Austin / Costa Rica 2017

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....

Day 6 began with the earliest start yet as we loaded into the vans at 6:45 am to go to hike in one of Costa Rica’s many national parks. The ride was long but, as we quickly realized, quite worth it. Even from the car, the beauty of the park was unmatched. Our tour guide was an older man named Freddy, who gave plenty of fascinating information of the park’s history, as well as various birds, butterflies, frogs, and insects we encountered. The hike was long and difficult, and I doubt there was one person who didn’t curse at the muddy hills and treacherous roots that seemed to grab your ankles; yet, even in the midst of all the uncomfortable moments unknown to us first world teenagers, the forest was breathtaking. We hiked mostly through the rainforest until we reached a long clearing that separated it from the dry forest. Freddy explained that this clearing was actually an escape route in case of fires in the dry forest! Soon afterwards, we reached the hot springs which made their ...

Day 5, we ate  breakfast and then took a car to go horseback riding and later time to work on our projects and finishing with a cooking class at a local restaurant in the town. The horseback ride was split into two groups, one who left earlier in the morning and one who left around 11:30. Both groups rode with the man who runs Finca La Anita, Pablo. Pablo was the guide on both and taught beginning riders some tips on their first ride and rode with each tour making the rides very fun. After the horseback ride, both groups ate lunch and then met in the science room at 2pm for our afternoon of science. We met with our groups to discuss more about our ideas for our project and this was our real first day of collecting and taking action in the tasks and ideas we had laid out to the instructors the night before. Along with that, we took a look at our fungus growth and identified which had the kind of evidence we were looking for. This was an experiment that we would be testing throughou...

Day four was the first all-science day of the trip. The day began at 7:30am with the usual rice, beans, eggs, and toast. About an hour later, the excitement began. The tasks for the day included following up on a past experiment, starting a new one, and breaking open our Science Activities book.             After receiving a preview of the day from Dr. Pinto, we counted the bacteria colonies on the plates from the experiment from the day before. Dr. Pinto showed us how to analyze our data with the Vassar Stats website. After that, all the groups rotated through the lab conducting an experiment about the fungi that the ants tend to. Through the different activities, we learned more about leaf cutter ants, and how to approach our personal research. At noon we had lunch, and at 2 we reconvened to continue our all day science.            In the afternoon we began to brainstorm our scientific ideas for our research and at 3:4...