The 2017 Neighbourhood Small Grants Program Evaluation will deepen understanding of grassroots grant making through an analysis of program outcomes and participant feedback from the Vancouver Foundation’s 2017 Neighbourhood Small Grants (NSG) program. Using data collected by the Vancouver Foundation, the project intern will produce a report that highlights the outcomes, opportunities, challenges, and lessons learned from the program activities of the 2017 granting year of the NSG.

In today’s fast-paced, technologically-driven world, it is of paramount importance that we take advantage of different ways to solve problems, to generate the most efficient solutions. One way to accomplish this goal is to adopt different ways of thinking about how we solve problems. It may be of great value to base problem-solving that we teach in education using basics of design thinking and computer science, two existing disciplines. However, research has not yet assessed how these types of thinking may be related across different contexts, like education and industry.

One of the main concerns in modern educational research is how to implement classes that are interactive and to provide a better learning environment for students. Among these trends, ambitious teaching refers to a set of principles that emphasize student-centered and investigative learning. However, teachers need support from their trainers to successfully implement these ideas. In this project, we aim to investigate the benefits of using a professional development training called Professional Learning Communities among science coaches to improve teachers' practices.

“Stories Without Borders” is a collaborative educational project between a Canadian and a Mexican research team, with the support of the Canadian NGO Education without Borders (EwB). The research problem addressed is: How can children’s stories written in English and other Indigenous languages for Indigenous children in Canada best be translated into Indigenous Mexican languages for Indigenous children in Mexico?

Mental health illness cost over $50 billion in the Canadian economy annually, and is prevalent at workplace. The cost and prevalence of menial health illness can be greatly mitigated with early detection and intervention. EarlyDetect is a program developed by Chokka Center for Integrative Health for convenient, accurate and reliable self-assessment of mental illness, and has been validated in a pen-and-paper form.

This project will serve as the first formal program evaluation for the Zebra Centre, which has been serving victims of abuse in Edmonton and the surrounding area for 15 years. Program evaluation would open up opportunities for the Zebra Centre to learn about their strengths and areas of need in regards to their ability to support families who have undergone childhood trauma.

The proposed study evaluates The Core Connectors Initiative (CCI), a high school-based suicide prevention program designed to help youth gain peer support skills and mental health knowledge. CCI involves two phases, a 14-module training phase and an action phase. Facilitators who have backgrounds in counselling psychology or related disciplines will pilot the program in 5 high schools. CCI is based on a peer education suicide prevention program, Youth as Gatekeepers (Ohlmann, Kwee, & Lees, 2014).

This research aims to investigate the use of technology for science teacher candidates to master learning of laboratory safety content. The focus of this study will be on first and second year science teacher candidates who are expected to know laboratory safety procedures when they become employed, so as to ensure their and their students’ safety.

Mental health illness cost over $50 billion in the Canadian economy annually, and is prevalent at workplace. The cost and prevalence of menial health illness can be greatly mitigated with early detection and intervention. EarlyDetect is a program developed by Chokka Center for Integrative Health for convenient, accurate and reliable self-assessment of mental illness, and has been validated in a pen-and-paper form.

This project aims to provide evidence and research support to BGCBigs in the implementation of their Building an Evaluation Framework and Capacity for Sustainability project. BGCBigs recognizes that achieving their goal of ‘supporting our children and youth on the path to success’ depends upon an organization committed to evaluative thinking, learning and utilization of evidence for decision-making. This project will enable BGCBigs to conduct quality evaluations and use evidence to improve programs for children and youth.