Biography
Academic Director of the Centre for Urban Schooling at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).
Research interests
Drawing on insights from practitioner research, critical literacy, and New Literacy Studies, Dr. Simon’s scholarship explores how educators develop understandings, curriculum, and pedagogy from students’ diverse cultures, languages, and literacy practices. The aim is to re-imagine schools and classrooms as places oriented to increased equity and educational opportunity for all students.
In 2015, Dr. Simon received the Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation for a project called “Addressing Injustices: Teachers and Adolescents Coauthoring Social Justice-Oriented Literacy Curriculum”. He is the principal investigator of The Minecraft Project, a recently completed SSHRC-funded study of youths’ perspectives on the educational affordances of the online game Minecraft for urban classrooms.