In celebration Global Affairs Canada’s International Development Week (February 4 -10, 2024) and this year’s theme highlighting the 17 United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, here are some of the ways that the Faculty of Education’s work is helping the world move closer to having quality education, gender equality, innovation, justice and sustainable communities: View the PDF presentation.
Brock is hosting a student focus group next week that will help inform the University’s upcoming Equity Census. This is in addition to focus groups currently under way with Brock faculty and staff.
The Equity Census — a short, voluntary and confidential survey — is part of Brock’s continual journey and commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). As a part of Brock’s ongoing efforts, the University is working with MNP to develop an Employee EDI Strategy.
The student focus group session, which will inform how the census is communicated, carried out and reported on, will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 3 p.m.
Participants can register on the Equity Census web page.
Participants will be contacted directly with meeting details by consultants from MNP, and an interview guide will be sent in advance of the focus group session. Participants do not need to prepare anything in advance of the focus group session.
What is shared with MNP will remain anonymous and confidential.
More information on the Equity Census will be provided in the coming weeks.
Hate, in all its expressions, is unacceptable. The Faculty of Education stands in solidarity with those who experience such hatred and is committed to eradicating anti-Black racism and anti-2SLGBTQIA+ discrimination and oppression.
The anti-Black racism and anti- 2SLGBTQIA+ acts at Harriet Tubman Public School earlier this week highlight that we must continue to work to confront hate in all its forms. The Harriet Tubman Public School, named for an anti-slavery leader and educator, is an exemplar of diversity, equity and decolonization. The Faculty is proud that many of our Teacher Candidates experience such an inclusive educational community in their program. As educators, we see the power of education to cultivate diverse, equitable, anti-racist, anti-homophobic communities.
Please the statement below for Brock’s response to these events and resources for students and staff:
Presented by Dr. Joshua Markle, PhD.
Friday May 06, 2022, at 2 p.m.
Register here (MS Teams or Lifesize link will be emailed to you prior to event.)
Inquiries about seminar: Dr. Steven Khan (skhan6@brocku.ca)
The work described in this presentation sits at the intersection of two critical areas of research in mathematics education: spatial reasoning and embodiment. Spatial reasoning has been identified as integral to both general mathematical capability and the potential for individuals to flourish in life beyond formal mathematics education. Research on the body in mathematics education points to the constitutive role the body plays in the development of mathematical understanding, the importance of understanding students’ experience of the body in the mathematics classroom, and how our senses, such as sight and touch, are integral to how we know and do mathematics. In this presentation, I discuss the development and use
of a tool for observing and describing everyday classroom actions, such as gesture and gaze, to offer an interpretation of how students use the body to both sense and make sense in a spatial reasoning activity.
Josh is an Assistant Professor (LTA) of mathematics education in the Faculty of Education at Brock University. His research explores students’ experiences in classroom mathematics and is oriented by three key themes. The first is a focus on how spatial reasoning skills are developed and used in mathematical problem solving and posing. The second explores the role of embodiment and the experience of the body in coming to know and do mathematics. And a third, all-encompassing theme investigates how mathematics can enable students to flourish, both within and beyond the classroom. His work is grounded in theories of embodied cognition, such as enactivism, and he primarily draws on interpretive traditions as research methodologies.
Thursday 4 March 2021 @ 12:00
Location: https://call.lifesizecloud.com/7273386
Dr. Laura Broley, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Brock University
Abstract: A recently conducted scan of the place of computer programming in curricula around the worldconfirms the international move towards its integration into K-12 education and highlights the variety ofapproaches taken so far: e.g., integrating programming as part of a subject to study on its own, as an element ofa particular subject, or as a cross-curricular competency. In this talk, we place Ontario’s curriculum within thisinternational context, through its integration of coding in elementary mathematics that began in September 2020.Based on a literature review, we consider various perspectives that might explain this integration: from the mostrecent trends in “Computational Thinking” or “Digital Literacy,” to Seymour Papert’s pioneering work from the80s, which showed how programming could be a source of power to learn, do, and think about mathematics.Interestingly, it turns out that Brock Department of Mathematics and Statistics’ 20-year implementation of MICAcourses aligns with the latter. To complement the theories, we also synthesize some concrete ways in whichK-12 teachers might bring the power of programming to their students.
All undergraduate (including teacher candidates) students, graduate students, and faculty, from theDepartment of Mathematics and Statistics and the Faculty of Education are welcome!
For information, contact: Chantal Buteau: cbuteau@brocku.ca or Steven Khan: skhan6@brocku.ca
Details and registration for events can be found here on Experience BU: https://experiencebu.brocku.ca/organization/african-heritage-month/events
Watch Professor Handel Kashope Wright deliver the keynote at the Virtual Symposium: Activism and Solidarity Post-Script to the “Scholar Strike Canada” on October 29, 2020. Dr. Wright is the Director of the Centre for Culture, Identity & Education at the University of British Columbia. Keynote Title: “The Urgency of Black Studies and the Insufficiency of Anti-Racism”.
The Faculty of Education is pleased to announce that a redesigned Master of Education program will begin in September 2021 with new flexible programming options. The admission requirements remain the same as well as the number of courses needed to satisfy the degree requirements.
For students in the course- and research-based pathways, the Faculty of Education is offering a master’s program that leads to a general MEd degree to replace the current MEd with Fields of Specialization. This change allows maximum flexibility for students. While the number of courses needed to graduate remains the same, students are required to take only two courses: a research course (EDUC 5P92) and an exit course (culminating paper, major research paper or thesis). Students can choose the specific courses they wish to take throughout the rest of their program. This program change gives students the freedom to design their program to meet their needs and interests.
The MEd program also has six optional subject concentrations for students who would like more structure to their program or to study a subject in depth. The program continues to offer a wide range of courses that meet the diverse interests of our students, but in the redesigned program they are arranged in subject-specific clusters:
What does this change mean to students in the ISP?
What does this change mean for students enrolling in the course- or research-based pathway starting in the 2022-2023 academic year?
What does this change mean for course- and research-based pathway students who started their program in an FOS?
Updated September 10, 2021.
Master of Education, Master of Education ISP, MEd, MEd ISP
Categories: News
The transition to online classes has given Brock University’s teacher candidates an unexpected professional development opportunity by adapting their teaching demonstrations for online delivery.
“This has been a really steep learning curve for me as well as for teacher candidates,” said Shelley Griffin, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education. She says she’s never taught online before the COVID-19 pandemic.
First-year teacher candidates in Griffin’s Music Education class suddenly found themselves planning online lessons designed to teach music principles to elementary school-aged children. The course allows students to learn pedagogical strategies as well as the elements of music.Read more
COVID-19, Music Education, Shelley Griffin, Teacher Education
Categories: News
First, I trust that all are doing well and are taking care socially, emotionally and physically. For Brock University this is an unusual circumstance. Second, there are many questions about grades, spring 2020 convocation, how individuals will complete their practicum, how we enable teacher candidates to meet their minimum Ontario College of Teachers requirements for practicum experiences, access to Additional Qualifications
(AQ) courses for graduating teacher candidates, and how the requirement for successful completion of the Math Proficiency Test (MPT) will have an impact on licensure requirements. Let me address these and related issues, briefly.Read more
With K-12 students across Ontario engaged in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, experts in Brock University’s Faculty of Education have been gathering online teaching resources and recommendations for teachers and teacher candidates alike.
The sudden move to online platforms has many educators at all levels looking for appropriate tools and resources without the time it should usually take to develop online learning experiences.Read more
COVID-19, Instructional Resource Centre, online learning, online teaching
Categories: News
