Academic X’cellence: Sharing stories from our inspiring StFX community
It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with StFX that our campus is filled with highly engaged students, educators, researchers, and leaders. Academic X’cellence shines a spotlight on members of our educational community to find out more about their unique experiences—both inside and outside of the classroom. (To see the full series, please click HERE.)
Here we meet Dr. Lisa Lunney Borden, a professor of mathematics education and chair of the StFX Department of Teacher Education. Dr. Lunney Borden holds the John Jerome Paul Chair For Equity In Mathematics Education and has spent much of her career helping impact children, including those who are the least served in the education system. Dr. Lunney Borden is currently involved in piloting a game-based app assessment for pre-school and kindergarten/primary math in schools across the US and in Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey (MK) schools in Nova Scotia. She is involved in equity and assessment in mathematics for African Nova Scotian children with the Delmore Buddy Daye Learning Institute; and in Show Me Your Math, a program that invites Indigenous youth to find the mathematical reasoning inherent in their community context. She also continues to support X-Project and has developed an outreach program called Connecting Math To Our Lives and Communities for X-Project communities and other Mi’kmaw communities. Dr. Lunney Borden is president of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group and is an invited speaker internationally. At StFX, she helped create the Certificate in Elementary Mathematics Pedagogy and has helped shape a Master’s in Mathematics Education, a Masters in Indigenous Education, and the new MK B.Ed. program. She is also a former secondary school math teacher and principal in a Mi’kmaw community.
Dr. Lisa Lunney Borden: “These partnerships and connections are what sustain me in my work because I know we can truly impact children who are often the least served in our education system.”
Tell us about innovations in your classrooms or research.
I have been chair of the department recently so I teach a lot less than I would like but when I have the chance to teach classes at the B.Ed. or M.Ed. level, I like to make learning meaningful and relevant to students while also inspiring them to imagine what could be possible. I loved my time teaching in We’koqma’q First Nation so the fact that I can continue to work in partnership with Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey (MK) community schools is truly a blessing. The new Mi’kmaw focused B.Ed. program is just one piece of that partnership—and a pretty exciting piece—but I also get to work with MK on lots of projects. One piece I am particularly excited about is the work on holistic mathematics assessments. We have been working with a company called Sprig Learning who do a lot of work with Indigenous communities around K-to-3 educational assessments. We have developed an assessment for Grade 1 math that is in the form of a game-based app that children can play with while it collects data about their mathematical thinking. We have hands-on activities as well that feature characters from the Treaty Education resources, and a portal of activities that teachers can use in their classrooms.
While I was on sabbatical in 2022-2023, Sprig Learning was asked by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to be part of a project to develop early years assessments with and equity focused design for children in the U.S. We worked from our experiences with the MK tools to design a new holistic math assessment for younger children that is culturally relevant and focused on children’s mathematical thinking. This has been exciting work and we piloted it in many states across the U.S. and also are bringing it back to our MK schools for their early years and primary programs.
It will also support the work I have been engaged in with the Delmore Buddy Daye Learning Institute where we have been talking about equity and assessment in mathematics for African Nova Scotian children.
These partnerships and connections are what sustain me in my work because I know we can truly impact children who are often the least served in our education system. I tell my students often that everything I have done in my career started when I signed up for X-Project in 1989—full circle—I ’m still doing X-Project. And in these partnerships, I am able to do math outreach too so I can use the resources of my position at the university to provide mathematics enrichment that is culturally relevant and supports the communities and kids I care about.
Are there awards, accomplishments or involvements to mention?
I’m pretty lucky to get invited to engage in some interesting discussions and experiences. Last summer I was an invited speaker for ICME-15 in Australia. This is a large international mathematics education conference, and it was an incredible privilege to be invited to share my current work with an international audience. Recently, I was invited to be part of the international planning committee for the next ICME in 2028 in Prague, so that’s exciting.
I also currently serve as the elected president of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group, which brings together mathematicians and mathematics educators annually to talk together and learn together about ideas relating to mathematics teaching from pre-school to post-secondary. It’s an honour to be trusted by my peers to lead this group so dear to my heart.
What drew you to teaching, and at the post-secondary level?
There were a number of things telling me it was a move I should make. I really did love my teaching job, but I replaced myself in my role with a Mi’kmaw math teacher and became the principal. Then I replaced myself with a Mi’kmaw principal and decided to do my PhD. I hope one day I will be able to replace myself with a Mi'kmaw professor too. My former dean, Dr. Jeff Orr, who had been my M.Ed. supervisor encouraged me to think about doctoral studies and coming back to X to work. I saw it as an opportunity to continue giving back to the community by helping with research and teaching related to Indigenous education and mathematics education. StFX had this existing partnership with MK so it was a nice way to extend the work I had been doing. I can still be connected to all the communities while also trying to make more space here at X to do better for communities.
What excites you about teaching at StFX?
We have an amazing teacher education program and I have hope that we can make the public education system better for all children. I have been able to do some amazing things here like the Certificate in Elementary Mathematics Pedagogy that I created over a decade ago. We have had hundreds of teachers across the province take this program. We have been able to hire two more mathematics educators who have helped to grow the program, and it continues to be in high demand. I have also helped shape a Master’s in Mathematics Education and a Masters in Indigenous Education, which supports teachers in the system. And the new MK B.Ed. which builds from pervious StFX in-community B.Ed. programs is something that has brought me joy this year. When I came to the university, it was always my intention to bring the resources of the university to the community and to bring ideas from the community into the university so each day I try to find ways to do that and break down the colonial barriers just a little bit more.
How long have you taught at StFX?
This is my 19th year as a faculty member, but I was also a student here; grad of 1993 (BA), 1994 (B.Ed.) and 2001 (M.Ed.) so I have been connected to StFX for a very long time.
What drives you in your teaching?
I believe teaching is about learning together, engaging with interesting ideas and making sense of them alongside my students. I draw a lot of inspiration from my experience as a secondary mathematics teacher in a Mi’kmaw school and bring those stories and the teaching strategies I learned into my teaching in the education program.
What impact do you hope your teaching will have?
I want to help all students see that mathematics is something we can all learn through playful and hands-on learning. I want to help students see that mathematics is also a tool that helps us to understand and communicate about the world; that it helps us to solve interesting and meaningful problems. I also want to help all students understand how colonial ideologies are deeply embedded in our education system and how we can unlearn them and relearn new ways that will make the world a better and more equitable place so that all people can have justice.
What’s something surprising about yourself?
I’m pretty much an open book. Maybe people might like to know that I love to sing, even if I’m not so good at it. I also call myself a “pioneer” in women’s hockey because, as far as I know, I was the first girl in the city of Saint John to play school boy hockey – they later changed the name. I’m a pretty bad hockey player but I had a great dad who was my coach and let me live out my 10-year-old’s dream to play some hockey. I lost my dad in 2023 which was really hard but I was really lucky to have a dad who supported me in all I wanted to do.
