Leo Elshof, PhD.

Leo has worked in the fields of science, technological and environmental education for over 25 years. His formal educational background includes degrees in science from the University of Waterloo, a Master of Science degree from McMaster University, a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Western Ontario and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Toronto.

His early work began in the field of industrial process control and telecommunications engineering in Canada’s far north. Leo began his teaching career in adult education working with industrial engineers and technologists. This was followed by teaching experiences in community college and secondary schools in Ontario.  Leo has taught science and technological studies in the education faculties of the University of Ottawa and Brock University. He has also taught graduate students as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. where he coordinated an interdisciplinary environmental studies research initiative.

For the past 4 years he has been teaching in the School of Education at Acadia University in Wolfville Nova Scotia. Here he teaches courses in the pre-service and graduate education programs in the areas of science and environmental education, and environmental technologies. Leo has been a leader in setting up a renewable energy education system at Acadia and is an executive member of the interdisciplinary ‘Academy of the Environment’ at Acadia. He is also working with the provincial department of education to incorporate sustainability thinking into the secondary technology education curriculum. Currently, Leo is the principal investigator in a three year research grant entitled ‘Ecological Design and Sustainability in Technological Studies Education’ funded by the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). This research is examining how teachers conceptualize sustainability and ‘sustainable practices’ and their relationship to current classroom practices in the provinces of Ontario and Nova Scotia. It is hoped that this research will lead to a national and an international comparative study of sustainable practices within technological education.

Leo has published articles in a number of international science and technology journals, authored numerous book chapters and presented at over 40 national and international conferences on the themes of technological, science, and environmental education.

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