Photo for James Miles

James Miles, PhD

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education - Elementary Education

Pronouns: he/him

Contact

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education - Elementary Education
Email
jamiles@ualberta.ca

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

History Education Memory Historical Injustice Social Studies Historical Thinking


Research

Peer Reviewed Books

Miles, J. & Keynes, M. (2025). Education and Historical Justice: Redress, Reconciliation and Reparations in the Classroom. Bloomsbury Academic.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles:

Miles, J. & Gibson, L. (2026). Truth telling in history classrooms: Pedagogical responses to denialism and pseudohistory. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2025.2608674

Gibson, L., Peck, C. L., Miles, J., & Duquette, C. (2025). Historical thinking: Trends, critiques, and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychology 65, 102088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102088

Miles, J. (2025). Researching history education in Canada: Plus ça change? History Education Research Journal. 22 (1), 2. https://doi.org/10.14324/HERJ.22.1.02.

Miles, J. (2024). Authenticity, absence and pedagogy on an historical injustice bus tour. Memory Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980241300610

Miles, J., Compton, A. & Herold, E. (2024). Crash Course in the classroom: Exploring how and why social studies teachers use YouTube videos. Journal of Social Studies Research. 1-14. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23522798241238666

Miles, J. & Keynes, M. (2023). The problem of teleological history education and the possibilities of a multispecies, multiscalar, and non-continuous history. Rethinking History. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642529.2023.2213084

Miles, J. & Gibson, L. (2022). Rethinking presentism in history education. Theory and Research in Social Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2022.2115959

Miles, J. (2022). Guilt, complicity, and historical responsibility: Towards a pedagogy of complex implication. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2022.2064537

Miles, J. (2021). Scattered memories of difficult history and museum pedagogies of disruption. Journal of Museum Education, 46(2), 272-281. https://doi.org/10.1080/10598650.2021.1911537

Miles, J. (2020). Curriculum reform in a culture of redress: How social and political pressures are shaping social studies curriculum in Canada. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 53(1), 47-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2020.1822920

Miles, J. & Springgay, S. (2020). The indeterminate influence of Fluxus on curriculum and pedagogy. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 33(10), 1007-1021. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2019.1697469

Miles, J. (2019). Seeing and feeling difficult history: A case study of how Canadian students make sense of photographs of Indian residential schools. Theory and Research in Social Education, 47(3), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2019.1626783

Miles, J. (2019). Historical pageantry and progressive pedagogy at Canada’s 1927 diamond jubilee celebration. Historical Studies in Education, 31(2), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.32316/hse-rhe.v31i2.4663

Miles, J. (2018). Teaching history for truth and reconciliation: The challenges and opportunities of narrativity, temporality, and identity. McGill Journal of Education, 53(2), 291-311. https://doi.org/10.7202/1058399ar

Peer Reviewed Book Chapters:

Gibson, L. & Miles, J. (2026). Confronting residential school denialism in Canadian classrooms. In S. Carleton & N. Sinclair (Eds.). Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism. University of Manitoba Press.

Gibson, L. & Miles, J. (2026). Thinking historically in the IB History exam. In P. Gautschi, L. Gibson, J. Wojdon, & K. Nieuwenhuyse. (Eds.) Putting History to the Test. Wochenschau Verlag.

Gibson, L. & Miles, J. (2024). A planning framework for historical inquiry. In B. Bain, A. Chapman, A. Kitson & T. Shreiner (Eds). History Education and Historical Enquiry (pp. 69-97). Information Age Publishing

Miles, J. & Herold, E. (2023). Teaching difficult histories with YouTube videos. In M. Hughes-Warrington, K. Nelson, M. Treacey (Eds.). The Routledge Companion to History and the Moving Image (pp. 298-313). Routledge.

Miles, J. & Thind, R. (2022). Comparing historical injustices: The possibilities and challenges of teaching multiple injustices from an anti-cololonial perspective. In L. Harris, M. Sheppard, & S. Levy (Eds.). Teaching Difficult Histories in Difficult Times: Stories of Practice (pp, 129-141). Teachers College Press. 

Miles, J. (2021). Redressing historical wrongs or replicating settler colonialism? In M. Keynes, H. Elmersj., D. Lindmark, & B. Norlin (Eds.). Historical Justice and History Education (pp. 249-267).  Palgrave Macmillan. 

Courses

EDEL 595 - Special Topics in Elementary Education

Content varies from year to year. Topics announced prior to registration period. The student's transcript carries a title descriptive of content. May be repeated. Sections may be offered at an increased rate of fee assessment; refer to the Tuition and Fees page in the University Regulations sections of the Calendar.


EDSE 501 - Special Topics in Secondary Education

Content varies from year to year. Topics announced prior to registration period. The student's transcript carries a title descriptive of content. May be repeated. May include alternate delivery sections; may require payment of additional student instructional support fees. Refer to the Tuition and Fees page in the University Regulations section of the Calendar.


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