Chris Lowry began her career teaching high school chemistry and physics. Questions about how to reach students and help them learn emerged for her based on her own practice and workshops she attended at the American Association of Physics Teachers. At the same time, Chris realized that she would need to relearn physics in a way that allowed her to integrate the elegant mathematical solutions from college with practical, visible, and sometimes historically-founded examples for her students.
In her first exposure to Eleanor Duckworth and Eleanor’s “Teaching and Learning” course (T440), Chris remembers knowing intuitively that Eleanor would take her where she needed to go. Her questions shifted to what learners understand and what a teacher can do to take them to another place. When she returned to teaching physics, she found herself rewriting more of the curriculum each year, becoming more aware of subtle ideas at the heart of physics, and finding better ways to make real inquiry—labs and problems—drive what happened in the classroom. Eventually, her questions took her back to study with Eleanor in the doctoral program.
Along the way, Chris served as a teaching fellow for T440 for over a decade and sits on the board of Critical Explorers in addition to her partnership in Critical Exploration Press. The opportunity to help others implement the practice of Critical Exploration in the Classroom (CEC) across myriad subjects and situations has expanded her understanding of the practice’s capacity to foster growth humanely and respectfully. Serving on the Board of Critical Explorers, she has helped plan and lead workshop sessions and develop curriculum within residencies with classroom teachers. With Bill and Elizabeth, Chris also served as one of the editors for Always Wondering, A Melange of Eleanor Duckworth and Critical Exploration. As a co-founder of Critical Exploration Press, Chris looks forward to continuing to support and expand the community of educators interested in and practicing CEC.