Cloud Forest

From May 16-20 of this year, the seventh grade teachers moved their classrooms to the mountain village of Jalcolmulco in the eastern state of Veracruz. For science this meant lessons taught in a piece of remaining cloud forest in the Francisco Javier Clavijero Botanic Garden in nearby Jalapa. Entering the cool, shaded ecosystem, one's attention is immediately grabbed by the change in temperature and the smells of moist earth and rotting leaves. It was the perfect place to take our plot studies outdoors and practice what the students had learned at school.

Just as they had done in our land laboratory in Mexico City, students recorded measurements and made observations about the abiotic environment: map coordinates, elevation, soil temperature, air temperature at surface and waist levels, soil texture, amount of sunlight. Focusing on square meter plots, students made an inventory of plants and drew representative examples of what they saw. It was inspiring to work

in such a healthy habitat and students took the task seriously.

Here are some of the data that were recorded on May 17 between 9:30 and 11:30 am:

Latitude: 19 degrees, 30.755' N

Longitude: 96 degrees, 66.603' W

Elevation: 1,324 m

Temperatures

Soil: 20 degrees C

Air at soil surface: 21 degrees C

Air at waist level: 20 degrees C

Cloud Cover

It was completely overcast and as the morning adv

anced, a light rain developed.

Such data is rather typical of cloud forests which are found in the mountains at tropical latitudes. In this case we were in the Sierra Madre Oriental in the watershed that feeds rivers which empty into the Gulf of Mexico. The abundant moisture creates a favorable habitat for a number of plants with sunlight being the main limiting factor. As a result, cloud forests are home to an array of epiphytic plants, that is plants that grow on plants to reach for light.

Monarch Flyover

Yesterday, while working in our country garden, we were rewarded with an inspiring sight. Riding the gusting southerly winds on fragile wings, dozens of monarch butterflies were on their way back to the US and Canada. For over an hour the exodus continued, twos and threes and tens. Some flew high, just specks in the sky. Others skimmed the treetops of our cedar hedge. A few slackers dipped down for a pull of nectar from our calendula flowers. Relentlessly they kept their course, plotted by their tiny insect on-board computers, following magnetic fields North.

Their departure was a bit late this year. It has been an unusually chilly March, Cold Front #34 just having blown through last week. Happily, it was one of the larger flights we have seen in recent years. Newspaper had reported a 30% increase in the population this year, but I wonder about those figures, given the acreage of fir trees that has been cut in the nearby forests of Michoacan. And just how were those population estimates made? Still, it was encouraging to see so many and hope, for a moment, that this unlikely migration might continue into the future.

Student Work

One of the pleasures of teaching is to introduce students to the natural world and ask them to observe and draw what they see. For many children this is difficult, in part because of limited artistic skills, but also because they are still developing their ability to "see." Above are examples of two young people who "see" very well. Natalia (on the left) went deep into the Lantana camara flower to notice that it is actually composed of many tiny flowers clustered together. Naomi (on the right) noticed that the leaf of the Tecoma stans is actually divided into many smaller leaflets.

Having a land laboratory on campus allows us to observe nature without ever leaving the school grounds. Students are given instruction sheets and then, together with their team members, they study a particular area within the garden. At this point in the year, the garden is beginning to come to life, as evidenced by the blooming flowers. This rebirth was an inspiration for these young ladies to capture these treasures of Spring.

Plot Study in the Humboldt Garden

During the Ecology Unit in the winter semester, students visit the Humboldt Garden to have firsthand contact with an ecosystem. Working in teams, students record information about abiotic and biotic factors within their plot. Later in the classroom, students will share their data with others and look for patterns.

Measurement is a necessary first step in being able to detect those patterns. It is fitting that the activity takes place in the Humboldt Garden since precise documentation was central to his method. During their exploration of South America and Mexico he and his partner, Aime Bonpland, carried with them a virtual traveling laboratory with more than 30 state-of-the-art instruments to measure the physcial environment. In collecting this data the Prussian explorer hoped to better understand the "unity of nature."

The measurements we take are just a beginning. Students measure soil temperature and air temperature at the surface and at waist level. For many it will be the first time that they pay careful attention to the scale within a thermometer. This skill will be useful to them as they continue their work in science in later grades. Back in the classroom the children will make a comparison table of temperatures at different levels in different plots. When the sun begins to strike the garde, there can be large temperature differences in a small area. This simple exercise gives the student an understanding of how differences in exposure can generate different micro climates.

