What does it take to get an A+ in Amazon 101? Let's start with total immersion! In a few short months, a fabulous group of educators and naturalists will take the plunge and join us in Peru for our annual workshops - including our inaugural Educator Academy.
 Our days will immerse us in exploration, inquiry, and reflection as we strive to make meaning and discover a sense of place - our place - in the Amazon. This issue of Amazon Explorer is dedicated to those who long to dig deep, immersing themselves in learning, and developing a life-long connection to the place known as the Amazon.
|
 Place-based Education in the Amazon
Ahhh...Amazonia. A magical word that conjures up images of snaking rivers, soaring trees, and strange wildlife. Surely if there is a place that can inspire wonder and curiosity, this is it! And yet...many visitors struggle to make sense of it all, to put it into perspective, to find a scale that makes it understandable and manageable, to find a way to meaningfully connect.
This is where place-based learning can change the dynamic - helping us see past the river's edge and into forest.
As we prepare for our upcoming 2013 Educator Academy in the Amazon, we will be using these tips to focus the development of our field sessions. You can use these just as easily in your own classroom or own backyard!
- Make it personal. Make personal connections to your community and environment through research, personal reflection, and exploration.
- Find out what is going on. Identify local issues or ongoing projects related to concepts you are studying in the classroom or exploring in the field - "real world" examples provide context, life, and meaning.
- Find out who your local "experts" are. Deepen understanding by engaging with local professionals from a variety of backgrounds and ask them to share their perspectives on the issue at hand.
- Investigate. Engage in independent, personalized research and enlist the support and guidance of the "experts" in your community.
- Take action. Apply your learning and serve your community. Work with community members to help solve a local problem.
|
How to get an A+ in Amazon 101
Are you ready for your Amazon final exam? Have you done your homework? Of course you have!
You can state with confidence that the world's rainforests:
- support more than ½ of the world's biodiversity;
- provide new medicines, foods, and other products of global economic value;
- impact local, regional, and global climates-protecting against floods, drought, and erosion;
- store vast amounts of carbon and help to mitigate global climate change;
- and provide food and shelter to indigenous people.
You also probably know that the Amazon is the world's largest intact rainforest (bigger than the continental US) and is a critically important global resource.
If you are a real smarty pants, looking for extra credit, you will also want to share that the Amazon harbors least 10% of the word's known biodiversity, with new species being discovered at the rate of 1 every 3 days (more than 1,200 new species in the last decade). And that the Amazon River system accounts for more than 15% of the world's fresh water and its forests store more than 90 billion metric tons of carbon.
And for serious bonus points, you'd be sure to explain that approximately 350 ethnic groups are sheltered by its forests and sustained by its waters - and that "uncontacted" groups still exist.
Hmmmm...if that's all you've got, I'm afraid you've just earned yourself a C+ or B- (if I'm feeling generous). Wait! What?
Want to know what it really takes to get an A+? Read our complete blog posting. Then join the discussion for extra credit.
|
Project Learning Tree goes to the Amazon!
 We are super excited to include Project Learning Tree (PLT) training as part of our upcoming 2013 Educator Academy.
If you aren't familiar with PLT, welcome to a whole new way of incorporating environmental education into your classroom!
Founded in the 1970's, PLT is recognized as one of the premier environmental education programs in the world. PLT offers a whole host of curricula, activity guides, and resources for early childhood to grade 12 classrooms.
We are so excited to have PLT's Director of Educational Programs, Al Stenstrup, joining our faculty for the Educator Academy July 2-11. 
Al will use PLT's Forests of the World education modules to help participants gain a deeper sense of place and understand how to make connections between the Amazon and their local forests.
In addition, we will incorporate lessons from PLT's Environmental Education Activity Guide into our work with students from CONAPAC's Amazon Library.
Read our interview with the irrepressible Al Stenstrup and you'll want to join us in the Amazon next summer! If you do, you'll complete a full PLT training session and recieve your PLT materials for your classroom! |
|
What does Place-based Learning mean to you? Join the conversation and post your repsonses on our Blog - Field Notes from the Amazon!
We hope you've enjoyed this issue of Amazon Explorer. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Let us know how we can make future editions of Amazon Explorer even better.
Sincerely,
Amazon Rainforest Workshops Team
© 2012 Environmental Expeditions |
|
|
 |
|
BREAKING NEWS!
SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE FAST APPROACHING!!
2013 Amazon Educator Academy
Take your professional development to a whole new level - out of the classroom and into the jungle. Join us in Peru and investigate the Amazon rainforest using best practice 21st century instructional models such as inquiry- based exploration, STEM education, sustainability science, and more. Return to your classroom with a new set of skills and tools that will enrich your teaching and deepen student understanding.
Scholarships Deadline is MARCH 8, 2013!
|
|
Looking for an inquiry expedition for your Students? Why not the Amazon?
Be a an inquiry mentor and share the magic of the Amazon with your students. As a teacher leader you can jump start their passion for learning and discovery.
With just 10 students your travel expenses are covered.
Visit our webiste to learn more about our
|
Quick Links to Place-based Learning Resources and Readings
|
|
