Research in CTL
Inquiry. Innovation. Practice.
Faculty in CTL are engaged in a dynamic array of innovative research that examines pedagogical practices, curriculum development, and the intersections of culture and learning and are committed to advancing educational theory and practice, equity, inclusivity, and social justice through inquiry, innovation and practice. The research conducted in CTL not only informs educational policy and practice but also aims to transform the educational experiences of learners across the globe. Explore the groundbreaking work being conducted within CTL and discover how our faculty is shaping the future of education.
Spotlight
Losing Childhood Innocence
Professor Julie Garlen recently appeared on CBC's Ideas podcast in an episode titled "Losing Childhood Innocence." She argues that framing childhood as a time of innocence does a disservice to children. Instead, Garlen believes childhood should be viewed through the lens of justice, acknowledging the complex and often difficult experiences children face. She points out that idealized images of childhood as carefree and blissful ignore the reality that children, even those who are privileged, experience sadness, disappointment, and adversity. Garlen emphasizes that children have rights and should have some control over their lives, and recognizing their struggles is crucial for their development. She also highlights the challenges of discussing difficult subjects like racism in a politically polarized environment, stressing the need for a more nuanced understanding of childhood. CBC recently published an article titled "The Idea of Childhood Innocence is a Disservice to Kids" based on Garlen's episode.
Nonviolence and Holistic Education
In a recent interview with Professor Hongyu Wang titled "Nonviolence and Holistic Education," Professor John (Jack) Miller reflects on his lifelong commitment to peace and transformative education, shaped by his experiences as a young American during the Vietnam War and his move to Canada in 1969. Drawing on Gandhi’s concept of “soul force,” he explores the deep connection between nonviolence and holistic education, emphasizing their shared aim to nurture the whole person—body, mind, and spirit—while fostering compassion, inner strength, and social responsibility. A leading scholar in the field, Professor Miller has spent over four decades advancing holistic and contemplative education at OISE, University of Toronto, and is the author of several influential works, including The Holistic Curriculum, Love and Compassion, The Contemplative Practitioner, and his memoir A Holistic Educators Journey: Seeking Wholeness in America, Canada, Japan and Asia, with his latest book, How to Teach Holistically, set for release in August 2025.
Upcoming Faculty Research Grants
Grant Opportunity | NOI | MRA | UofT Internal Deadline | Sponsor |
| SSHRC Connection Grant | N/A | APR.24.2025 | APR.28.2025 | MAY.1.2025 |
| Spencer Foundation Racial Equity Research Grants | MAY.5.2025 12 PM CT | JUN.11.2025 | JUN.18.2025 | JUN.25.2025 |
| Spencer Foundation Large Research Grants | MAY.14.2025 12 PM CT | JUN.3.2025 | JUN.10.2025 | JUN.17.2025 |
| SSHRC Partnership Engage Grants | N/A | JUN 2025 (TBA) | JUN 2025 (TBA) | JUN.15.2025 |
| SSHRC Insight Grants | N/A | SEPT 2025 (TBA) | SEPT 2025 (TBA) | OCT 2025 (TBA) |
| SSHRC Partnership Development Grants | N/A | NOV 2025 (TBA) | NOV 2025 (TBA) | NOV 2025 (TBA) |
Funded Research
Each year, groundbreaking research conducted by faculty at the Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning influences educational policy in the province of Ontario, across Canada and around the world. Here is a list of our Department's funded research projects.
Alex Cavalcante
Project: Numeracy Practices in Contemporary Curriculum and Pedagogy: Exploring the Benefits of an Online Digital Technology
Sponsor: Mitacs Accelerate
Tara Goldstein
Project: 60 Years of Queer Moments of Activism
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Alex Cavalcante
Project: Financial Numeracy in Ontario Mathematics: The Case of Simple and Compound Interest
Sponsor: Connaught New Researcher Fund
Ruben Gaztambide-Fernandez
Project: Pedagogies of Community Engagement: Strengthening the Practice of Facilitation in Community-Based Projects and Partnerships
Sponsor: Spencer Research-Practice Partnerships
Sandra Styres
Project: International Indigenous Consortium of Teacher Educators: Indigenous Resurgence and Digital Technologies in Teacher Education
Sponsor: SSHRC Partnership Development Grant
Fikile Nxumalo
Project: Designing for Climate Justice Education in a Canadian City: Learning with Black Ecologies
Sponsor: Urban Challenges Grant
Cassie Brownell
Project: Sensory Stories of Environmental Stewardship: A Cross-Coastal Constellation of Children Cultivating, Crafting and Communicating Nature Narratives.
