections on a Decade of Work and Some Hopes for
the Future," in L. Okagaki and R.J. Sternberg, eds, Influences on the
Development of Children's Thinking(Hillsdale:Erlbaum, 1992):PAGES; and G.
Markus and J. Howard, "Integrating Community Service and Classroom
Instruction Enhances Learning:Results from an Experiment," Educational
Evaluation and Policy Analysis 15:4 (1993):410-419.

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