Dave Freeman has spent the last 8 years exploring the world's rainforests. Numerous expeditions to the Amazon help him to bring the rainforest to life in a meaningful way that will leave your students eager to learn more. During the 2008/2009 school year Dave conducted over 50 school visits, bringing the wonders of exploration and the Amazon Rainforest to over 10,000 students. Dave and his team members use interactive activities as well as photos, videos, sounds, stories, and artifacts collected during expeditions to help students understand how plants, animals, and people live in the rainforest.
Plus, students will learn how their lives are connected to the world's rainforests by the foods students eat, products they use, and even the air they breath.
After a school visit you will be able to:
- Recognize the rainforest's allure and biodiversity.
- Identify foods and materials you use that come from the rainforest.
- Describe a rainforest, including its climate, plants, animals, and people.
- Discuss the relationship between rainforests, global warming, and other world issues.
- Help save the rainforests through personal action.
- Engage in live online expedtions, including the Trans-Amazon Expedition.
Student presentations
Depending on your needs and interests, our program can last from 30 minutes to a full day. Generally, 50 to 60 minutes with each group of students is ideal. We can engage classes individually or give a presentation to your whole school.
Presentations include:
- photos, videos, and other audio visual media
- worksheets, and educational activities
- hands-on activities like comparing rainfall in your area to rainfall in the Amazon rainforest, using a traditional blow gun, trying to move as slow as a sloth, and estimating the size of the largest snake in the world will help students learn about and appreciate the world's rainforests.
- time for students and teachers to ask questions and get to know Dave Freeman and other members of the expedition team.
- basic instruction on how to engage in our learning adventures
For more information or to schedule a school visit, contact Dave at 312-505-9973 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Consider downloading our Rainforest Assembly Outline. It is a great way to share our program with other people in your school.
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During stage 1 we will kayak 1,400 miles from Seattle, Washington to Skagway, Alaska. The Pacific Northwest is home to a wide range of aquatic and terrestrial animals. We will be studying whales and other marine mammals, kelp forests, salmon, and many other species.
The Pacific Northwest is home to a variety of large land mammals including Grizzly Bears, and Black Bears. Above and below the surface we are sure to find plenty of things to learn about. Many of these large mammals need large undeveloped spaces to thrive and the roadless sections of British Columbia and Alaska provide the perfect habitat.
From Skagway, Alaska we will hike over the Chilkoot Pass in the footsteps of thousands of gold seekers who struggled across the pass to reach the Klondike. Many of artifacts remain from those early days, and we will follow their path all the way to Dawson City along the mighty Yukon River.
From Bennet Lake on the eastern side of the Chilkoot Pass we will canoe through a chain of lakes that form the headwaters of the Yukon River past White Horse and down the swift flowing Yukon River to Dawson City. 
From Dawson we will hike 100 miles through the mountains to the headwaters of the Blackstone River. The Blackstone flows into the Peel River, which flows in the McKenzie River, which will lead us to the Arctic Ocean. The rivers flowing through these rugged mountains as some of the most pristine wild rivers in North America, with hundreds of miles of flowing waterways between towns or roads.
After over 2,600 miles of paddling and hiking we hope to reach the Arctic Ocean before freeze up. We will spend the month of October,2010 training our dogs, and learning about native life in the Arctic. In November we will head south along the McKenzie River by dog team, crossing 1,800 miles of frozen wilderness. There are many remote native communities along our way and we are sure to learn a lot from the people we encounter.
When the ice melts in the Spring of 2011 we will transition from dogsled to canoe and paddle 2,300 miles along the historic travel and trade route pioneered by Alexander McKenzie, Samuel Hearne, and other Canadian Explorers in the 1700's. We will finish this stage of our journey in the fall of 2011 by completing the 8 1/2 mile Grand Portage which will lead us to the rock shore of Lake Superior.
After spending the winter giving presentations and making final preparations we will begin 4,800 mile kayak journey from Grand Portage, Minnesota to Key West, Florida. The first 2,200 miles will take us through the Great Lakes and out the Saint Lawrence Seaway. 
During the final stage of our journey we will kayak the length of the Atlantic Coast from the Saint Lawrence Seaway to Key West, Florida. We will be following the seasonal whale migration from the Bay of Fundy in Maine to the warm clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way we will visit cities large and small, and study a variety of ecosystems and environmental topics. We also plan to take side trips into the cyprus swamps and Everglades National Park looking for Alligators, birds, and other critters.
