#napire2014

Morning Activity: Botany WalkIn the morning NAPIRE students took an botany tour of the plants in the primary forest. Here are some snapshots from the tour.

After the botany walk, students were given an opportunity to experience the highest bits of the tree canopy by scaling up 39-meters above groun on permanent tower structure designed to do tree canopy research as well as collect environmental data.

Cherie scaling up 39-meters of stairs to the tops of the tree canopy.

Afternoon Activity In the afternoon, Dr. Wendy Kuntz delivered a powerful hands-on activity to explore measurements and variation in scientific data. The materials needed include: 10 peanuts, a ruler, and paper. Students were initially asked to describe 1 peanut.

Student annotating their observations of the peanut.

Then, they were asked to give their notes to a friend. Dr. Kuntz mixed the peanuts up on a table, and the friend had to find the peanut. 

NAPIRE students finding their partners peanut.

Dr. Kuntz opened a discussion to students on how to better describe the peanut to make it easier for anyone to find the aforementioned described peanut.

To learn about statistics, Dr. Kuntz asked all the students to measure ten peanuts, the maximum length.

The data was used to learn how to calculate mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and variance.

Our first weekend in Costa Rica, we left at 8am in the morning from La Selva Biological Research Station to the Costa Rica-Panama Border to visit the Bribri Indigenous community in the Talamanca Mountains for the weekend. It is about a 5 hour trek which eventually leads to the coastal highway--stunning views-capes of beaches, agricultural fields, banana herbs and Caribbean life.

Road tripping it to the Bribri Territory (14 June 2014, PC Lelemia Irvine) Upon our arrival, we were greeted by our guide, Rafael Angel Carbraca Selles. He welcomed us to the Bribri Territory. He shared to us some of the names of the mountains around them, and requested us to be mindful of our surroundings as the land is sacred to them.

Bribri Indigenous Territory, view of the mountains We had lunch and a tour of the "Finca Educativa" (Farm Educational Resource). We were served a delicious meal from local providers and the farm itself.

Lunch: rice with corn, plantain, mashed yucca, chicken, steamed squash and vegetables, tomato & cucumber, natural juice beverage

We were traditionally welcomed to the Fina Educativa with a Bribri song that gave thanks to Sibu (their creator), blessed and welcomed us into their land. The open air longhouse that we ate lunch was made from resources in the mountain and with the hands of the community. It is one of two traditional building styles: longhouse, and circular.

Finca Educativa Welcoming in Bribri in the traditional longhouse

The farm began with special funding from CATIE institute as a way to determine the best cultivation varieties of cacoa for the region. The garden is filled with mixed varieties of plants for functional and medicinal purposes. The "finca educativa" served as the first site and model for the community on small-scale cultivation incorporating both traditional and contemporary methods. Cacao holds an important place in the Bribri community relationship to the plant. It is used in their traditional ceremonies as well as medicine as well as their traditional stories. There are more than 5 varieties grown at the finca. After the tour, we help make chocolate from scratch with a Master Chocolate maker. Here's some pictures from the Finca Educativa Visit:

Tsiru, Bribri word for cacao in the family of Esterculiaceae

Mikal and students taste testing the fruit of Cacao

NAPIRE 2014 students learning about Cacao growth process and the deep relationship Bribri have with the plant (June 14, 2014)

Master Chocolate maker sifting Cacao beans. She shares the story of the entire processing of chocolate from picking the beans to consuming the final product (June 14, 2014)

Kirena, NAPIRE participant and member of Navajo Nation, hand churning delicious fresh dark chocolate (June 14, 2014).

NAPIRE 2014 students take a visit to the Acomuita Women's Cooperative Chocolate Farm and Factory (June 14, 2014)

Friday, 13 June 2014 Today, Dr. Karin Gastriech gave an exciting inquiry based workshop on natural history, hypothesis building, and experimental design.

Dr. Gastreich introduces the topic to NAPIRE 2014 cohort that our role as tropical biologist is to be keen observers of nature. We describe the life-cycles and process around. These observations are documented and from these observation we develop hypotheses and experimental designs. Students went outside into the tropical forest to observe everything they saw. They noted other key anecdotal information to accompany their observations which included: time of day, date, location, weather.

Students were broken up into groups to talk about their observations and develop a hypothesis ("A proposed answer to our question(s) of inquiry"-Dr. Karin Gastreich).

Students wrote down a question or questions that they wanted to explored. They developed an experimental design including hypothesis, predictions, and expected outcomes.

Students presented their findings to the group.

At the end of the day, students and staff prepared for their cultural exchange and visit to the Bribri Indigenous Territory in the Talamanca Mountains.

Thursday, 12 June 2014

In the morning, NAPIRE students had a guided walk of the La Selva Rain Forest by Kenneth, our guide. Here are some snapshots of students and staff contributions of the tour.

Students looking into the trees of an iguana. (Photo Credit: Lelemia Irvine, 12-June-2014)

Students and TA with guide Albert in front of the River (Photo Credit: Lelemia Irvine, 12June-2014)

In the afternoon, Dr. Karin Gastreich gave a talk on Biodiversity in Costa Rica. In her talk, she talked about the origins of Costa Rica and gave insights on why would Costa Rica would be a hotspot for the biodiversity.