Costa Rica's Recent Economic Development: The Role of the US

Presented by Ottón Solís

February 7, 2011

General Information about Costa Rica

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107430.html
Infoplease provides basic information and statistics about Costa Rica’s government and geography.

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0107430.html
Fact Monster is a kid-friendly site that has many of the basics about Costa Rica.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cs.html
The CIA provides basic facts, photos, and maps about every country.

http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/cs/
The US State Department maintains sites on every country that include country profiles and information about the people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and other background notes.

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/find/costa-rica/
National Geographic Kids is a colorful site containing photos, videos, and articles about Costa Rica.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1166587.stm
The BBC offers country profiles with links to historical timelines as well as to recent news stories.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/costa-rica
This is a travel guide with a wonderful image gallery and information about tourist destinations in Costa Rica.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/costarica/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=costa%20rica&st=cse
The New York Times offers many articles and links to news stories about Costa Rica.

http://www.costarica-embassy.org/?q=node/21
Visit the Costa Rica Embassy website for information and links.

http://sports.espn.go.com/action/news/story?id=6122616
This ESPN site reports on a new “Buy a Shoe, Plant a Tree” project from Jameson shoes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11751727
In 2010, Nicaragua moved troops onto an island that Costa Rica considers to be its territory. Read about how Costa Rica, one of the only countries without a military, dealt with the event. There are also multiple links from this BBC website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8498456.stm
“Why Costa Rica Scores Well on the Happiness Index” is a BBC article about priorities and lifestyle choices in a country that is ranked highly in both “happiness” and “green” studies.

http://www.costarica.com/
See this all-inclusive travel site for many links to Costa Rican topics.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/people-places-kids/costa-rica-dest-kids.html
This 4-minute video describes a vacation paradise and includes beautiful shots of Costa Rican animals and national parks.

Lesson Plans for Costa Rica

http://www1.officialiqquiz.com/neo3n/index.php?q=1
A teacher in Champaign, Illinois has devised ten lesson plans that begin with filling out a passport and end with students acting as bus tour guides. This is a fourth grade lesson plan that could be adapted for other grades.

http://www.CentralAmerica.Com/cr/index.htm
This tourism site is full of useful information.

http://ncmoa.org/artnc/lessonplans.php?themeid=4
The North Carolina Museum of Art offers lesson plans for grades 5-8 that use art to encourage students to connect art, science, and Central American cultures. The rainforest of Costa Rica is one of the featured lessons.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/18/g35/ccleatherback.html
“It’s Tough to Be a Leatherback Turtle” from National Geographic introduces “Crittercam” as a tool for learning more about these turtles that nest in Costa Rica. The lesson plan is geared toward younger children but could be adapted for any age.

http://www.canopyintheclouds.com/
Canopy in the Clouds is an interactive site that provides excellent access to the Montane cloud forest in Costa Rica.

http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/hh/goplaces/article/0,28376,1597451,00.html
Time for Kids offers an interactive sightseeing guide to Costa Rica, along with a fact file, history timeline, and interactive quiz.

http://www3.uakron.edu/edcurr/cis/costa_rica/project.html
Teachers participating in the University of Akron’s Costa Rica for Educators Program have created some short lesson plans on Costa Rica.

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/geography/gwg2003/content.php4/128/5
Glenco World Geography offers an online lesson plan on Costa Rica to accompany its book. It isn’t necessary to have the book to use the lesson plan.

http://www4.uwm.edu/clacs/outreach/curriculum/bbb.cfm
The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee offers an extensive PDF of “Boots, Bananas, and Biodiversity,” interdisciplinary environmental activities for grades 6-9.

Music of Costa Rica

http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1261583311/ref=a9_sc_1?ie=UTF8&search-alias=popular&field-keywords=ecuador#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=costa+rica&rh=n%3A5174%2Ck%3Acosta+rica
Amazon has many Costa Rican CDs and MP3s available.

http://www.costarica.com/culture/costa-rican-music/
Learn about different kinds of Costa Rican music at this travel site.

http://www.spanishabroad.com/costarica/countryguide/cr_music.htm
This site discusses both dance and music in Costa Rica.

Recipes from Costa Rica

http://www.food.com/recipe-finder/all/costa-rica
These recipes can be filtered by category, ingredients, or nutritional content.

http://www.guiascostarica.com/recetas/recipes.htm
According to this website, the most typical Costa Rican menu is Casado, or “Married Man.” Some recipes for Casado are included.

http://otnfinefood.com/page0001.html
This online Costa Rican food store offers recipes and ingredients, including a line of Lizano salsas.

Kellogg Institute Resources

To learn more about our Traveling Trunks of Latin America, click here.

To see our Video Lending Library, click here.

To see a list of our Faculty Fellows, click here.