The St. Vrain Valley School District had two brands of science kits they were considering for purchase on display and open to public commenting. Alan and I decided we would go over and take a look.

When I stepped into the room where the kits were under review, I immediately felt creepy. I was suddenly that crazy guy ranting and raving about how kids these days lack an appreciation for science. Well, not exactly, but I certainly felt like that guy.

Mostly what attracted me to this project in the first place was the idea that the school would ask for public opinion with respect to the science kits it would use. It felt so… participatory. When we didn’t look through the other evaluations to see what kinds of people came through (people were asked to identify themselves as public, student or teacher), we didn’t find that only eight people came by (over the course of three weeks), all of whom were teachers. Only mischievous kids would sift through things like that.