Dr. Miwa Aoki Takeuchi

Dr. Miwa Aoki Takeuchi (she/they) 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, Mathematics Education, Socio-Environmental Justices, 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.

Miwa is currently on the Board of Directors at the International Society of the Learning Sciences and Co-Chair of the Equity and Justice Committee at the International Society of the Learning Sciences, and was a former Co-President of the Network of the Learning Sciences in Canada (2021-24). Miwa believes in fostering dynamic and porous communities that center equity and justice.

As an immigrant settler to this land now called “Calgary,” Miwa continues to learn to unsettle her settler identity, by acknowledging the past wrongdoing done through schooling and other systems of colonization, and by humbly listening to generational wisdoms and knowings passed down in Indigenous communities on this land (Miwa's personalized Land Acknowledgement).

Research

Areas of Research

Scholarly Activity

Dr. Miwa Aoki Takeuchi's research projects are centered around equity and social justice in mathematics and STEM education. Working collaboratively with learners, teachers, community activists, and "families", I aim to co-design the learning environments that can leverage learners' embodied and emplaced disciplinary experiences into a transdisciplinary imagination toward social and environmental justice.

To challenge the deficit perspectives imposed on historically marginalized learners, my research team and I employ and mobilize various research tools and public communication medium including arts to carefully listen to these learners' silenced voices to shine light on subjugated and hidden ways of knowing in the colonial knowledge production.

Toward transdisciplinary visions, I value and deeply appreciate my collaboration with student colleagues, community partners, and academic partners with diverse disciplinary expertise toward our shared visions for social, food, and environmental justice.

Interests:

Sociocultural and geopolitical perspectives on learning
STEM pedagogy and design toward justice (environmental, food, and social justice)
Equity and justice in mathematics education
Language, arts, and society
Critical childhood studies
Discourse analysis

Participation in university strategic initiatives

Child health and wellness

Human dynamics in a changing world

One health

Courses

Course number	Course title	Semester
EDER 77905	Introduction to the Learning Sciences (Graduate)
EDER 70124	Ethnographic Research Approaches (Graduate)
EDUC 427	STEM Education (Teacher Education)
EDER 693.32	Contemplative Roots of Eco-Social Justice in Education
EDUC 460	Early Childhood Education (Teacher Education)
EDUC 450	Diversity in Learning (Teacher Education)

Projects

Current:

Learning with the Land and Understanding the Soil Toward Refugee Integration and Diversity (SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, 2022-current, PI)

This project is in partnership with our community partners (Biogeoscience Institute/University of Calgary, CCIS, Mount Royal University, TELUS Spark Science Center, The Immigrant Education Society, YYC Growers and Distributors) and has developed around our common vision: 1) to design and study land-based learning opportunities for refugee children and youth, 2) to deepen teacher candidates’ understanding of the soil, ecosystem and biodiversity, and 3) to advocate for socio-environmental justice and (bio)diversity on a public regenerative farm together with children and youth.

Co-Investigators:

Dr. Mathew Swallow (Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Mount Royal University)

Dr. Kori Czuy (Indigenous Engagement Manager, TELUS Spark Science Center)

Dr. Jrène Rahm (Faculté des sciences de l'éducation, Université de Montréal)

Dr. Steven Vamosi (Faculty of Science, University of Calgary)

Partner Organizations:

Biogeoscience Institute/University of Calgary, CCIS, Mount Royal University, TELUS Spark Science Center, The Immigrant Education Society, Weklund School of Education/University of Calgary, YYC Growers and Distributors

Collaborators:

Dr. Teri Balser (Faculty of Science, University of Calgary)

Dr. Tatenda Mambo (Sustainability Studies, University of Calgary)

Dr. Ananda Marin (School of Education and Information Studies, University of California Los Angeles)

Dr. Cesar Suva (The Immigrant Education Society)

Postdoctoral Scholar and Graduate Student Collaborators:

Dr. Deborah Dutta (Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Calgary)

Dr. Mahati Kopparla (former Postdoctoral Scholar, currently Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh)

Sophia Thraya (former MA student & PhD student, University of Calgary)

Anita Chowdhury (MA student, University of Calgary)

Project Website: https://www.soilcamp.ca/

Creating Public Methodologies for Reimagining Histories: Toward Justice and a Transformative View of the Possible in Education (Spencer Foundation, 2023-2024, Co-PI)

Through this grant, we reconceptualize methodologies in educational research toward anti-colonialism and racial equity. We cultivate the collective of researchers, artists, and educators to advance transformative views of the possible in educational justice.

Principal Investigators: Dr. Arshad Ali (George Washington University), Dr. Natalie Davis (Georgia State University), Dr. Miwa A. Takeuchi (University of Calgary)

Collaborators: Dr. Lucy Avraamidou (University of Groningen), Dr. Ananda Marin (University of California Los Angeles), Dr. Isabel Martins (University of Rio de Janeiro), Dr. Thomas Philip (University of California Berkeley), Dr. Shirin Vossoughi (Northwestern University)

Envisioning Inclusive Mathematics Education with Digital Illustrated Stories (SSHRC Insight Grant, 2020-current, PI)

This project will demonstrate how digital illustrated stories can unveil traditionally unseen mathematics knowledge and history and how these stories can serve as a catalyst to envision open and inclusive spaces and practices in mathematics education.

