information about Craig Rusbult, Although this page still is OK, some updated-and-expanded versions are better, so I recommend reading the first part of this page, until "My PhD dissertation was..." and then moving on to newer bio-pages that are similar, but better. They have a little more about religion (or less), and supplementary pages have a lot more about sports and stories that include sports & more, plus my homepage with links to many more of the pages I've written. hobbies: learning
and thinking! It's A Wonderful Life is my favorite movie, partly for its artistic merit (the plot, dialogue, acting,...) but mainly for the message: Each of us affects other people, and life is better if we affect others in a way that is beneficial for them. As a foundation for living in a way that is beneficial for me and for others, I'm an evangelical Christian, born again and baptized (by my own choice as an adult) in 1983, and my goal is to love and trust God more fully, so I can "live by faith" in the thoughts and actions of everyday life. major living locations: Iowa, Anaheim, Seattle, and Madison. (also: Newport Beach, U.C. Irvine, Santa Cruz, Eugene, Corvallis, Milwaukee, and Chapel Hill) CONTINUAL GOALS OCCASIONAL GOALS (in my Old History – 1993 to 2010)
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pictures from
2000 and 2009 |
My PhD
dissertation was
a synthesis of ideas (mainly from scientists and philosophers, but also from
sociologists, psychologists, historians, and myself) about scientific method.
In a process involving multiple revisions, these ideas have been
changed and rearranged, summarized and colorized,
and extended from science into other areas of life.
degrees: BA (chemistry, UC-Irvine),
MS (chemistry, UW-Seattle), MA (history of science, UW-Madison), and PhD
(curriculum & instruction [science education], UW-Madison).
informal academic history: Intellectually, I've
been productive because God made me intelligent (*) and I work hard. But professionally,
I've followed a "road less traveled" instead of the typical academic
path. What
happened? As a chemistry major, I enjoyed learning and did well (getting
the American Chemical Society's "best student" award for all high schools
of Orange County, CA, and then for undergrads at U.C. Irvine) and received a
fellowship
for graduate study from the National
Science Foundation. But for various reasons — mainly academic immaturity
(I was less interested in studying than in wine, women, and song) and an incomplete
mental awakening (I had discovered creativity but not discipline and commitment)
and an intellectual
preference for generalization (instead of the specialization expected in grad
school and in science) — I decided
to not
pursue
a career in research chemistry. {* this has allowed academic awards & fellowships,
and getting
800s
in
the GRE for Math & Verbal,...}
After leaving school, I traveled and worked
and played, along with lots of reading and thinking, and developed a passion
for expressing ideas through writing. I enrolled in the History of Science
program at the University of Wisconsin, but never felt like a historian. During
our first semester a fellow grad student began a sentence, "We historians
think that...", and my internal response was "What an interesting concept,
WE historians," because I was still viewing historians from the perspective of a spectator,
thinking about how interesting it is, the way THEY think about science. But
since high school I had been teaching, and after leaving graduate school (the
first time) I had invested lots of time in thinking about the process of thinking,
so when I entered the Science Education program at UW the concept of "we
educators" struck a resonant chord in me — it felt natural and intellectually
stimulating, and has provided the freedom and flexibility to pursue my continuing
generalist interests.
teaching experience: extensive, by individual
tutoring (in physics, chemistry, and calculus) and by teaching classes —
mostly in chemistry and physics, plus juggling, tennis, study skills,
music theory & improvisation, and ESL.
education and science/religion: I'm interested
in two main areas: education and the relationships between science and
religion, and both areas are featured
in a website I'm developing about Whole-Person Education.
A variety of creative ideas for improving education are
in my web-pages about learning,
thinking, and teaching. I think the most promising idea is an
Integrated
Design Method (for designing a product, strategy, or theory) that is
a spinoff from my dissertation work on Integrated Scientific Method.
professional realities
I have mixed feelings about the results of my road less traveled.
Intellectually, I've been highly productive.
Professionally, I haven't followed the standard path. The result of this combination is that, despite
developing lots of great ideas, so far these ideas aren't being widely used,
and my life doesn't summarize well on a curriculum vitae. This is
partly because during the last decade I've focused on writing for the
web — which I think can be (when all things are considered) a superior way to communicate ideas, but
unfortunately it doesn't get much "credit" among scholars — instead
of
writing for
scholarly journals or in books. But a more general explanation is that,
basically, I haven't been a skilled "salesman" for my ideas.
Although the product is strong, the marketing has been weak.
I have a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction, a major
that was excellent for learning and mental stimulation due to the wealth
of exciting ideas it encompasses, and the freedom allowed by the field and
by my excellent advisor, James Stewart. But this degree hasn't been practical
for getting the type of job I want. I'm not eligible for most academic
positions in education departments because, despite having a wide variety
of teaching experience, education departments usually require three years
of K-12 teaching experience, which I don't have and don't plan to get.
And in chemistry, the area where I can most easily be a good teacher, many
departments require not just a PhD, but a PhD in Chemistry, and since 1999 I've never searched
for chemistry jobs because I've wanted to focus on developing the website about Whole-Person Education that is described
below.
Despite these frustrations, my outlook is optimistic.
On most days, when I wake in the morning I'm free to think and write about
ideas that are tremendously exciting; I'm thankful that I can be productive
as a "tentmaker" whose current calling is working on educational
ministry projects, and this is very satisfying. { My tentmaking job
is teaching in the UW Chemistry Dept, which I enjoy except when I think
about the time this requires, the valuable time when I could working on
projects. }
As explained a few paragraphs above ("Intellectually,...") my "road" has led to a high actual intellectual productivity and range, but it has reduced the perception (by others) of productivity. This contrast between reality and perception is frustrating, but I think it's temporary, and I have faith that God wants my work to be more widely used and more useful for achieving His purposes, and this will happen, in His timing.
Currently (from late-1998 to mid-2010) my main project is developing a website (to promote Whole-Person Education) for
the
American
Scientific Affiliation, which is an organization
of scientists — plus engineers, and scholars in fields related to science, such as history of science,
philosophy of science, and science education — who are
Christians.
I'm excited about this opportunity because it involves both areas I'm most
interested in: education and science/religion.
In the near future, I hope to get a full-time job working cooperatively with other educators to help students learn more effectively, to actualize our ideas (mine and theirs) for improving education, by converting these ideas into action.
Here are some of my
web-pages:
stories
(true and illustrative) I've written for the education website
Aesop's
Activities: A Goal-Directed Approach to Education (motives,...)
Building
a Vital Spiritual Life by Prayer (wise advice from Jesus and Paul)
Make Your Own
Music (improvisation + theory, creativity & experiments)
Do-It-Yourself
Juggling (yes, it's more fun to do it than to just watch)
Ballroom Dancing: Increased Variety with Transfer-of-Patterns plus
World Views Origins Art-Science Sport-Science Physics
Madison Area Christian Singles (with my profiles from CC & eH)
and a shorter bio-page.
And my homepage has a lot more links!
This page, about Craig Rusbult (craigru178@yahoo.com),
is
https://educationforproblemsolving.net/methods/bio.htm