Wash Your Hands, Please!

Hand Washing Campaign at the American School of Mexico City

The culmination of our Micro Life unit was to create a poster or some other sort of visual presentation to encourage students at our school to wash their hands. This was particularly important since the end of October marks the beginning of flu season. In fact, the United Nations declared an International Hand Washing Day in late October to raise awareness about this simple, yet effective way to prevent the spread of microbes. It is estimated that 80% of infectious disease can be prevented by this simple procedure.

Students worked in teams of three of four to produce a visual presentation that explains the scientific reasons for washing hands. The project was also supposed to give clear guidelines and use images to both attract interest and inform the student body. The children did internet research on the topic, divided up responsibilities and printed out information at home. Then they put all this together in class.

In class at the end of the project, students presented their work and pointed out the elements that they believed attracted people's attention or informed the public. Others in class commented on their efforts. Hopefully, the result of the assignment was to raise student awareness of the need to wash ends, as well as how to best attract the attention of and educate the public.

New Weather Station

After two years of laying the groundwork and installation attempts, a new weather station was erected on top of the middle school building this school year. It was a gift of Weather Services International as part of their international lightning monitoring network. At the very top of the tower is their lightning sensor and a GPS receiver that are connected to a modem that sends the information direct to their offices in Maryland.

In return for hosting their antennae, the American School received a high-tech weather station that monitors temperature, wind speed, rainfall, humidity and other variables. It is really a work in progress as time has limited our ability to learn about how to use all the features that apparatus provides.

Looking across the roof, you can see downtown Mexico City, built on an old lake bed. From the top of the archbishop's palace in 1803, Humboldt also studied the city's skyline. His instruments had survived a 4,000-mile journey through the Americas on muleback, canoe and ship. His accurate measurements of lattitude and longitude corrected the old colonial maps of New Spain. Our up-to-the-date equipment allow us to scan the same horizon the Prussian scientist did in an environment utterly transformed.

Last summer I was in Berlin for the Fifth International Humboldt Conference. The photo shows the statue of Alexander von Humboldt in front of the univeristy founded by his brother in Wilhelm in 1810. Originally known as the University of Berlin, it was renamed for the famous brothers in 1949 while the institution was part of the Russian sector of the then divided city. It is located in the heart of Berlin on one of its main thoroughfares, just a few blocks from the Brandenburg Gate.

Since Humboldt is the inspiration of this blog, it is well to take the opportunity to describe the famous Prussian scientist. Alexander was born in Berlin on Sept. 14, 1769 to an officer of the staff of Frederick the Great. From an early age the younger of the Humboldt brothers took an interest in science, conducting experiments with electricity and collecting flowers, butterflies and beetles at the family estate at Tegel, 12 miles north of Berlin (site of the present day international airport).

A brilliant, but rebellious student, Alexander found it difficult to find his place in life. He was lucky, however, to have a series of talented tutors who stirred his interest in botany, geology and travel. His college education culminated at the Mining Academy at Freiberg. Here he spent long hours in the pits, studying geology, and, in his free time, teaching himself chemistry and paleontology. Based on his successful completion of this training he was named Assistant Inspector of Mines for Prussia.

It was likely Humboldt's experience as a mine inspector that impressed the Spanish King Carlos IV when they met at the court in Aranjuez in March of 1799. Or perhaps it was Humboldt's title as baron. In any event, it was an exceptional fortune for Alexander, and his French botanist partner, Aimee Bonpland, to be awarded a royal passport to visit the Spanish colonies in the Americas.

The resulting five-year expedition to South America was described by Simón Bolívar as the "scientific discovery" of America. By foot, horseback and canoe, the intrepid explorers would travel over 6,000 miles of territory, much of it previously unexplored. They brought back over 60,000 species of plants, 3,000 of which were new to science. Humboldt's publication of his findings in a series of high quality books on his return to Paris in 1804 would define America for a European public that had no idea of what the New World was really like.

Humboldt's Personal Narrative of his travels would inspire 19th century scientists and writers all over the world. In the United States his writings would become an inspiration for Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Johh Muir. Charles Darwin would write, " I formerly admired Humboldt, now I almost adore him....I shall never forget that my whole course of life is due to having read and re-read as a youth [Humboldt's] Personal Narrative." On a much smaller and personal level, I took Humboldt as a model for my own modest explorations of Central America and Mexico. Interestingly enough, my first position in Latin America was as a science teacher at the Alejandro de Humboldt High School in Ahuachapan, El Salvador.