Sophie Ma Zhu
Doctor of Philosophy in Measurement, Evaluation and Research Methodology (PhD)
Validity evidence for self-report psychological measures based on participants' response processes
The Faculty of Education at UBC is advancing educational research and understanding in ways that celebrate diversity, equity, and innovation, and welcomes international collaboration in an increasingly borderless world.
UBC’s Faculty of Education, one of the world’s leading education faculties, has served the local, national, and international education community through leadership in research, teaching, service and advocacy for more than 60 years. As the largest Faculty of Education in British Columbia, it plays a critical and influential role in the advancement of education in the province, shaping and participating in education’s possibilities and potential as a social good.
Today, the Faculty of Education creates conditions for transformative teaching, innovative learning, and leading-edge research guided by the highest standards of scholarship and the principles of collaboration, social justice, inclusion and equity. Offering undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional development opportunities, the Faculty of Education enrolls thousands of students each year on two campuses and ranks 10th in the world, according to QS World University Rankings (2021).
UBC’s Faculty of Education prepares more than 45% of the elementary and the majority of secondary educators in British Columbia, and a significant proportion of British Columbia’s school counsellors, administrators, special education professionals, and school psychologists. With more than 57,000 alum located in 100 countries, the UBC Faculty of Education truly is a global entity.
The Faculty of Education is home to four departments (Curriculum and Pedagogy, Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education, Educational Studies, and Language and Literacy Education) and two schools (the School of Kinesiology and the Okanagan School of Education).
Mission
To advance education's role in the well-being of people and communities.
Research Centres
- Centre for Culture, Identity and Education (CCIE)
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration in Autism (CIRCA)
- Centre for Sport and Sustainability (CSS)
- Centre for the Study of Teacher Education (CSTE)
- Psychological Services and Counselling Training Centre (PSCTC)
- Centre for Early Childhood Education & Research (CECER)
- Institute for Veterans Education and Transition (IVET)
Research Facilities
We provide outstanding research facilities for faculty and graduate students that promote leading-edge research. Our Education Library is a specialized resource with access to all of UBC’s research and special collections, including the X̱wi7x̱wa Library with materials produced by Indigenous organizations, tribal councils, schools, researchers and publishers.
The Faculty’s Education Research and Learning Commons at Ponderosa Commons features technology-enhanced teaching and learning spaces and also informal learning spaces. A number of faculty manage their own research labs, situated throughout campus.
Many of our PhD students have been selected as UBC Public Scholars and have received other honours.
Research Highlights
https://ivet.educ.ubc.ca/Notable strengths are in literacy education and multilingualism; struggling and marginalized youth; Indigenous education, decolonization, and research; transformational program and curriculum design and inclusive pedagogies for schools, community organizations and higher education; sexual orientation and gender-identity inclusive education; social-emotional learning and well-being; autism; exercise physiology, socio-cultural aspects of health; neuromechanical studies; and multidisciplinary research in diversity, health, early childhood education, and digital media. The School of Kinesiology ranks 1st in Canada and 4th in the world by QS World University Rankings (2021).
UBC’s Faculty of Education is the national leader in the number of education graduate student fellowships received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Additionally, the Faculty of Education is home to six Canada Research Chairs, one CIHR chair and nine donor-funded research chairs and professorships.
Schools / Departments
Graduate Degree Programs
Research Supervisors in Faculty
or browse the list of faculty members in various academic units. You may click each unit to view faculty members appointed in that unit. View the full faculty member directory for more search and filter options.
