The development of an undergraduate study abroad program: Nicaragua and the psychology of social inequality

In its recent report outlining principles for teaching undergraduate students in psychology, the American Psychological Associ-ation Board of Educational Affairs recommended including experiential learning in the curriculum and identified study abroad opportunities as being particularly valuable. Unfortunately, although American universities offer hundreds of faculty-led study abroad programs, only a handful of the programs offer coursework in psychology. In this article, I describe a program in Nicaragua on the psychology of social inequality I developed and have been leading for the past 10 years. I begin by describing the structure of the program and discuss my pedagogical approach and goals for the program. I then discuss research related to the value of short-term study abroad and provide evidence for the success of the Nicaragua program. Finally, I outline some initial steps in the program development process and urge faculty members to consider designing new study abroad programs in psychology. Keywords experiential learning, study abroad, social inequality In a recently released report, the American Psychological Asso-ciation Board of Educational Affairs outlined a number of prin-ciples for promoting quality undergraduate education in psychology (APA, 2011). Among their recommendations wa