References by former students Participants learn more than it is normally expected in an intensive 2-weeks course. By the end of each course, most of the students have declared that they are able to identify, about 70% - 80% of the trees and shrubs of the Neotropics Click here for SHORT opinions given by former students. or enter to the "Testimonies" page to read the FULL TEXT opinions on the course This course is given in FOUR different life zones; Thus, it is A UNIQUE WAY TO HAVE YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH TROPICAL ENVIRONMENTS SEE PICTURES: Excellent pictures of one RECENT GROUP: , Other Pictures: (picture1), (picture2) (MONTEVERDE) (picture3), (picture4) (GUANACASTE) (picture5), (picture6) (ATLANTIC REGION) (picture7) (GROUP-2001) COST: US$ 1600.00 See first paragraph below.

COSTS, DATES, LANGUAGES
The course is given every year, one in English (June-July) and once in Spanish (March or April), and it costs US$ 1,600.00 which includes: fees, materials, lodging and meals, insurance, course-related local transportation, farewell dinner, and certificate of attendance. Airfare is not included.

AN EFFICIENT METHODOLOGY
The Tropical Dendrology course is devoted mainly to teach predetermination techniques i.e. to prepare students to define at a glance the most probable genera and/or family to which a tropical plant belongs. It is accepted that after having the family it is easier to get the genus and, from here to get the species. During the course, students know how to work with genera and species. This system is devoted mainly to the American tropics but, according to participants from Africa and Asia, it will work also in their countries where species are different but families and genera are mostly the same as in the New World.

In this course we apply a highly an EFFICIENT TEACHING METHODOLOGY to identify trees and shrubs just in the field, developed by Dr. L. R. Holdridge and expanded upon by Dr.  Alwin H.  Gentry, that has been successfully applied for more than 30 years in Central and South America. Such methodology has been followed in Latin American universities to teach 3-4 month courses taken and average of 4 hours every week and giving the normal quizzes and exams. This way students have enough time to study and organize their class notes and to prepare home works.

In our case, we have improved the described methodology to be applied in short intensive courses given in 2 weeks. We use to work an average of 8 hours every day, causing that the students do not have enough time to study their class notes as they use to do it during university courses. For this reason, in the past our short intensive courses normally lasted no more than 3 days. Longer courses will cause “students memory to be overstuffed with non-digested data”.

Now a days, it is notorious that participants learn more than it is normally expected in a two-week intensive dendrology course. In addition, participants are trained to progress by their own, after the course, in identifing species of Neotropical trees and shrubs just in the field. All this is possible because we have introduced to this course innovative practical teaching techniques. As in university courses, in our short courses we use field characteristics such as leaves, twigs, bark, buttresses, odors, exudates, etc. We also provide information about main uses of species we study, and about general relationships between plants, animals and environment. A device successfully helping students to learn plant identification is the so called “the matrix”, a 6-page summary of all important families and genera studied during the course, designed and taught by the main instructor. By the end of each course, most of the students have declared that they are able to identify, down to family level, about 80% of the trees and shrubs of the Neotropics.

Also such innovative methodology is now applied to teach Bird Identification (please, visit the page "Tropical Birding Courses").

CANDIDATES
The Tropical Dendrology course has been attended by STUDENTS, PROFESSIONALS and LAY PERSONS in biology, forestry, biodiversity, enthomology, birding and ornithology, ecology, ethnobotany, medicinal botany, agroforestry, field guiding, and other areas in the natural resource field. Plant Taxonomists, working both at the herbarium or in the countryside, and persons not directly involved with such kind of professions but having special interest in botany , have also attended the course. Dr. Mark Plotkin, ethnobotanist, attended the course as a student and gave his positive comment on the course (see "Testimonies" page)

Please, Click here for comments about advantages gained by Plant Taxonomists.

INSTRUCTORS
Participants will be under the direction of EXPERIENCED INSTRUCTORS which are Dr. Humberto Jiménez-Saa, (Tropical Science Center); Dr. Willow Zuchowski, in Monteverde; Ing. For. J. Francisco Morales, (INBio), in the Atlantic Region

Dr. Humberto Jiménez Saa is the Manager of the course and receives support from all mentioned instructors; he acts as main intructor, and he has under his responsability all academic and methological aspects.

CREDITS

We will be very pleased to share some ideas about how to get credits. Please "Send me a Message "

GETTING TO KNOW COSTA RICA
FOUR CONTRASTING climatic ENVIRONMENTS will be visited, all of them very close one each other, as follows: the Central Valley (Premontane Moist Forest), the Monteverde Cloud Forest, the Guanacaste Dry Forest, and the Atlantic Moist and Wet Forests. This way, this course offers opportunities of both learning dendrology and getting to know a great deal of Costa Rica . It has been considered also a unique way to get the first contact with tropical environments.