This course will examine the interrelationship of African communities with their biophysical environment. Students will learn how the region’s oral history and traditions can be incorporated into planning conservation for the future. They will study the ways natural and human history combine to form the unique highland, savanna, and lake landscapes that cover East Africa. Reading a landscape’s history will include learning about the region’s history of settlement, migration, highly endangered medicinal plants, and land use. As part of a regional oral history project, students will collect oral histories in order to create a multipurpose archive, accessible to researchers and to the public.
This course will investigate wildlife ecology and management techniques and the many rich and diverse behaviors of wildlife in the savanna woodlands of East Africa. Students taking this course will study various diseases and threats facing wildlife, feeding and movement patterns, and investigate how the environment can shape animal behavior. They will also study methods of reducing negative human-wildlife interactions.
Students will study the relationship between people and their environment on a local and regional level, including various linkages among economic, environmental and culturalcomponents of sustainability. They will learn the importance of basic principles of ecology and natural resource management. The course will examine various community-based conservation strategies, the restoration of ecosystems, and the values and benefits we derive from them.
Fundamental to understanding concepts of fire management or executing prescribed fires is an understanding of fire behavior principles. Students will study elements of fuels, weather, and topography as they influence the manner in which fuels ignite, flames develop, and fire spreads. Students will explore the relationship of humans and fire. They will learn how pre-historical Africans used fire for many purposes including hunting, warfare, ceramics, charcoal, ritual, and cooking.
This course will be multi-systemic and designed to address the particular needs for, and obstacles to, conflict management at the family, community, and societal levels. It will include rich African traditional ways of managing conflicts and established programs for reducing ethnic violence. The course will also explore the link between environmental stewardship and peace building.
This course will focus on leadership’s basic building blocks of honesty, progressiveness, open communication, and inspiring competence. Students will develop their own diverse set of skills including communication, trust building, team development, stewardship, and decision-making by examining issues on local and global scales.
The course will equip students with critical working knowledge to communicate more clearly in the digital age using simple computer skills. Students will be connected with students from other parts of the world via distance technology on class projects, discussions, and presentations through several environment and society courses, extension projects, and continuing education. They will learn how to use environmental technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at the local and regional scales.
Students will learn about Africa’s history and geography and its role in world events. Civics, including African and world governments, will help students understand the role of Africa’s past and present and how that may shape the future of the continent and impact the world. This understanding will provide the means to take action.
Students will learn how tourism can be used to capture and extend the economic, social and ecological benefits of protected areas for local people by providing various services and commercial opportunities (e.g., local arts and crafts) that engage and educate visitors about Africa’s diverse cultural and ecological environments.
The course will expose students to current environmentally sustainable agriculture techniques such as integrated farming, livestock and poultry management, vegetable gardening, fisheries and aquaculture, honey collection, and agro-forestry. Students will also learn state-of-the-art methods to reduce soil erosion, maintain soil fertility and water quality, and effectively utilize agricultural wastes.
This course will equip students with the practical skills to capture the potential economic benefits of natural and agricultural landscapes through resource-based entrepreneurial activity that includes understanding market demands, consumer behavior, market entry, rural and micro finance, managerial accounting, cooperative development, and livelihood diversification. Agribusiness-marketing techniques will also be covered to help farmers access good markets and profitably sell surplus foods.
Students will study how social relations such as gender, class, and ethnicity shape individual and community interactions and play fundamental roles in efforts to achieve community and environmental stability and social justice, including social equality and a respect for diversity. A central theme to studies will be the ways in which social relations among humans both affect and are affected by human interactions with the environment. A second central theme will be the links between poverty alleviation and environmental stability.
This course will emphasize human population growth and its impact on environments. Students will learn how explosive human population growth among villages surrounding Gombe and on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the absence of planning has led to serious environmental degradation. They will study HIV/AIDS, maternal health, basic first aid, nutrition, and the societal transformations necessary to stop the spread of disease at its roots in poverty and inequality.
This course will aim to help students live healthier lives. Numerous sports will be offered to students on an equal gender basis. Students will be able to see that physical activities can be fun, and also helpful in preventing human diseases such as obesity and poor health, especially, in their later years of life.
In order to ensure effective learning and comprehension, students will study the Tanzanian national language of Kiswahili, plus other national languages spoken in the neighboring countries of Burundi, Rwanda, and Congo. There will also be strong English and French programs offered in order to prepare students to meet international challenges they may face upon their graduation.
This course will explore the fundamental natural processes that create and connect the various systems or "spheres" (air, water, land, and life) of our home planet. Students will discover the interactions between these spheres, and will learn about geology, energy, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, nutrient cycling, the various forms of life and how they have influenced earth's history, and climate. While this course is global in scope by nature, local and regional examples will be used to demonstrate these diverse but interconnected concepts.
Ecology is most simply defined as the science of the relationships between organisms and their environment. In this course, students will learn about how these relationships and interactions influence where organisms can live and thrive and where they cannot. We will discuss the mechanisms organisms have evolved in order to survive, and also discover ways in which organisms have shaped their own environments. From single organisms to ecosystems, students will learn the basic principals of ecology with specific examples from their local and regional environment.
Ecology is most simply defined as the science of the relationships between organisms and their environment. In this course, students will learn about how these relationships and interactions influence where organisms can live and thrive and where they cannot. We will discuss the mechanisms organisms have evolved in order to survive, and also discover ways in which organisms have shaped their own environments. From single organisms to ecosystems, students will learn the basic principals of ecology with specific examples from their local and regional environment.
GOSESO will prepare students and villagers to excel in the visual arts, music, and drama. Some students will teach art, reading, and writing to younger children and villagers in the surrounding primary schools. The school will sponsor a public display of local artists’ work and hold community art contests. Students will create exhibits that illustrate their ongoing work.
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