Research in Focus

Explore Dancing-Reading-Writing (DRW) as a dynamic and ever-evolving ABR practice that fuses bodily engagement with research. Dr. Carolina Bergonzoni delves into the synergy of dance, reading, and writing, emphasizing how DRW transcends traditional research approaches. Her personal reflections, photos, and poetic writing exemplify ways in which dance guides understanding and generates insights. DRW challenges the notion of fixed research, advocating for a continuous process of inquiry and underscoring how this process leads to unexpected discoveries. DRW encourages educators, artists, and researchers to integrate embodied experiences and creativity into their research journey.

To navigate our digital world, educational researchers argue that we need a new form of reasoning. With increasing inequities, digital dilemmas, and more complex global relationships, it is more critical than ever to equip students with the necessary skills to tackle these challenges. In this episode, Dr. Robyn Ilten-Gee discusses her research project, which focuses on fostering civic reasoning through journalism education. Her study explores the role of journalism education in cultivating civic reasoning, highlighting the importance of attending to identity and moral development, and fostering conceptual change in young individuals.

Many early career researchers and graduate students are looking to publish their research findings in journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, and other formats. In this episode, Dr. John Nesbit and Dr. Tenzin Doleck share their experience and recommend strategies for productive publication. The conversation covers six themes: finding an appropriate journal, types of publications and their perceived value, publication strategies, popular topics vs. niche topics, the peer review process, and maintaining productivity. Although speaking primarily to researchers in the learning and data sciences, the episode will also interest scholars working in other fields of educational research.

Hannah McGregor, Assistant Professor of Publishing at SFU, interviews Amber Moore, a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow and feminist scholar at the Faculty of Education, on her teaching and scholarship. Amber shares her experience of being a high-school teacher and teaching teachers in the academy. She discusses the pedagogical potential of young adult literature, adolescent writing, and talking about rape culture through fanfiction. Their conversation highlights the importance of ethics of care including care for self.

Join Gloria Nystrom, a Doctoral Candidate in Languages, Cultures and Literacies, and Dr. Ena Lee as they discuss the importance of interdisciplinary frameworks in English language education research. As women of colour born and raised in “multicultural” Canada, their lived experiences negotiating language, “culture”, and identity illustrate the role of sociopolitical/sociohistorical landscapes on linguistic ideology and citizenry. Their dialogue highlights the salience of “race” in the lives of multilingual and multicultural students in Vancouver and why more critical educational research is needed to address issues of racism and educational equity in Canada.

In this episode, Dr. Rina Zazkis, Canada Research Chair in STEM Teaching and Learning, shares insights from her book Lesson Play in Mathematics Education: A Tool for Research and Professional Development, co-authored with Dr. Peter Liljedahl and Dr. Nathalie Sinclair. The book outlines how play-writing engages teachers in considering vital issues in instruction, with an aim of enhancing learning experiences of students. This conversation also helps listeners understand Dr. Zazkis' research into undergraduate mathematics education, focusing on mathematical content-knowledge of preservice teachers and ways this knowledge is acquired and modified.

Join Josh Coward in conversation with Dr. David Zandvliet and Dr. Shannon Leddy, co-chairs of the Institute for Environmental Learning (IEL). Dr. Zandvliet describes his new role as a UNESCO Chair in Bio-Cultural Diversity and elaborates on the IEL’s award-winning work with the Vancouver Botanical Gardens Association. Dr. Leddy notes how Indigenous approaches to knowledge and the voices of Indigenous and BIPOC people have been missing. As Drs. Zandvliet and Leddy both agree, the work must continue.

In this episode, Dr. Kris Magnusson, Professor and former Dean of the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University, reflects on the connections between career development and mental health. Dr. Magnusson's research interest lies in career development, and in particular, understanding models of career development and the application of research to career counselling practice. As a recipient of a SSHRC Partnership Development grant, Dr. Magnusson and his team are working towards understanding the relationship between the outcomes of effective career development practices and the determinants of adolescent mental health.

