Greetings, Chautauqua Participants!
Chautauqua short courses must now be self-supporting. The National Science Foundation awarded financial support for this program for 19 consecutive years through 2007. Since that time there has been no support from NSF or any other institution. Each short course requires a $100 registration fee and an additional course fee.
NOTE: An individual may participate in more than one short course. Also high school teachers and retired faculty, as well as adult companions, are welcome in these courses.
Please help us spread the word about these courses to friends and colleagues who may be interested. We hope that you will consider these opportunities and others detailed on the web site.
If you have questions please contact us.
2013 Chautauqua Short Course Program
Sponsored by
James P. Barufaldi, Ph.D., Director
Center for STEM Education
The University of Texas at Austin
E-mail: jamesb@austin.utexas.edu
Additional information contact:
Gail Seale, Coordinator
Phone: 512-232-6202
Email: gails@austin.utexas.edu
NOTE: We encourage early registration so we may confirm that a course as “made,” as soon as possible. Early registration enables participants to purchase less expensive airline tickets and request travel support from their institutions. To reserve your space, a $100 registration fee must be sent in advance to Dr. James P. Barufaldi, Center for STEM Education, 1912 Speedway #340 (D5500), The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712. In the event a course does not make, the registration and course fees are refunded or may be transferred to another course (IF cancellation is at least one month prior to course date). NOTE: Proceeds may be used in general support of the College of Education, the University of Texas at Austin.
Exploring Iceland’s Physical Geography and Geomorphology
Jim Wysong, Hillsborough Community College
Date: May 8 - 12, 2013
(Approximately 30 contact hours course and field work)
Note: This course will be based out of Reykjavik, Iceland. Participants will be responsible for all costs and fees associated with transportation, lodging, and meals. Round trip airfare on Icelandair from most U.S. gateway cities, ~$700.00 Airport transfer in Iceland, $25. “European style” lodging (includes breakfast), ~$75/night. The required additional course fee of $675.00 includes ground tours and entrance fees. The tours will include a Reykjavik city tour, a visit to a geothermal power station, and three all-day trips to the various geologic sites: volcanic areas, geysers, waterfalls, fiords, etc. Additional activities to be arranged depending on weather conditions. Optional tours will be available, with most ranging around $50 to $150. To reserve your space, a $100 registration fee must be sent in advance to Dr. James P. Barufaldi, Chautauqua Field Director's Office, UT Austin (D5500), Austin, TX 78712.
Course Description:
Situated on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the island nation of Iceland provides a unique location to study myriad volcanic landforms and geothermal features associated with this divergent plate boundary. Additionally, Iceland’s high latitude makes it a unique location to examine the interplay of glacial, marine, and volcanic processes. Participants will stay in the geothermally powered city of Reykjavik, exploring the outlying areas by motor coach. Field trips to the Gullfoss waterfall, the Hekla volcano, the rift valley at Thingvellir, the fiorded northwest coast, and hydrothermal sites (including the type-locality for geysers) are planned. Optional side trips to the Vestmannaeyjar Islands, with a flight over Surtsey will be available as well as a variety of tours featuring historical and cultural points of interest.
For college teachers of: Geology, geography, earth science, and related disciplines. Please contact Jim Wysong at jwysong@hccfl.edu for additional information or details.
Prerequisites: Participants should be able to hike up to 1.5 miles on trails with a moderate gradient. Iceland is noted for dramatically variable weather. Beautiful blue skies can quickly give way a rain shower or snow squall. Participants should come prepared for temperatures ranging from below freezing to shirtsleeve conditions.
Jim Wysong is Professor of Earth Science and Program Manager of Sciences at Hillsborough Community College's Brandon Campus in Tampa, FL. He is actively involved in geographic and geological education workshops, post-secondary science curriculum reform, and science literacy initiatives. Professor Wysong has conducted past Chautauqua Courses in Iceland (five trips), Greenland, New Mexico, Tampa Bay, and the Florida Keys.
Tropical Marine Ecology & Conservation
Mark Manteuffel, Ph.D.
St. Louis Community College and Washington University
Dates: August 3 - 11, 2013
Note: Participants will be responsible for arranging their own transportation to and from Belize City, Belize, as well as paying their own departure taxes and fees. It is recommended that you make air reservations through Holbrook Educational Travel
http://www.holbrooktravel.com/dated-departure/tropicalecology
this organization is handling our air and land accommodations, as the land program requires strict arrival and departure times in order to travel with the group. Participants making their own flight arrangements may be subject to separate fees. An additional course fee to cover all in-country costs for lodging, ground transportation, activities, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, estimated at $1,994, must be paid by participant.
To reserve your space, two things must be done. First, a $100 registration fee must be sent in advance to Dr. James P. Barufaldi, Chautauqua Field Director's Office, UT Austin (D5500), 1912 Speedway #340, Austin, TX 78712.
