About Us
The EaSEIL initiative is a combined effort between faculty, staff, students, and UBC partnering offices across departments and disciplines.
Our Story
Guiding Principles
Broadly speaking, we take inspiration from the advocacy by Syilx elders (Christina Marchand, Eric Mitchell) and aim to move forward together to reimagine and improve student learning experiences in UBC science and engineering courses that engage students with the Land. In this initiative, we strive towards equitable partnerships, trusting relationships, and transparency in our intentions and activities.
These principles guide our work and activity outputs:
•FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable (Wilkinson at al., 2016)
•CARE: Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics (Carroll et. al., 2020)
•TRUST: Transparency, Responsibility, User focus, Sustainability, Technology (Lin et al., 2020)
As such, we amplify good practices and work already happening. We meet people where they are. We collaborate and consult. We pause, reflect, and aim to do no harm.
Community Guidelines
Within the Community of Practice we aimed to create a learning environment where respect for one another and collaboration to enhance understanding or produce resources/ideas were at the forefront. Every member was invited to participate as a partner in knowledge building.
We co-constructed community guidelines for collaboration and learning together with instructors and partners and revisited these in every meeting:
Team and Partners
The EaSEIL initiative is a combined effort between faculty, staff, students, and UBC partnering offices across departments and disciplines.
Leadership Team
PI, Project Manager,
Community of Practice Design, Lead Research & Evaluation
Co-PI, Place-based Indigenous Communities’ Partnerships, Culturally Congruent Pedagogies
Community of Practice
Design & Facilitator,
Research & Evaluation
Students as Partners
Inclusion & Accessibility
EaSEIL Community of Practice Instructors
Twenty-nine faculty members have participated in the EaSEIL Community of Practice meetings and activities over time. They belong to the Departments of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (19); Integrated Sciences (1), Geography (1), Mining Engineering (1), Botany (2); and to the Faculty of Forestry (3) in the UBC Vancouver Campus. Two members joined EaSEIL remotely from the Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences in UBC-Okanagan Campus.
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Hal Bradbury5
Roger Beckie1
Brett Gilley1
Lee Groat1
Lindsey Heagy1
Ken Hickey1
Mitch D’Arcy4
Tara Ivanochko1
Maite Maldonado1
Scott McDougall3
Michael Lipsen2
Simon Peacock1
Lucy Porritt1
Joel Saylor1
James Scoates1
Shandin Pete1
Matthew Tarling5
Jason Yeung1
Jason Young5
Geography
Brett Eaton6
Nina Hewitt1
Integrated Sciences
Denise Gabriel2
Faculty of Forestry
Nolan Bett2
Warren Cardinal-McTeague2
Suzie Lavallee4
Mining Engineering
Tonia Welch2
Botany
Jaclyn Dee4
Abel Rosado4
Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences
(UBC-Okanagan)
Saoirse MacKinnon2
Craig Nichol2
- 2022-2025
- 2023-2025
- 2022-2024
- 2022-2023
- 2024-2025
- April 2022, Summer 23/24
Student Partners
- Alexandra Dolling | MSc StudentGeological Sciences | Graduate Research Assistant | May 2024 – August 2025
- Sophie Dupuis | BA in Anthropology | Work Learn Course Developer Assistant | May 2023 – August 2023
- Wylee Fitz-Gerald | MSc Oceanography | Graduate Academic Assistant | April 2022 – May 2023
- Daniel Harris | 4th year Urban Forestry student | Undergraduate Academic Assistant | June 2022 – July 2022
- Hudson Holdcroft | 3rd year Natural Resources Conservation student | Undergraduate Academic Assistant | October 2024 – May 2025
- Cynthia Liu | Graduated with Dual Degree in Natural Resources Conservation and Education | Work Learn Undergraduate Academic Assistant; Research Assistant | May 2022 – February 2023
- Sophie Ma | PhD Measurement, Evaluation and Research Methodology candidate | Graduate Academic Assistant | October 2024 – May 2025
- Ruth Moore | MSc Geophysics Sciences student | Graduate Academic Assistant | May 2024 – August 2024
- Jasmin Moreno | MSc Student of Public Health | Graduate Academic Assistant | October 2024 – June 2025
- Kitt Peacock | MFA Visual Arts student | Graduate Academic Assistant | June 2024 – August 2024
- Larissa Rocha | 3rd year Science student | Work Learn International Undergraduate Research Assistant; UAA | May – August 2023; May 2024- August 2025
- Peri Sheppard | BSc in Geology | Undergraduate Academic Assistant | May 2022 – May 2023
- Abhideep Singh | 2nd year Materials Engineering student | Work Learn International Undergraduate Research Assistant | May 2022 – August 2022
- Nigar Sultana | MSc Geological Sciences student | Graduate Academic Assistant | September 2022 – August 2024
- Morrison Tulloch | 3rd Year BA Media Studies student | Undergraduate Academic Assistant | July 2024 – September 2024
- B.D. Voss | PhD Geological Sciences student | Graduate Research Assistant | May 2024 – August 2025
- Charisse Webb | 2nd year Environmental Science student | Undergraduate Academic Assistant | May 2022 – December 2022
- Judy Hua Zhu | 4th year Environmental Science student | Work Learn International Undergraduate Research Assistant | May 2022 – August 2022
We also acknowledge the 17 students (14 undergraduates & 3 graduates in science & engineering programs) who partnered with the EaSEIL leadership team by participating in focus groups from October 2022 to March 2023. Please visit our poster on learning science in field settings and beyond to learn more about this work.
