Research Team

Miwa Takeuchi

Dr. Miwa Aoki Takeuchi completed her PhD at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Previously, she worked as a research fellow with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Dr. Takeuchi is part of the Educational Studies in Learning Sciences, Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. At the graduate education level, she teaches specialization courses in the Learning Sciences and Mathematics Education and research methodology courses (including Ethnographic Research Approach). At the undergraduate education level, she teaches STEM education, Early Childhood Education Specialization, and Diversity in Learning.

I am currently on the Board of Directors at the International Society of the Learning Sciences and President of the Network of the Learning Sciences in Canada. I believe in fostering dynamic and porous communities that center equity and justice. 

Mahati Kopparla

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Shima Dadkhahfard

Shima Dadkhahfard is a PhD candidate in learning sciences, Werklund school of education, university of Calgary. She is a transdisciplinary researcher, artist, and graphic designer. Her research incorporates arts-based methods, STEM education, equity, and diversity. Previously, she illustrated and published 13 picture books for children and designed sets of public furniture or playground in Iran. As a transdisciplinary artist/researcher, she focuses on illustrating and visualizing the stories of marginalized students towards equity and social justice. She tries to highlight the role of art and visual art (in form of illustrated stories) in the field of learning sciences to centralize the voice of immigrants’ students who are historically marginalized.

Ehisann El-Branni

Ehisann Elbirani is currently pursuing her Bachelors of Education, specializing in Secondary Education, Mathematics. She completed her first undergraduate degree in 2020, majoring in pure mathematics while minoring in visual arts. As a mathematician, artist, and educator, Ehisann’s key education passions lie in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). From her work with immigrant children, helping them build confidence, make friends and improve their academic skills, Ehisann has focused her research on creating resources to help other immigrant children be seen and better included in the classroom. She strives to use her experiences and education to help children understand mathematics in different ways and help them fall in love with the foundations of mathematics and its importance to our society.

Nicole Langevin (she/her)

Nicole is currently working on her Undergraduate in Secondary Math Education while she does research for the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. Though Nicole’s background is in pure mathematics, she has taken an interest in integrating other disciplines into the math classroom and working to lift the voices of the students most marginalized in schools. Nicole’s current focus is researching how we can bring Indigenous knowledges and pedagogies authentically into the math classroom.