In my dream job, I would share this world view with my students and my colleagues by experiencing the world together. In extreme fantasies, I envision taking extended backcountry camping trips with groups of students and faculty during which we share our different perspectives and knowledge and come to a better understanding of the nature of our world. In more realistic moments, I scribble down ways to study the principles and approaches of science through an exploration of physical phenomena, taking a conceptual "onion" and using the tools of chemistry and biology to slowly peel away the layers, exposing the causal core, and then carefully build it back up again to a working system.

To be practical, this approach to instruction requires that I have a clear idea of what central set of tools, facts, principles, and techniques I feel needs to be mastered by my students. Once this central set on concepts is established by me as an individual or preferably by the community of science educators, however, we have considerable freedom in determining how we will convey it and explore it. If we have the discipline to stick to these topics and not get too far afield in our investigations, backpacking should serve as a perfectly adequate vehicle for learning! =)

And with that in mind, here are three trails to wander down:

• musings about educational philosophy (this is in need of updating; sorry!)
• courses I have taught at Denison, taught at Indiana University, or dreamed of teaching.
• cool, useful, and cool-and-useful education-related sites I have found on the Internet (this list is now incorporated into my big database of links).