Sponsor: SSHRC New Frontiers in Research Fund
Sarfaroz Niyosov
Project: Educational Experience of Canadian High School Students from Post-Soviet Backgrounds: A Multiple Method, Multiple Embedded Case Study.
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Grant
Arlo Kempf
Project: Understanding the Schooling Experience of Ontario Youth Without Immigration Status
Sponsor: SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant
Jennifer Brant
Project: Reconciliatory Education: Examining the New "First Voices" Course
Sponsor: Spencer Small Research Grant
Carol-Ann Burke
Project: A Science Centre's Investigation of STEM Education Engagement Strategies for Minoritized Children and Youth
Sponsor: SSHRG Partnership Engage Grant
Alex Cavalcante
Project: Epistemologies of Simple and Compound Interest in Middle and High School Mathematics: Curriculum and Teaching Practices
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Rubén Gaztambide-Fernandez
Project: Leading under Duress: School Leadership Practices in the Context of Systemic Crises
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Rubén Gaztambide-Fernandez
Project: Pedagogies of Solidarity: Supporting Public Education for Minority Students in Chilean Universities through Participatory Action Research
Sponsor: ELAP Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program
Jim Hewitt And Clare Brett
Project: An Introduction to Effective Online Teaching for Elementary and Secondary Instructors
Sponsor: eCampus Ontario Virtual Learning Grant
Kim MacKinnon
Project: Designing for Meaningful Synchronous and Asynchronous Discussion in Online Courses
Sponsor: ECampus Ontario Virtual Learning Grant
Marlene Scardamalia
Project: Knowledge Building in Digital Collaborative Assessment Environments
Sponsor: Manchester University-University of Toronto Research Fund
Jeff Bale
Project: Language, Race, and Regulating Difference: The Heritage Languages Program in Ontario, 1977-1987
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Grant
Cassie Brownell
Project: Learning to 'Be Loud' Through Radio Broadcasting: Examining how Children Use Digital Literacies to Amplify Community Stories
Sponsor: ELATE Research Initiative Grant
Gila Hanna
Project: Teaching proof with technology to enhance understanding in undergraduate mathematics
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Grant
Doug McDougall
Project: Creating Equitable Structures in Early Secondary School Mathematics
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Grant
Fikile Nxumalo
Project: Climate Change Education in the Global South: Developing Climate Justice Pedagogies with Young Children in a rural eSwatini Community
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Enrica Piccardo
Project: Advancing agency in language education (AALE)
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Grant
Enrica Piccardo
Project: COVID-19: Supporting online language learning: Fostering pedagogical innovation in a time of crisis
Sponsor: SHRC PEG - COVID-19 Response
Jim Slotta
Project: Active Learning Labs Project
Sponsor: John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF)/Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
Jim Slotta
Project: International Partnerships in Education: Supporting 21st Century Competencies and Student Empowerment
Sponsor: Connaught Global Challenge
Sandra Styres
Project: Tutoring and Peer Mentorship: Indigenous Student Success, Achievement and Well-Being
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Jennifer Brant
Project: Indigenous Student Experiences and Cultural Safety Post TRC: Indigenous Requirement Courses in Teacher Education
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Development Grant
Cassie Brownell
Project: Making Citizens in an Urban Primary Classroom: Exploring Young Children's Critical Maker Literacies
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Development Grant
Michelle Dubek
Project: Full STEAM Ahead: Exploring Innovative Assessment in Integrated Elementary Classrooms
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Development Grant
Arlo Kempf
Project: Teacher Practice, Racial Equity & Class Size
Sponsor: Connaught New Researcher Award
Emmanuelle Le Pichon-Vorstman
Project: Plurilingual pedagogies and digital technologies to support learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics
Sponsor: SSHRC - Partnership Development Grant
Fikile Nxumalo
Project: Learning with Place: Exploring Environmental Justice with Marginalized Young Children
Sponsor: Connaught New Researcher Award
Stephanie Springgay
Project: Critical Walking Methodologies of Place: Research-Creation with Diverse Publics
