Experiential education programs encompass a wide range of curricula, from traditional internships, classroom-based learning in labs and teaching practicums to the community-based learning afforded by volunteering. As shown in Figure 1.1, internships and field experiences primarily serve as pre-professional training and career development opportunities for students. At the other end of the experiential education continuum, volunteer programs such as Alternative Spring Break provide direct-service opportunities for students to make a difference in their communities. The locus of activity often shifts between campus and community over the life of a project; most programs also move back and forth along the continuum over time. Indeed, almost any experiential education project can be crafted to emphasize outcomes at one end of the spectrum or the other in order to meet its defined goals.

This chapter will describe lesser-known programs in the United States that engage students of different ages and backgrounds in experiential learning activities that are most often described as service learning (SL), but that may share qualities with other types of experiential education. The purpose is to provide readers with a better sense of the range and scope of projects that are possible in different educational settings, while also introducing some of the supporting research and scholarship.