Current Work

I use plural pronouns to emphasize the collaborative nature of the research in which I engage. Our research interests and practices evolved from our research on teaching, learning, and learning to teach, primarily in Australia and the United States. The purposes of the research are to learn about practices and knowledge systems that support happiness, wellness, and promote the higher good. Our approach is multilogical, adopting a framework that assigns primacy to learning from research and applying what we learn to improve the practices of research participants and, via ripple effects, those who might adopt and adapt what we learn from our research to benefit the quality of their social lives. We place high value on collaboration to learn about and from others, while showing respect for and learning from difference.

For more than two decades our research focused on the salience of emotions, wellness, and transforming social life for the higher good. A challenge we addressed was to develop tools for learners so they could ameliorate excesses of emotion if and when they deemed it necessary to do so.

Since my retirement in August 2019, I focused on supervising five doctoral students to complete their dissertations. Also, I completed editing a special issue of Cultural Studies of Science Education, and meeting commitments I had made to edit four books (with Konstantinos Alexakos) and to write two journal articles.

Current ongoing research has two thrusts. The first embraces authentic inquiry and multilogicality. Through research we create integrative healing practices that adapt and adopt knowledge, from practices that include Jin Shin Jyutsu, Reiki, Iridology, Acupuncture, and Contemplative Practices — including mindfulness and meditation. The label I assign to these practices is Soft Touch Energy Work (STEW). I use STEW to improve my wellness and wellbeing and assist others (e.g., family, friends, neighbors) to overcome challenges to their health and wellbeing. Our intention is to develop and adapt STEW practices that are restorative and sustaining.

Many of these practices are presented in a blog and elsewhere in this website as textual and video resources. We intend to disseminate what we learn using a multimodal approach oriented toward Attaining and Sustaining Healthy and Happy Life Styles.

A second thrust to our ongoing research is to learn from Eastern and Western traditions that interconnect multiple “silos,” including applied science and spirituality. Special interests that are currently engaged include caregiving, hospice and palliative care, and educating for death and dying.