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I am a teacher from Colorado Springs, Colorado. I teach at Carmel Middle School in Harrison District #2 on the south side of the City. I have taught for 29 years in various states. I am now in Costa Rica for the 1999 Environmental Science Institute funded by the National Science Foundation and The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. We are here to study implications of global environmental change, design and conduct field research focusing on this theme, and learn how what happens in the tropics is related to environmental issues in the United States. Our work includes using inquiry based exploration and how that relates to our national and state standards in our respective teaching areas. Other avenues we expored are intergration of subject matter and use of technology as related to the enviroment..There are 60 math and science teachers here from various parts of the United States. They range from a 3rd grade teacher to various levels of high school teachers. What a great opportunity!!! Who wouldn't want to walk in a rain forest and gather data????. We are spending 3 weeks in Costa Rica at 3 different OTS biologial stations; La Salva, Palo Verde, and Las Cruses. We laughed, learned, sweated, marveled, exclaimed, 'oohed' and 'aahed' at least a thousand times, made new friends, experienced how hard field work is, and are going home with new insight and recharged batteries.
We plan to go home and share what we learned with other teachers in our respective areas. Please enjoy a few excerpts from my journal with a few pictures to highlight my experiences!!!!
July 15, 1999 We met in San Jose today and discussed our upcoming experience. One thing to be aware of are the snakes in Costa Rica. This is a Fer De Lance. There are many at La Salva BUT I never saw one!!! Thank you, Thank you!!!!!! |
July 16, l999 We took a field trip to an active volcano. This is Poas and it gives off steam and gases. It has larger eruptions every few years.
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July 17, l999 On the way to La Salva, we took a tour of a Dole Banana plantation. Very Interesting!!!!! I don't think I want to work there. |
July 17, l999 We are in the rain forest at La Salva. The beauty cannot be described. What an experience! There were night walks but I was too afraid of the snakes. I did go the last night there and survived. |
July 18, l999 This is a strangler fig. They are everywhere! They use the host tree to climb up to the light. There is great competition among the plants for light access. |
July 19, l999 A walking palm tree. If the light is not good, the roots will die on one side and grow more roots on the side toward the light and the tree will gradually move toward the light. |
July 22, l999 There are African Violets growing wild at the base of the trees. There seems to be only one variety. |
July 22, l999 A beautiful mushroom in the forest. It only lasts for several days, and smells like rotten meat. That is to attract the flies that will spread the spores of the mushroom. |
July 24, l999 My team is collecting data for our project, bromeliads. If you don't know what a bromeliad is, join the club. I didn't either until two days ago. This was great fun. The best time to do field work is when it is raining and rain it did. They have more than 8 meters of rain a year at La Salva!!!!!! |
July 25, l999 Here we are in the lab looking for different morphospecies that live in the bromeliads. |
July 23, l999 We are at the hot springs near Arenal Volcano. It was great but when you got out, your bathing was filled with black sand. BUT did that hot water feel good! We are on our way to Palo Verde. |
July 26, l999 We are now at Palo Verde and taking a boat ride on the river. These are howler monkeys. We have seen 3 different kinds of monkeys on our trip. |
July 27, l999 Palo Verde is great. We had some down time and spent it in various ways. Some of us went horseback riding. What a great way to see the country side. |
July 26, l999 We saw lots of crocodiles on our river trip. They were everywhere. Some were tiny. |
July 29, l999 We are off the the beach, a real motel with a pool, and then to Las Cruces. Those bus rides were long but lots of fun. This is a great way to see the country. |
July 30, l999 After a night swimming in the pool, playing in the ocean, and taking a hot bath, we are feeling good. This was our overnight stop on our way to Las Cruces. It is a delight to have some down time. |
July 31, l999 This was found on a walk by some of our group. The rest ran to see it. Of course, I did not but my friend, Melanie, took this picture so I wouldn't feel left out. What would we do without our good friends. By the wey, this is a jumping viper. They really do jump at you. |
July 29 to August 2, l999 We are in Las Cruces. We are staying at the Wilson Bontanical Gardens in very nice quarters. This is quite different as they have formal gardens here as well as the cloud forest. We are on our way to San Jose on the 3rd and that will conclude our trip!!!!! |
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