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SD Nelson has written and illustrated numerous award-winning children’s books, most of which focus on his rich Lakota culture. Nelson has a passion for sharing his Indigenous culture and providing his readers with historically accurate information, while at the same time telling enchanting stories through his words and artwork. This thesis is a narrative biography (Kridel, 2021) designed to intentionally honour the ways in which SD Nelson chose to tell his own stories and make sense of his experiences as an Indigenous author and artist. Data was generated through emails and over sixteen hours of telephone and in-person conversations. This biographical thesis contributes to both educators’ and children’s literature scholars’ understandings of SD Nelson’s work by obtaining a first-hand account of the processes and drive behind his storytelling and art making. In-depth research into the life and work of S.D. Nelson also contributes to possibilities for educators to engage in more nuanced and contextualized teaching of his books, which focus mainly on Indigenous characters and stories. Biographical research allows SD’s personal recollection of the experiences he has lived, so that he can offer his understandings of Lakota culture and his insights into his journey as an artist and storyteller.

In this autobiographical narrative inquiry, I consider the role of science education in contributing to a sustainable society. As a high school science teacher and narrative inquirer, I use my lived experience to uncover the possibilities and limitations when moving toward teaching through the lens of sustainability and well-being. Using a narrative inquiry methodology, I unpack three narrative vignettes that arose from reflections on my teaching experiences between September 2018 and April 2020. Through this unpacking, I come to understand how the pedagogy and content of Big History can act as a framework to teach through the lens of sustainability and well-being and foster ecoliteracy within my students.

Students are learning more than provincially-mandated curriculum in school. They are learning about the world around them, and about their role in that world. Some roles students acquire at school can be seen as valued (such as “hard worker” or “athlete”), while others may be considered devalued (such as “slacker” or “trouble maker”). Social Role Theory (Wolfensberger, 1983) notes that being associated with valued social roles lead to what Wolfensberger referred to as “the good things in life” (1983). The purpose of this research study was to examine what valued social roles former high school students acquired from having participated in a travel program I developed. 10 former students participated in this qualitative research study and a phenomenological approach was used to gain insight into the participants’ lived experience of traveling with this program. The data were analysed using Social Role Valorization (Wolfensberger, 1983) as a theoretical framework in an effort to examine the potential for valued social role acquisition through travel. The findings of this study demonstrate that travel for these former students was seen as a valuable experience and allowed them to, not only acquire valued social roles, but also gave them the opportunity to develop valued social skills, such as problem solving and independence, which may one day lead to valued social roles.

As early career teachers traverse the estranging terrain of education, they are situated at a point of confluence where school biography, individual ideas, university education (including the practicum), and other forms of experiences converge, compete, and confound with conceptions of identity and knowledge (Britzman, 2003). This study sought to gain insight into the ways early career teachers navigated the polyphony of knowledge and the tensions that arise from ideological friction as they are (re)constructing their identity(ies) and contingent understandings in the becoming of teacher (Britzman, 2003). The purpose of this study was to investigate how early career teachers grappled with becoming teacher through the entanglement of tensions created when knowledge collides and how this influences their identity(ies) of teacher. This study used a qualitative phenomenological methodology to investigate the lived experiences of six participants who were early career teachers (defined as zero to five years of experience). Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Findings illustrated the participants’ indirect engagements with teacher identity(ies) and becoming teacher. Consideration is given to the ways in which space can be made for early career teachers to delve into their identity formation.

It is common to have students with ADHD involved and included in general education classrooms. To help students with ADHD regulate their behaviours and maximise their potential, behaviour modification strategies, such as self-monitoring attention, are often employed. Previous research on self-monitoring attention intervention has established that students’ on-task behaviour improved when they were taught to self-monitor. However, there is insufficient research that investigates the maintenance effects of self-monitoring over time. Hence, this mixed method study explores the maintenance effects as well as the reasons for the positive or discouraging maintenance effects of the self-monitoring intervention. This study involved three participants who were students in Grades 4 and 7 of a school. Results revealed that all three improved in their on-task behaviour after they self-monitored, but only one was able to maintain the on-task behaviours when the intervention was faded. The participants’ ability to maintain effects of self-monitoring is dependent on student differences. Some of these differences include the students’ independent learning level, the distractibility of the intervention, a clear understanding of instructions, their cognitive systems, and disinterest in the learning activities.

