Learning to Leap

Abstract

This article describes the effect of participation in experiential activities in a first-year seminar on students’ perceptions of self-esteem and academic performance in their first semester at Kennesaw State University. Findings suggest that student participants had greater levels of self-esteem and achieved higher grade point averages than their peers who were in first-year seminars that were not experientially oriented. The article concludes with strategies for instructors to use to purposefully incorporate experiential learning into a first-year seminar.

Keywords

• first-year
• student
• seminar
• self-esteem
• academic performance
• experiential learning