Diana Allen, a Sanford Middle School Life and Environmental Sciences teacher, will embark on a seven-day expedition to Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica as an Earthwatch Teacher Fellow on Sunday, July 6th.
Through participation in this expedition, Allen will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on research with pollinator preservation, which she plans to bring back to her middle school science classroom. Students and colleagues alike will benefit from her field experiences with Earthwatch, as she hopes to create pollinator gardens with her students.
While in Costa Rica, Allen will examine the crucial role pollinators play in healthy ecosystems, pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. She hopes to support researchers in a one-of-a-kind field experience collecting and identifying pollinators; planting trees to increase biodiversity; and observing and counting pollinators.
The expedition will provide Allen with new and exciting knowledge to bring back to Sanford Middle School. More than three quarters of the crops we rely on require pollination, so threats to pollinators from climate change, pesticides, and habitat loss can be detrimental to humans.
Allen looks forward to new hands-on learning and collaboration with fellow educators. She is specifically enthusiastic about the positive impacts for her students.