Outreach (K 12 Resources)

Web Resources for K-12 Teachers and Students:

The following is a small selection of the web sites that, in our judgment, may prove  useful for students and teachers in middle schools and high schools who want to find good information on some of the key issues in Latin American and Caribbean studies.

Probably the best "entry site" for anyone looking into Latin American and Caribbean Studies in the U.S. is the web page of the Latin American Network Information Center of the University of Texas (http://lanic,utexas.edu/). This site has been called a "Latin American Yahoo." It is a very well indexed (and updated!) gateway to websites on every major issue in Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Planeta.com (http://www.planeta.com) is good for ecotourism information for the Americas. It's a great site, with tons of useful links, one of which is the site's list of Spanish Language programs. They also have a link to Transitions Abroad, a website with opportunities for working and studying abroad, and to the Latin America Media Project, which spotlights news from the region.

The Latin American Curriculum Resource Center (CRC) of Tulane University provides specialized services to high schools and colleges across the nation. Its goal is to promote the study of all subject matter relating to Latin America at the secondary and university level. The CRC site has only a few links; its main attraction is its information about the CRC's own national lending library.

The Latin America Data Base webpage has a highly recommended resource page designed for use by teachers and students: http://ladb.unm.edu/retanet/.

For teachers: the American Studies Crossroads Project (Georgetown University) deals with American Studies rather than Latin American studies, but it has very interesting ideas about how to set up a curriculum:http://crossroads.georgetown.edu/

San Diego State University's "Border Eco Web" page (http://www.borderecoweb.sdsu.edu/) is "designed to facilitate public access to environmental information for the U.S.-Mexican border region. It has loads of information, some of which is probably too technical for younger students, on the ecological problems spanning the border.

WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is one of the world's largest and most experienced independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries. It also has a wonderful section dedicated to Latin America and the Caribbean, with information about the region, conservation programs, articles, and information for key contacts in the region.

The World Bank web site has an article about "Latin America and the Caribbean Region," written by the chief of their Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Environment Division, which contains some good information while giving the World Bank perspective on problems of environment and indigenous rights.

The Rainforest Action Network (http://www.ran.org) has a visually attractive website with a very committed point of view, shall we say, though I find some aspects of their "Kid's Page" a bit heavy-handed, even when I agree with their point of view.

The "Political Database of the Americas" (http://www.georgetown.edu/pdba/english.html), a co-production of Georgetown University and the Organization of American States, takes a pro-government stance but has a useful collection of reference materials. It includes the full texts of the Constitutions of every country in the Americas, and data about legislatures, judicial systems, political parties, etc.

Peace Brigades International (http://www.igc.apc.org/pbi/) is quite the opposite - a completely unofficial "non-governmental organization (NGO) which protects human rights and promotes nonviolent transformation of conflicts." They currently have volunteers in Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.

There many sites dedicated to the Zapatista rebellion that began in Chiapas, Mexico, in 1994. An excellent guide to these sites is the "Zapatistas in Cyberspace" page (http://www.eco.utexas.edu/Homepages/Faculty/Cleaver/zapsincyber.html).

The Inter-American Development Bank website (http://www.iadb.org/countries/index.cfm?language=English) has loads of up-to-date official statistics on the Americas, from a very business-oriented viewpoint.

The International Development Research Center contains information on social and economic policy, projects, and databases about Latin America.

The official country page of the Cuban government is http://www.cubaweb.cu/

An opposite point of view can be found on the website of the Free Cuba Foundation, a US-based organization dedicated to non-violent change on the island (http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/).

Cubanet (http://www.cubanet.org/) describes itself as "a non partisan and non-profit organization that fosters free press in Cuba, assists its independent sector develop a civil society and informs the world about Cuba's reality." Has daily news reports from freelance journalists in Cuba.

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