Can you imagine taking a class where you learn about tropical ecology while swimming with tropical fish and walking 100 feet above ground in the canopy of a rain forest?

Bill Franklin, professor of animal ecology, said it sounded like an ideal learning experience when he received a brochure about a program to take students to Belize with International Zoological Expeditions.

Franklin arranged to incorporate the expedition into a two-credit, tropical field-study course, which took its pilot trip last year.

“I probably never had more fun learning than I did on the Belize trip,” Trent Preszler, a junior in biology who went on the trip last spring, said. “It was like paradise.”

Franklin is gearing up to take another group to Belize this year and is looking for some adventurous students to join him.

He said there is still room for about seven more students to take the class.

While the class is primarily for honors students, it is being opened this year to any interested students.

“We’re there to learn, but we also have a good time,” Franklin said. “I’m trying to put some fun back into the learning process.”

The class meets once a week in the evenings during the second half of fall semester and the first half of spring semester to prepare for the trip by reading and watching films about tropical ecology.

Students taking the course do research and write a paper on a topic in preparation for presenting a seminar to the class while in Belize.

“They become like a short-term, mini expert [on their topic],” Franklin said. “They are participants in the teaching process.”

Some topics students research include sea turtles, agricultural impact on the tropics and the history of the Mayans.

Preszler did his paper and presentation on jungle medicine, discussing traditional uses of plants.

He said he gave his presentation sitting on a lawn chair in the middle of a rain forest with specimens of plants that he had collected hours before as props.

While in Belize, students learn from each other as well as from IZE resident naturalists and scientists and from personal experience.

“It’s not a typical tourist marshmallow place,” Franklin said.

After a couple student seminars each day, the group spends the rest of the day experiencing and exploring tropical ecology for themselves.

“We were given a lot of freedom to explore,” he said.

He said one of his fondest memories of the trip was spelunking and finding Mayan artifacts in the caves.

He also said swimming with the vividly colored tropical fish was spectacular.

“I never saw any sharks, but I saw a school of barracuda,” he said.

For students who want to become certified scuba divers, a special class is arranged through the local dive shop in early spring, although it is not required.

Preszler opted not to get certified for scuba diving because of the added expense, but he said it didn’t matter because snorkeling in itself was incredible.

“It’s definitely a different world under the water,” he said.

This year’s trip will be March 10 to 22 and will include a new stop at Tikal National Park in Guatemala, the site of famous Mayan ruins.

Preszler, who has also studied in Mexico and Costa Rica, said the trip to Belize was by far his favorite journey.

He said he would definitely recommend the course.

There will be an informational meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. at Osborn Cottage for students interested in joining the class.

For more information, e-mail Franklin at [email protected].