I entered the EFI program knowing what I wanted to study. I’ve worked for about fifteen years now, twelve of those in college access and success in the United States education system. I wrote my application materials about Thaler and Sunstein’s Choice Architecture and creating better systems for aspiring university students from underserved backgrounds.

Then, school did what school is supposed to do: it sparked my mind and rejuvenated my curiosity. It took me from the clarity of the day into the opacity of night. It took me into Night Science. I’d never been formally introduced to this idea of Night Science before my Interdisciplinary Futures course this week, but have felt it my entire professional life.

“Science in the works has two aspects: what could be called day science and night science.”

“Night science wanders blind. It hesitates, stumbles, recoils, sweats, wakes with a start. Doubting everything, it is forever trying to find itself, question itself, pull itself back together. Night science is a sort of workshop of the possible where what will become the building material of science is worked out.”

To the assignment question, asking me what I will research and write about in this program, I respond that I am in the night. I am meandering through narrow, dimlit lanes and choosing my direction based on intuition and and curiosity. While the day provided peace and comfort, an easy path to a clear research project, I trust that the dark of night is where I must stay for a while. However, just because I’m in the night, doesn’t mean I am not sensing what I may like to research. Quite the opposite. Potential questions and topics which I’d like to investigate include:

• As I wrote about in my previous blog entry, I still can’t shake Beck’s “emancipatory catastrophism.” I’m particularly interested in researching “glass half empty” leaders and how their worldviews have enhanced society and how we can empower leaders with this worldview to solve great challenges. (Note: this is somewhat inspired by Cain’s work on flipping the script on how we view introverts in the workplace)
• How do we determine and then identify the Emotional Intelligence skills needed to be an effective school leader?
• How does the social chemistry of a group of classmates impact learning outcomes?
• Workplace sustainability for teachers and/or charity sector employees
• The complete lack of human capital management training for K-12 school leaders in the USA
• Choice architecture as a means to increase college completion rates in the USA
• Fact checking social media memes about education. Example: do students in the USA really wear hoodies in super hot weather all the time?

I’d love comments, challenges, questions, and a “night walk” together with anyone who is willing.

-Kristen

References:

Beck, Ulrich. “Emancipatory Catastrophism: What Does It Mean to Climate Change and Risk Society?” Current sociology 63.1 (2015): 75–88. Web.

Jacob, François. The Statue Within : an Autobiography / François Jacob ; Translated by Franklin Philip. New York: Basic Books, 1988. Print.

Thaler, Richard H, and Cass R Sunstein. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New international ed. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press, 2008. Print.

Yanai, Itai, and Martin Lercher. “Night Science.” Genome Biology 20.1 (2019): 179–179. Web.

Wandering in the Night / Pause. by is licensed under a