Working on the research

I've just finished my second round of interviews with the monastic leaders; there are 2 more that are scheduled, one for Monday after lunch and one for Tuesday after lunch. All together I will have had a chance to talk to 20 individuals which is a bit more than half of those who are here. The work is part programmatic development and part education research. For the research, I'm asking about science education and culture. The information is very fascinating (as is the input on the program development) and I can't wait to talk to the rest who are scheduled. The participants are in groups of five (so these are actually focus groups, not individual interviews) and are about one hour long. Some of the western presumptions about how we should (or should not) teach science and how we learn science are being put to the test by me as I try to determine if these ideas hold up with these expert Buddhist leader/learners. In the focus groups, we are also delving into how well science concepts and the culture of science connects (or doesn't) to Buddhism. I will be following up and collecting more data in the future.

There are 38 monastic leaders here, 5 of whom are women from the Jangchup Choeling Nunnery in southwestern India near the coast. They realized that they are about our daughter Kate's age (they were all born between 1984 and 1987) and so now call me "mom". This morning, I was making a call to Delta Airlines from the tea shop and afterward the shop owner's son took this picture of us together where they were having their morning tea break. From the left to right are: JanChup Paldon, Sonam Youdon, me, Dawa Choedon, Thupten Yangchen, and Thupten Dolma.