SFU Library Digital Publishing (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver)
Not a member yet
4841 research outputs found
Sort by
Informal science educator professional identity
No full textThere have been calls for meeting the goals of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) through instruction and experiences in out-of-school, informal science education contexts. To maximize the effectiveness of such experiences, teachersand informal science educators must collaborate to create meaningful science learning experiences. However, in contrast to teachers, there has been little work done with informal science educators (ISErs), and their professional identity and motivations are not well understood. This paper presents the results of a survey and interview study with informal science educators in a state in the U.S. Midwest. Using a sociocultural framing of identity, we examined the values and positioning of ISErs through two avenues: their work with teachers, and the role of place/content in their work. We found that ISErs see their work as complementary to that of teachers. In addition, the place of their work or the content they teach were valued in different ways. We conclude with a discussion of how informal science educator identity can infl uence collaboration with teachers to the benefi t of students. 
SENDING CLEAR MESSAGES: STEADFAST DEFENDER 2024
Full text linkOn November 20th, 2024, Lieutenant Colonel Kendrah Allison and Benjamin Patterson from Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe presented Sending Clear Messages: Steadfast Defender 2024 for this year’s West Coast Security Conference. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives. The key points discussed were the Steadfast Defender exercise itself, the online perception of the exercise, and the measurable deterrence and assurance outcomes.
Received: 12-11-2024
Revised: 01-29-202
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON IDENTITY AND DISINFORMATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Full text linkOn November 18, 2024, Mr. Dean Jackson presented Critical Perspectives on Identity and Disinformation in the Digital Age for this year’s West Coast Security Conference. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives. The key points discussed included the three eras of study and response, approaches and limitations in confronting disinformation, and implications for future research and response.
Received: 01-26-2024
Revised: 01-24-202
CANADIAN DEFENCE POLICY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: AN ASSESSMENT OF CAPABILITIES AND COMMITMENTS
Full text linkOn November 20, 2024, Dr. Philippe Lagassé presented Canadian Defence Policy in the 21st Century: An Assessment of Capabilities and Commitments for this year’s West Coast Security Conference. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives. The key points discussed addressed the state of Canadian defence, focusing on current challenges, future prospects, and lingering issues in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).
Received: 12-17-2024
Revised: 01-27-202
The Effects of Implementing Mindfulness Training in Professional and Retired Soccer Players
Full text linkImplementing mindfulness training has positive effects on both current and retired professional soccer players. Mindfulness training should be implemented into athlete training programs as it can significantly enhance players’ performance, resilience, and overall well-being, making it a valuable addition to their training programs. The main arguments include an overview of mindfulness techniques such as Psychological Skills Training (PST), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness Acceptance and Commitment (MAC) approach, and Mindful Sport Performance Enhancing (MSPE), all tailored for sports performance. The benefits of mindfulness training include more effective decision-making, attentional focus, and emotional regulation leading to better on-field performance and off-field mental health. Additionally, there are specific challenges faced by retired players, and mindfulness practices can offer alternate coping mechanisms in addition to aiding their transition away from professional sports by addressing anxiety, depression, and stress. Despite the potential criticism regarding resource allocation and the prioritization of physical training, the short- and long-term benefits of mindfulness justify its integration into the training regimens of soccer players. Emphasis on the importance of incorporating mindfulness to enhance both the physical and mental aspects of soccer will ultimately advocate for its widespread adoption into the sport.