In this episode, Dr. Sean Chorney, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University, proposes that mathematising aspects of our social world can help us to not only identify hidden problems, but to also formulate alternative conceptions of their causes and possible solutions. Dr. Chorney discusses the concept of gerrymandering, as a demonstration of how mathematics can raise awareness and imagination.

In this episode, Dr. Joel Heng Hartse and Dr. Ismaeil Fazel speak about two projects focused on academic literacy with one on remote learning experiences and the other on learning to identify and understand predatory academic publishers. Remote learning has become the norm during this particular time in our history and both researchers are seeking to understand and learn more about how stakeholders are taking on the new realities of higher education. Aligning with their research interest in academic literacy, Dr. Hartse and Dr. Fazel are advocates in educating students and scholars about predatory academic publishers.

This episode with Dr. Carolyn Mamchur is a walk down the memory line where she reflects on her becoming a writer. She discusses her approaches toward writing and suggests to be open, to contemplate and to engage with the writing process as the best product in writing comes from the unconscious. Her teaching involves and encourages finding oneself in their writing, rather than consciously trying to be a good and 'perfect' writer.

This past Spring, Dr. Heesoon Bai’s delivered a research seminar at UBC on Soil, Soul Society: Regeneration from the Vital Core. Many of the ideas covered in this seminar came out of the collective experience of a group of educators that Dr. Bai formed. The group met continuously to do inner work as educators over 12 years. In this episode, we interview Dr. Bai and discuss some of the concepts covered in her seminar including a proposal that all teachers should take what is akin to a Hippocratic Oath and cultivating a contemplative practice.

This episode is about Dr. Huamei Han’s research in 1)language, religion and immigrant settlement, 2) youth & multilingual study and 3) African-China trade migration. Dr. Han also provides an exciting overview of an issue of Language Ideology, Christianity, and Identity: Critical Empirical Examinations of Christian Institutions as Alternative Spaces which features 5 articles by scholars around the world.

Dr. Pidgeon introduces herself and her work studying higher education, including her look at research ethics and her work studying Indigenous student experience in higher education. She describes some of her international and inter-university collaborations as well the holistic methodological approach that informs her choices in research. She also speaks to SFU Education's new five year plan and how we might respond to the Faculty's newest calls for Indigenous initiatives in the university.

Dr. Natalia Gajdamaschko describes the context and history of the school of developmental psychology in which she works, cultural historical activity theory, as well as some roles that she's played in so far in that history. She also describes highlights of her recent work with the new BC curriculum and some of her hopes for the future.

Working at the intersections of mental health and social justice, Sharalyn Jordan is using community-based research to advocate for access to refugee protection and psychosocial supports for people fleeing persecution related to sexual orientation, gender identity or expression(SOGIE). In this podcast, she describes how the narrative accounts of LGBTQ+ refugees in Canada have impacted Training in local settlement agencies, Federal Court decisions and new Federal Guidelines on SOGIE refugee decisions.

The focus of this episode is on Dr. Peter Liljedhal’s research on how to improve thinking and problem-solving in the classroom. Dr. Liljedahl talks about the concept of vertical non-permanent surface and visibly random grouping as effective practices for building aspects of a thinking classroom.

How do students learn, critique and understand online data sources? How do they make sense of the knowledge available in online representation. This episode focuses on Dr Engida Gebre who is the primary investigator of the Learning Design for Developing Young Adult's Data Literacy and Representation Competences project. Prof. Gebre explore the questions: how do students learn, critique and understand online data sources? How do they make sense of the knowledge available in online representation?

This episodes focuses on Doctor Suzanne Smythe, one of the co-authors of the newly released book: Disrupting the Boundaries in Education and Research. The book, composed by an interdisciplinary group of professors at Simon Fraser University, explores the question: “How can we work together in new ways across our scholarly locations of early childhood, education, mathematics, language, adult learning, and teacher education?”

This episode focuses on Doctor Charles Bingham and his STEPS-FORWARD project, in particular, the project’s support for students with developmental disabilities.