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INTRODUCTION

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As a young environmental and political activist in Australia in the 1970s I was involved in a wide range of actions--from working with trade unionists to oppose the construction of an inner city power plant through campaigning against excess packaging to establishing a natural foods co-operative. However, when someone asked me: "If you could wish for one thing to be changed when you wake up tomorrow, what would it be?" my answer was not a concrete political success or environmental improvement. I replied simply: "I would want everyone to question," by which I meant not to be merely sceptical, but to consider alternatives to accepted views and practices. This interest in critical thinking evolved in ways that led, many years later, to my appointment in the fall of 1998 to the second full-time faculty position in the Program in Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) in the Graduate College of Education (GCOE) at UMass Boston (UMB).

When I look back at the path from Australia in the 1970s to CCT, I see that I was also moving in the direction of creative thinking. Where, we can ask, do a critical thinker's ideas about alternatives come from? Not out of individual inspiration, but from borrowing and connecting. The more items in your tool box--the more themes, heuristics (rules of thumb), and open questions you are working with--the more likely you are to make a new connection and see how things could be otherwise, that is, to be creative. Yet, in order to build up a set of tools that works for you, it is necessary to experiment, take risks, and reflect on the outcomes. Or--to use my current metaphor for critical and creative thinking--you have to journey into unfamiliar or unknown areas. This kind of journey involves risk, opens up questions, creates more experiences than can be integrated at first sight, requires support, and yields personal change.

This picture of critical and creative thinking makes a virtue of my chewing on many questions, exploring alternative practices, and accumulating diverse tools; of my relying less than many of my peers on established intellectual positions and institutional arrangements; and of my not following well-intentioned advice to get established in one field and use that as a base to seek a wider impact. My continued journeying has prepared me to present myself as a "work in progress" as I support others, following CCT's motto, to "develop reflective practice and change their schools, workplaces, and lives."

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My research career started in Australia in ecology and agriculture, areas I was drawn to by my environmental and political activism. In 1980 I came to the United States for doctoral studies in ecology and evolution. During these last two decades my research and teaching have developed at intersections of the life and environmental sciences with the different disciplines that make up social studies of science and technology (STS)--history, philosophy, sociology, and politics of science. My dual position--as a scientist and interpreter of science--has helped me to steer clear of the not-so-helpful dichotomies of "Science as Truth" vs. "Science as a Reflection of Society." Instead I have examined specifically how the varied practical considerations faced by scientists translate into the particular ways they know the world and pursue their scientific work. Whether in my science-STS classes or in research workshops with practicing scientists, my goal has been to stimulate people to interpret their particular social context in ways that further their own projects as learners, researchers, and social agents.

As I explored how to stimulate science students and scientists to consider the ways science takes shape within particular social contexts, I came to see that critical thinking and reflective practice were central to my intellectual and professional project. By this I mean that I lead students and scientists to contrast the paths taken in science, society, learning, and people's lives with other paths that might be taken. And I encourage them to bring the insights gained into their future studies and research. When I came across the announcement of a position in CCT with a speciality in "critical thinking in science and technology education," it looked like a wonderful opportunity to develop the project of bringing critical analysis to bear on the practice and applications of science. The context of teaching and working with a wide range of educators and other mid-career professionals would be conducive to addressing several new challenges: In particular, I identified two new directions in my science-STS work: As it has turned out, my progress in these directions has been moderated by teaching and administrative responsibilities I assumed with the ill-health and extended medical leave since 1999 of the Program Director, Delores Gallo, the other core CCT faculty member in GCOE. Yet as some compensation for teaching less in my science-STS specialty area, more general CCT courses have given me the opportunity to develop skills in facilitating reflective practice. This has spilled over into my own practice--after all, if I want critical analysis to influence the process and applications of scientific research, institutional and personal change is needed, not only intellectual argument. As I knew from previous experience, my science-STS work would require new activities, directions, and collaborations within and around CCT, as well as collegial interactions across programs and disciplines. Moreover, not all of these initiatives could be expected to mature within the three years before tenure review. I certainly hoped that the institutional expectations for CCT and my work would be more settled than they have become during the 16 months since my receiving my positive 4th. year review. Yet, as with other challenges in institutional development, I have persisted in seeking ways to respond constructively and take initiative.

In this spirit, my statement and accompanying materials convey not only my accomplishments, but also the ongoing self-assessment and development of research, teaching, and institutional development. The cross-fertilization among those three aspects of my work, which together I consider to be my scholarship, is also significant. Taken as a whole, this should give reviewers confidence that I will continue to be productive and innovative as a researcher, teacher, and colleague.

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