Cutting Edge Research
Student Seminar Series
Each year, the Laidlaw Research Centre hosts a monthly seminar in which Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students present their program of research. These seminars are sometimes used to help an early-stage student develop and refine their plans, and sometimes used to provide late-stage feedback to a student who is nearing completion of their degree. In some cases, and especially when the presenter is nearing completion of their PhD, these seminars are opened to the public and interested stakeholders in a variety of public and private institutions are invited to attend. The Laidlaw Seminar Series is a wonderful community gathering in which scholarly ideas can be shared and discussed among students and faculty from across the Department of Applied Psychology & Human Development (APHD) and beyond.
Robertson Program
The Robertson Program for Inquiry-based Teaching in Mathematics and Science creates, demonstrates, and disseminates inquiry-based teaching models for mathematics and science by focusing on teacher and student inquiry.
Our first goal is to help teachers become more reflective practitioners who strive to deepen their own knowledge of mathematics and science. The second goal is to help students cultivate critical thinking skills necessary for success in mathematics and science.
We use an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning because it focuses on questions and ideas. This allows students to deepen their conceptual understanding of mathematics and science concepts. By honouring and building on student knowledge and ideas, inquiry leads to equitable learning for all students.
Natural Curiosity
In 2011, Natural Curiosity embarked on a project to create and disseminate an inquiry-based framework designed to enable classroom educators to meet Ministry expectations for infusing environmental education throughout the curriculum. A four-branch framework for environmental inquiry was introduced, dynamically combining Inquiry-based Learning, Experiential Learning, Integrated Learning, and Stewardship. These theoretical orientations were brought vividly to life over the next eight years, as educators embraced the possibilities offered by this approach, and with their students, continued to find new ways to meaningfully and joyfully engage with the natural world.
In 2018, Natural Curiosity published an update: Natural Curiosity 2nd Edition: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in Children’s Environmental Inquiry. In the second edition, the four branches continue to provide the framework for environmental inquiry, with intriguing and substantive links to the views expressed through a newly expanded Indigenous lens. The Indigenous lens illuminates both marked continuities and evident disjunctions with Natural Curiosity’s approach to environmental inquiry. A humble evolution of the first, Natural Curiosity 2nd Edition signifies the starting point of an important conversation about learning in relationship with Mother Earth.
