Dan Grassick | University of Alberta (original) (raw)
I've currently in my second year of PhD studies at the University of Alberta. My area of concentration is school design and my dissertation project will explore the ways in which school spaces limit/enhance how teachers enact their pedagogical objectives.
I taught Science, Outdoor Education, Design, Foods, and Technology classes in Calgary for ten years prior to starting my doctoral work. I have over fifteen years of experience working at and developing programs for outdoor centres and summer camps and have spent my favourite days on earth in some of Canada's most remote places.
For the past five years I have helped plan and coordinate the Calgary City Teachers' Convention, the country's largest professional development conference for practicing classroom teachers.
My last year of teaching I received both the Alberta Teaching in Excellence Award and the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence. I miss being in the classroom and leading kids through the mountains, but I'm excited about the amount of school building projects on the horizon and the role I could play in making these better sites for 21st century learning.
Supervisors: Jason Wallin, Catherine Adams, and Greg Thomas
Address: Dept of Secondary Education
347 Education South
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5
Canada
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Papers by Dan Grassick
The decision to develop a school makerspace often draws upon the claims that making develops high... more The decision to develop a school makerspace often draws upon the claims that making develops higher-level thinking skills in students. Yet there is currently little to no empirical research into the cognitive and metacognitive developed by student makers. In this talk, a research design will be shared that can be used by educational researchers to determine the extent to which school makerspaces promote transferable metacognitive abilities and “better thinking” in students.
The entrance ways of most schools display “No Skateboarding” signs to deter youth from using scho... more The entrance ways of most schools display “No Skateboarding” signs to deter youth from using school staircases and walkways as playgrounds for their wheeled devices, but are schools striking the right balance between banning skateboards and encouraging youth activity? This paper juxtaposes contemporary architectural philosophy and injury incidence data to paint a picture of a hidden curriculum deep within the subconscious of our litigious education systems. At heart: the phenomenological experience of youth skateboarders at school.
Schools as designed spaces leave a lot to be desired in terms of place-making. Schools are often ... more Schools as designed spaces leave a lot to be desired in terms of place-making. Schools are often institutional settings that are more similar to prisons (in terms of their design and their effect on their users) than most educators might want to admit. It’s the purpose of this paper to briefly explore the problems with school design and to propose some possible solutions by way of sharing visual examples of outstanding design elements and public spaces.
This paper explores the human-technology relations of student identification cards and lanyards.... more This paper explores the human-technology relations of student identification cards and lanyards. Using a number of heuristics to explore the issue from different perspectives, the history and future of student identification is presented along with a critique of the effectiveness of the school ID card and lanyard as objects of control.
A place is not simply a three-dimensional space on Earth. For a space to become place, it must b... more A place is not simply a three-dimensional space on Earth. For a space to become place, it must be coded with meaning by individuals or groups of people who frequent it habitually. It is the enacted connections that a space has with its users, their activities, their intentions and their relationships that gives a place its meaning. This explores the ways that male teenagers go about creating place in a large urban neighbourhood.
In this short phenomenological paper, the teacherly response to the death of a student is explore... more In this short phenomenological paper, the teacherly response to the death of a student is explored.
This paper is a place story, it presents the personal narrative of an outdoor educator who create... more This paper is a place story, it presents the personal narrative of an outdoor educator who created a labyrinth with his students in a large park in a metropolitan city. The labyrinth was used by his students, their friends, and their friends' friends as place of solitude, reflection, and mindfulness that helped them navigate their high school lives.
The decision to develop a school makerspace often draws upon the claims that making develops high... more The decision to develop a school makerspace often draws upon the claims that making develops higher-level thinking skills in students. Yet there is currently little to no empirical research into the cognitive and metacognitive developed by student makers. In this talk, a research design will be shared that can be used by educational researchers to determine the extent to which school makerspaces promote transferable metacognitive abilities and “better thinking” in students.
The entrance ways of most schools display “No Skateboarding” signs to deter youth from using scho... more The entrance ways of most schools display “No Skateboarding” signs to deter youth from using school staircases and walkways as playgrounds for their wheeled devices, but are schools striking the right balance between banning skateboards and encouraging youth activity? This paper juxtaposes contemporary architectural philosophy and injury incidence data to paint a picture of a hidden curriculum deep within the subconscious of our litigious education systems. At heart: the phenomenological experience of youth skateboarders at school.
Schools as designed spaces leave a lot to be desired in terms of place-making. Schools are often ... more Schools as designed spaces leave a lot to be desired in terms of place-making. Schools are often institutional settings that are more similar to prisons (in terms of their design and their effect on their users) than most educators might want to admit. It’s the purpose of this paper to briefly explore the problems with school design and to propose some possible solutions by way of sharing visual examples of outstanding design elements and public spaces.
This paper explores the human-technology relations of student identification cards and lanyards.... more This paper explores the human-technology relations of student identification cards and lanyards. Using a number of heuristics to explore the issue from different perspectives, the history and future of student identification is presented along with a critique of the effectiveness of the school ID card and lanyard as objects of control.
A place is not simply a three-dimensional space on Earth. For a space to become place, it must b... more A place is not simply a three-dimensional space on Earth. For a space to become place, it must be coded with meaning by individuals or groups of people who frequent it habitually. It is the enacted connections that a space has with its users, their activities, their intentions and their relationships that gives a place its meaning. This explores the ways that male teenagers go about creating place in a large urban neighbourhood.
In this short phenomenological paper, the teacherly response to the death of a student is explore... more In this short phenomenological paper, the teacherly response to the death of a student is explored.
This paper is a place story, it presents the personal narrative of an outdoor educator who create... more This paper is a place story, it presents the personal narrative of an outdoor educator who created a labyrinth with his students in a large park in a metropolitan city. The labyrinth was used by his students, their friends, and their friends' friends as place of solitude, reflection, and mindfulness that helped them navigate their high school lives.