2017 Trinity High School Costa Rica Science Research Trip

Will Mullen, rising junior at Trinity High School, discusses his research project. They made a very unique discovery today when their Atta queen was brought back to the fungus garden by the worker ants. This is one of several trials that will be statistically analyzed using Vassarstats online program.

Students are spending the afternoon working on their research and experimentation. Some groups discovered that science is not easy... while others were excited to see their hypotheses confirmed. All the groups are learning that two important values: 1) collaborating with group members to make decisions can be a challenge and 2) designing experiments which yield valid data is hard.  Way to go LC and Trinity... the groups are doing great. - Mr. Heintz Group members prepare for data collection using ant aggression scale. John keeping it real... and the containers clean to prevent colony contamination. Jack Ryan extracting his queen for isolation. Observations: with the queen removed from the colony, the other ants show signs of aggression. Group members put their positive control to test. With a few adjustments, it works well. The physical barrier does a great job preventing the ants from going down the path. 2min and 35secs later, the ants found a way ar

Today we took advantage of the first real break from rain and rode up the side of Santa Maria Volcano to get the best view in northwest Costa Rica. After a great ride (and a lot of bonding with our horses), we took a nice walk through the rain forest to a beautiful waterfall. Students had a quick dip before we headed home for a lunch or veggie rice and sea bass. Even though they look a little tired, students are ready for an afternoon and full evening of research and experimentation. - Mr. Heintz Riding up the mountain. Santa Maria Volcano Lodge Will and Brendan learning to ride. Rookie Vaqueros Top of a long ride. We love our horses. Noah... professional rider. Lauren with the prettiest horse in Costa Rica. Getting ready to take the plunge. Sam... modeling his swimsuit and Power T hat. John taking flight. Will going for the biggest splash. After a long morning horseback riding and a hike to the waterfall, students are looki

Day four of our Costa Rica science expedition! The day started early for me with a wake up time of 5:15. The time between waking up and breakfast was spent swinging on the porch swing and exploring the grounds.  After breakfast, at 7:30, we got to go zip lining instead of a morning learning session. The zip line course had ten zip lines that went through the forest canopy. The course offered zip lines of varying speeds and lengths, on the slowest of which we were able to go upside down. Once finished with the zip lines, we headed back to Finca La Anita for lunch and to work on our group projects. In the afternoon my group, K-JAB, prepared different organic liquids with which we plan to interrupt the ant's pheromone trail the most. Our experiment is to see which liquid interrupts their pheromone trail the most. Some of the organic solutions we are using include panama peppers, vinegar, vegetable oil, and cintronella to do this. Tomorrow we will to put these solutions to th

This morning all students awoke to a peaceful morning in the tropical rain-forest that was relatively calm compared  to the usual chirping of birds and numerous amounts of  insects in the background. The beautiful scenery captures your eyes the moment one steps out of the cozy cabins. The students mingle among each other learning more new and interesting things such as what each person likes or what it is like in their respective cities. Breakfast soon comes to mind as we made our way down the road to the cafeteria near the processing plant. The native food is phenomenal, unlike any standard American breakfast one has ever had. Through more chatting each student develops a greater bond with their fellow members. Afterwards the day became science intensive. While there may have been no field work today their was much more to do involving the experiments we will be working on throughout the week. In specific my group,Team Indeciso (which is quite the oxymoron actually) using the scient

Brendan, a rising junior at Trinity High School, describes one of several small experiments the students conduct to develop a working knowledge of "experimental design" and the "scientific method". Eventually, students will develop group projects designed to save the cacao trees from being eaten by leaf cutter ants.

Sam Batcheldor, rising junior at Trinity High School, discusses how chocolate production in Costa Rica has emerged as one of the finest in the world. Owner of Finca La Anita, Pablo, shared his experience with the students and the challenges of leaf cutter ants.

Day 2: At the beginning of the day we went out in the field looking for leaf cutter ants. This was a great chance to feel what its like to be a real scientist working in team groups. Today we also took out fungus gardens from the leaf cutter ant colonies to take back and do lab work with them. Towards the end of the day we watched some short movies on leaf cutter ants to help us understand a little more about them. This was great because some of the facts that were in the video I did not know about. Atta ants can have over five million ants in one colony. A great surprise was seeing doctor Adrian in one of the short movies describing how a fungus can take over a bullet ant.  The food at Finca La Anita is absolutely incredible. It is all produced here at the farm. Every day there is a new juice of the day which is very exciting. There is also a lot of new flavors that i have never tried before and in all is very fun. Will Mullen   Students observing a leaf cutter ant hig

Jon Michael, a rising junior at Trinity High School, and his team recently extracted leaf cutter ant colonies from the rain forest. They have placed them in a controlled environment that will be used to conduct experiments over the next few days.

Noah Tuell, sophomore at Trinity High School, and his group just extracted their first leaf cutter ant fungus garden. This species, Acromyrmex, is different from the Atta that we are after, but unique because it shows winged males.

John Hughes, a rising senior at Trinity High School, speaks about his first experience on the Costa Rica Science Research Trip.

Today was a great start to what looks to be a tremendous trip. We boarded our flight from Louisville to Charlotte and then from there to Liberia, Costa Rica. When we arrived in Liberia, we were greeted by hot weather about 20 degrees hotter than Louisville. We stopped at our first restaurant in Liberia off the busy street with lunch options of fish, steak, and chicken. We were able to enjoy the lunch with the hot weather, until we finished and it started to pour rain. It rained constantly throughout our bus ride to Finca La Anita, but we were able to see houses, animals, and rivers along the way which made the experience even better. We arrived at the beautiful Finca La Anita, where the boys and I settled into our rooms and adjusted to our nice rooms with wooden bunk beds. We then met Pablo and Ana who gave us the do's and don't's around here. After that, we were able to try on our boots which we will be using the rest of the week. Then, we wrapped up the day by eating the

Through security and on our way to Costa Rica.

The count down begins. We leave in only 3 days. As get ready to depart... here is a quick look at what our Trinity students did last year. Each group researched, designed, and conducted a 3-4 day experiment. Take a look at some of their research hypotheses: Atta Pheromone Research Project  ​ Hypothesis: the ants behavior will change based on the manipulation of the different pheromones, based on the fact that they are heavily reliant on them for transportation, identification and defense. Social Behavior Among Species of Frogs with Similar Size Hypothesis: the gender, size and which frog was placed in the enclosure first would affect the social behavior of the different species of frogs.​ Collapsing Colonies Hypothesis: The ants will be able to help the fungus survive the  Escovopsis  infection, but if the  dosage is too great the ants will be overwhelmed and their fungus will become infected, therefore the colony will collapse.  How Variables Affect Bd (Batrachochytrium

Trinity students will be traveling to Finca La Anita in Colonia Libertad, Costa Rica on May 27th. We will stay for 8 days in the beautiful setting of a working Chocolate Farm in the diverse setting of the rainforest. Students will be staying in cabins... which serve as an eco-resort during the main travel season. A lot of the food we eat is produced right on the farm... as fresh as it gets.  Pablo and Ana are our hosts and the nicest people you will ever meet. They are committed to making the trip an excellent experience. Fine dinning every night. Most of our meals are eaten in the open pavilion that overlooks two volcanoes. Finca La Anita is a magical place where science comes right to your front door. Visit their page at:  http://www.laanitarainforestranch.com/index.php