School field trips. The very combination of these words could probably still stir up feelings of uncontainable anticipation in those of us who are no longer even in school; after all, they weren’t just an escape from the classroom, but a chance to see how what we were learning could be applied.
Over the course of this year, the Manu Learning Centre (MLC) has enjoyed hosting a variety of student groups and expeditions, from local primary school students across the river to post-secondary students from across the proverbial pond.
And last week, the MLC received another group of students.
But the teachers at Institución Particular San Isidro didn’t just organize a run-of-the-mill afternoon field trip to a local interpretive centre. Instead, they travelled more than 750 kilometers by plane, minibus, and boat from Puerto Maldonado in Tambopata Province with nine secondary school students for an educational visit at the Manu Learning Centre here in Manu Province.
Accompanied by the school’s principal, Carlos Arevalo Coba, and science teacher, Yanira Novoa Salcedo, and guided by Crees Foundation senior field staff member, Jennifer Serrano Rojas, and Crees tour guide, Juan Collado Bernedo, the group spent six days immersed in the research projects that the Crees Foundation runs at the MLC. This pilot programme, ‘Applied Research in Manu National Park’, was designed by Carlos and his co-educators to incentivize the research process at a high school level and will hopefully serve a template for future visits from San Isidro students to the MLC.
“The main idea behind this project is to specifically awaken an interest in research,” explains Carlos, who has a background in Educational Psychology and previously spent seven years supporting educational programmes in some of the region’s native communities.
“Not only is it good practice, but it’s also good for students to realize how to follow through with a research project.”
The students who made the journey to Manu were selected based on a combination of factors, which included consideration of their overall academic performance, behavior and attendance at school, and a general interest in science and research.
For Elias Ponce de León Perez Albela, 16, one of the highlights was learning about scientific methodology in detail – and on the ground.
“I’ve enjoyed learning how to ask the right questions, collect and fill in data, formulate a hypothesis, and arrive at a conclusion,” he says. “And you can apply it to everything.”
As for the differences between Puerto Maldonado and Manu, Elias explains that the fauna is similar, but one major distinction between the two is the level of pollution.
“Manu is quite similar to Puerto Maldonado, as it’s in the same region, Madre de Dios, but Puerto Maldonado has become very polluted by mining. The streams are really contaminated, whereas here the river is much cleaner.”
Sixteen-year-old Talib Rodriguéz has also observed the health of the forest at the MLC Reserve and the environment that it provides for the species living in it: “I think the most important thing I’ve learned is how important it is to look after and conserve this habitat and it’s species, more than anything.”
Beyond the educational value that such an immersive experience can provide for these students, it is also a novel, but localized approach to the traditional educational system currently in place. While the city of Puerto Maldonado is surrounded by jungle, Carlos and his fellow teachers want to create the opportunity for their students to engage with the tropical rainforest in a more research-based and education-focused context.
According to Peru’s National Institute of Statistics and Information, attendance at school amongst 12-16-year-olds in Peru has risen from 80.7 to 87.6 per cent in the past nine years. And despite its relatively remote location, the Madre de Dios region – which is made up of three provinces: Manu, Tambopata, and Tahuamanu – has one of the country’s lowest levels of illiteracy.
Amongst 16-year-olds, in particular, like Elias and Talib, the rate of attendance has risen more than 10 per cent since 2005, which means that the likelihood of students pursuing post-secondary education in Peru will also be on the rise in the coming years.
Though Carlos and his colleagues plan to make a few adjustments to the programme, their aim is to bring two groups of students from the Institución Particular San Isidro to the MLC next year.
“For the students engaging with this experience, it is a rich one because it teaches them to value and discover that which is in front of their eyes,” Carlos reflects.
“Many of them are living in a natural laboratory that they’re not familiar with – and when I’m talking about being familiar with it, it’s not just a case of knowing that a certain tree exists, but that they have the experience at an effective, intellectual level of getting to know the richness that the tropical forest contains.”
Text by Katie Lin