FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Canoeing the Amazon with 50,000 Students

On March 31 the Wilderness Classroom Organization begins the second stage of the Trans-Amazon Expedition. 50,000+ students will participate in this educational adventure via the Internet. Over the course of three school years, Dave Freeman and Eric Frost are leading the Wilderness Classroom’s expedition team across South America by bicycle and canoe. As the team travels, they update their website daily and interact with students via email, scheduled online chats, and online polls. This year’s route is the stretch of Amazon River between Iquitos, Peru and Manaus, Brazil. The 1,500 mile canoe journey will take the team of four Americans and two Peruvians six weeks to complete.

The expedition began last year on Peru’s Pacific coast, where the team bicycled 500 miles through the Andes and then paddled canoes 500 miles to Iquitos. The final stage of the journey will be completed in the fall of 2008 with a final 1,200 mile, six week paddle to the Atlantic Ocean.

With education being the driving force behind this journey, the Wilderness Classroom team will focus its attention on people, plants, and animals of the Amazon Rainforest—paying close attention to how all three are affected by global climate change. Participating students do more than read about these topics, they will make decisions for the expedition team and participate in the adventure by voting on online polls, communicating with the team via email and online chat sessions, and visiting with the team members in-person before and after the expedition.

The Wilderness Classroom is a non-profit organization that strives to engage, excite, and motivate students and teachers using an interactive, technology-based learning model that draws upon people’s innate curiosity and desire for exploration. Essentially, this is a program set up to “electronically” bring young people on virtual expeditions all over the world. They bring their educational content—photos, journals, videos, polls, audio clips, chat sessions, quizzes, and more—to students, teachers, and anyone who would like to follow the expedition via their website, www.wildernessclassroom.com.

Contact: Dave Freeman
dave@wildernessclassroom.com

Wilderness Classroom Organization
4605 Grand Ave
Western Springs, IL 60558
www.wildernessclassroom.com

Last Updated: March 28, 2008