Study abroad experiences serve to enrich students’ educational experiences, granted these programs must be evaluated to assess educational effectiveness. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine Nicaraguan students’ perceptions of agriculture and future aspirations, before and after engaging in a four-day agricultural
-based program. Graphic elicitation and arts-based projective techniques served as metrics to assess students’ perceptions. Four major themes, with six sub-themes emerged from the data: a) perceptions of agriculture (i.e., previous agriculture); b) strength through unity (i.e., unity; and ripple effect); c) aspirations (i.e., importance of education); d) value of experience (i.e., learning new things; and thankfulness). Overall, the Nicaraguan students indicated the study abroad experience broadened their
perspective of agriculture, having a direct impact on their career aspirations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.