This study was designed to determine if the use of virtual simulation software is beneficial to students while they learn to build and program robots. Twelve student participants ranging from Grades 9-12 were randomly placed within three treatment groups: One group was given access to LEGO EV3 robots, one group was given individual access to a virtual simulator of the EV3, and one group was given simultaneous access to both the robots and the simulators. To determine whether the treatment benefitted learning, a progressive view of assessment aligned with a sustainable approach to education was utilized. The assessment looked only at the learning behaviours of the participants, as opposed to the more traditional approach of testing for written outcomes, and determined if learning was passive, active, constructive, or interactive according the ICAP framework suggested by Chi & Wylie (2014). The results showed that higher-level learning behaviours were demonstrated by the treatment group that had simultaneous access to the physical robots and the virtual simulators, indicating that the group learned more as well as demonstrated behaviours that fostered increased collaboration and leadership within a group.

This thesis is a qualitative case study of Maples Collegiate high school students who participated in the 2016 Global Space Balloon Challenge (GSBC). The case study explored the impact of the GSBC on students’ attitude towards science and understanding of how science is conducted. The literature review showed there is little research on STEM-based learning projects at the high school level and the impact of these activities on students’ views of science. The findings suggest the four students interviewed experienced a positive impact on their attitude towards science and understanding of how science is carried out in the scientific community. Limitations to the research include the number of participants and all four participating students having a positive predisposition to science. This opens the door for future research into how other STEM-based learning activities impact students’ views of science particularly when students do not have an interest in science.

School gardening is not a new phenomenon, but its recent resurgence has placed it at the intersection of current social issues such as children’s health, interactions with nature, and the local foods movement: all within the context of climate change. School gardening with young children is significant since Wells & Lekies (2006) suggest that interactions with nature must occur before the age of eleven for pro-environmental attitudes to be formed in adulthood; furthermore, interactions with “wild nature” produce environmental behaviours in adulthood. With “wild nature” closer in rural and northern areas, this study seeks to ascertain if urban, rural or northern locations of the school garden have any impact on garden use, supports, and structure and whether it is used to teach about environmental citizenship. Though common attributes existed between all regions, results suggest that only the northern region showed regional commonalities. These shared attributes were in the areas of vandalism, adaptations for gardening, community and food security.

This thesis is concerned with an unconventional understanding of the mathematics taught in schools and the role that students’ engagement plays for mathematics as a discipline. In this thesis, I explore mathematics through the lens of metaphor theory developed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. This area of scholarship is used to demonstrate that abstract concepts are conceived of metaphorically. From this perspective, the foundational metaphors of several major philosophies of mathematics are analyzed. This analysis concludes by asking if there might be another metaphor that allows for a different, more productive, understanding of school mathematics. The metaphor “Math is Alive” is offered as an alternative in the tradition of Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela’s theory of autopoietic organization. The final chapter explores school mathematics as a part of mathematics as a discipline, and how “Math is Alive” might alter how educators view the role of children in mathematics.

This qualitative study examined instructors’ perceptions of teaching practices and their experiences teaching blended learning at the University of Manitoba. Using in-depth interviews,this study (a) explored instructors’ teaching practices and their experiences teaching using blended learning in higher education, (b) examined the extent to which elements of the community of inquiry framework (designed along social constructivist learning principles) were incorporated into instructors’ approaches, and (c) examined which learning theories influenced the teaching of blended learning courses at the university of Manitoba as well as their impact on effective instruction and learning in higher education contexts. The study revealed that instructors found convenience, accessibility, and cognitive flexibility to be some of the main benefits of blended learning for learners. Instructors adopted the underlying principles of social constructivism. In their teaching, they focused on several issues, including their complex role as instructors. This role included enhancing the learning experience through the use of the online component of the course, understanding the learner and appreciating their experience, being present, and creating a collaborative and engaging learning environment. The instructors expressed the need for institutional and technological support, as well as professional development. Suggestions for university instructors included pre-planning, considering learners and their experiences, creativity, flexibility and perseverance, and attending training sessions/workshops. Students were advised to put more effort into being open and self-directed,investing in their learning experience, and adopting a positive attitude.

The first purpose of this case study was to understand the course development experiences of Grade 10 French Immersion (FI) Science teachers in Manitoba. The second purpose was to develop an online instructional resources database model based on an understanding of these teachers’ course development experiences that holds promise in supporting Grade 10 FI Science teachers in Manitoba. Results of this study revealed that teachers’ experiences are negatively impacted by equity issues, such as a lack of resources in French designed to address the Manitoba curriculum. These equity issues negatively impact teachers’ well-being. In turn, these equity issues for teachers, as well as the impacts of these issues on teachers’ well-being, have negative impacts on the quality of FI education in Manitoba. An online instructional resources database model, entitled the Living Curriculum model, was developed.