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Grant
Shelley Stagg Peterson
Project: Northern Oral Language and Writing through Play: A Partnership Supporting Indigenous Children’s Language, Cultural Knowledge and Writing
Sponsor: SSHRC Partnership Grant
Sandra Styres
Project: Indigenous Artist in Residence, Deepening Knowledge Project
Sponsor: City of Toronto Indigenous Arts & Culture Partnership
Angela Vemic
Project: Operationalizing citizenship education in a climate of epistemic crisis: Teacher beliefs about and practices of knowledge work in a networked information landscape
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Development Grant
Lawrence Bencze
Project: Collaborations Mobilizing School Science Students' Critical & Active Civic Engagement
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Grant
Jennifer Brant
Project: Indigenous Student Experiences Post TRC: Indigenous Requirement Courses in Teacher Education
Sponsor: Connaught New Researcher Award
Carol-Ann Burke
Project: Could this be a Place for Us? A Community Level Analysis Exploring the Engagement of Children from a Low-Income Community with a Local Science Centre
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Development Grant
Carol-Ann Burke
Project: STEM Research to Inform Curriculum Refresh
Sponsor: Ministry of Education
Karyn Cooper
Project: Unpacking the Creation of Big Ideas: How can the Biographies of Multidisciplinary Innovators Inform 21st Century Teaching and Learning?
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Grant
Kathleen Gallagher
Project: Towards Youth: Youth Civic Engagement and Theatre
Sponsor: SSHRC – Engage Grant
Jim Hewitt & Mary Reid
Project: A new approach to Ontario's problems with elementary school mathematics
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Development Grant
Arlo Kempf
Project: Implicit Bias and Teacher Professional Practices at the Individual and Institutional Levels: Investigating Mitigation and Elimination Practices in Secondary Schools
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Development Grant
Cecelia Morgan
Project: Elite Families and Settler Society, Nineteenth-Century Ontario
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Grant
Jim Slotta
Project: Active Learning Communities for K-12 Science Classrooms
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Grant
Sandra Styres
Project: Iethi’nihsténha Ohwentsia’kékha (Land), Resurgence, Reconciliation and the Politics of Education
Sponsor: CRC/CFI
Clive Beck & Clare Kosnik
Project: Pedagogy of literacy teacher education: Meeting the challenges of 21st century literacies
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Grant
Indigo Esmonde
Project: Drawing conclusions: Comics as method for educational research
Sponsor: Spencer MidCareer Grant
Antoinette Gagné
Project: The Academic and Social Integration of Syrian Refugees in Elementary and Secondary Schools
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Grant
Jeff Bale
Project: More Than "Just Good Teaching": Mainstream Teacher Education for Supporting English Language Learners and Teacher Education Policy in Ontario
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Grant
Karyn Cooper
Project: What Does It Mean to Become Worldly? Using Citizen Documentary to Document and Mobilize Social Justice Scholarship
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Development Grant
Diane Gérin-Lajoie
Project: Trajectoires de vie de jeunes immigrants diplomes en contexte scolaire francophone minoritaire
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Grant
Ruth Sandwell
Project: The Canadian Clearances: Land, Energy and the Transformation of Rural
Canada, 19401980
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Development Grant
Sandra Styres
Project: Contested Places: Indigeneity and Indigenization within Mainstream Higher Education
Sponsor: SSHRC - Insight Development Grant
Carol-Ann Burke
Project: Minority middle school student engagement in public science: A qualitative analysis of factors influencing participation
Sponsor: Connaught New Researcher Award
Shelley Stagg Peterson
Project: Dynamic Assessment of Aboriginal Children's Speech-Language Abilities
Sponsor: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Planning and Dissemination Grant
Shelley Stagg Peterson
Project: Young Children's Oral Language and Writing in Northern Rural and Indigenous Communities
Sponsor: SSHRC Connection Grant
Enrica Piccardo
Project: QualiCEFR: Quality in the implementation of the Common European Framework of Reference
Sponsor: SSHRC Insight Development Grant
