While Dr. Hare’s program of research focus has been on transformation change to create learning environments that are inclusive of Indigenous ways of knowing and languages, she highlights four strands and related research projects.
Indigenous Education in Teacher Education
Using Collaborative Inquiry to Explore Teacher Educator Practices in Indigenous Education Coursework (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada)
This projects seeks to theorize “classroom encounters” to reveal how identity, teaching and learning, and curriculum intersect in the teaching of Indigenous content, perspectives, and learning approaches in Indigenous education coursework. Drawing on collaborative inquiry (CI) this research examines:
- How are teacher educators responding to and interpreting the theoretical and pedagogical frameworks within Indigenous education coursework based on the identity positions they occupy?
- How might collaborative inquiry allow teacher educators to share their teaching practices with one another in order to co-construct supportive ways to consider and evaluate strategies, tensions, and responsibilities in Indigenous education coursework?
Teacher Candidate Identity and Professional Development in Aboriginal
Education (UBC Teaching Learning Enhancement Grant)
This study explores the changes over time in knowledge, attitudes, and practices of teacher candidates who have completed a required course in Indigenous education as part of their program.
Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Technology, and Online Learning
Indigenous Knowledges and Pedagogies in Online Environments: Gaining Insight into Wise Practices for Web-based Indigenous Education Innovation (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada)
Role: Co-Investigator
The goal of this project is to study and advocate for the advancement of respectful and appropriate inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in online learning environments. Drawing on two Indigenous education Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), including UBC Faculty of Education’s Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education (Dr. Hare) and OISE’s Comparative Worldviews (Dr. Restoule), we seek to:
- Understand instructional designs that support learners to engage with Indigenous knowledges, perspectives, and pedagogies in online learning envirnoments.
- Identify ‘wise practices’ that balance respect for sources and carriers of Indigenous knowledges along with technological constraints and opportunities of online learning.
Young Children’s Engagement with Digital Tools and Technology at Home and in the Community (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada)
Role: Co-Investigator
This study addresses an important gap in knowledge, in that very little is known about
families’ and young children’s, access to and use of digital resources in culturally and socially diverse communities. Questions this study takes up include:
- What digital resources do young children from culturally-diverse backgrounds have access to, utilize, and for what purposes?
- What messages and beliefs are conveyed by caregivers and early childhood educators about the use of digital resources?
Indigenous/Aboriginal Literacy
Aboriginal Family and Community Literacy in Aboriginal Head Start (Human Resources and Skills Development Canada)
The Aboriginal Family and Community Literacy Curriculum (AFCLC) was developed to support new and innovative training and professional development opportunities for early childhood staff and educators, as well as Aboriginal parents, engaged in designing, implementing and evaluating Aboriginal family literacy programs for urban Aboriginal families in literacy projects associated with Aboriginal Head Start programs.
Research associated with this project explores:
- How do early learning programs that support Indigenous children and families engage with early literacy practices and materials?
- How do Indigenous parents and community members value and take up early literacy practices promoted in Aboriginal Head Start settings?
- How are Indigenous ways of knowing incorporate in to practices of early learning settings?
The Intersection of Language and Culture in Early Childhood: Home, School, and Community Contexts (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada)
Working with UBC researchers, this project brought together leading international scholars and educators working at the intersections of language, learning, and culture in early childhood education to:
- Share knowledge of key research priorities
- Identify initiatives, policies, and practices that advance early learning priorities in culturally diverse settings and through interdisciplinary areas of study.
- Explore, as one strand of the project, Indigenous research in language, math, literacy, and learning in early childhood education.
Indigenous Early Learning
Realizing Quality Care in Indigenous Early Childhood (Human Early Learning Partnership)
In collaboration with the BC Aboriginal Child Care Society (BC ACCS), this project sought to define notions of ‘quality’ care from perspectives of Aboriginal early childhood educators, Aboriginal parents, and community members involved in Aboriginal early childhood education programs and services in urban, rural, and First Nations communities. BC ACCS is a leading Aboriginal early childhood non-profit organization advancing research and policy. The project was facilitated by Indigenous graduate student, Danielle Mashon, who completed her Master’s thesis as part of the work.
Transitions to Early Learning Settings for Aboriginal Children (UBC Mentoring Grant)
Dr. Hare and Dr. Anderson learn from the perspectives of 25 Indigenous parents and family members and two caregivers reflecting on the transition of young Indigenous children from their home to an early childhood development program.
We learn from this study:
- How Aboriginal families come to participate in early learning settings, and why, forms a significant part of the transition experience.
- The intergeneration impacts of colonial child welfare policies give pause to parent participation in these programs.
- An emphasis on learning environments that validate their culture and language contribute to participation.