AHS3004

During the first half of the spring semester at the University of Minnesota, students will learn about the challenges and opportunities of addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Ecuador while comparing and contrasting with the US and/or Minnesota. Students will work in teams who will be tasked to focus on a perspective of a Sustainable Development Goal throughout the semester. Students will also learn very basic Spanish words and phrases in preparation for time in Ecuador. Through taking and learning about the Intercultural Development Inventory and cultural development and reflection activities including Observe, Describe, Interpret, and Evaluate (ODIE), students will learn more about their own cultures while preparing to openly experience cultures in Ecuador.

During their time abroad, students will have the opportunity to apply the knowledge learned in the early spring semester to observations and experiences in Ecuador. The teams will ask questions during site visits from their assigned SDG perspective in preparation for their final project on SDGs in Ecuador. Site visits will include a visit to Colonial Quito and the Mitad del Mundo City Museum. Students will visit an urban and rural health center, the CINCA Agroecological Center, the San Clemente Pukyu Pamba project featuring an indigenous community where they will share a meal with the community. Students will also participate in an indigenous healing ceremony. Finally students will visit Pambilino, a Bosque Escuela, located in the northwest of Ecuador near the community of Mashpi, a nature reserve of the Choco rainforest that has a 4 hectare permaculture farm in the North Occidental of Ecuador, nestled within the tropical foothills of Ecuador. They work to teach sustainable agroforestry techniques to those that want to learn on the Bosque-escuela.

Upon returning to Minnesota, the students will participate in re-entry activities, present their final project, and have a final class debrief. Students will complete reflective journal entries throughout the semester and a final personal reflection on SGDs in Ecuador compared and contrasted to Minnesota/USA.