Article ID: 46008
This study focused on abstract conceptualization, which was a process of conceptualizing experience and constructing knowledge that can be applied to other situations based on KOLB's experiential learning model. The participants were college students who participated in a class using project-based learning in the first year of higher education. The content of the reflective reports that the students wrote after each lesson was regarded as abstract conceptualization. Based on the results of prior practice, the instructions for the reflective reports were improved to support abstract conceptualization. Based the rubric that evaluates the reflective reports, the description instructions were developed. The students’ reflective reports were examined from the perspectives of the amount of description, and the types of abstract conceptualization. Furthermore, the questionnaire about the instruction was used to investigate its effectiveness. As a result, there were more than 90% of positive opinions about the improved description instructions. Moreover, there was a significant difference in the amount of description in the practice that incorporated the instruction of interpretation and analysis from the middle of the semester. Regarding the description corresponding to abstract conceptualization, the amount of description of “report” decreased and the amount of description of “interpretation” increased, but the amount of description of “analysis” remained unchanged.
