Currere and the Environmental Autobiography: A Phenonmenological Approach to the Teaching of Ecology / Edition 1

by Marilyn Doerr

Overview

This book documents a high school ecology class that employs currere, William Pinar’s idea for curriculum as autobiographical text, and analyzes the course’s success from the author’s point of view as both the practitioner and the curriculum developer. Discussing individual students’ responses to currere in a project termed the Environmental Autobiography (EA) – a twist on currere that emphasizes environmental experience – this book examines how ecology is taught in high schools; how ecologists are produced, along with the importance of ecology in school curriculum today; the necessary preparation of the classroom and the students for the currere process; and the five themes that recur frequently in the EA project: caring, insecurity and gender issues, egocentrism, politicization, and definitions of success. ‘Currere’ and the Environmental Autobiography illustrates how the currere project brought an unprecedented richness and intensity to the ecology class, moving the students from «I know», to «I care», to «I want to do something about this».

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820463698
Publisher:	Peter Lang Publishing Inc.
Publication date:	01/28/2004
Series:	Complicated Conversation Ser. , #4
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	207
Product dimensions:	6.08(w) x 8.96(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

The Author: Marilyn N. Doerr received her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from The Pennsylvania State University and teaches high school science at University School in Cleveland, Ohio. She revised a book on the SATs and published that revision in 1999 under the title None of the Above: The Truth Behind the SATs. She has published several articles on her work with currere.

Table of Contents

Chapter I	Introduction: A Fan of Eyes	1
Part 1	A Science Curriculum Enhanced by Pinar's Currere	5
Chapter II	Currere	7
Chapter III	Currere in My Classroom	20
Chapter IV	Data from the First Year's EAs: Discovering "Nature's Temporary Cushion"	32
Chapter V	Narratives from Subsequent Years' EAs: "Not Till We Are Completely Lost or Turned Around Do We Appreciate the Vastness and Strangeness of Nature"	72
Chapter VI	My Pedagogy	95
Chapter VII	What Kind of Ecologists/Scientists Are Schools Turning Out?	114
Part 2	A Science Curriculum That Is Both Phenomenological and Postmodern	129
Chapter VIII	An Ecology Curriculum That Is Both Phenomenological and Postmodern	131
Chapter IX	Caring in Schools	140
Chapter X	Insecurities/Gender Issues	147
Chapter XI	Moving Away from Egocentrism	158
Chapter XII	Politicization	168
Chapter XIII	Definitions of Success	177
Chapter XIV	Conclusion	182
Appendix	How I Did My Research	187
	Bibliography	197