Keywords— Mindfulness, Soccer Players, PST, MAC, MBSR, MSPE, Well-Being
Social Media and Films as Drivers of Public Awareness on Human Trafficking in Southwest Nigeria
Full text linkEffective public awareness campaigns are carefully required since human trafficking is still a major problem in Nigeria. This paper looks at how much films and social media shape Southwest Nigeria's popular knowledge of human trafficking. Data from 400 people were gathered using a quantitative research method and examined using correlation and paired sample t-test techniques. Results show that although films and social media are generally acknowledged as powerful tools, their direct influence on public awareness is rather small. The correlation study (r = -0.069, p = 0.168) shows no meaningful link between awareness levels and media exposure. The t-test findings (t = -73.420, p < 0.001) draw attention to a strong sense of the media's possible function even if there are discrepancies in real involvement with trafficking-related material. The report emphasises the importance of focused solutions, such as improved media literacy, fact-checking systems, interactive content, and policy-driven awareness campaigns. These approaches can close the distance between perception and actual knowledge, hence enabling media to be a more powerful advocacy weapon. To maximise the function of media in fighting human trafficking, the report advises media professionals, legislators, and civil society groups to work together
Learning and Becoming in Movement at the Intersection of Formal and Informal Science
No full textThis paper builds on the policy statement of the Informal Science Education “Ad Hoc” Committee (Dierking et al., 2003), and unpacks what a convincing story of real world and lifelong learning in science might entail, as called for in the policy document. The paper takes that policy statement a step further by bringing a critical lens to current research on informal science education, resulting in calls for action in future research, that are illustrated through vignettes from three collaborative research projects. Throughout, we pay attention to the emotional work youth participants in afterschool and community programs are engaged in, marked by intersectionality. We argue that it is this kind of emotional work entangled with assigned positions and the authoring of new selves, that informal science practices can support. One vignette focuses on a girls-only afterschool space in which science is refi gured through joint-work, another vignette explores a youths’ educational ecology and brings a space-time reading to learning and becoming in movement, while the last case focuses on navigations among epistemologies in the context of a water stewardship project led by Inuit. The three vignettes and subsequent discussions make possible the proposition of some new tools to think with for design studies and future joint projects committed to equity, deeply seated in and leading to expansive forms of participation, transformations and agency in and of science. In doing so, the paper aims to shift the performance range and positionality of learners and becoming in science and push us to attend more tightly to what happens outside the pipeline vision of science, and the manner science is entangled with learning lives. 
Uncertainty in the Absence of Urban Design: A Right-to-the-City Analysis of Informal Spatial Justice in Zanjan’s Palestine Neighborhood
Full text linkThis article investigates the interplay between urban uncertainty, spatial injustice, and the absence of formal urban design in an informal neighborhood in Iran. Using Henri Lefebvre’s "Right to the City" and his spatial triad (conceived, perceived, and lived space), the study focuses on the Palestine neighborhood in Zanjan—a marginalized area shaped by exclusionary policies, infrastructural neglect, and minimal civic engagement. Employing a critical qualitative approach, including interviews, field observations, and policy document analysis, the research reveals how the lack of urban design intensifies spatial inequities and contributes to residents’ social and psychological marginalization. In the face of absence of planning data and institutional inaction, Lefebvre’s theory offers a vital epistemological lens to reinterpret urban informality and reimagine more just planning frameworks. Ultimately, the article calls for an ethical reframing of urban design that recognizes informal spatial practices as legitimate and emphasizes the political dimensions of design in contexts marked by uncertainty and marginalization
Morality, AI, and Humanity in Detroit: Become Human
Full text linkThis paper was originally written for Professor Michael Filimowicz’s IAT 210 course Introduction to Game Studies: Theory and Design. The assignment asked students to submit an approximately 2000 word research essay related to a particular video game. The video game must be avatar/character-based, have a narrative premise or backstory, and have a virtual world. The paper uses APA citation style.
This paper does a deep dive into how the choose-your-own-adventure video game Detroit: Become Human actively encourages players to choose what they deem is the most moral choice within the context of the game and allows players to contemplate the moral and philosophical consequences of their choices
Community and Belonging: Being a Trans Man in a Queer Soccer League
Full text linkSports are traditionally highly gender segregated, creating spaces of exclusion and discrimination for non-normative sexuality and gender identities. This has been countered with the creation and maintenance of lesbian and gay sports leagues that have, in more recent years, widened their scopes to include a wider array of ‘queer’ identities. This paper aims to understand and analyze a transgender man’s subjective experience of belonging and community in a queer Vancouver sports league through ethnographic research methods. While current scholarship relating to transgender people and sports largely investigates the ways in which transgender people experience unbelonging and exclusion in sports and ‘queer’ spaces, my research finds that my primary interlocutor experiences strong senses of community and belonging in a queer sports space. Through observation and interview, I examine the underlying phenomena that explain my interlocutor’s experience of positive trans selfhood in a space that is often problematic for trans individuals in Canada