cycles and renewal

This time of year is commonly seen as a time for renewal. Jewish people observe seder and celebrate an anniversary from an exodus from oppression. Christians observer Easter and the Messiah's escape from death. Pagans observe the return of the sun and the shift to more hours of day than night. Perhaps there's some subconscious reawakening as the land stirs from the cold and dark and the appearance of daffodils seeps into one's psyche. Regardless, this has been a week of cycles and renewal.

Most substantively was the transformation of Rob Ceglie into a doctoral-bearing individual (with all the rights and privileges therein). His was a generative defense, in part because of the topic but also by virtue of those in attendance. For the first time, audience members were encouraged to pose questions and this did not remove the formalism of the event but gave it the feel of a healthy intellectual discussion. After the audience was dismissed and the committee had their chance at the candidate, they were genuinely complimentary: everything from the methods to how effectively he situated himself (as a white man) in relation to his participants. And now the cycle moves forward a notch as he transitions into a new job that coincides with his new institution initiating a doctoral program.

In a complementary fashion, the entire science education team cleared out the storage cupboards and closet in preparation for a building remodel. Much of the stuff was obviously from the 1970s and one couldn't help but imagine the delight when our predecessors opened the boxes and put the stuff in the storage bins where they have resided ever since. Multiple drawers of wooden blocks, metal spheres, ceramic-based light switches, balloons, etc. There were many devices whose significance could not be assessed (plastic injection molding was a novelty back then) but we also were suspicious that some of these toys wouldn't past muster with their heavy metal content and so on. We filled a dumpster. But we recycled as best we could.

Many things have changed since Sputnik's beeping alerted the USA to the science education imperative. Then came the Journal of Research in Science Teaching in 1963. But those volumes and issues accumulate on shelves -- and are neglected because they are more readily available online. This moment was captured in an image that would have seemed a tragedy prior to the internet era. Now we recognize that we had probably wait too long to free up shelf space.