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Early Career Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2025

Miranda Meents creates engaging, student-centred learning environments shaped by evidence-based pedagogy and student feedback. Her classes promote active learning through creative, choice-based projects that deepen engagement with course material. For example, botanical drawing develops students’ skills in self-evaluation, communication and observation, while forest walks incorporate Indigenous knowledge and strengthen students’ connection to the land.

Meents advances a culture of teaching excellence through leadership and community-building at both 51ÉçÇøºÚÁÏand nationally. As education director of the Canadian Society of Plant Biologists, she supports a growing community of practice in teaching. At SFU, she helps facilitate the Teaching Matters seminar series and has co-organized initiatives such as the Indigenous Pedagogy Reading Circle and an Indigenous Ecology Reading Community. Her teaching inquiry projects have investigated practices such as plant appreciation and ungrading.

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