Dr. Lee Beavington

BSc (UBC), PhD (SFU)
Lee Beavington outdoors, with a lake and green hills behind him. Lee has shoulder length brown hair and is wearing a grey rain jacket.
Phone: 604-599-2322

Lee Beavington is a third-generation settler-scholar with European ancestry. He is a biologist, interdisciplinary instructor, and learning strategist. Lee is the coordinator of KPU Wild Spaces, serves on the Climate+ Challenge team, and is a current SDG champion. His research explores place-based education, environmental ethics, art/science collaboration, and climate justice. Decolonization is a primary focus in his work. He recently launched Decolonizing Educational Practices.

 

Lee has worked at KPU since 2002, and is a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award. As an educator, he believes in a decolonial and inquiry-based approach that is learner-centered, reflective, and honours the whole student. He is a TEDx speaker, award-winning author, and has taught and worked in five faculties at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, including being a faculty leader for the Amazon Field School. He also served as co-curator for the award-winning exhibition, Wild Things: The Power of Nature in Our Lives, at the Museum of Vancouver. 

 

His research is often interdisciplinary, integrating ecological education, nature as co-teacher, and arts-based learning across the curriculum. He has over 100 publications in such diverse places as Art/Research International, Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, Cultural Studies of Science Education, Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, Ecopsychology, Animals and Science Education, Wild Berries of British Columbia, Langscape, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Writers of the Future. Find Lee reflecting in the forest, mesmerized by ferns, and always following the river. 

 

Lee also works as a Learning Strategist in The Learning Centres at KPU, and teaches the Amazon Interdisciplinary Field School, Interdisciplinary Expressive Arts (IDEA), and Academic & Career Preparation. He has taught graduate courses at SFU for in-service teachers on experiential, nature-based education and inquiry-based learning.

Courses taught

Areas of Interest

Ecology, education, environment.
Holistic, arts-based, experiential learning. 
Decolonization, place-based learning, science education.
Transformative learning, contemplative practice, nature as teacher. 

Visual Teaching Philosophy

Scholarly Work