Gordon Sturrock
- active citizenship
- environmental education
- learning environments
About
Gord started his teaching career as a Physical Education Specialist at an elementary school in London, Ontario. He later moved on to teaching math and Physical Education at the High School level in London, Ontario. An outdoor enthusiast, he was easily lured to British Columbia in 1991, where he secured a teaching job with the Coquitlam School District. Here he taught Special Education, Science, Mathematics, Physical Education, and Experiential Education. In 2003, he started an experiential integrated curriculum program called Experiential Studies 10, which runs out of Centennial School in Coquitlam. Looking for more challenge, he started teaching at Douglas College in 2008 and later completed a PhD at Simon Fraser University. His research focus was on the long-term effects of experiential integrated curriculum programs as they relate to active citizenship. Gord was a former member of Canada’s National wrestling team and continues to be involved in sport as a coach and master coach developer.
Teaching concentrations
Gord presently teaches courses which focus primarily on physical education curriculum and pedagogy as well as coaching philosophy and theory. Gord is also involved in some of our outdoor courses, which include an integrated experiential program called the Sport Science Experiential Education Program. This program is co- taught with Peter Koci and integrates three courses in an experiential manner.
Professional affiliations and service
- Association for Experiential Education
- North American Association for Environmental Education
- Certified K-12 Teacher, BC Ministry of Education Teacher Regulation Branch
- PHE Canada Professional Member
- BC Wrestling Association (Master Coach Developer, Vice President - technical)
- Wrestling Canada (Master Coach Developer: Lead facilitator for high-performance coaches)
Education and credentials
- PhD, Simon Fraser
- MEd, Simon Fraser
- BEd, Toronto
- HBPE, Western Ontario
Research summary
My research interests lie in the areas of sport science and environmental education with expertise centered on the assessment of learning environments related to long-term effects of active citizenship. I am deeply interested in learning environment features that help foster self-deterministic behavior, especially in the context of experiential education practices. More recently I have been engaged in the study of movement through the ecological dynamic framework related to the acquisition of perceptual-motor skills. More specifically, through a narrative review situated in the ecological dynamics theoretical framework, I seek to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of non-linear pedagogy on skill acquisition and the design of learning situations representative of real-life performance contexts.
Publications and other research outputs
- Sturrock, G.R.; Zandvliet, D.B. (2023). Citizenship Outcomes and Place-Based Learning Environments in an Integrated Environmental Studies Program. Educ. Sci. 13(3), 292. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13030292
- Sturrock, G., Zandvliet, D. (2023). Effective Teaching: Linking Outcomes of Active Citizenship to Learning Environments. In: Maulana, R., Helms-Lorenz, M., Klassen, R.M. (eds). Effective Teaching Around the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31678-4_5
- Sturrock, G. & Zandvliet, D. (2018). School learning environments and long-term outcomes related to community and civic engagement. Presented at the 2018 North American Association for Environmental Education, Spokane, Washington, USA.
- Sturrock, G., & Sharp, R. (2018). There is a better way: Linking educational experiences to Active Citizenship. Presented at the 2018 North American Association for Environmental Education, Spokane, Washington, USA.
- Sturrock, G. (2017). Long-term perceived outcomes of an integrated curriculum program as it relates to active citizenship (Doctoral dissertation). Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
- Sturrock, G. (2012) An Integrated Approach (Ed.), Movers and Shakers: A Half Century of School Physical Education in British Columbia 1960 – 2010 (pp. 95-96). Vancouver, BC: Physical Education BC.
- Sturrock, G. (2004) Further thoughts on Teaching Gone Wild: A Conversation with Anthony Weston. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 9(1), 47-49
Courses taught
Scholarly activities and leadership
- Wrestling Canada Lutte, Chair: Coach Education Advisory Council, Ongoing