in education

A Review of Ibrahim, A., Kitossa, T., Smith, M. & Wright, H. (2022). Nuances of Blackness in the Canadian Academy: Teaching, Learning, and Researching while Black.

Chioma Olumide-Ajibola — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600

The book Nuances of Blackness in the Canadian Academy is made up of Twenty two chapters with each chapter written by different authors. The book is sub divided into four parts each with its own topic. Parts 1 to 3 contain five chapters each while Part 4 comprises of 7 chapters.

Message from the Editors-in-Chief

Kathleen Nolan, Valerie Triggs — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Guest Editorial: [Healthy and Transformative Spaces] in education

Twyla Salm — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Realizing and Imagining Schools as Sites of Community Care: Lessons from Children Playing During a Pandemic

Whitney Blaisdell — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600

This paper is the result of an action research project that aimed to understand how families were playing during the COVID-19 pandemic and what action might support them. Schools were revealed as important yet taken-for-granted providers of community care for children through their offerings as spaces where children create friendships, move, engage in the arts, feel a sense of belonging, contribute, and play. This paper takes a strength-based approach to learn from children and families playing during the pandemic to explore such realizations of schools as sites of community care while also inviting and offerings imaginings of schools in partnership in care-offering alongside the community and children.

Keywords: COVID-19, play, community care, aesthetics of play, schools, children and public space

The Role of Environmental Factors in Fostering Creativity in the Classroom

Brooke Breti — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Creativity is a set of skills, a form of thinking, and a way of meeting and excelling in the demands of the 21^st century. This article explores creative gaps and inadequacies that hinder the development of teacher and student creativity in classrooms. Drawing from various disciplines, this article explores the challenges schools face in nurturing creativity through an in-depth analysis of existing literature, research studies, and expert views on the subject of creativity in education. The author discusses how teachers play a pivotal role in nurturing students' creativity and the importance of empowering teachers, with a focus on equipping teachers with the necessary tools and knowledge. The author contends that empowering teachers to create transformative educational experiences creates students who are critical thinkers, problem solvers, and contributors to a dynamic and innovative society.

Keywords: Creativity, student, teacher, practical suggestions, classroom environment

Theoretical Foundations of Culturally Responsive Teaching and Connections to Saskatchewan Curriculum and Indigenous Education

Jessica Madiratta — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600

This paper will examine the attributes of culturally responsive teaching (CRT) as well as its theoretical foundations. Gay’s (2018) work describes the eight attributes of CRT as validating, comprehensive and inclusive, multidimensional, empowering, transformative, emancipatory, humanistic, normative, and ethical. After unpacking each attribute, I will present and discuss four dimensions of Gay’s (2018) theoretical foundations of CRT which include culturally diverse curriculum, teacher caring, home and school connection, and academic achievement. Further, I will write about how CRT and the epistemologies of Indigenous education can lead to healthy and transformative spaces for Indigenous students in Saskatchewan public schools. For the purposes of this paper, I define healthy and transformative spaces as spaces where students have their needs met in the four dimensions of spirit, mental, physical, and emotional health.

Keywords: Indigenous education; culturally responsive teaching; students; education; healthy and transformative spaces

What’s With All This Race Talk Anyway? A Literature Review on Antiracist Education

Ashlee Sandiford — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600

This article reviews the developing literature on antiracist education and the emerging frameworks for recognizing racism in educational spaces. Much of the literature draws on Critical Race Theory as the underlying framework to conceptualize race and racism. Many scholars emphasize the need for antiracist practices in K-12 education. There was, however significant research evidence that suggested a gap between antiracist pedagogy and knowledge and the actual implementation into everyday teaching practices. The review also found evidence of suggested strategies and frameworks teacher education programs and school division professional development should do to help aid the implementation of antiracist education in schools and classrooms. Evidently, the review points to the importance for faculty to self-reflect on their experiences with race. I conclude with an invitation to recognize and understand how to can show up as an antiracist educator, today, tomorrow and for the future.

Keywords: race, racism, antiracist education, critical race theory, racialized students

Direct/Explicit Instruction and Social Constructivist Practices in The Inclusive Classroom

Avery Matthews — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Effective educational practices play an instrumental role in student success. In the context of an inclusive classroom, it is crucial that educators use evidence-based practices to ensure all students to meet educational outcomes. This review focuses on two evidence-based pedagogies, namely direct/explicit instruction (DI/EI) and social constructive approaches, and their effects on the inclusive classroom. Special consideration is given to cooperative learning and concrete implementation guidelines are explored. Lastly, the complimentary effects of combining DI/EI and social constructivist practices are investigated to advance the argument for using a variety of evidenced-based practices within the inclusive classroom.

Keywords: Inclusive education, direct instruction, explicit instruction, social
constructivism.

Making Small Talk: Support for Chinese Graduate Students

Hui Xu — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600

This article is based on a larger phenomenological inquiry which examined the challenges faced by Chinese graduate students in Canada when making small talk in English as an additional language. In that study, ten participants were interviewed about their small talk experiences, including the support they expected and received from peers, faculty members, and institutions. This article examines the level of support provided to assist these students engage in small talk with a specific focus on the gap between the help they need and the help they get. The study is theoretically informed by the concept of community of practice which describes how newcomers learn in naturally occurring established communities. It was found that all participants expected and wanted institutional and peer support, but their level of satisfaction with what they received varied. All four universities attended by the research participants offered services designed to help international students, but uptake was a problem. It is recommended that institutions put more effort into developing, promoting, and monitoring programs designed to support international students.

Keywords: small talk, community of practice, Chinese graduate students, support

Author Biographies for Winter Issue

Kathleen Nolan, Valerie Triggs — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0600