BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University Professor of Biology Given Harper believes he knows the location of the best classroom on earth.
“On the edge of an extinct volcano, you can watch the sun set over the Pacific Ocean with brightly colored toucans in the trees and howler monkeys calling around you. It is virgin rainforest,” said Harper, who has been leading a contingent of students to study the rainforest of Costa Rica on and off over the last decade. “It is a chance to experience the world’s most exquisite biodiversity in a National Geographic-like setting.”
The trip is part of a May Term travel course – a few weeks each May when several Illinois Wesleyan professors take students to places across the globe to bring the teachings of the classroom to life. This year, 11 professors will lead students to locations from the Sistine Chapel in Italy to the rainforests of Costa Rica to businesses in Latvia. For faculty, the travels affords the chance to make their teachings jump off the textbook page.