Hawaii Pacific University
ENVS 1030 Tropical Ecology and Sustainability Section ____
Semester and year, meeting times
Instructor: Name, contact information and other relevant information about the instructor.
Course description: This summer General Education course consists of a travel component to Costa
Rica. After an introduction to the issues and questions pertaining to sustainability and the impact of
humans on tropical ecosystems, students will examine how human values and choices affect ecosystems
and develop their own perspectives on sustainability from in-country experiences.
Course prerequisite: Permission of the instructor
General Education Requirement: This course is classified under the Values and Choices Theme and
meets the requirement for a course in Values and Choices A: Ethical Inquiry.
General Education Student Learning Outcomes and the Five Themes: HPU’s general education
curriculum is focused around five themes. This course emphasizes the Values and Choices Theme and
provides students with opportunities to achieve the following related general education student
learning outcomes.
In the course, students will:
Understand a range of meanings for concepts associated with individual and social ethics such as
rights and responsibilities, justice and impartiality, citizenship and social responsibility.
Students will study land and resource conservation efforts throughout Costa Rica. Costa Ricans are
among the world leaders in involving local citizens in their overall policies for long term sustainable
conservation efforts. Students will read material about the history of Costa Rica and the
government’s treatment and policies towards their native peoples. They will then, in groups, design
questions associated with this learning outcome that they will pose during the Q&A time on a visit
to the Zapatón Indigenous Reserve.
Understand and analyze the range of consequences that follow from a choice, policy or course of
action.
Students will visit, study and analyze three National Parks and their management procedures and
policies during the course of study in Costa Rica. Lectures and discussion on each of the three
National Parks conservation and management policies. Students will tour each National Park and
have an opportunity to interact with various Park staff, guides and local community members to
gain a more in depth understanding of actual policies, procedures and their enforcement. Each
student will individually access each Park based on criterion, provided by the instructor, and write
an analysis of their results.
Articulate various ethical and moral questions and explore their own system of values through
examination and analysis of examples drawn from history, literature, popular culture, or current
events and controversies.
Students will visit Palo Seco, a community based marine sea turtle hatchery, to participate in a
variety of projects relevant to the protection and preservation of the endangered turtles. Students
will have the opportunity to learn about sea turtle conservation programs in Costa Rica, conduct a
night patrol to search for nests and eggs, learn about the competing interests (farmers, turtle eggs
for food, poaching, etc) to turtle protection, and assist the local community in their sustainability
projects. Students will also read articles about these issues. After visiting the hatchery and
completing the required reading, students will participate in a group interactive viewpoint defense
(debate) with fellow students. Students will also write a critical analysis essay (in their travel
journal) concerning the ethical and moral issues surrounding the conservation policies and efforts.
The course also addresses the Research and Epistemology Theme by providing students with
opportunities to achieve the following related general education student learning outcome:
Students will identify a research question or problem, gather and organize relevant information, apply
appropriate problem-solving strategies, and communicate the results to others.
Students, in small groups, will be required to visit various local businesses in the community of
Parrita. The groups will be required to find ten articles, from an instructor provided list, of
commonly required field research items (i.e. flashlight, isopropyl alcohol, collection containers, etc.).
Note: Purple text shows places where specific course information must be filled in. Red text provides
explanatory notes to the instructor which should be deleted before using the syllabus. Blue explanations
above may be rephrased by the individual instructor to reflect the specific approach in that section.
Cours- specific outcomes below are an example and may also be rephrased or modified by the instructor.
Course-specific student Learning Outcomes for ENVS 1030 Tropical Ecology and Sustainability
By the end of the course the student will be able to:
1. Describe the origin of biodiversity in the Neotropics and explain how it relates to ecosystems
and human health.
2. Describe sea turtle conservation methods and policies in Costa Rica and compare them to other
nations.
3. Define key points of important ecological concepts and terms including species richness,
biodiversity, herbivory, seed dispersal, pollination, and coevolution.
4. Describe present-day ecological factors affecting the distribution of tropical organisms.
5. Present scientific information to a variety of audiences, including peers, instructors and Costa
Rican students.
a. Describe the scientific method, and in a given scenario, be able to judge whether it is
applied appropriately
6. Describe how land, aquatic and environment management in Costa Rica affects species which
may be threatened or endangered.
7. Gain insight into how their personnel choices can have a global impact.
8. Describe how a tropical forest functions, such as nutrient cycling, regeneration and response to
disturbances, and the physiological characteristics of tropical plants that determine their
economic use.
9. Gain an understanding of the socio-economic impacts that trade agreements (CAFTA) and
conservation policies have on local citizens.
10. Describe the current threats to tropical biodiversity, including deforestation, habitat
fragmentation, ecological impacts, monoculture, agricultural and urban sprawling, methods of
waste disposal, and increased global warming and climate change.
11. Gain an ability to integrate the above topics to generate possible alternatives to minimize
negative impacts on tropical ecosystems, including restoration ecology, sustainable living
practices, organic agriculture, tropical forestry, design of biological reserves and corridors for
forest connections.
For the rest of these required syllabus items see the details in the faculty handbook. Delete this note
once the syllabus is complete. For online courses there are some additional requirements given at this
link.
Texts List textbooks with ISBN’s and include this language as well
All textbook information (pricing, ISBN #, and e-books) for this course can be found on the HPU
Bookstore website: hpu.edu/bookstore.
If you have any questions regarding textbooks, please contact the HPU Bookstore at:
Phone:
808-544-9347
Or e-mail:
jyokota@hpu.edu
mmiyahira@hpu.edu
Assignments and mode of evaluation
Summary of important dates and deadlines (if the schedule is a separate document and due dates are
not given with the description of the assignments).
Class rules and policies (including regarding attendance, late work and academic dishonesty)
Schedule of events (may be attached separately)