Members

Mariam is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Educational Research specializing in Learning Sciences at Werklund school of education. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Food Science and Management, a teaching diploma, and a master’s degree in science education from the American University of Beirut. Her research interests are in the area of conceptual understanding in science education and the design of effective learning environments. These interests emerged and developed through her work on her MA thesis, which is framed within theories of conceptual change in science learning. In addition to her MA thesis research, she have a broader research experience which she gained from her work on the TAMAM Project, a school-based educational reform project. 

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. 

Emily Mannard is a high school English/Social Studies educator and PhD student in McGill University’s Department of Integrated Studies in Education. Her research explores adolescents’ literacies, pleasurable play, and collaborative socialization through digitized texts and technologies such as videogames and livestreaming practices. The past three years have drawn her attention toward community-driven research focused on designing equitable, technology-based learning opportunities for socially marginalized youth. She has taken findings from this work to advocate for the value of adolescents’ everyday literacies and experiences in digital culture, especially those that are commonly devalued in popular discourse and formal education.

Dr. Jennifer Adams - University of Calgary

Jennifer D. Adams is a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair of Creativity and Science and Associate Professor at The University of Calgary where she holds a dual appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Werklund School of Education.  She is the PI of the Creativity, Equity and STEM Lab where she leads her team in research on equity in STEM teaching and learning environments with an emphasis on anti-deficit, learner-centered, and justice-oriented approaches.

Dr. Beaumie Kim (Past President of CSSE Learning Sciences SIG (Fall 2019-Summer 2021) - University of Calgary 

Beaumie Kim's  research  focuses  on  engaging  learners  in  playing  and  designing games that model ideas, concepts, and systems as well as express some things about themselves, including their interest and culture. She is interested in understanding how learning happens in unconventional ways and creating learning designs that foster the heterogenous and evolving ways of learning. She investigates how the  bringing  of  learners’ diverse  interests  and  resources  to  the  learning  environments contributes to the individual and collective learning experiences by collaborating with educators and learners as design partners.

Reyhaneh Bastani is the Manager of Applied Research in Educational Technology at Bow Valley College. Throughout her academic journey, she focused on bridging the gap between theory and practice, translating conceptual ideas into innovative pedagogical practices in both formal and informal learning settings. Her research involves a complexity-informed design for students' disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning, and systems thinking, using board game design practices. She investigates how learners’ design spaces evolve and how their ideas and intentional choices are enabled through design practices. At BVC, she is committed to advancing research in educational technologies, integrating innovative pedagogical practices to enhance educational experiences, and fostering collaborative projects that contribute to broader environmental and societal goals with community and industry partners. 

Dr. Jrene Rahm - The Université de Montréal

Dr. Jrène Rahm’s research centers a cultural perspective to children’s and youths’ learning and becoming (identity) in science at the intersection of formal and informal education. Through multisited and longitudinal studies grounded in sociocultural and critical theory, driven by a space-time lens, she explores minoritized immigrant youths’ complex navigations of community organizations, gardens, and other educational venues, driven by future aspirations of becoming somebody. That interest led her to document counter-spaces and educational pathways driven by equity and social justice with youth. Her recent work with Inuit youth and families in Nunvik and Nunavut focuses on the joint documentation of Inuit led community and environmental stewardship projects and their role in the revitalization of cultural practices and contributions to lifelong learning or inunnguiniq. Given her work with community organizations, she has also become interested in finding ways to leverage such practices for teacher training and the building of on-going University-community partnerships.

Dr. Sarah El Halwany - University of Calgary 

Dr. Sarah El Halwany is Asssistant Professor at the Université de l'Ontario français. She was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Calgary. She has completed her PhD at the University of Toronto, OISE, with an emphasis in science education. She has been involved in various research and pedagogical projects and initiatives that examine ways that teachers could infuse social and environmental justice through science education. She is interested in studying the affective politics within science education environments, focusing on the reproductive and productive capacities of bodies, emotions and discourses.

Dr. Doug Clark (Past Program Chair of CSSE Learning Sciences SIG (Fall 2019-Summer 2021) - University of Calgary 

Douglas Clark’s research focuses on the design of digital learning environments, students’ learning processes, and the opportunities of design for teachers and students. He is particularly interested in how teachers reflect on the unspoken frames underlying the design of learning environments and the opportunities provided when teachers consider new possible frames to better serve students who traditionally have not been well served.

Dr. Stephanie Hladik - University of Manitoba  

Stephanie Hladik's research builds upon her academic preparation in science, engineering, and design, and takes a sociocultural approach to education, bringing in feminist and critical theory to understand and challenge hegemony within STEM education. She is particularly passionate about understanding the ways in which informal learning spaces, such as museums and makerspaces, can become places for individuals who have been historically marginalized in STEM to create educational experiences that resonate with their own personal, cultural, and embodied experiences in STEM. By engaging in this work, Stephanie hopes to uncover and challenge the power dynamics woven throughout community-based design research, research-practice partnerships, and STEM disciplines.

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.

Dr. Kristiina Kumpulainen - University of British Columbia 

Dr. Kristiina Kumpulainen is a Professor and Head of the Department of Language and Literacy Education in the Faculty of Education, the University of British Columbia, Canada. She is an interdisciplinary scholar in education who started her scholarly career more than 25 years ago studying digital literacies, classroom interaction and learning. Her scholarship is grounded on relational and cultural-historical inquiries into communication, learning and education to understand better how social, historical, political, cultural and technological contexts open and disclose educational opportunities for diverse learners. At the heart of her work is an enduring curiosity and passion for understanding the changing modes of literacies in people’s lives and how these are transforming the ways in which we communicate, educate, learn and play. Dr. Kumpulainen has conducted research studies in Finland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada and across a range of contexts, including schools, early childhood centers, teacher education, science centers, museums, homes, forests and online spaces. She has engaged in interdisciplinary research with academic, industry and community partners to co-develop playful, imaginative and participatory pedagogies and curricula for early childhood, K-12, and teacher education that affirm human, linguistic, and epistemological diversity and equity. She has researched and developed pedagogies for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) learning, multiliteracies, digital literacies, health literacies, and children’s ecological literacies. She has also developed approaches for visual, participatory, and multimodal research, and researching with children and teachers, increasing knowledge of democratic and ethical forms of inquiry. Dr. Kumpulainen communicates her work actively through scientific journals and books and through presentations targeted to academic and practitioner communities. She is the co-Editor of Elsevier’s journal Learning, Culture and Social Interaction.

Dr. Mahati Kopparla-University of Calgary

Mahati Kopparla (She/her) is Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Calgary. She received her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University and previously worked with the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development. Through her research, she explores how mathematical and scientific literacy can equip learners to become aware of the social and environmental issues in the world and act collectively as global citizens. She is passionate about hearing diverse voices and representing global perspectives through her work. She is inspired by the stories and teachings of her father and grandmother, which provided opportunities for learning beyond the school curriculum. She hopes to co-design learning spaces that are immersed in a sense of joy and narrow the divide between home and school. 

Dr. Marie-Claire Shanahan- University of Calgary

Marie-Claire Shanahan is Professor in the Learning Sciences in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary, Canada. Dr. Shanahan’s work centres the experiences of entrants into STEM communities, exploring how their experiences are shaped by interactions with others as well as structural discourses. Her research and teaching emphasizes publicness, unrecognized expertises and outsider identities in STEM education.