NOTE: Registration form found at http://www.edb.utexas.edu/education/centserv/csme/about/
Second, you must contact me (mmanteuf@wustl.edu) and pay a $200 trip deposit with Holbrook Educational Travel
http://www.holbrooktravel.com/dated-departure/tropicalecology
Deposit should be received no later than May 25, 2013. This trip deposit is refundable until June 19, 2013 with exclusion of $100 cancellation fee. All final payments of approximately $1,794 (which cover in-country costs as detailed above) are due no later than June 19, 2013, after which time, the moneys are non-refundable.
Course Description:
In this 9-day professional development course I will lead you on an examination and exploration of the rich biodiversity found in the unique Central American country of Belize. Belize contains a variety of rich, unspoiled natural habitats, including the hemisphere’s longest coral reef, hundreds of sandy offshore islands, pristine tropical rainforest, and a flora and fauna that includes over 4,000 different species of native flowering plants, more than 530 species of birds, five cat species including the beautiful jaguar, 124 mammal species, and 139 species of reptiles.
In this course we examine the ecology and conservation of tropical marine ecosystems and the biodiversity found within them. We will discuss, plan and design exploratory, inquiry-based scientific investigations and field activities that demonstrate research and teaching techniques suitable for college and university courses. The focus of these activities will center upon measuring and monitoring the biological diversity in habitats we explore. Each day will involve implementing these inquiry-based scientific investigations as well as designing new ones. Evening discussions will examine how baseline biodiversity data such as we gather is necessary for conservation planning and management.
Upon arrival in Belize, we will travel to the Tropical Education Center adjacent to the Belize Zoo where we will spend the first 3 days. During this time we will explore the tropical savanna, tropical rainforest, and riverine ecosystems of Belize. We than transfer to Calabash Caye, where for the next five days we will explore the marine systems accessible near the caye.
For college teachers of: all disciplines.
Prerequisites: While not a requirement, participants are encouraged to have at least some knowledge of tropical marine ecology. Dr. Mark Manteuffel can recommend readings for those
interested in learning more before the trip, as well as suggested clothing and field gear.
As a research scholar and a professor, Dr. Manteuffel has explored and studied earth’s biodiversity for over 20 years in the United States, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Australia. He received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Miami in 2001. Dr. Manteuffel is currently Adjunct Professor at Washington University and Associate Professor of Biology at St. Louis Community College, where he is Coordinator of Environmental Studies. His current research and teaching focuses on environmental sustainability. He is especially interested in ecosystem response to disturbance, such as human habitat disturbance and climate change.
COURSE CANCELED - Retracing the Origins of Modern Geoscience in Edinburgh Scotland:
James Hutton, Deep Time and the Scottish Enlightenment
Jim Wysong, Hillsborough Community College – Course Director
Angus Miller, University of Edinburgh – Field Guide and Resident Expert
Date: July 1 – 5, 2013
Ethnobotany and Archaeology in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico
Ed Barnhart, Ph.D., Maya Exploration Center
Date: July 6 - 13, 2013
Note: Participants will be responsible for arranging their own transportation to and from Oaxaca, Mexico. A course fee to cover in-country costs for lodging, transportation, breakfasts, and entry fees, estimated at $1400, will be paid by the participants. Meals during the week and other incidentals will cost and an estimated additional $250. To reserve your space, a $100 registration fee must be sent in advance to Dr. James P. Barufaldi, Chautauqua Field Director's Office, Austin, TX 78712.
Course Description:
For thousands of years, from house building to medicine, the use of local plants has been central to the indigenous way of life in Oaxaca. The Olmecs, Zapotecs, and Mixtecs all inhabited Oaxaca, each sharing their plant knowledge and passing it down to the next generation. This course will discuss the vast botanical knowledge of the descendants of those cultures, while traveling around the Oaxaca Valley.
The course’s home base will be the picturesque colonial city of Oaxaca. Within in the city, participants will explore its vast flower markets, peruse its herbal remedy shops, and sample its unique indigenous cuisine (including the famous Oaxacan chocolate, of course!). Visits to the cactus gardens of Santa Domingo and the city’s ethnobotanical gardens will also be made. Moving into the valley of Oaxaca, the course will go to the various craft villages, where people of Zapotec descent are still making pottery, textiles, and wooden carvings in the same way as their ancestors did. In Teotitlan del Valle, the participants will witness textiles and dyes being made in the same way as they were when the Aztec empire demanded them as tribute. In San Bartolo Coyotepec, they will meet a community who has been making the Oaxaca’s famous black pottery in the same way for almost 2000 years. Other stops in the valley will include El Tule, the largest diameter tree in the world, and mescal factories, where participants will learn how farmers turn maguey into a powerful alcoholic drink, once used by shamans to induce trance. A course to Oaxaca would be remiss not to include a tour of the hilltop ruins of Monte Alban. At those ruins, and also by studying the ancient books collectively referred to as the “Mixtec Codices,” the course will analyze the evidence of how Pre-Columbian societies were using plants in their everyday lives. As a final bonus of the week chosen for this course, the city of Oaxaca will be gearing up for their annual Guelaguetza dance festival at the end of July. One evening during the course the group will attend one of the practice dance shows.
