For the next two weeks this blog will detail the learning\nadventures of Oregon State University\u2019s FW391 students in Palau! This class is\ndesigned to explore natural resources on small islands and how both communities\nand ecosystems can be resilient with appropriate management approaches. In\naddition to the seven students from OSU, we have four Palauan students joining\nus from Palau Community College and three more from a local high school. This\nmixing of students provides great opportunities for peer-to-peer student\nlearning, and sharing our learning with the Palauan students -who have a great\nwealth of cultural and ecological knowledge about their country, will\ncontribute greatly to the richness of the class. We will also be joined by Dr.\nChris Kitalong, a Palauan scientist at PCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each day two students will post a narrative of our\nadventures, talk about what they\u2019ve learned, and share videos and photos to\nround it all out. For our first blog, Bryan Endress, who organized the course,\nand Scott Heppell, who is a co-instructor, are taking on the task. So let\u2019s get\nstarted!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most students arrived a day or two before class to take advantage of the amazing recreational opportunities that Palau has to offer, including world-class scuba diving. Here\u2019s Dylan Heppell, Simone Burton, and Destiny Pauls getting up close and personal with some of the underwater denizens of Palau\u2019s amazing coral reefs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n