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I work at Scitech, a science centre in Perth.
Our job here is to communicate science to our visitors. As it
is the school holidays here, we will be running special programs
based around a physics theme. My day will be varied - my main
job is to manage volunteers and staff who work on these programs,
but I also work with the public myself. Our current holiday
programs include an extreme physics theatre show, and activities
involving magnets and simple machines.
This afternoon I will go off to
the University of Western Australia to continue work on my honours
thesis. I am studying to be an archaeologist and my thesis examines
the archaeology and history of the colonial timber industry
in the Darling Scarp to the east of Perth. Strictly speaking,
archaeology should be described as a discipline rather than
a science. We cross so many borders in the way we work, and
archaeology is so subjective that it is as much a humanity as
it is a science. But we
use the scientific process in investigating the past, and there
is a lot of science in what we do. While we call it a discipline,
there is a lot of science involved. To end the day I will be
going to an archaeology seminar at the university, presented
by one of the archaeology PhD students.
What was I like at school? Well
since I was about five years old I wanted to be either a palaeontologist
or archaeologist and I guess that is all I've ever wanted to
be. But at school I was just as good at the humanities as I
was at science. When I went to university for the first time
it was to do archaeology, but due to my immaturity I failed
and got the boot. I went to another university and ended up
with an English degree. That was ten years ago, but I realised
after about five years in the work force that I still wanted
to be an archaeologist, so went back to study as a mature age
student. Now I'm almost finished.
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