Gendered media representations of sexiness and their effects on girls' educational experiences

Using the Boys and Girls Club of Thunder Bay as a case study, this research focuses on how girls receive, understand, and resist dominant messages of femininity, heterosexuality, and the body that value sexiness over intelligence and academic success in the hidden curriculum in Ontario schools. The study explains how preadolescent girls age 8-14 are affected by the mass media, but also how they negotiate competing discourses in the hidden curriculum and may resist them. Premised on the fact that girls' thoughts, experiences, and opinions matter, the study utilizes girls' voices, stories, and ideas to provide solutions for the overwhelming evidence of gender disparities in the hidden curriculum. A feminist qualitative perspective is the foundation for the research, using focus group discussions to provide the space and time for preadolescent girls to reflect and offer their interpretations of the social world, shedding light on the lives and experiences of girls' by speaking with them, rather than about them. Through the use of the focus groups, girls' perspectives can provide valuable knowledge to assist educators to better serve the needs of girls at school. The results of the research indicate that preadolescent girls' educational experiences are affected by media content that continues to represent girls through features of heteronormative femininity

Introduction: Historical thinking, historical consciousness

In September, 2014, the University of Ottawa Education Research Unit, Making History / Faire l’histoire, hosted Canadian History at the Crossroads, a SSHRC-funded symposium in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Québec. The symposium brought together multiple stakeholders, historians, history and museum educators, classroom teachers—including Governor General’s award winners as well as teacher education and graduate students—to stimulate further public dialogue on pedagogies of history and the politics of remembrance. Building on some of the symposium’s original contributions as well as other submissions, this Canadian Journal of Education Special Capsule advances current debates in history education, historical thinking, and historical consciousness, and forges new directions for collective understandings of the past, by connecting with everyday lived experiences in the present. The contributions range from discussions of how young people themselves understand their past to the link- ages between forms of remembering and conceptions of the nation itself.

Social Studies, Science, and Civics: Teacher Education and Citizen Science in the 21st Century

Citizen science, research in which members of the public actively contribute scientific data, has recently evolved as a means to support scientific inquiry in the classroom, particularly in fields related to ecology and environmental science. Our research focuses on a collaborative project with teacher candidates, a science education professor, and a social studies education professor at a Canadian university. Teacher candidates were engaged in the classroom and beyond as they explored topics related to civics education and evidence-based decision making. Our findings demonstrate the potential effectiveness of a citizen science lens for science, social studies, and generalist teachers. Key Words: citizen science, citizenship/civics education, science education, social studies education, teacher education La science citoyenne, c'est-à-dire la recherche dans laquelle les membres du public contribuent activement aux données scientifiques, a récemment évolué comme un moyen de soutenir la recherche scientifique en classe, en particulier dans les domaines liés à l'écologie et aux sciences de l'environnement. Notre recherche porte sur un projet de collaboration avec de futurs enseignants, un professeur d'enseignement des sciences et un professeur d'enseignement des sciences sociales dans une université canadienne. Les candidats à l'enseignement se sont engagés dans la salle de classe et au-delà en explorant des sujets liés à l'éducation civique et à la prise de décision fondée sur des preuves. Nos résultats démontrent l'efficacité potentielle d'une optique de science citoyenne pour les professeurs de sciences, d'études sociales et les enseignants généralistes. Mots clés : science citoyenne; éducation à la citoyenneté/civique; enseignement des sciences; enseignement des études sociales; formation des enseignant