“Don’t You Know That Only White Kids Like Science?”: Currere as Critical Autobiography

Abstract

Assessment results demonstrate a persistent achievement gap in science between Black, Latino, and Aboriginal students and their Caucasian peers. While curriculum documents espouse a Science for All slogan, little guidance is provided on the pedagogical actions that teachers can take to improve the teaching and learning of science for all students. This critical autobiography mobilizes the transformational potential of William Pinar’s method of “currere” as self-study. My review of the literature indicates scant evidence of currere’s conceptual and theoretical use by teacher educators who are preparing pre-service teachers. In this article, I employ currere as a means of self-reflection from my position as a teacher educator and Ph.D. student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto. I document and analyze my efforts to navigate within and through the regressive, progressive, analytical, and synthetic moments as espoused by Pinar. Ultimately, currere enables me to unleash fresh ways of conceptualizing a preservice science methods course with a social justice focus.