https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406 The IOP conference is offered by the UBC Faculty of Education and the BC Teachers' Federation. Teaching is demanding and complex work, made more difficult if we try to do it in isolation or without sharing and exploring our understandings together. In order to better understand and improve our practice, many of us engage in classroom, program or institution-based investigations focusing on the what, the how and the why of our practice. To learn more about this conference, visit Investigating 60 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0076554 [Conference Program Abstract] Rural music education encounters unique challenges, not limited to declining enrollment, secondary timetabling in small schools, recruitment and retention of specialized teachers, professional isolation, lack of professional development for elementary generalists, and lack of access to private music lessons, live concerts, and/or role models. Given this situation, the purpose of my study is to identify not only the10challenges of rural music education, but some place-based solutions related to school structure, professional skills, and community connections with the goal of finding ways to make rural music education both viable and vibrant for students as part of a complete educational experience.In April, I will conduct 45-minute phone interviews with 18 superintendents, administrators, and music teachers from 17 rural school districts in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. These participants volunteered to be part of this in-depth study after completing a survey I conducted last fall. I will ask open-ended questions on three topics: 1) structural/administrative difficulties in providing a sequential music program, 2) teacher preparation, professional development, and retention, and 3) school/community linkages to local music making. It is my hope that each participant will elaborate on local issues and innovative ideas regarding music education during the course of the interview.At the conference, I will present my initial findings from these interviews. I hope to encourage discussion concerning the issues and initial findings with conference participants in an effort to stimulate thought and awareness of this topic. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0076554 Thu, 20 Nov 2025 04:31:00 -0800 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0076555 [Conference Program Abstract] Climate and environmental changes are the most serious threat faced by our human society today. Teaching and learning about these issues are the most essential and crucial ways to not only investigate and solve these 21 problems but also increase awareness, monitor, and evaluate these ongoing challenges and propose alternative modes. Universities are looked upon as change agents, where both knowledge creation and knowledge exchange occurs. With the underlying theme of globalization and encouraging students to be global citizens, UBC adopted a sustainable development policy in 1997 and revised it in the most recent UBC Sustainability Academic Strategy (SAS) 2009. The new UBC SAS focuses on promoting sustainable practices through teaching, learning and research. UBC offers over 350 courses related to sustainability and has several research projects aimed at this issue as well. However, no research has been conducted to evaluate how and whether these courses are promoting sustainability, literacy about climate change, and citizen action among the students who take them.This study seeks to evaluate the impact of teaching and learning initiatives involving sustainability and sustainability-related courses through a qualitative approach, using focus groups and in-depth individual interviews. Further, the study is aimed to investigate students‘ understanding of these concepts and how they implement the strategies for environmental stewardship developed through these courses. Hence the question: How do the courses translate sustainability into sustainable actions or awareness? https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0076555 Thu, 20 Nov 2025 04:30:50 -0800 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0347518 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0347518 Fri, 24 Oct 2025 16:28:18 -0700 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0076549 [Conference Program Abstract] Failure to educate all students has long-term implications for student attainment of educational,social,economic and cultural aspects of education. Current education literature reveals a gap between what is expected in the school system and how teachers are trained to meet diverse student learner needs. Hence, the decision to investigate the following for my doctoral dissertation: What is the experience of novice teachers who teach secondary school students with diverse learning needs?Pertinent and relevant information exposed in the research findings permitted the following themes to emerge: The Calling; Hiring Process; Pre-service Teacher Preparation; Defining Novice Teacher Roles and Responsibilities; Mentorship and Continued Professional Development; and One-Size-Fits-All Model Does Not Fit Diverse Learner Needs. Several questions that surfaced from the participants‘ detail regarding the impact that inadequate preservice preparation played on their daily roles and responsibilities as: Who am I and what do I teach; How do I teach; Who helps me teach; and How effective is my teaching style?In conclusion, the research study provided a deeper understanding of each participant‘s experiences. The information revealed a somewhat contentious, isolated, and frustrating role while experiencing satisfaction in taking a stance for what and whom they believe in: success for Ultimately, each participant expressed the desire to have their stories presented with the hope that their experiences can be beneficial at all facets of the education system while discovering what novice teachers experience in a day and how they can be assisted. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0076549 Sat, 12 Nov 2022 03:03:35 -0800 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0305061 This paper discusses the potential benefits of Digital Game-Based Learning for promoting student engagement, problem-solving, collaboration and learning of science concepts. It analyses the theoretical underpinnings that support the use of digital games in education, and examines the specific characteristics of digital games which embody positive learning principles that can be used for educational purposes. The digital game Minecraft is used as a case to demonstrate that there are many advantages to using digital games to teach science concepts in school and university contexts. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0305061 Sat, 12 Nov 2022 03:03:34 -0800 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0076553 [Conference Program Abstract] English poet Wendy Cope sums up my feelings on searching for the definition of humour, ―If anyone needs me to define ―funny‖ or ―humorous‖, they have my sympathy‖. Is humour a tangible one line definition or is it a frame of mind or perspective that we take into situations? There is no single theory on humour or even an agreed upon definition, which makes for a great (and frustrating) inquiry as there is no single answer. Harvey Mindness provides an analysis of what he calls ―the humorous frame of mind.