Academic writing programs are one way universities seek to increase the academic achievement of first-year students and decrease attrition. This paper examines data from an evaluation of a first-year academic writing program at Canadian Mennonite University. The original program evaluation was conducted to determine student attitudes toward the program and whether the academic writing lab program increased students’ writing abilities. This thesis goes further by examining relationships between affective outcomes (motivation, self-regulatory ability, perceived writing ability), writing ability, and cumulative grade point average. Data was collected using student surveys and writing samples. The results indicated that academic attainment was positively correlated with: writing ability, motivation, and self-regulation. Motivation and self-regulation, but not perceived writing ability, correlated with actual writing ability. Participation in the Academic Writing Lab did not affect student affective characteristics. However, student writing ability did improve which indicates that even a small program can improve students’ writing skills.

This study describes the research conducted into my teaching practice as an Environmental Educator. The study employs a self-study methodology and systematically examines evidence gathered on my practice in teaching a Grade 11 Current Environmental Topics in Science course. A reflective journal kept during the teaching of the course was retrospectively and systematically examined, with the support of a critical friend, for what informed my teaching of the subject. I used written accounts of my students’ learning to identify evidence of learning and understand how my teaching influenced learning. Using Urie Bronfenbrenner’s model of human development as a means of analysis, I was able gauge what personal and environmental factors were influencing the teaching and learning process. Using Derek Hodson’s levels of sophistication alongside Elliot Eisner’s orientations to curriculum, it was found that there were many layers informing my planning and delivery of curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that case-based instructional methodology had on student’s development of critical thinking skills, cognitive engagement and learning as compared to the lecture-based instructional methodology. The experimental design consisted of two grade 12 high school biology classes being taught a unit of study with two different teaching methodologies. Each class was taught half the unit with case-based instruction and the other half of the unit using lecture-based instruction. The two classes were taught opposite halves using these instructional methodologies. The Applied Critical Thinking Measure was used to determine the students’ level of development of their critical thinking skills. The measure consisted of five scenarios that required students to read, identify the objective, ask questions that would clarify their understanding, draw upon existing information or list new information needed, and draw a conclusion with supporting statements. Cognitive engagement was measured by direct observations using a criterion checklist of 14 items. The teacher-researcher and her colleague designed three artifacts to measure student learning. T-tests were used to compare the mean scores of the two classes on each of the artifacts collected for student learning. The inferential statistics showed that student learning improved during the case-based teaching section of the unit. The observations showed an increase in cognitive engagement during the case-based instructional section of the unit. There was no significant difference in the mean scores for students’ critical thinking skills in Class 1, but there was a significant difference in the mean scores for Class 2. The difference appears modest but considering the duration of the study it is a notable development. The scope of this study addresses a knowledge gap regarding the use of case-based teaching methodology in high school. The implications are meaningful in that case-based te

A teacher’s understandings of literacy have an impact on the pedagogical decisions that the teacher makes. Such understandings of literacy may evolve through professional learning, experiences, and reflective practice, but this evolution is seldom documented and therefore not often considered as a systematic means for improving practice. Similarly, educators are rarely able to document the longitudinal literacy life of one learner. This autoethnographic study explores and documents how the researcher’s understandings of literacy have changed over time. The researcher is the primary participant in the study, but her daughter’s literacy learning (from early childhood into adolescence) informs the three eras of the researcher’s teaching life. These three eras are named: teacher, teacher-mother, and teacher-mother-researcher. In each era the researcher interprets her daughter’s literacy learning through the theoretical lens of literacy as social practice. The study draws upon documents, interviews, and artefacts from both the researcher’s life and from her daughter’s literacy life in order to construct stories that express the lived experience of an educator in the act of examining her own literacy theory-practice evolutionary process. Findings from this study can inform educators of the need to challenge their understandings of literacy theories in relation to their past and current literacy practices, enabling them to effectively construct their future practices.

This thesis is a case study of the design and development of one Canadian province’s intended Grade 12 Chemistry curriculum. It explores the story associated with its design and development and the lived experiences of the stakeholders involved. The goal is to highlight the dynamic human nature of the curriculum construction process. Specifically, through a case study approach this research identifies several dimensions of the nature of curriculum development considered by Pinar et al. (1995), namely: the “historical, political,…phenomenological, [and] autobiographical” (p. 847). This research determined the factors that influenced this curriculum and the lived experiences of the stakeholders involved. It examined how they reflected on the curriculum process and curriculum product, and investigated the deconstruction/reconstruction processes experienced by some participants. This research helps educators make more informed decisions about designing, developing and implementing curriculum.