| Name | Academic Unit(s) | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Rajagopal, Harini | Department of Language & Literacy Education | Multiliteracy and multimodality; Bilingual/Multilingual education; Decolonizing pedagogies and knowledges |
| Renwick, Kerry | Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy | Curriculum, pedagogy and didactics; Specialized studies in education; Critical Pedagogy; Educational Policy; Familial Contexts; Health Education; Home Economics; Human and Social Ecology; Public health; teacher education |
| Rocha Perkerwicz, Samuel | Department of Educational Studies | Educational policy; Specialized studies in education; Philosophical Traditions in Education; philosophy of education |
| Rogers, Theresa | Department of Language & Literacy Education | Children's literatures; Other languages and literature; Children's and Adolescent Literature; Digital Literacies; Education; Educational Approaches; Literacy; Youth Studies |
| Roman, Leslie | Department of Educational Studies | Ethnography, Cultural studies, Disability studies, Sociology of Education |
| Ross, E. Wayne | Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy | Curriculum, pedagogy and didactics; Specialized studies in education; Critical Pedagogy; Curriculum Studies; Educational Approaches; Political Contexts; Social Contexts; Social Justice in Education; Social Studies Education; teacher education |
| Ruitenberg, Claudia | Department of Educational Studies | History and philosophy of education; Political science and policy administration; Environmental education and extension; Environmental philosophy and education; philosophy of education; Political education |
| Sam, Johanna | Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education | Education; Psychology, social and behavorial aspects; Human Development; Adolescence; technology; Indigenous Education; Digital Pedagogy |
| Schanding, Thomas | Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education | Social and Emotional Learning; Universal Screening; Behavioral/Mental Health Interventions; Autism Spectrum Disorders; LGBTQIA+; Youth Social Justice |
| Schnellert, Leyton | Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy | Curriculum, pedagogy and didactics; Community Research; Teacher Education Research; Teacher Professional Development; Rural Education; Inclusive Education; Pedagogy; Self-regulated Learning; Middle Years Education; Literacy Education; Practitioner Inquiry |
| Shan, Hongxia | Department of Educational Studies | Other education, n.e.c.; Immigration and adult education and learning; Lifelong learning; Gender and work; Prof. learning |
| Shapka, Jennifer | Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education | Affective and Emotional Development; Cognitive Development; New Technology and Social Impacts; Technology, Media, Social Media, Adolescents, Cyberbullying, Self-regulation, Online Privacy |
| Sheel, William | School of Kinesiology | Animal physiology, exercise; Kinesiology; airways, exercise, hypoxia, pulmonary physiology, respiratory muscle |
| Sinner, Anita | Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy | Artwork Scholarship; Creative Research Methodologies; a/r/tography; Artistic Research; Public Art and Pedagogy; Museum Education; International Art Education |
| Stack, Michelle | Department of Educational Studies | Adult and continuing education, and community education; Educational policy; Media studies (except social media and digital media); Community Engaged Research; Knowledge translation; Cooperatives and Social Solidarity Economies; University Rankings and Equity; Disability studies; anti-racism; media education |
| Stein, Sharon Rebekah | Department of Educational Studies | Higher education; Educational policy; Specialized studies in education; Educational theory; Global education; Higher Education; International and comparative education; International education; Pedagogy and education; Post-colonial studies; Race/ethnicity; Social and Cultural Foundations of Education; Social justice; sustainability; climate change |
| Talmy, Steven | Department of Language & Literacy Education | ESL, TESOL, LOTE and sign language curriculum, pedagogy and didactics; teacher education |
| Tan, Yuen Sze Michelle | Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy | Science Education, Outdoor Education and learning, collaborative teacher inquiry, and teacher education; equipping teachers (both pre- and in-service teachers) with innovative pedagogical tools to support learning, both for science learners and beyond the domains of science; teachers |
| Taylor, Alison | Department of Educational Studies | Adult and continuing education, and community education; Educational administration, management and leadership; Educational policy; Higher education; Specialized studies in education; Education, Knowledge and Skills; Educational Context; Political Contexts; Social Contexts; Social Policies |
| Tomfohr-Madsen, Lianne | Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education | |
| Vadeboncoeur, Jennifer | Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education | cultural-historical psychology, child/parent relationships, student/ teacher relationships, play and performance based learning, bridging school and out of school contexts for learning, Alternative schooling and pedagogies, Critical theory, Discourse and critical discourse analysis, ethnography, Qualitative research, Socially constructing knowledge and identity, Sociocultural approaches to learning and teaching, Young people placed |
