Author Archives: Genevieve Carpenter-Boesch

Baking Cookies or Critical Thinking?

Posted on November 30, 2016 | Leave a comment

Baking Cookies or Critical Thinking?  

When you are making choices on your own, do you ever feel ill-equipped or unconfident in your decision making ability?

We have all felt this frustration at some point in our life, whether it is in university chemistry laboratories or in high school when you are writing a comparative essay. However, critical thinking extends beyond just our education. Even though we may not realize it, decision-making is constant in our lives, from small questions like, “How do you like your coffee?” to a big life question like,“Why are you a good fit for this job?” Critical thinking is the skill we use to answer these questions and make choices by applying our previous knowledge through comparisons and reflection.

Critical thinking

There are many different applications of critical thinking Photo Credit: LinkedIn

This important life skill should be taught and developed, but sometimes it is inhibited because of the lack of confidence, time and skills needed to form an analysis. Doug Bonn, a UBC researcher looks into providing learning opportunities to develop student’s confidence in critical thinking. To teach critical thinking, Dr. Bonn uses the comparison model which is similar to the process of baking cookies as explained in our video below.

Video Credit: Yiwei Liu, https://youtu.be/nnFcwZt6tws

As you can see, the comparison model is used in everyday tasks, even in simple tasks where you must compare and go through repetitious cycles until you get the greatest product. Endorsing this higher level of learning leads us back to the importance of where critical thinking is developed and taught. Fascinated by this thought, we polled students on the UBC campus to see if they thought critical thinking was more established in high school or in university. We then compared their answers to lead researcher, Dr. Bonn’s; let’s listen in.

Podcast Credit: Stephanie Schaupmeyer

Turns out, universities have a lot to learn from high school according to Doug Bonn. Hopefully in the future, the comparison model will be incorporated in university education to prepare students for real world application and making big life decisions. Special thanks to Doug Bonn for giving us his time and insight on his research paper!

-Group 3: Jenna Carpenter-Boesch, Stephanie Schaupmeyer, Yiwei Lin

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Posted in Science Communication

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Let’s Rock on! Finding Conservation Strategies for Rockfish

Posted on November 7, 2016 | 3 comments

Presently, fisheries provide 19% of the global protein and employ 200 million people worldwide. It is a huge economic industry with designated areas in the oceans to catch fish. Since the beginning of commercialized fisheries, where the activity grew from an individual occupation to an immense industry involving catching, transporting, cleaning and selling fish products, the amount of fish in the oceans has steadily declined due to overfishing. Overfishing happens when  more fish are caught than can be reproduced and the population is unable to fully recover to its previous numbers. Fish can be more vulnerable to overfishing if they have a longer life span, slower reproduction rate, slower development and are larger in size.

A commercialized method of fishing called longline used for catching rockfish.

A commercialized method of fishing called longline used for catching rockfish.

Rockfish, found inshore of Vancouver Island in British Columbia are commonly overfished because they possess all of these characteristics. Large fish are the ideal target for fisheries because it is less catch effort for a higher biomass. The yelloweye rockfish, found in BC grows to be a massive 40 lbs. A rockfish lives for approximately 100 years, making them vulnerable to overfishing because it takes a tremendous amount of time to recover when these older fish are removed from the ecosystem. In contrast to most species who hatch their newborns in eggs, rockfish offspring come out swimming so these young fish are quickly exposed to commercialized fishing. Rockfish are fully developed at age 20, making quick reproduction nearly impossible if overfished. These factors contribute to a slower population recovery time; if rockfish are extensively overfished, it will take generations to rebuild their population to prior numbers.

A large yelloweye rockfish (approximately 30 lbs.) caught on the Queen Charlotte Islands, BC.

A large yelloweye rockfish (approximately 30 lbs.) caught on the Queen Charlotte Islands, BC.

As result of overfishing the rockfish’s ecosystem, inshore of Vancouver Island will be destabilized. Within every oceanic ecosystem, each species is interconnected within the food chain. If rockfish are endangered it will not only threaten the productivity and interactions within the ecosystem, but also accelerate fishery collapse leading to job loss and economic downfall.

The distribution of rockfish conservation areas along the coast of British Columbia.

The distribution of rockfish conservation areas along the coast of British Columbia.

In order to counteract this extinction of rockfish and its lasting effects, a conservation strategy for rockfish has been developed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Decreasing mortality is critical for rebuilding the rockfish population so different systems of fishing are being developed to limit rockfish being caught and released, which ultimately kills them. Furthermore, certain areas will be closed to fishing with the objective of ending the accidental catching of rockfish while ensuring that their habitat will not be compromised.

You can help with rockfish conservation by:

  • Reporting any fishing in closed fishing areas to the proper authorities.
  • Frequenting restaurants that serve only ocean-friendly seafood.
  • Ensuring you avoid over consumption of rockfish which is typically called the Red Snapper or Rock Cod at restaurants and grocery stores.

All of these conservation strategies and individual contributions will give the rockfish time to recover their population here in British Columbia.

-Genevieve Carpenter-Boesch

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News

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Video

Is it our Fault? Fracking leads to Seismic Activity

Underneath the surface, there are many fractured cracks in the Earth’s crust, called faults. Naturally, these cracks would cause instability but with the overlying rocks above and rocks side by side acting as opposing forces, frictional resistance is formed, preventing fault movement. If this friction is ever counteracted the fault will slip, leading to seismic movement and threatening populations on Earth.

Fault Movement

Fault Movement

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) negates this necessary friction when a high pressurized liquid is injected into the surface causing rocks to fracture in order to extract petroleum and natural gas. Following fracking, all the waste fluid must be safely eliminated so the chemicals do not infiltrate the surface drinking water. To be cost-efficient oil companies created concrete covered disposal wells a few meters below the surface to drill the wastewater into for permanent storage. The drilling of this wastewater counteracts this natural friction and causes separation between fault lines, leading to further seismic movement. As long as fracking and the fracking waste disposal system continue the faults will grow more unsteady, so a new method for oil extraction is crucial. In the United States the majority of seismic movements are triggered by waste fluid drilling disposal, however, in Canada less water is used in the extraction of oil so more earthquakes are driven by fracking.

Hydraulic Fracturing Process

Hydraulic Fracturing Process

New research shows an undeniable correlation between fracking water disposal drilling and earthquakes recorded in Western Canada’s oil region, Alberta and British Columbia since 1985. The results showed that 90% of earthquakes over the magnitude of 3.0 on the Richter Scale (which measures the severity of earthquakes) were linked to nearby fracking operations, while only 5-10% of earthquakes were generated from natural causes. Although only 0.3% of fracking operations included in the study were associated with severe earthquakes, a large abundance of magnitude 1.0 – 2.0 earthquakes have occurred. These may seem harmless, but for every small earthquake there is a higher rate of seismic activity and a greater probability that a massive, extreme earthquake will be triggered.

Showing the proximity and correlation between earthquakes and hydraulic fracturing sites in Alberta

Showing the proximity and correlation between earthquakes and hydraulic fracturing sites.

Seismologists have been attempting to keep deep injection sites far away from fault lines. However, as the oil industry grows there will be a continuous struggle to find area that will not affect plate tectonics. Further studies and computer simulation are able to give us  insight into how injections affect fluid pressure and how this increase in pressure leads to destabilizing the fault line. Nevertheless, the best solution is a new method of oil extraction, because soon fracking and wastewater disposal drilling will lead to much bigger earthquakes and man-driven environmental disasters.

-Jenna Carpenter-Boesch

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Posted on September 26, 2016 in Issues in Science

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