Project Website: http://www.illustratestem.net

Graduate Student Collaborator:

Shima Dadkhahfard (PhD student, University of Calgary)

Mobilizing Immigrant and Refugee Families' Funds of Knowledge Toward Food/Environmental Justice (sponsored by the STEM equity and diversity grant, 2019-current, PI)

This study shines a light on intergenerational knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) exhibited by immigrant and refugee families in the context of community gardening and urban farming and toward food/environmental justice.

Awards

Outstanding Paper Award , International Conference of the Learning Sciences . 2024
Invited Visiting Scholar , Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan . 2022
International Society of the Learning Sciences Early Career Award , International Society of the Learning Sciences. 2021
University of Calgary Teaching Award (Associate Professor), University of Calgary. 2021
University of Calgary Students' Union Teaching Excellence Award, Students' Union University of Calgary. 2021
Werklund Teaching Excellence Award, Werklund School of Education University of Calgary. 2020
Research Fellowship , Japan Society for the Promotion of Science . 2014
Mary Stager Graduate Student Award , OISE/University of Toronto . 2012
Government of Canada Award , Canadian Government . 2007

Publications

Intergenerational transdisciplinary knowing toward stewarding the land of refuge: Learning through the pandemic. . Takeuchi, M.A., Dadkhahfard, S., Kopparla, M., & Elhowari, R.. Cultural Studies in Science Education. https://rdcu.be/dKh2H. (2024)
Embodied mathematical pedagogy to liberate racialized and multilingual bodies. Liu, S., & Takeuchi, M.A. . Educational Studies in Mathematics. 267-287. (2023)
Learning as socio-environmental design: Toward the research on equity and power in learning in the context of Japan (written in Japanese: 社会環境デザインとしての学習：学習研究はなぜ公正と権力を問わなければならないのか). Takeuchi, M.A., & Ishiguro, H.. Cognitive Studies (in Japanese) . 124-136. (2023)
“Globalization,” coloniality, and decolonial love in STEM education. Takeuchi, M.A. & Marin, A. . Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education.. (2022)
Refiguring and transforming the learning sciences: A dialogical field-in-the-making. Takeuchi, M.A., Vadeboncoeur, J., Krishnamoorthy, R., Hladik, S., Rahm, J., Kim, B., & Clark, D.. The Learning Sciences in Conversation: Theories, Methodologies, and Boundary Spaces. 256-266. (2022)
Geopolitical configuration of identities and learning: Othering through the institutionalized categorization of "English language learners". Takeuchi, M.A. Cognition and Instruction. 85-112. (2021)
Learning to assemble the hidden bodies: Embodied and emplaced mathematical literacy in transnational migrant activism. Takeuchi, M.A. & Aquino Ishihara, V. . Journal of the Learning Sciences. 103-124. (2021)
Soil Camp: Learning with the land toward refugee integration, diversity, and sustainability through community partnerships 2020-21. Takeuchi, M.A., Chowdhury, A., Kopparla, M., Thraya, S., Yuen, J., Czuy, K., Mambo, T., Olson, R., Sobh, H., & Fakih, A.. Community-based Research Report . (2021)
Embodied and emplaced mathematical literacy: A refugee family’s funds of knowledge toward regenerative farming. Takeuchi, M.A., Elhowari, R., & Yuen, J. . In D. Kollosche (Ed.), Exploring new ways to connect: Proceedings of the Eleventh International Mathematics Education and Society Conference . 235-238. (2021)

This is a selected list of recent publications. For the list of all the other featured publications, please visit my personal website (full text downloadable for Open Access).

In the News

“Friends of Indigenous Science” SEASON 2; Episode 5 . Podcast from Ancestral Science (Conversation with Drs. Kori Czuy, Miwa Aoki Takeuchi, and Eun-ji Amy Kim). (2024)
CBC Calgary Asian Changemakers 2024 . CBC News. (2024)
A note of gratitude: On CBC Asian Changemakers 2024. Personal website . (2024)
Soil builds prosperity from the ground up . yes! Magazine. (2023)
Students get their hands dirty at Soil Camp: Community partnership provides opportunities for refugee students to connect with the land. UToday. (2021)
What listening to the soil can tell us about our relationship with the land. The Conversation. (2023)
Power in numbers: Making visible the violence against racialized women. The Conversation. (2021)

More Information

Research Grants (External):

2022-ongoing Partnership Development Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (PI)
2020-ongoing Insight Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (PI)
2017-2019 Research Partnership Program, Alberta Education (Co-PI)
2017-2018 Research Partnership Program, Alberta Education (Co-PI)
2015-2018 Insight Development Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (PI)
2012-2014 Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (PI)