While the story of teaching makes plenty of room for academic and social learning, the telling often leaves out some of the most important details. In this thesis, I tell the stories of four teachers — how they practice and make sense of the caring relationship in the school and how such relationships lead to moral good in people, schools, communities, and the world. The moral is centered in the ongoing dialogue about what is best in schools and the world — the good, and the relationships in which the stories are set. The method is narrative analysis and the format is a series of free verse poems. The characters tell stories of knowing and being known, meaningful dialogue, modeling, authentic care, struggle and tension, individualized attention, hope, and transformation. The conclusion is a deep imagining of possibilities, implications, and outcomes.

This study is a narrative self-study that reflects on the relationship between knowledge of assessment practice and theory and factors that lead to a change in practice. There are a variety of ways to use assessment as a teacher in school settings, and this paper explores how the researcher-subject developed and changed assessment practices to inform her teaching, to assist her students in attaining mastery of curricular outcomes, and to report student achievement to parents and school administrators. While tackling this complex topic, one discovers there is not one best way to assess student learning. Deciding to learn more about assessment demonstrating a willingness to try new assessment methods, to grow from successes and failures, and to look introspectively and critically current assessment practices, the result can be a more valid assessment of what a student knows and can do, and a more informed understanding of good teaching and assessment practices.

An increasingly loud call by parents, school administrators, teachers, and even business leaders for “authentic learning”, emphasizing both group-work and problem solving, has led to growing enthusiasm for inquiry-based learning over the past decade. Although “inquiry” can be defined in many ways, a curriculum called “project-based learning” has recently emerged as the inquiry practice-of-choice with roots in the educational constructivism that emerged in the mid-twentieth century. Often, project-based learning is framed as an alternative instructional strategy to direct instruction for maximizing student content knowledge. This study investigates the empirical evidence for such a comparison while also evaluating the overall quality of the available studies in the light of accepted standards for educational research. Specifically, this thesis investigates what the body of quantitative research says about the efficacy of project-based learning vs. direct instruction when considering student acquisition of content knowledge in science classrooms. Further, existing limitations of the research pertaining to project based learning and secondary school education are explored. The thesis concludes with a discussion of where and how we should focus our empirical efforts in the future. The research revealed that the available empirical research contains flaws in both design and instrumentation. In particular, randomization is poor amongst all the studies considered. The empirical evidence indicates that project-based learning curricula improved student content knowledge but that, while the results were statistically significant, increases in raw test scores were marginal.

Creating congruent links between the three representations of science understanding - macroscopic, microscopic, and symbolic (Johnstone, 1991), is important for the conceptual understanding of pressure and Boyle’s Law. Twenty-one grade 11 chemistry students participated in a science program that culminated in students scuba diving. Students recorded their initial conceptions throughout the four-and-a half week teaching intervention and completed assignments using Johnstone’s three representations as the basis for their responses. A two-tier multiple choice diagnostic was developed to assess student conceptions of pressure and Boyle’s Law at the end of the teaching intervention. Results of this study suggest that these methods were helpful in promoting conceptual change. The structured sampling of student conceptions throughout the intervention provided information about the following: (a) similarities in student naïve conceptions; (b) changes in student conceptions; (c) the presence of tenacious, alternate conceptions; and (d) teaching strategies, lesson sequences, and demonstrations that appeared to be effective in promoting scientific understanding of pressure and Boyle’s Law.

This research focuses on working with fifteen local youths, one elder, and two teachers in the town of Churchill, Manitoba to document intergenerational knowledge transfer. According to Tsuji (1996) there has been a significant loss of traditional ecological knowledge in First Nation communities between generations for both males and females. Traditional knowledge is important because it relies on an individual’s own knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes towards certain issues that he or she has experienced in the past. Through conducting interviews with Elders, youths, and teachers along with observation and participant observation, this research shows knowledge from the Indigenous elder is being transferred to the younger generation through stories, presentations, and education. There is a moderate level of intergenerational knowledge transfer from youth to elders and elders to youth, as well as a high level of interest in incorporating traditional and local knowledge in education.

This study elicited data from chemistry teachers in Manitoba via a qualitative narrative inquiry study to reveal teachers’ perceptions of their evolving professional identities and teaching practices following the introduction of the latest chemistry curricula and participation in long-term professional development. This study also aimed to identify any tensions these teachers have experienced associated with their beliefs about teaching and learning and their current teaching practices as a result of the recent change in curricula and professional development. Teaching life stories constructed from the interview data revealed that these teachers have indeed experienced tensions regarding their beliefs and teaching practices, and that this has caused them to reflect more on their practice and strive to improve their practice. Though these teachers feel that they are starting to shift their beliefs and teaching practice to better support student understanding in chemistry, they still feel they have a long way to go.