SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) -- The 2008 Brazilian experience for high school students will be over spring break, March 20 to April 7. Up to 15 high school students and five sponsors will have the opportunity to participate in ?Economy, Ecology, and Cultures of the Brazilian Amazon and Pantanal.

Vannetta Perry, assistant superintendent of Socorro Consolidated Schools, and veteran leader of several international education experiences, will lead the group in its exploration of environmental issues, culture and socio-economics of the Brazilian Amazon and the Pantanal regions.  



?Experiential learning ? the opportunity to engage all the senses in the learning process ? opens the mind to acquisition and understanding far beyond what is possible in the traditional classroom,? Perry said. ?During this opportunity, our classrooms will be the wetlands of the Pantanal, the Amazon River, the jungle, the villages, the homes of local inhabitants.  Students will be actively involved in the learning process, and in fact, direct their own learning through exploration, inquiry, and cross-cultural communication.?

The program?s purpose is to expose high school students and teachers to the endangered biomes and diverse cultures of the Brazilian Pantanal and Amazon region, while providing participants an opportunity to experience and learn about places that most people read about in books.

Highlights of the program include a three-day camping and cattle drive in the Pantanal; exploring Chapada dos Guimaraes, the headwaters of the northern Pantanal; four days at a small locally-owned lodge deep in the Amazon; a four-day research excursion aboard an Amazonian boat on the Rio Negro and Amazon River with several side trips up tributaries, through the flooded forests, and stops at small villages); camping in the Amazon jungle; and a tour of historic Manaus, Amazonas.

Located primarily in southwestern Brazil, the Pantanal contains about one third of the Upper Paraguay River Basin, comprising about 68,000 square miles. Derived from the Portuguese word pāntano (swamp or marsh), the Pantanal is what geologists term and immense alluvial depression.

During the rainy season from October to April, rivers overflow, flooding 75 percent of the Pantanal.

As one of the most diverse environments on earth, the Pantanal is abundant in flora and fauna including several endangered species such as the hyacinth macaw and jaguar.  There are an estimated 50 reptile species, 50 amphibians, 263 fish species  and early 700 species of birds live in the Pantanal.  Unlike the Amazon where the dense jungle flora hides most animals, the openness of the Pantanal allows the visitor to view hundreds of animals daily.

In the Amazon basin, the group will explore the jungle and visit and learn about indigenous Pantaneiros and Amazonians, how they live, their cultural practices, education in the villages, and the importance of the vitality of the jungle for their livelihood.

For more information, contact Perry at vperry@socorro.k12.nm. us or www.socorro.k12.nm.us.