Contributors

Laurence Abbott

Laurence Abbott is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta. His areas of interest include social studies curriculum, citizenship pedagogy and historical thinking. His doctoral research focuses on ways teachers’ complex identities and subjectivities impact the reading and interpretation of curriculum documents and texts encountered in the classroom. He is currently working with group research participants in an action research study to understand how attention to certain aspects identity impact pedagogic planning and classroom practice, especially how these influence and shape overt and covert citizenship pedagogies.  His research is taking place in the broader context of a new social studies program in Alberta structured around the central concepts of citizenship and identity.  Laurence has been studying citizenship education for the last six years. His MEd thesis reported on a case study of urban high school teachers’ understandings of the notion of citizenship and its place in core subject areas. In addition to his research work, Laurence teaches a curriculum and pedagogy course for social studies majors in the BEd program at the University of Alberta.

Jennifer Bonnell

Jennifer Bonnell is a Board Member and Program Coordinator with The History Education Network / Histoire et Éducation en Réseau (THEN/HiER). She holds a doctorate from the History Program at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Her research focuses on the intersections between historical land use and people’s experience of place in North American environments. Her dissertation research, conducted with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s Canada Graduate Scholarship, explored the social and environmental history of the Don River in Toronto, and the range of factors—ecological, cultural and economic—that shaped the river’s course and condition over time.

Jennifer has published articles in Museum & Society and the Journal of Canadian Studies. Aspects of her research on the Don River have appeared in the recent collection, HtO: Water in the Toronto Landscape Toronto’s Waterfront (Coach House Books, 2008), and in Reshaping Toronto’s Waterfront (forthcoming from the University of Toronto Press in March 2011). She is the co-creator of the Don Valley Historical Mapping Project, a collaborative initiative with the University of Toronto Map Library that maps changing land use in the Don watershed. Her current research explores the history of bee-keeping in Ontario and New York State. She can be reached at jenniferlbonnell [at] gmail [dot] com.

Mary Chaktsiris

Mary Chaktsiris is a Ph.D. candidate in History at Queen’s University, specializing in the study of the First World War and masculinity through a case-study of the city of Toronto.  She first became interested in History Education while completing my M.A. at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT), and this interest has only grown through my interaction with undergraduate history students in seminars, tutorials and lecture halls. She’ll be sharing some of her experiences interacting with students and colleagues alike within her blog posts. She is particularly interested in interacting with other History educators to develop strategies and resources for the teaching of history at post-secondary levels, and particularly for Teaching Assistants (TA’s) in History departments.

Samantha Cutrara

Samantha Cutrara is a 3rd year PhD  candidate in the Faculty of Education at York University, who is  interested in understanding the classroom practices – the interactions between teacher-student, student-student, teacher-material, and student-material – that supports or curtails opportunities for critical and meaningful learning and teaching in high school history education. Her transformative curricular model, Historic Space, has been her ongoing research focus since 2004 and she is excited to work with teachers in the Toronto District School Board for this stage of her research.  More information can be found at www.SamanthaCutrara.com

Catherine Duquette

Catherine Duquette works in history education (didactique de l’histoire). Her research interests are historical thinking, historical conciousness and the use of controversial issues to teach history. She is currently finishing a PhD at Laval University on the relationship between historical thinking and historical consciousness.

 

Laura Fraser

Laura Fraser is a Program Coordinator at The Historica-Dominion Institute, Canada’s largest not-for-profit organization dedicated to Canadian history and citizenship. At the Institute, Laura explores the contributions of young Aboriginals to Canada’s history and mythology and also works on initiatives to teach history and sciences through Canada’s Parks and Historic Sites.

Laura is a graduate of Queen’s University (History) and the University of Ottawa (Education), and is an accredited educator with the Ontario College of Teachers. Her field of interest is Canadian history, particularly Canadian military history, memory and commemoration. She is co-author of The 175 Best Camp Games: A Handbook for Leaders (Boston Mills Press, 2009.)

Lindsay Gibson

Lindsay Gibson is a second year PhD student working with Drs. Peter Seixas and Penney Clark in the Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia. For the last three years, he has taught the social studies methods course 5^th year education students at UBC Okanagan and UBC Vancouver. Before returning to graduate school, he taught secondary social studies and history for ten years in Kelowna, BC. As a member of the THEN/HiER graduate student committee for the past two years, Lindsay has participated in a number of network projects, including  the development of a database of primary sources on topics in Canadian history. He has also written and edited curriculum materials for The Critical Thinking Consortium (TC²), including The Governor’s Letters: Uncovering Colonial British Columbia, and Exploring Identity, Inclusion and Citizenship: The 1907 Vancouver Riots.

Lindsay is currently working on two major projects: 1) “Chinese Canadian Stories – Uncommon Histories from a Common Past,” a collaboration with the University of British Columbia Library for the Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP); and 2) a project that focuses on the internment of enemy aliens during World War I for the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.

Thomas Peace

Thomas Peace is a PhD candidate in history at York University. He is interested how people learn, experiential education, the social and cultural dynamics of community, relationships between peoples with radically different experiences, and connections between geography, environment and community. Tom’s PhD research is focused on the impact and experiences of the fall of New France on Aboriginal communities in Quebec and Acadia. He also helps to coordinate the Approaching the Past workshop on teaching history in Toronto and serves as an editor of ActiveHistory.ca.  Tom’s research has been published in French Colonial History and Leisure/Loisir.  He can be reached at tspeace [at] gmail [dot] com.

Cynthia Wallace-Casey

Cynthia Wallace-Casey is a Doctoral student in Education at the University of New Brunswick. She also holds a Masters degree (with a Diploma in Material Culture) from the University of New Brunswick.  Her masters thesis, entitled “Providential Openings,” was a case study of women weavers in 19^th century New Brunswick, which pieced together the (then) unrecognised contribution of female home workers to the economy of rural Queens County. Cynthia has worked in the field of public history and heritage for over twenty years.  She commenced her career as curator of a local community museum; has also been curator of collections at Kings Landing Historical Settlement; and was a member of the restoration team for Government House in Fredericton, where she was responsible for the development of interpretation and education programs for this national and provincial historic site. Since 2003, she has been manager of heritage education for Heritage Branch in the Province of New Brunswick. In this role, she works directly with educators and students of the province (both anglophone and francophone). She is deeply involved with heritage fairs. Cynthia’s doctoral research is in the area of self-constructed meaning from the past. She will be investigating the interconnection between community heritage organizations, museums, and classroom instruction in Historical Thinking. Visit Cynthia’s personal blog at: http://nbheritage.blogspot.com/