[IDT] Overview of I Dig Tanzania Part 2: Chicago
From July 24-28, Global Kids and the Field Museum of Chicago brought together a group of teens from New York and Chicago for the second part of the "I Dig Tanzania" summer program. This was Part 2 of the "I Dig Tanzania" summer camp, which took place from June 28 to July 2 in the virtual world of Teen Second Life. You can read a summary of the virtual dig here.
Over the course of the weekend, the teens met in-person with some of the researchers who were in Tanzania, explored the Field Museum, did presentations to the public about what they have learned, and learned more about paleontology, evolution, biology, Tanzanian music and culture, and science behind the scenes at the museum. And by all accounts they had a fantastic time.
The following is a summary of their experiences...
Day 1
To start the trip off, we wanted a group bonding experience that would provide everyone with a little time to hang out. What better way to do that in Chicago than seeing a Cubs game at Wrigley Field? With the very helpful intervention of a friend of Rik's, we got amazing seats behind home plate, just twenty-some rows back. Being there amidst 41,000 Chicagoans rooting for their team was an amazing experience. And even our most stubborn Yankee fans enjoyed the Cub's victory!
Our kids and the Field Museum kids got a big kick out of being there, and seemed to already start to connect with each other over the course of the game and afterwards. What a great way to start this Chicago trip!
The video shows the Cubs fans singing their traditional fight song at the end of the game. Sweet!
Day 2
Friday was the first substantive day of the I Dig Tanzania trip to Chicago, since Thursday was really just the New York folks arriving and heading to Wrigley Field. Friday was totally action-packed, with in-depth tours of the Field Museum's incredible fossil holdings, discussions about the fossil collection and preservation process, presentations by the kids to the public, and lots of group bonding between the New Yorkers and the Chicagoans.
To start the day off, we all met in BioSynC for breakfast and to watch the video of our virtual fossil hunt. (We'll be posting the video online shortly.) We then headed behind the scenes at the Field Museum to see the fossils in the CRC Lab. We saw some of the actual fossils found in Tanzania are currently being prepared. We got to see lots of fossils, at all different points of the preparation process, a procedure mirrored in our virtual fossil prep just a few weeks ago.
We saw demonstrations in how fossils are glued as well as saw many fossils that are in the jacketing stage. Believe it or not, the Field Museum contains so many fossils and artifacts that it can only display one half of one percent of its entire collection!
We took a quick break for lunch and then headed back to BioSync to give the teens time to prepare their presentations. The teens met in their virtual teams to put together a short presentation with slides, summarizing a day of the IDT program, telling about their fossil and what this experience was like for them. Barry even flew in from New York to watch the teens in action! All four teams did a great job both in preparing and presenting their findings.
After the presentations, Rik had this to say: "I'm so proud of our teens for putting together such great presentations of their work in a very short period of time. The audience of Field Museum staff, researchers, supporters, parents and related educational institutions in Chicago all seemed really into the kids' presentations and the I Dig Tanzania project in general, which bodes well for this kind of approach to virtual world education."
To wrap up a very busy first day, the New York and Chicago teens hopped on the Water Taxi to Navy Pier for an evening full of "cheezborgers", Ferris wheel rides, and an all-around good time!
Day 3
Returning to the Field Museum for the second full day of I Dig Tanzania in Chicago, we went more in-depth into the evolution of the earth as an ecosystem, did some drumming with Tanzanian musicians, watched a video of the Tanzanian research team's trip, and chatted with several of the paleontologists in person.
To start off this sunny Saturday morning we headed to the "Evolving Planet" Exhibit for a guided tour through time. This gave us the chance to look at the evolution of animals and humans throughout several periods of mass extinction. We even got to see the fossils on display that are identical to the ones we found virtually in I Dig Tanzania!
We then returned to BioSync to watch a video put together by the researchers in Tanzania, showing I Dig Tanzania from their perspective, while on the road in Tanzania. This gave us the opportunity to learn more about life in the field and got to check out their suitcase-size satellite phone in person.
Afterwards, the teens and researchers shared their experiences and questions, giving the teens a more in-depth opportunity to learn what it is like to pursue a career as a paleontologist. While we may not have too many future paleontologists among the group, all agreed they have a newfound respect for the profession and would pay much greater attention to paleontology and science in general when in the news and public policy.
After lunch we headed to possibly the smelliest part of the Field Museum, the room housing the Dermestid Beetle Colony. We got to see the beetles in action, eating away the flesh off of dead carcasses in order to carefully preserve the full skeletons. Sure enough the beetles do the job better than any human could! With lots of plugged noses and eager faces, the teens shuffled in and out of the beetle colony room to head up to exhibitions department. Here we saw the artsier side of museum careers, where the designers create the exhibit displays.
Later in the afternoon, we headed into the Africa exhibit to do some African drumming with two Tanzanian musicians. Lots of visitors to the Field Museum got to hear our rhythms and beats as they passed through the exhibit. To wrap up our time at the Field Museum that teens set off on their own to check out the many exhibits currently on display at the Field Museum ranging from Mythical Creatures to Nature Unleashed.
For our evening activity, Johanna, our faithful tour guide/Field Museum staff member, led us to Millennium Park where we played with our reflections in the Bean and had some of Chicago's very own deep dish style pizza. We said our final goodbyes to the Chicago folks as we walked along the river and back to our hotel in order to get some much needed rest before an early morning swim at the hotel before heading back to New York… or so we thought!
Day 4
Apparently there were some serious storms rolling through New York making it impossible for the Global Kids group of seven teens and three adults to return to JFK. So we were stuck in Chicago for an extra 24 hours! The NY teens were troopers despite several delays and transfers to finally get to our hotel. The reward for all that patience is that we got to stay on the executive wing at the super deluxe Hyatt Regency at O'Hare.
We gave the teens the opportunity to decide what they wanted to do on Monday morning. All teens unanimously chose to return to the Field Museum to catch any exhibits they missed in the past few days. We got a surprise treat when we ran into a few of the Chicago members of IDT working as volunteers at the Field Museum. The teens were thrilled to reunite and say their final goodbyes… yet again. After a few hours of exploring the museum, we were off to Midway Airport this time and with just a few hours delayed this time. We finally returned to New York Monday evening with ten smiling yet exhausted faces headed home to their families.
