Overview & Sample Itinerary
Download Full Syllabus
The Educator Academy in the Amazon Rainforest provides powerful professional development designed to transform student learning. Immersed for 10 days in the Peruvian Amazon, teachers learn about this key global ecosystem while building their ability to engage students in scientific research, engineering design, cross-cultural connections, and stewardship projects. Skilled Peruvian guides lead natural history exploration – in small boats, along trails, and on one of the world’s most extensive canopy walkways. Professional scientists engage educators in field research and citizen science. And villagers in remote communities demonstrate their ways of life, highlighting conservation practices with which they are aiming for long-term sustainability of the rainforest resources on which their livelihoods depend.
“Just like that. In 10 short days our idea of a classroom has been forever changed...To us, a classroom no longer consists of four white walls with organized rows of desks and textbooks on top. Those walls have been broken and torn down. The desks have been pushed aside and textbooks are now closed. It’s time to let the world be the classroom …. Our job is to support students on their journey. Let them discover what the world has to offer and what they can do to make it theirs.” -- 2017 participant
With specialized tracks for elementary, middle school, and HS/AP educators, participants take advantage of activities most relevant to their interests and needs, and collaborate to share ideas for classroom applications. Field activities support NGSS 3D learning, STEM, 5E and more.
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Elementary Educators | Middle School Educators | High School and AP Educators |
Explore the Amazon through the lens of place-based learning and inquiry. Visit Amazon schools, conduct service projects, and learn from villagers in remote communities. Cohort limited to 10 participants. | Participate in research and citizen science, learning techniques directly applicable in your teaching while exploring the Amazon rainforest and connecting with local communities Cohort limited to 10 participants. | Take a dive deep into tropical ecology, community-based conservation and sustainable development. Learn from indigenous leaders and make connections to your teaching. Cohort limited to 10 participants. |
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Why spend time in the Amazon?
Although the Amazon rainforest is a common topic in K–12 curricula, typically it is addressed through textbook readings. Educators who have the opportunity to visit this remarkable biome return to their classrooms with new perspectives on how to help their students make sense of their world from the local to the global. Learning in the Amazon favors inquiry, personal discovery, and the ability to ask good questions. It requires a holistic, multi-disciplinary lens to understand its complex past, present, and future. Its preservation calls for local engagement and global collaboration. Participants head home knowing that the real power of place-based learning is to move learners beyond factual awareness and into active participation and deep understanding.
Contact Hours
20+ hours of pre-departure preparation include online readings, discussions, and webinars. 50 hours of field work in the Amazon include experiences using resources by Pacific Education Institute, Project Learning Tree, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Vernier Software and Technology. Post-trip webinars and online network offer ongoing involvement and support.
SAMPLE ITINERARY
July 1 – DAY 1: Depart from US and overnight in Lima, Peru
July 2 – DAY 2: Lima to Iquitos and ExplorNapo Lodge
Transfer to Lima airport ● Travel by boat on the Amazon River and deepen your understanding of this important global resource ● Evening orientation: Where in the World Are We?
July 3– DAY 3: ExplorNapo Lodge
Birding and wildlife investigations each morning ● AM field workshop: Place-based inquiry in the Amazon ● Guided hike and inquiry-based explorations the rainforest ecosystem ● PM field workshop: Designing Field Studies & The Tools of Inquiry ● Pre-dinner round table discussions ● Evening boat ride.
July 4– DAY 4: ExplorNapo Lodge
AM field workshop: Amazon biodiversity: Arthropods Rule! ● PM field workshop: Amazon Biodiversity – Secret Lives of Amazon Plants ● Visit to ReNuPeru medicinal plant garden and shaman Guillermo Rodriguez ● Pre-dinner round table discussions ● Evening discussion night hike.
July 5 – DAY 5: Amazon Conservatory of Tropical Studies (ACTS)
AM grade level field & curriculum workshops: Forging connections to forests and climate change ● PM field workshop: Tropical Ecology 101 with guided hike and explorations en route to ACTS field station. Canopy walkway exploration and sunset viewing. ● Evening Exploration: STEM design challenge.
July 6 – DAY 6: Amazon Conservatory of Tropical Studies (ACTS)
AM/PM field workshops: Research in the Rainforest – Trade your Lab Coat for a Rain Poncho ● Small group field studies and explorations with Academy faculty ● Explore STEM applications of research protocols, investigation tools, and inquiry resources ● Pre-dinner round table discussion: Science, Conservation, and Sustainability ● Night hike.
July 7 – DAY 7: ExplorNapo Lodge
AM field workshop: Research in the Rainforest wrap up ● PM field workshop: Meet the Maijuna with visit to community of Sucusari to meet with community members and learn about their culture and history and efforts to protect nearly a million acres of the Amazon ● Evening Exploration: “Have you touched a rainforest today?”
July 8 – DAY 8: ExplorNapo Lodge
AM/PM field workshops: Full day in the Maijuna village of Sucusari ● In-depth exploration of the creation of the Maijuna-Kichwa Regional Conservation Area ● Hands-on explorations of Maijuna community conservation projects, including stingless bee honey cultivation, aguaje palm fruit harvesting, GPS animal tracking and hunting initiative, and chambira fiber workshop ● Pre-dinner round table discussion: Connecting the Amazon to your NGSS Classroom ● Night boat ride on the Sucusari River.
July 9 – DAY 9: ExplorNapo Lodge
AM field Workshop: The Maijuna Foodshed – agriculture and water resources ● Lunch at Napo ● PM: Creating a collaborative action plan for integrating the Amazon into your instruction. Evening: Awards ceremony and celebration!
July 10 – DAY 10: Iquitos to Lima and return flights to US
Transfer to Iquitos for return flight to Lima and international flights or overnight at hotel for Machu Picchu Extension. Note: Participants not continuing on to Machu Picchu will return to the U.S. on an overnight flight arriving home on July 11, DAY 11.