Experts in public health and education alike have long advocated for the engagement of youth in nature to foster movement, human-nature connectedness, and mental wellbeing. Physical and health education teachers in school-based programs continue to find a variety of ways to help their students be physically active in the natural environment due to…

This article reports on a knowledge synthesis study of three questions around Canadian K-12 students' sense of loneliness and belonging: What are the lived experiences of Canadian students with loneliness and belonging? What factors contribute to students' sense of loneliness and belonging in Canadian school contexts? What school educational…

Since the 1990s, scientists and Indigenous peoples have worked together across Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homeland in Canada) to conduct research on contaminants in ringed seals ("Pusa hispida"; "natsiq," "natchiq" or [foreign characters ommitted] in Inuktut), a species of high cultural, economic and nutritional importance…

This study examines the impact of teachers' professional development on Canadian allophone students' learning and reading performance levels. We used the data from the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program 2016 involving Grade 8/Secondary II Canadian allophone students (N = 2,244) and teachers in French and English Language Arts (N = 598). Our…

We study the role of Hip-Hop teaching artists in a school change initiative. A school-university-community partnership in a Canadian city, the project sought to develop a school-wide focus on the "urban arts" for student learning and wellbeing. The experiences of nine teaching artists over four years, examined through the lens of…

In a sample of youth aged 10-16 years with chronic physical illness, this study examined psychometric properties of a modified Psychological Sense of School Membership (m-PSSM) scale; described longitudinal trends in perceptions over 24 months; and, identified factors associated with school belonging. Youth were recruited from a pediatric hospital…

Through exploration of Black Caribbean youths' feelings of unbelonging and exclusion in Ontario schools, this paper argues that how Whiteness is systemically engrained in the education system negatively affects the learning experiences of Black youth due to predetermined measures of belonging. The present article draws on data from 32 qualitative…

Background: Adolescence coincides with the adoption of health behaviors that schools are not necessarily equipped to properly address. Collaboration between schools and external health services such as public health could fill gaps in addressing student health. Methods: The current study uses student- and school-level survey data from 59…

The question driving this study was: What makes rural secondary parents feel in community with their children's schools? Using a sociomaterial approach, data were collected from three rural schools in northern Alberta, Canada using walking interviews with parents in the schools, site observations, focus groups, and individual interviews with 21…

We examine youths' perceptions of their experiences in one of two senior alternative education programs. We used self-determination theory (SDT) as a sensitizing lens to specifically understand students' perceptions of whether and how their basic psychological needs--needs for autonomy, belonging, and competence--were fostered in the context of…

Many schools, school districts, and provincial education authorities in Canada are collaborating with Indigenous communities to indigenize content and provide progamming to improve Indigenous student success. With a focus on high school achievement in the area of Indigenous education at the cultural interface of Indigenous communities and…

In this study, we enacted critical participatory action research (CPAR) within an online community of practice (CoP). The CoP was designed to build a community of outdoor play and learning (OPAL) practitioners. This paper describes how a cohort (n=18) of experienced Kindergarten to grade eight (K-8) teachers from across British Columbia shared…

The EU Working Group on Learning for Sustainability (LfS) is currently exploring how policy action can assist in the development and introduction of school curricula and appropriate pedagogies to improve opportunities for learning for sustainability in Europe's schools. This paper brings forward input on how learning for environmental…

This qualitative article focuses on the high school experiences and post-secondary education (PSE) plans of 57 youth with refugee backgrounds from the Horn of Africa living in Ontario. The article is guided by two conceptual frameworks. The first is an anti-oppressive approach, which helps us examine the structural barriers at school that prevent,…

Complex noun phrases (CNP) are a major vehicle of academic written discourse (Halliday, 1988/2004). However, despite the view that they pose significant challenges to English language learners, they are rarely taught in college-based English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs, especially for the purposes of improving reading comprehension. This…