Doctoral Student Profiles

Elizabeth Beattie is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on how students create meaningful outdoor environmental and science learning experiences, with an emphasis on early childhood education. She hopes to work with teachers and curriculum planners to incorporate outdoor learning into the standard curriculum, to promote meaningful, active, relevant, student-driven learning, teaching, and assessment. Elizabeth grew up in Toronto, but fell in love with the West Coast when she moved there to do her undergrad. She likes paddling, baseball, red wine, cats, and mystery novels.

Gabrielle (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy Studies. Her research interests revolve around whole school approaches to school food education, food literacy and food citizenship. Gabrielle has a background in agriculture and food security holding a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan and a M.A. in Human Development and Food Security from Roma Tre University in Italy. Gabrielle also has a background working in the non-profit sector through her work as a Program Coordinator with Agriculture in the Classroom – Saskatchewan. She is passionate about food security advocacy work and has been actively involved with the Canadian Food Grains Bank since 2016. In her free time Gabrielle likes to be outside cycling, hiking, camping, running and skiing as well as spending time with her partner (Mitch) and their cat (Desi).

Alim Fakirani is a PhD student and 4YF fellow in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. A graduate of McGill University (BA, 2007) and the Institute of Education – University College of London (MA Ed Hon. and MTeach Hon., 2010), Alim has taught a variety of young learners in Vancouver, Montreal, Kinshasa, and various regions in Madagascar. His experience working with refugee, immigrant, and (visible) minority students coupled with his experience of schooling in Canada as a first-generation Canadian inspired his desire to examine the representation of these students’ histories in Canadian curriculum. Alim is convinced that such inclusion could lead to a more robust Canadian democracy. He is excited to put this theory to the test as he pursues his doctorate. Alim’s previous published scholarship focused on religious literacy as a way of increasing understanding across lines of socio-religious differences. He also holds subject-specific certifications in social studies education from UBC and Harvard University. Alim is a father of two young girls who motivate him to think about their place, history, and narratives in the education they will receive.

Travis Fuchs is Action Research Specialist at Crofton House School and a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of British Columbia. His research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral, UBC’s Killam Doctoral Scholarship, and The Vancouver Poppy Fund. Travis does research in teacher professional development and science education. Prior to his current roles, he was a high school and middle school science, mathematics, and learning support teacher.

I, Maria Jose, am an educator who has had the opportunity to walk alongside Indigenous people on educational projects defined by their own terms. I have identified myself as two-Spirit Mestiza, with Indigenous heritage. I feel honoured to have worked collaboratively and to have learned how to recreate a curriculum in order to make it culturally responsive. After working on culturally relevant curriculum development, I always wonder what have others felt and learned from the experience and what we all can learn from that process. This is the reason why I wanted to explore the experience of the stakeholders involved in developing lessons based on the tipi story for my Master’s thesis. I was born in Mexico City and raised since I was two years old in the Cancun area. I have the blessing to speak the Mayan language, of the territory I grew up in, and my Mayan name is X-Jose. But also, I have worked with and understand Ayuujk Jay, Pur’epecha, Ñöñho, Yaqui, among others. I have been a visitor in Musqueam territory where I have had the blessing of studying my MA and now my PhD at UBC. For my PhD I want to compare how teachers feel to be prepared or not to work in minority Indigenous groups in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. I love the outdoors, love to share life, food and stories. I am happy to be part of the EDCP graduate community again!

Steve McGinley is a PhD. Candidate in the Faculty of Education, Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Health Outdoor and Physical Education (HOPE) program area at the University of British Columbia. Steve’s current research and passion lies in investigating the collaboration, relationships, leaderships, and network alliances at the multisectoral stakeholder-level necessary to advance the future of physical activity and physical literacy in school contexts. Most recently, Steve supported the development, implementation and evaluation of the School Physical Activity and Physical Literacy (SPA-PL) prototype project aimed to build the capacity of BC educators to support and deliver physical activity and physical literacy opportunities in the school setting. He is a trained K-12 Physical Education (PE) teacher, consultant and has extensive experience in schools as a PE teacher, PE department head, and an assistant athletic director. In his spare time he enjoys being outdoors, camping, out on the water, mountain biking, playing ice hockey, being active and coaching a plethora of youth sports in the community.

Marzieh Mosavarzadeh is a PhD student in art education at the University of British Columbia. Her arts-based educational research explores the emergent process of Making-Place through following and attending to the practice of propositional thinking and making while walking in a place. Marzieh is fascinated with the entanglement of the practices of writing and image making on-site while walking and how together they can work as an “oxidizing” method to enable the walker to follow things on the move while holding space for the meaning-making process to happen organically. In her research, Marzieh explores the kind of sorcery, complexity, and tension that pausing with and contemplating in spaces in-between brings to her a/r/tographic research. Marzieh holds her MFA and BFA degrees in visual arts.

I am from Vancouver and taught secondary English at a local independent school for 16 years. Before returning as a doctoral student under the supervision of Dr Anthony Clarke in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, I studied at UBC (BHK, BEd, MA) and completed a thesis entitled, “Coach-to-coach mentoring in a youth soccer academy: Applying theoretical knowledge within relevant contexts of practical sport coaching.” During this time, I was able to work closely alongside Dr Harry Hubball, whose guidance and mentorship were instrumental to my professional and academic development. My current research interests include teacher autonomy, teacher education, and curriculum theory. In my spare time, I enjoy playing soccer and golf, working in the garden, and being Daddy to my beautiful daughter.

Originally from Quebec, I attended both Concordia and McGill University in Montreal. With a background in both psychology and education, I moved to Vancouver to attend UBC and pursue a PhD in Curriculum Studies after obtaining an M.A. in Child Study. My research interests revolve around elementary school mathematics and preservice elementary school teacher preparation. I also keep busy outside of my academic pursuits by playing rugby, enjoying the outdoors, and spending time with my husband and our rescued bull terrier.

My name is Tsubasa Saito. I come from Tokyo, Japan, where I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Engineering at Hosei University as well as a Master’s degree in Education at Waseda University. My master’s research focussed on the mathematics education of immigrant children in Japanese schools. I worked as an IT engineer in Tokyo for approximately seven years before returning to graduate study. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, in the Faculty of Education at UBC. My research will explore immigrant families’ expectations as they relate to mathematics education in Canadian schools.

Megan Zeni is a PhD candidate who brings over 25 years of K-7 public school teaching to her research. With an M.Ed from the University of Toronto (OISE) that explored the academic value of play, her research interests have expanded to include pedagogies of place and play in the elementary school context. Megan has extensive experience teaching in public school outdoor classrooms, and consults broadly on school garden pedagogy with practical strategies for joyful outdoor play and learning. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, hiking, boating, and skiing with her family in this beautiful province we call home! Follow her learning journey at www.meganzeni.com or on Twitter and Instagram at @roomtoplay.

This is Ting Zhang, a PhD student at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, studying under the supervision of Dr. Ann Anderson. My research addresses how elementary students’ mathematical problem solving develops with robotics activities. Raised by parents with engineering backgrounds in Xi’an, China, I went to business school in Shanghai Jiaotong University, where I obtained my bachelor’s degree in business. I have been heavily involved in designing and teaching robotics programs for more than a decade after I received an MA in education from California State University in 2004. My current research attempts to examine the role of educational robotics as a learning aid within the context of problem-based learning in mathematics.