Skip to main content
Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

${alt}

Brenda Jacobs
PhD

Assistant Teaching Professor

Faculty of Education

Contact information

Education Building - Room 309-1
Downtown Oshawa
11 Simcoe Street North
Oshawa, ON

905.721.8668

brenda.jacobs@ontariotechu.ca

Bio

Dr. Brenda Jacobs is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Ontario Tech University in the Faculty of Education. Brenda completed her B.A. (Psychology) and B.Ed. (Primary/Junior) at the University of Western Ontario and her M.Ed., Graduate Diploma in Early Childhood Education, and PhD at York University. She is a member of the Ontario College of Teachers and the College of Early Childhood Educators. She has taught elementary school-aged children in Oxford, England, Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario. Brenda is a member of the SSHRC funded research team on Innovation Through Co-Production: Supporting Social Competence in Preschool Children Through Multi-Stakeholder Engagement

For more information, please view

Courses Taught

Bachelor of Arts in Educational Studies

  • AEDT 4150U Holistic Learning in Early Childhood

Bachelor of Education

  • EDUC 3208U Teaching Kindergarten
  • EDUC 2402U Teaching for Inclusion: Special Needs and Individualized Education
  • EDUC 1302U PJ Digital Literacies I
  • EDUC 1306U PJ Digital Literacies/Social Studies II
  • EDUC 1301U Learning and Development
  • EDUC 2406U Reflective Practice/Action Research
  • EDUC 1300U Foundations I: Planning and Preparation
  • EDUC 1305U Foundations II: Curriculum Theory
  • EDUC 2405U Foundations III: Long-Range Planning

Masters in Education

  • EDUC 5199G Play, Inquiry and Learning
  • EDUC 5002G Introduction to Research in Education

Research and Expertise

  • Early Childhood Education
  • Kindergarten
  • Self-Regulation
  • Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
  • Emergent Curriculum
  • Inquiry-based Learning
  • Inquiry in Online Classrooms
  • Play, Digital Play, and Play-based Learning
  • Early Literacy
  • Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education
  • Pedagogical Documentation
  • Assessment
  • Curriculum

  • Jacobs, B. (2022). Self-Regulation and Inquiry-based Learning in the Primary Classroom. Pp. 230. Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars Press. Refereed.

  • Ruttenberg-Rozen, R. & Jacobs, B. (2022). Considerations of equity for learners experiencing mathematics difficulties: At the nexus between mathematics and special education. In Y.P. Xin, R. Tzur & H. Thouless (EDS). Enabling Mathematics Learning of Struggling Students. Springer. Refereed

  • Wien, C.A., Jacobs, B., & Brown, E. (2015). Emergent curriculum and the tension between relationship and assessment. In O. Saracho (ED), Contemporary Perspectives on Research in Assessment and Evaluation in Early Childhood Education (pp. 93-116). Charlotte NC: Information Age Publishing. Refereed.

  • Jacobs, B. (2015), Capturing Learning in the Classroom (CLIC Software) in Ontario’s Full-Day Kindergarten (Toronto ON: Pearson Canada/MITACS Research Report).  https://www.mitacs.ca/en/projects/capturing-learning-classroom-clic

  • Jacobs, B., & Jacobs, L. (2011). The Professionalization of Adult Literacy Practitioners: Impacts and Benefits for Learners. Toronto ON: Commissioned Paper for the Ontario Literacy Coalition.

  • Jacobs, B., & Jacobs, L. (2010). Multidisciplinary Paths to Family Justice in Ontario: Professional Challenges and Promising Practices, Final Report. Toronto ON: Law Commission of Ontario Family Law Reform Project. Refereed. http://www.lco-cdo.org/en/content/family-law-reform

  • Jacobs, B. (2008). Children’s Conversations About the Sun, Moon, and Earth. In C.A. Wien (ED), Emergent Curriculum in the Primary Classroom: Interpreting the Reggio Emilia Approach in Schools (pp. 82-95). New York & Washington: Teachers College Press/National Association for the Education of Young Children. Refereed.