Honors Program: A pathway to excellence.

HON 202/302 Costa Rica Live!

Costa Rica is an ancient country, both geologically and culturally, with fascinating, interacting, natural and human-constructed landscapes. The landscape is a rich combination of mountains, plains, deserts, seacoasts and river valleys. Diverse cultures have been interacting with the Costa Rican landscape for tens of thousands of years The distinctive history of Costa Rica and its varied architecture and artistic styles, historical and modern, reflect the landscape in many ways - it provided the building and art materials, the sites favorable for towns and cities, aesthetic and imaginative inspiration, climate, and various limitations on the human condition. Geological and ethnobotanical resources defined the economic possibilities of cultures.

This class is a broadly interdisciplinary, thematically integrated, study of the geology, geomorphology, ethnobotany, history, art, and architecture of Costa Rica and the ways in which these subjects are interpreted to the public through tourism. It is a 4-credit honors class that includes a trip to Costa Rica (March 22 to April 2 (plus March 21 and April 3 travel to and from Salt Lake City)) with an attached, required, 2-credit Spanish-language and culture immersion class (six credits total for students). We are offering the language-immersion class on the advice of students who were on the Ecuador-Galapagos trip and indicated it would have enriched their experience.

Schedule: The language-immersion class will be taught by Spanish language and culture instructor Linda Greuling (Mountain View College, Dallas, TX) and will begin in the last half of Spring Break and continue through Block 7. The first week of Block 7 will include in-class reading, lectures, and movies to introduce students to the geology, landscapes, ethnobotany, environmental interpretation, and cultural aspects of Spain and prepare them for the trip. The trip to Spain will occupy about ten days in the middle of the block. The remainder of class will wrap up the experience, with integrative lectures, preparation and presentations of PowerPoints for the public evening, and completion of student photo journals. Spanish-language classwork will be part of the wrap-up and will include an exam. An integral academic aspect of this class will be observing how the people we interact with interpret, manage, and preserve all this richness for the enjoyment of Spaniards and tourists. For some aspects of the trip, we will rely on professional interpreter/guides. At other times, the class instructors will lead the group.

Note: This course includes a trip to Costa Rica, March 22 to April 2 (plus March 21 and April 3 travel to and from Salt Lake City). Students must have a valid passport. This class includes a required co-req of Honors 251, a 2-credit Spanish language class, which will meet 12:15 to 3:15 BH 107 during the first week and TBA during the trip. Contact Dr. Roberts or Dr. Lyon for further information.
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Substitutions: Possible course substitutions (subject to departmental approval): *BIO 103 Introduction to Ethnobotany BIO 355 (Systematic Botany) *GEO 101 Introduction to Geology (for all but Elementary Education majors) *GEO 103 Introduction to Environmental Geology GEO 494 Geology Seminar GEO 230 Geology of the American West GEO 378 Surficial Processes ENVS 329 Natural Resource Issues ENVS 480 Environmental Interpretation (II) *HSTR 101, 102 Western Civilization I and II HSTR 326 Contemporary Europe Any 300 HSTR class (if student needs a 300-level history class to satisfy degree requirements).

* General Education classes

NOTE: As with the Ecuador-Galapagos trip, students will be given additional information and independent assignments tailored to their majors and the courses they are substituting.

Instructors: Drs. Sheila Roberts and Linda Lyon

Time: Spring 2011, Block 7, BH 107, 8:15-11:15