Steph Schuurman-Olson

Steph Schuurman-Olson holds concurrent roles as an ATS Assistant Lecturer and Early Childhood Music Instructor at the Augustana Faculty of the University of Alberta, while pursuing a PhD in Elementary Education. She specializes in integrating music, sustainability, and ecological awareness into pedagogical practices. Her educational background includes a Master of Education (MEd), Bachelor of Education (BEd), and Bachelor of Music (BMus).

Her teaching focuses on educational foundations: she instructs courses like AUEFX 200/201 (teaching orientation), AUEPS 258 (educational psychology), and early childhood music programs. Research interests emphasize creative responses to climate crisis through arts-based methods, ethical pedagogy, and interdisciplinary sustainability frameworks.

Recent scholarship explores hospicing hope in education, improvisational music practices with children in ecological contexts, and collaborative visual/sonic projects reconnecting learners with natural environments. Her work bridges artistic expression and urgent environmental concerns, advocating for pedagogies that nurture resilience and ecological consciousness.

Advising and research involve her PhD studies in Elementary Education, focusing on curriculum development that integrates arts and sustainability. She actively engages in community-based projects such as the Re-claiming the Seasons soundscape initiative.