My research has four main goals.

1. Exploration of the effective ways of incorporating educational technologies in elementary, middle and high school pre-service and in-service science and mathematics teacher training. We study how technology is used in Teacher Education Programs and specifically how and when pre-service teachers are trained in using technology during their pre-service teacher education and how their choices of educational technologies are impacted by the use of technologies during their training. This year we focus on the use of peer response systems (clickers) and Smart Boards. We are working on developing activities and conceptual questions that can be used with these technologies in elementary classrooms.

2. Investigation of the effective ways and the impact of using technology in both large and small science/physics classes. Under technology we mean interactive peer response systems (clickers), micro-computer based laboratory equipment such as Logger Pro or interactive computer simulations like the ones created by the Physics Educational Technology Team at the University of Colorado at Boulder. To know more about this study click here.

3. The study of different pedagogies in undergraduate physics courses and their effect on students’ epistemologies, attitudes and motivation in science study. This study tries to address one of the core problems in physics education—the issue of student motivation, attitudes and students’ views of the nature of science and their science epistemologies.

4. Creating new physics demonstrations has always been one of my interests. We are working on designing and implementing new physics demonstrations for secondary and post-secondary physics courses. While a professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada (2007-2009), I developed and taught an undergraduate physics course “PHYSICS FOR ARCHITECTS” that was built around its main project— design of an interactive physics demonstration showing how physics plays a role in architects. This project culminated in the Physics at Ryerson Architecture Demo Exhibit (PARADE) that was open to the public. Now I continue this tradition at UBC while working with future physics teachers.

My CV: ubc_cv_complete_milner-bolotin_november_2016

I love this photo as it has been my dream for a while to have long hair to be able to demonstrate electrostatic forces in action (since then I cut it, but I still have that photo to show off)! Since I work with science and mathematics teachers, I always try to make science relevant, interesting and engaging. I teach my courses in a physics lab so science experiments are always present in my classes. This also inspired me to organize and lead many of the science and mathematics outreach events either on UBC campus or outside. For example, Family Math and Science Days my colleague, Prof. Cynthia Nicol and I started in 2010 have become a great tradition on our campus. I am also a co-organizer of UBC Physics Olympics (representing the Faculty of Education) that brings hundreds of secondary school students from all over BC to our campus.

I hope what I do with my students, many of whom are teacher-candidates, inspires them to do the same in their own classrooms… I know that many of my former students have become excellent BC mathematics and science teachers!  I also hope that the public events I lead on campus and outside of campus also inspire parents to engage with mathematics and science and support their own children.

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