| Vanwynsberghe, Robert | Department of Educational Studies | Citizenship and democracy, Social justice, Sustainability; Sustainability; Environmental Education; Theory and Method |
| Vertinsky, Patricia | School of Kinesiology | social and cultural history of the body, gender relations, health, sport and exercise, social history of women and health, social/cultural aspects of sport and physical activity, health education, promotion and policy, Social and cultural history of sport and physical activity, gender, race, aging and disability, modern olympics |
| Walker, Judith | Department of Educational Studies | Adult and continuing education, and community education; Sociology of education; Educational policy; Adult education; Higher Education; policy studies; Health Professions Education |
| Wang, Fei | Department of Educational Studies | Educational administration, management and leadership; Educational policy; Specialized studies in education; Educational administration and leadership; Leadership; the role of the school principals; social justice and diversity; comparative policy studies; Education and Training Management; Ideology and Social Policy; Social Contract and Social Justice; Offshore school and its leadership |
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Graduate Student Stories
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Recent Publications
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Education.
Recent Thesis Submissions
Doctoral Citations
A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Dr. Thomas initiated a storefront art practice for art teachers to come together as a collective to contemplate the conditions for teaching. This study contributes to the field of teacher professional practices by offering experimental art and research approaches that permit teachers to deactivate the necessity to always be in a mode production. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Takeda examined the apparent similarities between the dispositions critical media literacy aims to cultivate and characteristics conspiracy theorists claim to embody. He proposed an approach to demarcate desirable from undesirable critical reading and writing that recognizes the significance of meanings and values in the act of reasoning. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. MacNeil Sinclair studied teachers' learning through an approach called collaborative inquiry. She found that balancing supports, resources, and opportunities for teachers to make decisions for their own learning shows promise for enhancing student learning. Her research advances understanding about effective professional development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Special Education (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Afreen investigated Bangla heritage language teachers' transcultural identities in greater Vancouver. Teachers' investment in promoting Bangla as a mother tongue was informed by children's transcultural identities in Canada. This research advances knowledge about the identity of heritage language teachers in multicultural communities worldwide. | Doctor of Philosophy in Teaching English as a Second Language (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Jamal's study on ethnocultural pluralism and the International Baccalaureate's Primary Years Programme explored how an ethic of respect for ethnocultural diversity may be reflected in educational discourses. The study generated findings around issues of representation and teachers' pedagogical practices in different geopolitical contexts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Diemert conducted her research in an international high school located in Costa Rica. A new term 'student-centered community-based learning' evolved with a focus on student agency in decision-making, problem solving, reflection, and community engagement. Students in the K-12 system and post-secondary education will benefit from this research. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. King studied the experiences of youth returning to high school and re-engaging in their education after sustaining a mild traumatic brain injury/concussion. This research helps us understand the barriers these students face, what is helpful to them in this time, and what can be improved to better support their transition back to school. | Doctor of Philosophy in School and Applied Child Psychology (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Wierts examined factors that contribute to the well-being and exercise behaviour, and demonstrated the importance of identity in predicting exercise behaviour. He further examined key antecedents of exercise identity and the feasibility of a group-based exercise program for promoting exercise identity and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Edwards explored a school's experience implementing a food education program using a hydroponic shipping container farm (HSCF). This study found that despite substantial initial funding and administrative support, the financial and human capital needs for running a HSCF make it an unsustainable tool for delivering food education programming. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Al-Muftah analyzes Qatar University to explore evolving trends in higher education internationalization, emphasizing shifts over time and space. This study urges policymakers to move beyond Euro-American perspectives, promoting localized concepts for internationalization. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |