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 wa...

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...