Inquiry Conference

     For my second hour of conference attendance, I went to presentations given by Sarah, Averyl and Nick, who are all in the prep class currently. It was great to hear some presentations given by people who have experienced a field study. Nick talked about his time in Tonga, which sounds like a really lovely place. One thing that he talked about that could be applicable to my field study was an issue he had with an interview question. He would ask people why they designed their yards the way they did and would always get one answer - "for the beauty." He changed his questioning method a little and was able to get better responses. It is important for me to remember that in South Africa the way people understand or express things might be different then how I understand or express myself. So interview questions might take some tweaking.

      Sarah talked about her time in Rome studying the Pantheon. The take home message for me from her presentation was that some things cannot be understood in just three months. Regardless even of how much preparation before being in the field, three months is not that long. And that is OKAY! It sounded like Sarah did not really feel that she reached any concrete conclusions about the Pantheon and how Romans view it, but she still had a valuable experience and learned things. Averyl talked about the value of doing a field study versus library research. This is slightly more obvious for my project then it was for hers. I loved that she changed her opinion on "whiney" Queen Elizabeth after visiting some of the places talked about in the play about her life. Anyway, my project kind of requires being in the field. I guess I could do it in the library but it would be boring and it would be harder then being in the field, with the zoo keepers and the zoo animals. And I do not think I would learn nearly as much in the library as in the field. A field study educates in many ways other then academically - Holly and I were just talking about how we are going to come home from this summer completely fearless. We will have spent all summer dealing with people, learning how to talk to, approach, and befriend many different people. I am looking forward to it!