Note: The students’ program information represents their affiliation when they joined the EaSEIL initiative.
UBC Partnering Offices
EaSEIL leadership consults and collaborates with UBC support offices to enhance the different aspects and goals of the initiative and works towards sustainable, long-term support for those teaching science in outdoor learning spaces.
Indigenous Research Support Initiative (IRSI)
X̱wi7x̱wa Library
(to learn more click here)
Centre for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL)
Skylight: The Science Centre for Learning and Teaching & CTLT
Lerato Chondoma, Indigenous Research Support Initiative (IRSI) (Partnership ended due to UBC-IRSI staffing changes)
Karleen Delaurier-Lyle, X̱wi7x̱wa Library
Sandra Fox, Indigenous Community Liaison, Office of Research Services (UBC-O) (Partnership ended due to UBC-O staffing changes)
Collaborations
Co-hosted event: Skylight, “Indigenous Perspectives on Data, Evidence, and Uncertainty in Science” with Shandin Pete (October 24, 2024)
Co-hosted event: X̱wi7x̱wa Library, Indigenous Voices Collection Mini-Library Board Game Night for Students (September 23, 2024).
Co-hosted event: Skylight & CTLT, “Using the construct of novelty space to explore how experiences with disability intersect with experiences in science teaching and learning” with Caitlin Callahan (May 7, 2024)
Co-hosted event: CTLT II and EaSEIL at the Indigenous Initiatives Classroom Climate Series (March 12, 2024)
In collaboration with Lindsay Nelson and X̱wi7x̱wa Library we launched the Mini Library: Indigenous Voices Collection at UBC-Teck Geological Field Station
Acknowledgements
Land and Peoples Acknowledgement
Traditional: recognizes lands traditionally used and/or occupied by First Nations.
Ancestral: recognizes land that is handed down from generation to generation.
Unceded: refers to land that was not turned over to the Crown (government) by a treaty or other agreement.
The work carried out in EaSEIL has taken place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) at the University of British Columbia Point Grey campus in what today is called Vancouver, Canada. We acknowledge the connection that Musqueam have had over time with the lands and waters throughout their territory as essential to their culture, knowledges, ways of being and practices, as well as a source for teaching and learning. Through EaSEIL’s work we hope that current and next generations of earth science educators, learners and professionals think deeply about their role in relation to Indigenous communities and priorities. EaSEIL works with faculty who teach on the Land, some of whom teach courses at science field stations.
These stations include the UBC Teck Geological Field Station1 near Oliver, BC and the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre Station2 on Vancouver Island. These stations are located on Syilx Okanagan Nation’s and Huu-ay-aht First Nation’s lands respectively.
Visit the Indigenous Portal to learn more about Indigenous Engagement at UBC.
Listen to these episodes of the Tribal Research Specialist Podcast to deepen you thinking on Land Acknowledgements: Inside Indian Country: A Discussion on Land Acknowledgments – Guest: Annie Ost & Salisha Old Bull and Debrief on A Discussion on Land Acknowledgments
Explore the map below to learn where EaSEIL and the stations are located. You may also learn about the Indigenous traditional, ancestral and unceded territories on which these are located by clicking on the shaded areas* and visiting to the associated links. Alternatively you can visit https://native-land.ca.
- University of British Columbia Vancouver
- UBC Teck Geological Field Station
- Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre
*The representation of Indigenous territories on this map is approximate, for a more accurate representation please visit the associated links.
Funding Acknowledgements
- Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund which is derived from UBC student fees
- Funds from the Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Department at UBC
- Funding from the Centre for Engaged Learning at UBC
Footnotes
1. Operated by the University of British Columbia
2. Operated by Western Canadian Universities Marine Sciences Society