Rima Givot pursues deeper learning in science

Rima Givot, Sisters High School science and Spanish teacher, doesn't let any grass grow under her feet - either at school, at home in Oregon, or in Costa Rica. It's not her nature to stand still very long, and she's started working on her master's degree to continue her education and as a science teacher in Oregon's public schools, and all teachers are required to become more advanced in their fields.

"With my master's project, I hope to inspire my students, community members, and myself to conduct action programs based on data collected from ecology and/or environment inquiry studies that contribute to positive environmental change in my community," she said.

As a high school teacher, part of her master's project will be conducted with her students, while another part - carried out in Costa Rica - will be based on inquiry programs and methods which will lead to action projects in the Sisters community.

Her inquiry methods, implemented through Miami University's master's program, will be brought to her students and relate to local ecology and/or environmental issues: for example, how to ensure the conservation of the rare Peck's penstemon found in the Trout Creek Conservation Area (TCCA) in the forest behind the high school.

Based on what Givot's students learn through their inquiry, they'll develop action plans to help the community with conservation efforts.

For years, Givot's been assisting her students in developing skills and experience with environmental stewardship; what they acquire through Rima's advanced skills will be the frosting on the cake.

That's a big goal, but the methods she has learned collaborating with her Miami University master's program teammates, studying the two-toed sloth, black-mandibled toucan, red-eyed tree frogs and the exquisite flora of the rainforests of the equator, will make it happen.

During the summer of 2012, Givot and other members of Miami U's master's program went to Baja California to a research ranch where they studied methods of sustaining ranch and Sonoran Desert ecology. Each member took on a subject of their choice, and after collecting data on one facet or another of the ecosystem, presented their findings and interacted with each other on scientific principals.

While conducting studies on shore organisms at the Sea of Cortez, Givot had the opportunity to find her herself doing what she claimed was the most exciting thing she's ever done: swimming with and among a pod of whale sharks.

Last summer she stayed in the La Seva Estacion Biologica in Costa Rica, studying the flora and fauna of the rain forest. Each student went into the field to work on any one of the fauna, such as the bullet ant, a highly toxic insect, that causes the victim of its sting such pain that he or she has suicidal thoughts.

After conducting several wildlife studies the group then went on into a higher rain forest at the base of sleeping Arenao Volcano.

It was at the field station near the volcano that Givot had the opportunity to stay in the same lodge at Monte Verde she had stayed in when she was 17 years old, visiting her cousin, who was married to a native Costa Rican.

It was also at Monte Verde that she observed the native mottled owl and studied what she called "the most amazing hummingbirds I have ever seen!" - such as the purple-throated mountain green; green-crowned brilliant; green violet-eared; violet saber-wing; copper-headed emeralds and other magnificent birds of the rain forests.

As with so many other science activities in Sisters Country, the Sisters Science Club is in Rima's program as well. They've helped finance a great deal of the costs for her master's program, augmenting what the school district and Rima's personal finances are paying.