I  will always remember how hands-on science activities inspired me to engage with science at a deeper level. I didn’t want to become a scientist because I got a 100% on a test, but because I wanted to figure things out and I wanted to play with things. Hands-on science has always fascinated me. I […]

I have been teaching graduate courses in the Faculty of Education at UBC for the last 8 years. During this time, I have worked with many practising teachers, who have decided to pursue their advance academic degree. One of the challenges they faced was combining work, family and their studies. Commute to UBC was a […]

Learning how to share your ideas with your students in creative ways is a great skills for any educators. It is even more important for mathematics and science teachers. In British Columbia, with the introduction of the new science curriculum, learning how to engage students with big science ideas in an interactive and creative way […]

Growing up in the family that valued education and having a mother who was a mathematics and science teacher, September 1st has always been a special day for me. In the Soviet Union where I grew up, it marked the beginning of a new academic year – a new adventure. And while I had my […]

As I am preparing to my 8th academic year as a Teacher at the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, I keep thinking of my role as a science educator who has a lucky opportunity to help prepare new STEM teachers. I am deliberately using the word Teacher and not Professor, as I think […]

During the last year a group of my students and I have been working on creating short videos of STEM experiments that our teacher-candidates can do with their students. This project became possible thanks to the generous support of the UBC Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund. We are very grateful for their support. Many of […]

What if we engaged new mathematics and science teachers into designing new science and math hands on activities? What if we used technology to document these activities and share them with other teachers, students and parents? This is an idea behind a UBC-funded project that focuses on creating hands-on science and math resources for all. […]

Last Tuesday I was invited (as a volunteer) to visit a local school – John Oliver Secondary School. It is a public secondary school (grades 8-12) located on the East Side of Vancouver. This means that the children in this school come predominantly from the families with the lower Socio-Economic Status as compared to the kids […]

This winter break I had a lot of time to think about the future of education and the role technology will play in it. I was able to reflect on the role technology plays in my own professional and personal life. As I was walking along the beautiful Spanish Banks in Vancouver and taking photos […]

Last week I returned from attending a very inspring STEM conference in Beijing, China. The conference focused on STEM, but a big part of it was dedicated to the use of technology. As I stayed in BJ for a few more days, I was invited to visit a very interesting museum: China Science and Technology […]