Integration of Learning

Abstract

This article presents a grounded theory of “integration of learning” among traditional aged college students, which is characterized by the demonstrated ability to link various skills and knowledge learned in a variety of contexts. The author analyzed 194 interviews with students at liberal arts colleges to investigate empirically the ways undergraduates bring knowledge and experiences together so that educators might be able to more intentionally promote the integration of learning. Three distinct types of integration of learning emerged during analysis: (a) connection, the discovery of a similarity between ideas that themselves remain distinctive; (b) application, the use of knowledge from one context in another; and (c) synthesis, the creation of new knowledge by combining insights.