‖ Six characteristics are essential to this outlook or attitude and help to define humour beyond thinking something is funny and20consequently laughing. The characteristics are: flexibility, spontaneity, unconventionality, shrewdness, playfulness and humility. These characteristics are not only essential when defining humour but I argue they are essential qualities for teachers and students alike to possess. But why are these qualities important? As philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer John Dewey believed, education is not preparation for life but rather, life itself. Teachers and students must laugh, cry, and feel anger, joy, elation and disappointment because they are human. The expressions of these feelings belong just as much inside the classroom as they do outside. Developing a humorous outlook depends on teachers valuing humour as a way to make teaching and learning more fully human. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0076553 Sat, 12 Nov 2022 03:03:32 -0800 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0305064 In spite of the complexity of teaching, learning to teach in universities is generally a matter of experience rather than training (Putnam & Borko, 2000). But in today’s era it is indispensable for the university teachers to get acquainted with “how to teach” component. In accordance with the Higher Education Commission Pakistan’s initiative to give in-service training to university teachers, Department of Education International Islamic University Islamabad had arranged a 03 days professional development workshop on “Demands of Teaching Profession”. A group of 35 faculty members from different departments of the university benefited from it. One month after the workshop the participants were interviewed about their experiences with the workshop and how it benefited them? The theoretical ground of the study was Mezirow’s (2006) Perspective Transformation Theory, according to which learners undergo a conscious recognition of difference between old viewpoint and the new one and value the new gained perspective by transforming the actions. The interviews were analyzed by utilizing thematic approach. The respondents were of the view that when they were being nominated for the workshop they did not had the idea what they need to know about the demands of teaching profession. But after attending the workshop and discussing their teaching worldview with the other participants during group activities of workshop their perspective has been transformed. They are observing professional ethics more consciously. They are trying to follow professional ethics and trying to develop balanced personalities of students. They have tried to transform their practices according to standards. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0305064 Sat, 12 Nov 2022 03:03:30 -0800 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0305063 Many educators hope to facilitate certain political and philosophical ideologies througheducational practise. But are their interests, and those of their subject, supported in officialcurricula? In researching the history of home economics education, I have found support forecological understandings and social justice ideology. I recently applied Critical DiscourseAnalysis (CDA) to the 2007 official BC home economics curriculum, seeking to find theideologies underpinning curricular discourse, hoping that such analyses would be useful forinforming pedagogies and future curricular rewrites. My research (Johnson, 2015) uncoveredneo-liberal ideology dominating language in the official curriculum. The presence of this ideologypromoted a social hierarchy in which the interests of current government were foregroundedover passive and subordinate construction of educators and students. The declarative languageand transmissive style of education that I found contradicted possibilities for social justiceeducation. This conservative approach prevented transformative potentials among educators andstudents and reduced the personal obligation of these actors to safeguard wholism, equity andecological health.I propose to share my research findings, as well as to model how CDA can be applied to officialand unofficial curricula. This could assist educators in better understanding the underlyingideologies and meanings present in the curricula they work with daily, and how such ideologiessupport or hinder professional aims. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0305063 Sat, 12 Nov 2022 03:03:29 -0800 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0305062 This literature review investigates the underrepresentation of women within CS, specifically focusing on the perceived gap between male and female enrolment in university CS courses within North America. The paper examines the recruitment of young women in the North American K-12 educational system, explores the influences that affect women’s choices in enrolling in CS, and looks at evidence of successful recruitment efforts in high schools. Possible solutions to this problem are discussed, as well as potential benefits of the study to the province of British Columbia. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0305062 Sat, 12 Nov 2022 03:03:28 -0800 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0076552 [Conference Program Abstract] Why should educators teach their students the skills of critical questioning and what are possible pedagogical practices? As an educator at the secondary level, I constantly attempt to facilitate the processes of student inquiry. At IOP, I wish to share my research experiences in teaching critical thinking, particularly student questioning. My presentation aims to understand student questioning as a process, and to gain insight into student perceptions of this process and its purpose in the learning space. Through a five-week action research project, students engaged with critical questioning of video content using a framework called SEADS. Through co-teacher modeling and subsequent individual and collaborative practice, students explored the processes of critical questioning in the Religious Education context.As part of my presentation, I hope to interrogate definitions of critical thinking. I will share findings relevant to teaching and learning in the following areas: student curiosity, the nature of questioning, experiences using a critical questioning framework, and the process of questioning our own questions. Critical thinking—and questioning—must involve personal experience, it must be meta-cognitive and constructive in purpose. It must be approached with compassion, respect, and commitment. I propose a conceptualization of critical thinking that will inspire fellow educators to engage with critical questioning processes in their classrooms. These processes, though complex, are invaluable in providing spaces for learners to transform and be transformed by their own inquiry and that of others. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0076552 Sat, 12 Nov 2022 03:03:26 -0800 https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0306879 This inquiry will be exploring the various teaching strategies that can best be deployed by educators to teach new immigrants to ease their journey into the classroom environment wherein they will be learning a new language. I will be looking at the phenomenon from the perspective of Anna (not real name) who arrives in the classroom with no prior English background.This research explores why Anna hated school, what went wrong and how it can be fixed so that other new immigrants and teachers will not encounter the same problem(s) in future. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/59406/items/1.0306879 Sat, 12 Nov 2022 03:03:25 -0800