We are inviting a select group of teachers and teacher professional development program leaders to join us in the inaugural Travel Expedition to the Amazon Rainforest, which will depart July 14, 2008 and return home on July 22, 2008.

This exciting educational experience will also involve United States teachers working with teachers in Iquitos to create conservation lessons that will be used in U.S. and Peruvian classrooms and in a new Environmental Education center being built in Iquitos, Peru. The Rainforest must be preserved for future generations and is the richest resource in the Iquitos area. Today, Peruvians are realizing the importance of educating their youth to help preserve this national treasure. This Learning Expedition will help to ensure the future for many, many young people at home and abroad, while also offering a high quality professional development program.

On the inaugural trip, you will be asked to actively take part in the pre-departure online course beginning June 23 for two weeks, and to meet the leaders and join the trip embarking on July 14 from Miami. On the final day of the expedition, you will meet with teachers from Iquitos to develop conservation lesson plans. Following the trip, you will complete the third week of the online course and complete your classroom materials.

• Understand the basic principles of evolution by natural selection
• Evaluate interrelationships among organisms, populations, communities and ecosystems
• Analyze the flow of energy through rainforest ecosystems and the establishment of stable biomes
• Assess the impacts of human populations on rainforest ecosystems

This course parallels a graduate level course in environmental education, integrating biological and geological principles. It combines onsite observations, interviews and tours with content and application of content. The model of mixing online participation with onsite travel experiences is unique and will produce a high quality educational experience.

• Identify the flora of the Amazon rainforest and learn about the roots, leaves and seeds that make up the tropical medicines.
  
• View close up the exotic birds, butterflies, fish, dolphins, frogs and insects of the rainforest.
  
• Interact with Peruvian villagers along the river, learn their customs and lifestyles, and work with them on a community service project.
  
• Climb high into the treetops on the Canopy Walkway where as much as 80% of the forest life exists.
  
• Stargaze from the middle of the river and see the Southern Cross and millions of stars.
  
• Work with teachers in Iquitos to build a rainforest conservation curriculum with lesson plans that will be used in the schools of Iquitos and the U.S.
  
• Participate in a dynamic online professional development program in science, offering up to 3 graduate credits