The Im/Possibility of an Ethos of Curriculum Work

Authors

  • Elizabeth Wood
  • Samantha Paredes Scribner
  • Robert J. Helfenbein
  • Paula A. Magee
  • Deborah B. Keller

Abstract

An interdisciplinary faculty reading group on Pinar's (2007) Intellectual advancement through disciplinarity provided the opportunity to explore questions related to working in curriculum. Their individual commentary reflects a struggle for, and against, individual disciplines as they make sense of curriculum inside of a shared ethos. Each draws from personal history, the scholarly fields they come from, and the external realities in which those histories are made. The im/possibilities that are then implied through this ethos is work that is provisional, contingent, and ultimately bound by commitment, not only to discipline, but also to the mutual protection of a common purpose.

Author Biographies

Elizabeth Wood

Elizabeth (Elee) Wood is associate professor of Museum Studies and Education at Indiana University-IUPUI, and public scholar of museums, families and learning at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Her research interests include critical museum pedagogy, phenomenology, object-based learning and informal learning in the community.

Samantha Paredes Scribner

      Samantha Paredes Scribner is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Indiana University-IUPUI. Her research interests include educational leadership, school-community partnerships, organizational theory and urban school reform.

Robert J. Helfenbein

Robert J. Helfenbein is associate professor of Curriculum Studies at Indiana University-IUPUI. Dr. Helfenbein has published numerous research articles and book chapters about urban education, cultural studies and curriculum theorizing, and co-edited Unsettling Beliefs: Teaching Theory to Teachers (2008) and Ethics and International Curriculum Work: The Challenges of Culture and Context (forthcoming).

Paula A. Magee

      Paula A. Magee, is clinical associate professor of Teacher Education at Indiana University-IUPUI. Her research interests in urban education intersect around the areas of science education, equity, elementary teacher education and inquiry-based teaching.  

Deborah B. Keller

Deborah B. Keller is lecturer of Social Foundations of Education at Indiana University-IUPUI. Her research focuses on service-learning in pre-service coursework. She teaches Cultural Foundations courses and an introductory Education course.

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Published

2011-11-28

Issue

Vol. 27 No. 3 (2011): Journal of Curriculum Theorizing

Section

General Themes

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