Austin / Costa Rica 2017

Day 10: Today was an easy, lazy day. We woke up and while waiting for breakfast we played many card games such as Mafia and several hand slapping games. At 1:00 we left for the beach. as soon as we arived we sprinted for the water. We played marco polo and rode across the waves on a boogie board. At around 5:00 we had dinner it was barbque with a Costa Rican twist. We had pork, beef, sausage, and grilled pinapple. We then watched the sunset. It was beautiful. We said goodbye to the beach and to Costa Rica. For one last day of fun in the sun. We'll miss you Coasta Rica! Christian Wheeler

Day 9: Today we bid a sad goodbye to Finca la Anita staff and facility (mostly Dr. Pinto, Ibrahim and Allan, and the dogs, Corleone and Dr. Bombai). We loaded up into the vans, and headed to a different research center (close to the beach!) that we are going to be based out of while we start research work on sea turtles while they are laying eggs. Got to the compound (Research Center Horizontes) a little earlier than expected, so they weren't prepared for us, which means straight to the presentation and pizza for lunch. From there we headed out on a trail to observe and take notes on a tree dwelling ant ( Pseudomyrmex sp. ).  This kept us not completely bored while we waited for dinner. Tonight, we head to the beach where we will patrol the shore most of the night watching for any female sea turtles that are coming up to lay egss. We hope to be able to collect some data, and have some fun. This is Luke, logging off to take a phat nap. goodbye my dudes. (Pictures of t...

Day 8: Presentations This is Amanda (teacher) blogging. I wanted to comment on the solid pedagogical structure of this program. Kids have been hands-on, literally digging in to ant mounds to discover the complex structure and relationships of the ant colonies. They have had to work with a group to develop a research plan (lots of collaboration, compromise, and development of leadership skills). They had to present their research plan--in front of a full professor, two grad students, 4 teachers, and Dr. John Doleman. Nobody took it easy on them. They were asked difficult questions and had to really think about how to defend their plan. Students were then guided by Dr. Pinto, Allan, and Ibrahim toward super solid experiments with positive and negative controls. They had to learn to deal with time and resource constraints. They had to deal with the difficulties of field research when you don't have control over everything (like whether it's going to rain). They felt real time pre...

Day 7: Today was pure science. We started the day at our normal time (7:30), then everyone got to work. We had to continue our projects and check our escovopsis. It was a long day of work. Projects came together, fell apart, and then came together again. Some teams ended up working late into the night and had to quit when Dr. Pinto, Adrian, and Ibrahim kicked them out at 11:00. But--if you have to work really hard, this is a beautiful place to do it!           Christian's team worked on determining how sound affects the ants. Lucas's team tested how different forms of grapefruits repel ants. Drew and his team analyzed the temperature of the vents in the Atta columbica colonies close to the cabins. Luke, obviously working hard here, worked on how leaf-cutter ants handle standing water and whether or not it could be used as a deterrent.      Clara and her team studied the effects of light on the ants....