Mission 2015 Field Trip: April 2012

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Home safe and sound

Well, we made it to Boston before midnight, but only just.

Most people are probably back to their dorms by now and in a comatose state on their beds. I think I should go join them.

It was truly an awesome trip and I really want to thank all our organizers, teachers, TAs and UTFs for their hard work that made this trip what it was. (I won't name them because I'm bound to forget someone at this late hour)

Good night

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Where we are in Costa Rica (opens in new window)

About the Trip

This blog will record the experiences of Terrascope students during their spring break field trip to Costa Rica. This year’s trip has been developed in partnership with the Earthwatch Institute, who specialize in field-based scientific learning programs. During our week away from MIT, we will visit La Selva, a biological reserve in Costa Rica’s lowlands, where we’ll work in the field with a team of scientists whose research focuses on the diversity of caterpillars in hopes of better understanding their impact on the rain forest’s ecosystem. In addition to fieldwork, we’ll be exploring Costa Rica’s tourism, agriculture, and energy production sectors.

About the Class

Terrascope is a learning program for MIT freshman that begins each year with a subject devoted to understanding and proposing a solution to a complex problem (12.000 or Mission 20XX). This year in Mission 2015 freshmen were tasked with designing a plan to significantly reduce the rate at which global biodiversity is decreasing. Students researched the problem throughout the semester and presented a comprehensive solution in the form of a website and defended their plan during a public presentation, which was followed by interrogation by a panel of experts. The field excursion to Costa Rica enables students to extend their learning in Mission by gaining first hand experience in a diverse ecoystem facing many of the issues they indentified during the semester as critical to biodiversity conservation.

About Terrascope

In the Spring semester many Terrascope students take part in one or more of three activities. These include: a hands-on class (1.016) where the students work on designing, building and implementing solutions to their problem; Terrascope Radio (SP360), where the students produce a series of radio programs on their topic including the field trip; and lastly the Terrascope field experience.

Acknowledgments

Many people have helped to make this trip possible. Many thanks to Earthwatch’s Boston-based staff Grace Velardi, Kim Cassello, and Nichole Cerrillo for coordinating the logistics and allowing us to pull together a fantastic program.

The trip this year is supported by the Baruch Foundation whose generosity ensures that Terrascope students can take part in an extraordinary international learning experience.