Dawn Zinga

Professor
Associate Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Graduate Studies and Research

905-688-5550 x3152
dzinga@brocku.ca

Dr. Zinga is a cognitive developmental psychologist who embraces multiple disciplines.  She held a Brock Chancellor’s Chair for Teaching Excellence with Dr. Shauna Pomerantz that focused on student’s first year experiences.  Dr. Zinga is currently involved in several active research projects. She is PI on a SSHRC funded longitudinal research project with Dr. Danielle Molnar that focuses on the high school and postsecondary experiences of students who are the first generation in their families to attend postsecondary and explore what strategies support those experiences. She also works closely with  Dr. Molnar and Dr. Maureen Connolly on projects exploring the experience of young competitive dancers and their families, including the impact of Covid-19.  Overall, Dr. Zinga’s current research interests focus on students’ experiences within educational settings, Indigenous education and pedagogies, and young competitive dancers’ experiences. She enjoys working with collaborative teams and students on research. She is accepting undergraduate and graduate students for Fall 2021, please see those sections for more details on supervision style.

Research Interests

  • Students and educational contexts
  • Indigenous education, methodologies, and decolonizing approaches
  • Competitive dancers and dance contexts
  • Preparing educators for diverse classrooms
  • E-learning pedagogy and practice

Publications and collections

Selected Contributions
Books/Chapters (selected contributions)

 Zinga, D. (in press).  Uncomfortable Realities: Reconciliation in Higher Education. In Styres, S & Kempf, A. (Eds.), Troubling Truth and Reconciliation in Canadian Education: Critical Perspectives. Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta Press.

Jahnke, H., Styres, S., Lilley, S. & Zinga, D. (2019), Indigenous Education: New Directions in Theory and Practice. Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta Press.

Zinga, D. (2019). Teaching as the Creation of Ethical Space: Indigenous Student Learning in the Academy/University In Jahnke, H., Styres, S., Lilley, S. & Zinga, D. (Eds.), Indigenous Education: New Directions in Theory and Practice, (pp. 277-310).  Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta Press.

Articles (selected contributions)

Spadafora, N., Murphy, E., Molnar, D. S., & Zinga, D. (2020). Test anxiety in first-generation students: An examination of the role of psychological needs. Journal of Teaching and Learning, 14, 33-49. doi:10.22329/jtl.v14i2.6202

Styres, S., Zinga, D., Douglas, V. & Purton, F. (2020). Contested Places: Addressing the TRC in Higher Education. Research In Education, 1-18.https://doi-org.proxy.library.brocku.ca/10.1177/0034523720937322

 Zinga, D., Molnar, D. S., Connolly, M. & Tacuri, N. (2019). Governed and Liberated Bodies: Experiences of Young Female Competitive Dancers. Journal of Childhood Studies 44 (3), 106-119.

 Zinga, D. & Styres, S. (On-line First November 18, 2018). Decolonizing Curriculum: Student Resistances to Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy. Power & Education, 11 (1), 30-50.

 

 

Presentations

Presentations (selected contributions)

  • Tacuri, N., Zinga, D. & Molnar, D. (2020). Dance and Higher Education: The Student Athlete Context. Paper submitted for presentation at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, California. Cancelled due to Covid-19
  • Pomerantz, S., Parlatore, V. & Zinga, D. (2020). “I’m an adult now”: The Hidden and Intersecting Social Contexts that Shape the Freshman Experience.  Paper submitted for presentation at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, California.
  • Styres, S. & Zinga, D. (2018) Student Experiences and Two Canadian University’s Responses the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. Paper presented at the April 2018 Ireland International Conference on Education’s biannual conference held in Dublin, Ireland.
  • Zinga, D. & Styres, S. (2018) Addressing the TRC in Higher Education: The Role of Faculty and Senior Administrators. Paper presented at the April 2018 Ireland International Conference on Education’s biannual   conference held in Dublin, Ireland.
  • Styres, S., Zinga, D., Douglas, V., & Purton, F. (2018). Contested Places: Two Universities  in Southern Ontario and the TRC’s Calls to Action – Student Experiences. Paper presented at the 2018 Canadian Society for the Studies of Education Annual General  meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan.
  • Zinga, D., Styres, S., Purton, F. & Douglas, V. (2018). Addressing the TRC in Higher Education: Perspectives on Two Southern Ontario Universities. Paper presented at the 2018 Canadian Society for the Studies of Education Annual General meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan.
  • Purton, F., Douglas, V., Styres, S. & Zinga, D. (2018). University responses to the TRC:   Neoliberal logic and settler colonialism. Paper presented at the 2018 Canadian Society  for the Studies of Education Annual General meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan.
  • Douglas, V., Purton, F., Zinga, D. & Styres, S.  (2018). Artwork as Colonization. Paper presented at the 2018 Canadian Society for the Studies of Education Annual General meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan.
  • Styres, S. & Zinga, D. (2018). Contestation: Indigeneity in Mainstream Higher Learning Contexts.  Paper presented at the 2018 American Educational Research Association Annual General Meeting in New York, New York.
  • Zinga, D. & Molnar, D. (2017). Through Their Eyes: Exploring the World of Competitive Dancers and Their Parents. PhotoVoice Presentation at the Conceptualizing Children and Youth Conference held at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.
  • Styres, S. & Zinga, D. (2017). The TRC Calls to Action: Higher Education Responses. Paper presented at the 2017 World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference in Education in Toronto, Ontario.

Undergraduate supervision

I will be accepting new students for the 2021/22 academic year. Students are welcome to explore becoming part of one of my active research projects or bring their own ideas for research topics. I will supervise students outside my list of research interests. Please drop by or book an appointment for a chat about undergraduate honours thesis or applied research projects.

Previous and current undergraduate students whom I have supervised have conducted research in the following areas: specialized programming for students first in their families to pursue postsecondary education; elementary and secondary school students’ bus experiences; parental involvement in schools; children and high risk behaviours; divorce and children’s resiliency; multiculturalism and education; parental deployment; reading and young children; transition to high school, competitive dance.

Graduate supervision

I will be accepting new graduate students for the 2021/22 academic year. Students are welcome to bring their own ideas for research topics or consider joining one of my existing research projects.  I prefer to supervise within on areas of research interest t the graduate level. Please get in touch if you’d like to chat about graduate supervision. In terms of supervisory style, I tend to be very collaborative and work very closely with Dr. Molnar’s lab. We have joint lab meetings once a week during term time. I like to tailor the supervisory experience to graduate students so that the opportunities and training suits the student’s needs and career goals.

Previous and current graduate students whom I have supervised or served as a committee member have conducted research in the following areas: Aboriginal parenting; Aboriginal cultural and education; black-focused schools; cultural diversity in high school; cultural hybridity; Evidence-based practice; family context and adoptees from China; father involvement in breastfeeding; reading motivation; school re-entry of paediatric cancer survivors; web-based learning platforms; dancing and differently abled dancers; competitive dance in postsecondary contexts; perfectionism and mental health.