Undergraduate profiles

Aaron Bailey, Curriculum & Instruction

Aaron helped to conduct research into technology innovation in education with Dr. Valerie Irvine. Aaron's research project documented educational stakeholders experience with adoption of new technologies for teaching and learning in education. Focusing on exploring the variables that influence educational stakeholders acceptance and use of technologies in education. Aaron collected research data and analyzed results via the Technology Integration and Evaluation (TIE) Research Lab in the Faculty of Education. In addition to the JCURA fair, Aaron will present findings at the EdMedia conference and an Edcamp in June of 2013 in Victoria.

Jamie Elbert, Curriculum & Instruction 

Jamie's research project will be a design-based research study on the development and implementation of an English curriculum that utilizes iPads in a middle school classroom. The case study will include perspectives of the mentor teacher, pre-service teacher, and students who participate in the design experiment. Jamie was involved in the collection and presentation of a case study about the effectiveness of the design and the utilization of the iPad technology in middle school English curriculum. Results of this work will be presented at the World Conference of Educational Media and Technology, Canadian Society for the Study of Education, and at EdCamp Victoria.

Adrianna Haffey, Educational Psychology & Leadership Studies

The goal of Adrianna's research was to examine the effectiveness of goal setting interventions across 5 consecutive years in which ED-D 101 has been offered. Participants included 645 undergraduate students who have consented to participate in the research study (approx. 100 students per year). Specifically, research compared weekly goals set by students in five different iterations of ED-D101. Adrianna hopes that her research findings will become the central component of a published research paper that presents findings from a designed-based research methodology for improving self-regulated learning.

Jeffrey Horncastle, Educational Psychology & Leadership Studies

One of the most recent additions to the range of Immersive Virtual Environments has been the digital fulldome. However, not much empirical research has been conducted to explore its potential and benefits over other types of presentation formats. Jeffrey reviewed psychological frameworks within which to examine the properties of fulldome environments and compare them to those of other existing immersive digital environments. Jeffrey reviewed the state-of-the-art of virtual reality technology, and then surveyed core areas of psychology relevant to experiences in the fulldome, including visual perception, attention, memory, social factors and individual differences. Results of this work will be presented at the World Conference of Educational Media and Technology, Canadian Society for the Study of Education, and at EdCamp Victoria.

Drew Commandeur, Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education

Aging results in overt changes in an individuals ability to walk related to the mechanics of the movement. For example there are noticeable changes in the timing of muscle activity and the magnitude of forces across anatomical joints during walking in older individuals. Additionally, in older adults, there is also a decreased sensitivity to an induced disturbance during activities of daily living such as during standing or walking. In healthy young adults a disruption to normal walking results in a mechanical response that serves a beneficial functional response. For example, these responses provide valuable corrections to walking such as movement of a limb to avoid an expected obstacle or changes that assist forward progression. In older adults there is little research quantifying the mechanical responses to an electrically induced disturbance during walking. The study of mechanical responses, especially when compared to a young population, may be useful to establish mechanisms of age related mechanical changes and present potential markers for deterioration in functional ability. Drew assisted with research that qualified three-dimensional mechanical changes to a disturbance in walking in a young and older (>70) adult group. It was hypothesized that mechanical outcomes will be largest in the young adults and diminished in the older adults.

Christina McLean, Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education

As part of the larger Health Promoting Secondary Schools (HPSS) research study, funded by the Canadian Cancer Society - Prevention Initiative, Christina is interested in investigating the relationship between grade 10 students physical activity levels and whether they attended elementary and middle schools that were registered as part of the Action Schools! BC (AS!BC) provincial program. AS!BC is a whole school initiative intended to foster a culture of physical activity through curricula, school and community supports. Although AS!BC has been operating over the past ten years, its evaluation has not tracked students attending these schools prospectively, and so the primary outcome  physical activity levels - of students as they progress through the educational system, remains unknown. HPSS is a high school version of the elementary and middle school model, and has been implemented during the September 2011-June 2012 school year. The physical activity levels of students participating in the HPSS have been objectively (through accelerometers) and subjectively (through self-report) measured, and their elementary and middle school attendance self-reported as part of the suite of measures taken for the larger study.  The AS!BC provincial office has a database of all registered schools and the date of registration from which Christina will be able to identify if HPSS grade 10 students attended a registered AS!BC school two to five years earlier. Christina proposes to explore what, if any, relationship might exist between students experiences at elementary, middle and high schools, and their physical activity levels.

Nikita Pardiwala, Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education

Evidence suggests that actual motor skill competence, as well as childrens perceptions of their competence, is at the heart of a developmental model that can explain engagement or disengagement in physical activity. These perceptions of competence change from early to middle childhood. Young children tend to have inflated perceptions of their competence whereas older children (~7 to 12 years) have more accurate perceptions of competence. The study Nikita is assisting with will examine change in the relationship between perceptions of physical competence and motor skill proficiency from kindergarten to grade 2.  Building on data collected in the 2010-11 school year on children in kindergarten, the aims of this project are to:

• Describe the fundamental motor skill competence and perceptions of physical competence of children in grade 2.

• Examine the change in fundamental motor skill proficiency, perceptions of competence, and relationship between these variables from kindergarten to grade 2.

The project will involve assessing fundamental motor skills of grade 2 students from eight schools during physical education lessons. In addition, a perceptions of competence questionnaire will be administered with each child. All recruited grade two children will be included in the cross-sectional analyses for aim A), but only children assessed in kindergarten will be included in the longitudinal analysis to address aim B).

Michael Slater, Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education

The research project in which Michael will be involved is an initial stage of a larger study on the effectiveness of a multiple item visual tracking task (NeuroTracker TM) to aid in the diagnosis and recovery from concussions.   The primary goal of this initial project is to identify and document the developmental performance levels on the NeuroTracker TM of children, ages 7 to 15 years and to identify any developmental and/or perceptual-learning changes over a nine month period.   Two groups of participants (N=~500) will be involved in the project: children who are involved in minor hockey or other dynamic, open skill sports such as soccer or field hockey and children who are active but not participating in an open skill sport on a regular basis.  The results of this study will provide a developmental context for the use of the NeuroTracker TM as a diagnostic tool for concussion and return to play.

Graduate profiles

Coming soon!