Thursday, September 9. 2021

Today looks like this: 

9:05-9:25 - Homeroom (We're #36 in room 115) 

9:30-10:35 - D Block 

10:45-11:50 - C Block 

11:50-12:35 - Lunch 

12:40 - 1:55 B Block 

2:00-3:15 - A Block 

C/D Blocks - Social and Environmental Sciences - Today, to start, we go outside. We are going to do an inventory and analysis field study of Towhee Creek, an intermittent or seasonal stream that flows between the Comox Valley Sports Centre and G.P. Vanier, through the Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds to the Tsolum River.

Intermittent streams have flowing water periods during the wet season (winter-spring) but are normally dry during hot summer months. Ephemeral streams have less flow than intermittent streams, are typically shallow, and have flowing water for brief periods in response to rainfall. So Towhee Creek is an Intermittent, rather than an Ephemeral stream. Towhee Creek is important due to superior capacity for nutrient spiraling and fish habitat (particularly Coho and trout) providing winter habitat for Tsolum River salmon populations in the watershed. The headwaters of Towhee Creek is a rare 5.53 hectare Garry oak woodland behind G.P. Vanier Secondary School. This protected Garry oak woodland is a remnant of the most northern ecosystem of its kind in Canada. It also hosts a variety of unusual vegetation species.

The morning sees us look at the headwaters through to mid stream (just past the turf field) and tomorrow sees us look at the lower portions of the stream through the Exhibition grounds to the riparian second growth forests along the Tsolum River.

Benton and I are asking you to map out (inventory) some things and make notes about what you see. Your goal "on the river" is to collect as much scientific data as you can during one short day. Don't get distracted, remember that the purpose of the day is gather observations that will help answer the "big question" Is this creek healthy? - our assessment.

We want you to assess and evaluate the physical features of the Towhee Creek system and look at the impact of a river drainage system on water quality seen through soil, slope, and flow. We also want you to consider the effects of agriculture, development, and transportation on Towhee Creek and water resources. Further to this we'd like you to monitor and document the number of living organisms in Towhee Creek. The variety of living organisms in a water environment, which may change as the water quality and quantity increases or decreases, should also be monitored and documented (remember Towhee Creek is an intermittent stream).

FMI Check out the SD 71 - Vanier Oak Property Ecological Assessment and Protection Plan  from Current Environmental, Raincoast Applied Ecology, and MDI Design Inc

No...we will not do this!

B Block Physical Geography - Today we'll start with time to continue your observing as a geographer activity from yesterday's class. We'll share out what we found. After, we'll work on the foundations of Geography starting with the Five Themes. In order to understand the increasingly complex and interconnected world we live in we need to find a way to make sense of information in a way that doesn't overwhelm us. I will not show you a video of the 5 Themes of Geography using Fortnite, nor a really bad rap by J-Dub & The hip hop graphics...ugh! The Five Themes (Location, Place, Human-Environment Interactions, Movement, and Regions) are a framework for making sense of geographic data. It helps you to understand the holistic nature of geography of geography (emphasizing the organic or functional relation between parts and the whole, as each theme cannot be seen in isolation from the others). Geographers ask two simple questions: Where are people and activities found on Earth? and Why are they found there? So we'll try to work on the Questions: How do Geographers describe where things are? Why is each point on Earth unique? Why Are Different Places Similar? We'll do this through the 5 Themes. After this I'll give you time to work on your Geography ID assignment in your week 1 package.

A Block Criminology - Today we'll start with yesterday's question that I wanted you to brainstorm: 

Why do people commit crime?

After some time, I'd like you to partner up and get your ideas on a large sheet of paper (try to keep a safe social distance and if not, then you'll need to mask up). After you collect all of your ideas on large sheets of paper with smelly felts, I'd like you to cluster (group) your reasons why people commit crime into categories (emotions, poverty, culture, etc...) and see what biological factors and sociological factors may contribute to crime. We'll then share your ideas together as a class and see if there are any common ideas that we may have and we'll try to see where your clusters fit in terms of Choice, Trait, Social Structure, Social Learning, and Conflict theories. I'll give you a handout to help you with crime theories and I'd like your group to see where your crime theory categorized clusters (similar categories) fit in terms of Choice, Trait, Social Structure, Social Learning, and Conflict theories. The goal of criminological theory is to help one gain an understating of crime and criminal justice. 

Many disciplines factor into criminological theories, such as psychology, sociology, biology, political science, and criminal justice. Theories cover the making and the breaking of the law, criminal and deviant behavior, as well as patterns of criminal activity. Individual theories may be either macro or micro. Theories can be used to guide policy making, and can be evaluated on a number of criteria including: clarity, scope, parsimony (concise), testability, practical usefulness, and empirical validity. Many theories have common traits, but differences among them still exist. Understanding these differences is key to understanding the often contradictory views of crime and deviance they try to explain. 

After this, we'll begin our look at the nature vs. nurture debate by focusing on the history of psychological and sociological criminology and our brief history of criminology (from B.C.E up to and including the current theories, which will help you with your first activity in the course). 

For Monday, you need to create your own theory of why crime happens. You can use the handouts I've given you and the following sites for help:

Theories and causes of crime (Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research)
Theories of the Causes of Crime (New Zealand Ministry of Justice)
Criminology Theories (Criminal Justice)
Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, Application (Oxford University Press Student Study Guide)

Tomorrow we'll start with a NOVA documentary Mind of a Rampage Killer and then we'll begin a look at the difference between criminal and deviant behaviour.