For people with an interest in: botany, biology, chemistry, environmental studies, archaeology, anthropology, art, history, art history, sociology, philosophy and other related social sciences fields.
Prerequisites: While not required, participants are encouraged to have at least some knowledge of the cultures and flora of Oaxaca. Dr. Ed Barnhart can recommend readings for those interested in learning more before the trip. The tours will involve walking through ruins and Zapotec villages in hot, arid conditions. Participants in weak physical condition are encouraged to build strength and stamina before the trip.
Dr. Barnhart has worked in Mexico and Central America for the last twenty years as an archaeologist, an explorer and an instructor. During his four years as the student of Dr. Linda Schele (world renowned for finally breaking the Maya code of hieroglyphics in 1973) he developed a strong background in Maya hieroglyphics, iconography and archaeoastronomy. From 1998 to 2000 he was the Director of the Palenque Mapping Project, an archaeological survey that discovered over 1000 new structures in the Maya ruins of Palenque. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology at The University of Texas at Austin in 2001 and is now the Director of the Maya Exploration Center, a non-profit research center based in Austin, Texas and Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. He and his team are currently investigating archaeoastronomy and ancient geometry in the ruins of Central America, South America, and Southeast Asia. Visit www.mayaexploration.org for more information about Dr. Barnhart and the Maya Exploration Center.
Ecuador – Experiments at the Equator, Volcanoes, and the Amazon Basin
Ed Barnhart, Ph.D., Maya Exploration Center
Date: July 28 - August 4, 2013
Note: Participants will be responsible for arranging their own transportation to and from Quito, Ecuador. A course fee to cover in-country costs for lodging, transportation, breakfasts, and entry fees, estimated at $1600, will be paid by the participants. Meals during the week and other incidentals will cost and an estimated additional $250. To reserve your space, a $100 registration fee must be sent in advance to Dr. James P. Barufaldi, Chautauqua Field Director's Office, Austin, TX 78712
Course Description:
Ecuador is a land of amazing natural wonders, beautiful indigenous traditions, and a largely unknown ancient past. During this one-week course, participants will visit and learn about Ecuador’s tallest volcanoes, its rich history, and the incredible bio-diversity of its lowland Amazonian jungles. In addition, every step along the way will be lined with indigenous villages, each producing unique and colorful works of traditional art.
The course will begin and end in the picturesque colonial city of Quito, right along our planet’s equator. Just north of Quito stands the exact line of the Equator, where the course will begin by conducting a series of experiments to test both the truths and myths about what happens as one stands either directly upon, or just to the north or south of the line. Books say a lot of different things about what can happen at the Equator, but participants in this course will be able to talk about it from personal experience. Then travelling south of Quito, the course focus will shift to volcanology. First, participants will explore Volcano Cotopoxi National Park to view its 19,600 ft snowcapped volcano (the tallest active volcano in Ecuador) and learn from the park’s visitor center. Then on their second day in the highlands they will visit Lake Quilotoa, formed in the crater of a collapsed volcano estimate to have imploded just 800 years ago. Shifting gears once again, the course participants will then descend into the Amazon basin for two more days of ecology studies. Travelling first through the town of Baños, called “The Gateway to the Amazon,” participants will arrive to the Amazonian town of Puyo. From Puyo, multiple treks into the Amazon will be made in order to learn about the flora and fauna of the world’s largest rainforest. Though it will seem that the group is a world away from where they began, a short 5 hour drive will get them back to Quito for a final evening of dinner and course closing ceremonies.
For people with an interest in: botany, biology, ecology, chemistry, environmental studies, archaeology, anthropology, art, history, art history, sociology, philosophy and other related social sciences fields.
Prerequisites: While not required, participants are encouraged to have at least some knowledge of the history and geography of Ecuador. Dr. Ed Barnhart can recommend readings for those interested in learning more before the trip. The week will involve extreme changes in altitude, from passes over 12,000 ft asl down into the Amazon basin and back up again. Participants should consult their personal physicians and consider obtaining altitude sickness medications prior to the journey. Both the hikes in the volcanic regions and the treks into the Amazon may involve hours of walking. Participants in weak physical condition are encouraged to build strength and stamina before the trip.
Dr. Barnhart has worked in Mexico and Central America for the last twenty years as an archaeologist, an explorer and an instructor. During his four years as the student of Dr. Linda Schele (world renowned for finally breaking the Maya code of hieroglyphics in 1973) he developed a strong background in Maya hieroglyphics, iconography and archaeoastronomy. From 1998 to 2000 he was the Director of the Palenque Mapping Project, an archaeological survey that discovered over 1000 new structures in the Maya ruins of Palenque. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology at The University of Texas at Austin in 2001 and is now the Director of the Maya Exploration Center, a non-profit research center based in Austin, Texas and Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. He and his team are currently investigating archaeoastronomy and ancient geometry in the ruins of Central America, South America, and Southeast Asia. Visit www.mayaexploration.org for more information about Dr. Barnhart and the Maya Exploration Center.