Mrs. Renz's 4th Grade Class JASON XV Expedition Panama Field Notes

Real Science. Real Time. Real Learning.

Mrs. Renz was selected to join the JASON XV Project expedition team, traveling with the scientists and production team to the remote locations of Panama including Barro Colorado Island and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the middle of the Panama Canal Zone. This opportunity allowed the student and teacher Argonauts joining Dr. Robert Ballard, world class scientists, and guest researchers at the expedition site. Mrs. Renz was in Panama two weeks. Her fourth graders followed her journey each day as she updated her website with her daily journals and photos.

Mrs. Renz's Field Journal

I took the slow boat from Gamboa to BCI. Today was Day Two the live broadcast. My assignment for today was to fill in at Teacher Argo Melissa's site with Dr. Meg Lowman and Dr. Compton Tucker of NASA. Our team used the boson's chair (a sling harness hooked with ropes over a tree branch) during each of the five broadcasts and sometimes Dr. Meg or a student argo would be hoisted up into the canopy or lowered down to collect samples of insects for today's study. We were studying herbivory rates in the rainforest. The students were challenged to learn about the amount of frass generated by rainforest insects. Another challenge had them design and conduct an experiment to determine what types of herbivory was taking place on leaves (such as miners, galls, skeletonizers, chewers and leaf tyres). Student argos also used neat instrument called a penetrometer to test the toughness of different leaves. Bug nets were swung thought the air and forest as students categorizing the species collected. Students collected all kinds of data and used the TI-73 Explorer calculator to organize and graph their data. There was lots of science going on out at our camera location.

During our quick lunch break between filming episodes in the field, a troop of red spider monkeys decided to entertain us by swinging through the trees high overhead. We ate and watched with cameras poised, hoping to capture the moment on digital cameras to share this incredible experience with people back home. We have learned from experience that sometimes the monkeys throw things at you, so whenever we heard branches and saw dipteryx fruits crashing to the ground, we dashed for cover under the branches and covered our heads. Today no one was hurt, but just yesterday, our host researcher Mike Kaspari, got beaned with a dipteryx fruit on the back of the head and he told us it hurt a lot. I will certainly miss these entertaining shows put on by our rainforest friends when I return home to the snowy landscapes of Central Oregon.

Mrs. Renz's Photos from Panama
Meg Lowman in the Bosun's chair at one of the film locations
A red spider monkey overhead during lunch break
A perfect example of a "mechanical defense" on this tree trunk. This helps the tree protect itself against predators and herbivory
This is the location where the host and guest Student Argonaut were filmed from
There were 198 steps up the the "Argo Hangout." The Argo dorm building is the one with the red roof.	Mrs. Renz The Argo Hangout is at the top of the stairs
Watch my leaf cutter ant movie
After a long day on BCI, we journed back to Gamboa to our hotel. This is another beautiful sunset taken from the boat, Las Cruces, as we sailed down the Panama Canal.

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Feb. 1

Redmond, Oregon