Year: 2024, 2024
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This thesis investigates the tensions, gaps and opportunities presented by outdoor play-based learning. Written by a founder of the Forest School concept in Canada, this exploration revolves around two research questions: How can we (re)conceptualize outdoor play-based learning in formal education for children aged 0-8, and how can we integrate and reinvigorate both pedagogical theory… more Year: 2023, 2023
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>The number of post-secondary programs for students with intellectual disabilities has been on the rise since the early 1990's (Plotner & Marshall, 2015). However, research focused on student experiences within these programs has been predominantly from faculty, mainstream students and parent's perspectives without accounting for what the students themselves are… more Year: 2023, 2023
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Bodnar, Jessica, Thesis advisor (ths): Bruce, Catherine D, Degree committee member (dgc): Hawes, Zachary, Degree committee member (dgc): Mooney, Claire, Degree committee member (dgc): Handlarski, Denise, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>Spatial reasoning and spatial structures are relatively new areas of research in mathematics education. In this study of children exploring spatial conceptions of grid structures, twenty-one children (ages 4-9) were given a series of tasks involving square grids during virtual interviews. As a result of an ideal-type analysis of the qualitative data, a typology of conceptions of grids… more Year: 2022, 2022
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This thesis is written in three parts and supported throughout by feminist critical pedagogical analysis and a narrative methodological approach. In Part I I lay a theoretical groundwork that weaves the Freirean roots of critical pedagogy with its more contemporary theories in application to K-12 schooling, and with feminist thinking, most notably Sara Ahmed whose work has moved me both… more Year: 2022, 2022
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Hays, Joseph Ronald, Thesis advisor (ths): Niblett, Blair, Degree committee member (dgc): Pendleton-Jiménez, Karleen, Degree committee member (dgc): Nichols, Naomi, Degree committee member (dgc): Tremblay, Katie, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>This study examines critical pedagogy as a novel approach to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) education at Peterborough Police Service (PPS). To begin, the present
study examines hypermasculinity and isolationism as cultural traits in policing that serve
as barriers to DEI education. Later, results of focus groups with PPS members that
investigated negative and positive… more Year: 2022, 2022
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Bergen, Rachelle, Thesis advisor (ths): Pendleton Jimenez, Karleen, Degree committee member (dgc): Arraiz Matute, Alexandra, Degree committee member (dgc): Bell, Nicole, Degree committee member (dgc): Goldstein, Tara, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>This is a story within a story that spans over a hundred years and four generations. It takes the reader from war-torn Russia during a famine to the urban streets of Toronto and then to the Canadian North. The story is a memoirette, or a 'not quite long enough, but almost a memoir' of a mother's journey navigating life after her son discloses his addiction to Fentanyl. The… more Year: 2022, 2022
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>In Ontario, mainstream education often does not meet the individual learning needs of high school students who experience marginalization. Alternative school programs may offer these students greater support and flexibility in completing their high school diploma. While previous research on alternative education in Ontario is thorough, it is limited to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). To… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This study used qualitative research methods to develop an understanding of the landscape of undergraduate academic advising in Ontario universities as well as deeply explore the experiences and practices of five full-time academic advisors. Phase one of the study consisted of a document analysis of Ontario universities' public-facing websites. Phase two of the study consisted of… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Lake, Whitney Anne, Thesis advisor (ths): Elliott, Paul, Degree committee member (dgc): Niblett, Blair, Degree committee member (dgc): Hill, Stephen, Degree committee member (dgc): Pendleton Jimenez, Karleen, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>Enhancing interpretive trails with smartphone technology may enrich the visitor's educational experience by stimulating deeper engagement and enjoyment that will improve immediate knowledge and help promote the development of environmental literacy. This connection between technology and environmental education can only be considered successful if enhanced enrichment and educational… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Queer youth are an at-risk group, with an incredibly high rate of harm and death as they grow into themselves. They are often advised to wait until they finish school to express their sexuality more openly, when they can leave to somewhere that is "better", which in this context can mean safer, more accepting, or far away from friends and family who may reject them.… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Through narrative/life story research this study explores the educational experiences of six individuals identified as Deaf or hard-of-hearing. The research presented will be conveyed in the form of an autoethnography, an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and analyze personal experience to understand cultural experience. I will combine the views of participants who… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Kolodzinski, Tyler Michael, Thesis advisor (ths): Bruce, Catherine D, Degree committee member (dgc): Bruce, Catherine, Degree committee member (dgc): Suurtamm, Christine, Degree committee member (dgc): Smale, William, Degree committee member (dgc): Mooney, Claire, Degree committee member (dgc): Niblett, Blair, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>This study investigates the potential for a responsive model of professional development in mathematics education which acknowledges how teachers perceive the value of professional learning, and examines how those perceptions are connected to teacher efficacy. Three fields of educational research ground this study: (i) professional development strategies in mathematics education, (ii)… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Drawing on pedagogies of care, queer pedagogy and Foucault's concept of biopower, this critical narrative study of six women teachers at an Ontario school uses interview data to explore how teaching affects women's bodies. Findings include the dominance of men in schools; the high rate of violence against teachers committed by students; participants' unwillingness to show… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Little thought is given to how equitable mathematics would better the lives of those marginalized, or how the increased inclusion of marginalized voices improves the practice of mathematics. The purpose of this narrative research is to explore students' voices and analyze aspects of math identity: the reported beliefs and practices of a group of elementary urban students who… more Year: 2019, 2019
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This qualitative case study explored the experience of members and associates of </p><p>one university history department in order to examine the phenomena of choosing and </p><p>working within the history major in the context of current declines in humanities </p><p>enrolment. Drawing on interviews with 7 professors, 8 student majors, and 10 </p… more Year: 2019, 2019
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This thesis is about the negative impacts on queer identities caused by the lack of diversity related to sexual orientation within Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum documents, both at the elementary and secondary level. Curriculum documents as well as policy documents are analysed and compared in order to address the lack of diverse sexual orientation representation within Ontario… more Year: 2019, 2019
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Mullins, Peter, Thesis advisor (ths): Niblett, Blair, Degree committee member (dgc): Allen, Andrew, Degree committee member (dgc): Berrill, Deborah, Degree committee member (dgc): Handlarski, Denise, Degree committee member (dgc): Pendleton Jimenez, Karleen, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>In this thesis, I use "Trump's Wall" between Mexico and the US to resist Eurocentrism and the challenges Eurocentric pedagogy poses to the research-practitioner. In my method, I reimagine C. Alejandra Elenes' borderlands theory as a zone of empowerment within a multicultural Canadian classroom, and braid it in a hybrid assemblage with the rhizome. </p><p>… more Year: 2018, 2018
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This study examines how student activism around the closure of Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School (PCVS), an inner-city school in a medium–sized Ontario town has influenced youths' life experiences, views on power, political engagement, and personal agency. Following a critical narrative methodology, this qualitative study, conducted four to five years after the school… more Year: 2018, 2018
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This study used qualitative research methods to explore the first- and second-year experiences of Trent University students who were admitted below admission requirements in September 2015. Through review of an on-line questionnaire completed by 13 students and two-rounds of semi-structured interviews completed by 5 students, information was gathered on the students' experiences,… more Year: 2018, 2018
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Agricultural adaptation is a significant component of the larger challenge humans face in adapting to the impacts of climate change. There are extensive studies of agricultural adaptation, however little is known about how farmers in Ontario share knowledge about effective adaptation practices. This qualitative research study contributes to the understanding of the educational context… more Year: 2018, 2018
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>In 2015, Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission called upon Canadians to reconcile relationships between Settlers and Indigenous peoples in Canada. Education for reconciliation is one important element of this process. However, critical questions arise when education is undertaken by and for Settlers such as myself: Are our undertakings actually fostering reconciliation?… more Year: 2018, 2018
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This thesis reports the outcomes of a mixed methods exploratory study on young children's spatial reasoning and mathematics involving unplugged (offline) coding with young children (JK-Grade 2). Intrigued by the increased push for coding in schools, teachers and researchers worked together in a collaborative research process to design a sequence of unplugged coding activities and… more
