Awards

Upcoming Awards

We encourage and invite applications for the following two awards:

1. The Network of the Learning Sciences in Canada Doctoral Dissertation Award for Excellence

2. The Network of the Learning Sciences in Canada Master’s Thesis Award for Excellence

Criteria: Excellence in Scholarly and Practical Impacts. The thesis/dissertation work needs to advance the goals/commitments/intentions of the Network (https://www.canadianlearningsciences.ca/home).

Application Package Due: Nov 1

Eligibility: Applicants must have graduated during the past two academic years, confirmed by Supervisor’s letter, with some active participation in the Network of the Learning Sciences in Canada in terms of attendance of seminars, participation in social events, or service to the network. Applicants do not need to be affiliated with Canadian institutions. This award offers honor and recognition; there are no funds attached.

Requirements:

1. An expanded abstract of the complete dissertation or thesis.

2. The PDF of the full dissertation.

3. A Curriculum Vitae

4. A one page or shorter letter of support from an academic supervisor that evaluates the significance of the nominee’s academic accomplishments, describes their participation in the Network of the Learning Sciences in Canada, and confirms the date of graduation.

Please submit these materials in pdf format to Professor Doug Clark: douglas.clark@ucalgary.ca

Adjudication Committee: Professors Joe Curnow, Rishi Krishnamoorthy, and Doug Clark

Award Recipients 2023-2024

Canadian Learning Sciences Master Thesis Award for Excellence

Sophia Thraya

University of Calgary

Sophia Thraya is a first-year PhD student in Educational Research, specializing in Learning Sciences at the University of Calgary under the supervision of Dr. Miwa Takeuchi. As a researcher and educator, with specialized training working with historically marginalized learner populations, she has continuously been drawn to the transdisciplinary understandings of learning, equity and justice-oriented design approaches and pedagogical innovations that seek to deepen learning—central to the field of Learning Sciences. Her ongoing and future research interests are situated in linguistic design for equity and justice, leveraging lived and non-dominant knowledges in disciplinary spaces, with a specific focus on experiences of refugee children within learning spaces. Her experiences as a racialized multilingual student and certified teacher in Alberta have fueled her commitment to this work.

Canadian Learning Sciences Doctoral Dissertation Award

Dr.Dylan Paré

Penn State College

Dylan Paré (they/them) is an Assistant Professor at the Penn State College of Education. They have completed PhD in the Learning Sciences at the University of Calgary, Werklund School of Education. They are the Founder and Director of the Queer Code Collective https://www.queercode.org), an award-winning studio that designs, develops, and researches new models of code and coding with queer and trans experiences at the forefront. Dylan co-designs virtual reality and interactive computer-based learning environments for learning about complex systems, socio-political issues, and design justice. Their primary research project reimagines computational literacies by interweaving storytelling with scholarship on complexity studies, embodied learning, and queer and trans phenomenology. Dylan’s work builds upon their previous undergraduate and graduate work in Gender and Sexuality Studies and their work as a community organizer-educator, a workplace consultant for gender and sexual diversity, and a post-secondary student services program coordinator in gender and sexual diversity, sexual health, and relationship education.

Award Recipients 2021-2022

Here you will find information about winners of recent awards for the year 2021-2022.

Canadian Learning Sciences Graduate Student Leadership and Research Award

Stephanie Hladik

Dr. Stephanie Hladik (she/her) conducts qualitative and design-based research into STEM education in a variety of settings including K-12 schools, post-secondary institutions, museums, library makerspaces, and after-school technology clubs. This work may include co-designing and implementing new educational activities with educators and learners, investigating the complexity of educators’ interactions with learners, and uncovering how STEM identity can be developed across space and time. She is particularly interested in critical research that challenges historical and existing inequities in STEM education. Stephanie is currently an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Engineering Professional Practice and Engineering Education, Price Faculty of Engineering, University of Manitoba.

Canadian Learning Sciences Graduate Student Engagement Award

Paula Waatainen

Dr. Paula Waatainen graduated from the University of Calgary with her Ed D in May, 2022. Her doctoral research was a design-based research study entitled

Designing an Authentic Assessment of Elementary Citizenship Competency Through Real-World Democratic Deliberation. Paula is a professor in the Faculty of Education at

Vancouver Island University. She teaches Social Studies Methods, chairs her faculty Assessment Literacy committee, and is supervising her first two M Ed students. She was awarded a 2022 VIU Engage Grant to continue her dissertation DBR study with second cycle of design, collaborating this time with a grade 12 teacher. She began knowledge mobilization from her research in the summer, designing a course on designing authentic assessments of competency, which she taught as an adjunct professor at UBC Okanagan's Summer Institute of Education. She's looking forward to attending conferences in the next year and getting some writing done (while keeping an eye on her mischievous Labrador Retriever puppy, Stella.

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