Hi from the rainforest!

As you may have found we have two teams working on different projects: Community Health and Agricultural Practices. I'm working on the agriculture team and learning many things I hope to incorporate some way when I get back to the states. Today, we worked alongside students to classify the many plants and animals as well as to categorize the uses and associations found along the way. Previously, we (UCD students) did the classifying according to our own understanding to see how the project would go: the results are as follows (not too exciting)

Vegetables: onion, radishes, spinach, beans, tomatoes, papachina, malanga, etc.
Fruits: papaya, banana, plantano, oranges, coconut, etc.
Animals: pigs, chickens, laying hens
Pretty general, not too much thinking had to go into categorizing what is a fruit, vegetable, or animal.
However, with the students they tended to categorize into associations, or things that go together: planted at same time, grow at same time, etc. It was interesting to see that they definitely put more time and effort into fully understanding their environment and in the meantime we were able to better understand how they see their world. Great fun!