We are the novel ecosystem

Our time in Hunstville for Field Skills was illuminating. We learn what to do…and we learn what not to do. Through our trials and tribulations we found the faults and worked to improve and better them for the next time round. In a way we resembled a novel ecosystem of sorts. No one has done this course before (not to say no one has done a field course at the University of Waterloo, rather that this is the first time it has been done in this manner in Huntsville), so we were the trial run to which other courses held here would be referenced to. Different teaching methods and syllabi were used during the block courses to see which ones would be best received by the students. Some worked better than others. Sometimes these changes and additions lead to the extinction of other aspects. As this novel opportunity populates, more species of the homo sapien variety will infiltrate the novel ecosystem thereby changing it with their very presence, once again making it necessary to find new methods of teaching and learning. 

Untold Field Skill # 314

Roll with the punches. When life gives you noodles, go for a swim. When life blows up helium balloons and places them in a tent, you run screaming in! Just make sure that you enjoy what you’re doing, and have fun in the process.

Although we are here first and foremost for class, it is also essential to go and enjoy what Huntsville has to offer. Whether it be their festivals (Nuit Blanche) or the local water bodies, get to know the locals, find out where to pick up the best wings, where that greasy all day breakfast place is located, and who sells the best ice cream. Sometimes you end up learning while having a little fun!

 Take this place for example.

We were looking for historical information about the town of Huntsville and after having no luck at the tourist station we followed a sign that promised ice cream and found a small house that was literally called: The Purple House. Curious we went in to find a kind lady who proceeded to tell us a little about the history of the place.

Originally the house was created for a young girl who had wanted a doll house. But instead of getting her your run of the mill small scale house her parents built her a three room dollhouse, where she lived right next door to her family. The owner of the ice cream store bought both the house next door and the dollhouse, broke down the walls inside that little place, painted it an unforgettable shade of purple and began selling frozen treats from inside. Inside this colourful cave hang dozens of kites and solar powered rainbow makers that she both displays and sells.

I love learning.

Don’t shake your head, and get that jaw off the floor, its gathering dust.

I have this weird metaphor for learning. It may not make sense at first but just bear with me as I try to explain. So we have this brain, which resides between your two ears. And then it starts to get filled with things. Some of its boring stuff, like “clean your room” or a little more exciting such as “Lord of the Rings marathon tomorrow at 12, don’t forget to call gandalf” But there are other things that start to collect like memories, daydreams and wishes. Obviously that’s a lot of things to put there so to make it easier and more organized there are these little yous that run around your head that file certain things for future reference and pull things out when you need it (or not – sometimes that happens during exams – blame it on the mini-me’s). So when I learn something new, all the little yous all let out this collective OOOHHHH!!! And then they have a party where they throw around memories and thoughts that I had had in relation to this new piece of information, like confetti.

So I like the idea that everytime I learn something new, it adds to this platform of knowledge and experience that I have been collecting all my life. And in the process it forms new bridges and links other things in my mind, allowing me to think of things from different perspectives.

So since I know how I like to learn and how it affects me, I decided: Why not try think of a way to teach a course like Field Skills to other students like me. I may not have a pHd but I have had the pleasure of seeing the perspective of both the student and the teacher thusfar in my life and I will draw from that and anything else I can think of.

When I had first taken a look at the syllabus, it was the content that made me want to take the course. In fourteen days we were to interact and gain skills while working with insects, terrestrial species, birds, amphibians and reptiles, nocturnal, aquatic skills, as well as aquatic and terrestrial plants. 

Since there was such a wide range of things to cover in the course, I believe that it is important to ensure that the students all come into the course with some knowledge under their belt. That way more time is spent applying the skills rather than sitting and learning them. This information can come in the form of instructional videos, documentaries, journals, newspaper articles, maps of the area, species lists.

What I would want to know before coming would be:

Question: Where are we going?

Answer: Map of area, articles about the area, informative videos that the area has put together

Question: What will we be doing during the amphibian field skills period?

Answer: Map of area where the study will be taking place (ideally near water!), videos on how to capture and release amphibians, list of species commonly found in area, link to website where students can hear the sounds heard, powerpoint on how to create a field sketch (requirements, specifications etc.), list of tools needed/provided.

For each section there would be a list of material that students could examine so that they come to the field armed with a base of knowledge that all can relate to. One thing to do to ensure that everyone has gone through most of the information would be to provide short quizzes after each section that asks questions that can’t just be look up quickly but would have to be understood (no/few close ended questions).  Making this worth a small amount of the student’s mark will make them feel more accountable and more likely to do the pre-search.

During the field part of the class I think it is important to have an appropriate number of staff present in relation to the number of students. During the ELC course, there were four instructors, who each specialized in different areas. We were split into groups of five or six and the instructors rotated between the four groups so we all got to work and learn from them all. The good thing about working with such small groups was that you were able to participate more. It was also easier to interact, ask questions and because there were so few of us our instructor was often able to oversee what we were doing and point out what we were doing wrong/right. It helped to close the learning gap, one that has been an issue in the field of ecology. 

We had a slightly larger group for this course, and since the lab was not set up, we only had the professor for guidance because they TA had to prep the lab for other activities. This made communication and knowledge transfer incredibly difficult and impossible at times. So ideally (in a world with unlimited funds), it would be good to have a student to instructor ratio of 6:1, just because this is such a hands on course that is done during such a short period of time.

Another thing that I would love to incorporate would be professionals from different fields ideally from the surrounding area. Having a botanist or a birder, amphibian researcher who knows the area and what would be found there as well as what to look for would really improve the course. The instructors would know what areas (geographically) to focus on and provide research for the students before hand, then when the students arrive they would have access to people who would know what the look for and when and who would be able to answer questions students may have or direct them to someone or something that they are familiar with.

Nevertheless, I still have many years to go until I can get my pHd. For now I’ll be content with the fact that I can embed GIF images in HTML. 

Never gets old. Always better, (and saner) to make a difference using your words, thoughts and actions, like Pamela Hurst. Murder doesn’t often make the difference you are looking to make, unless you are a shark.

(Source: crimesagainsthughsmanatees)

LAWNS ARE USELESS

There are two fellows, vlogbrothers as they have called themselves, who use videologs (vlogs) as their only form of communication. They decided not to write, text, call or e-mail eachother and so they create these amazing videos where they discuss a wide range of things thereby keeping in touch. One day during the summer, one of their videos came up and I danced with glee as John Green voiced an issue that has always rubbed me the wrong way. Lawns. I’m pretty sure that there are a good chunk of students that have spent this summer mowing a lawn to an acceptable length. But you know the thing is…

Lawns are USELESS.

In this video, John discusses lawns, the status quo and the environment. I find it interesting that we have always told to be ourselves and not to give in to peer-pressure, yet I find myself nodding at my neighbour every Sunday while I mow our tiny suburban square of lawn within an inch of its life. Would it really be that bad if we planted some herbs in our front yard?

During the winter semester, I got the opportunity to attend a conference about greenbelts. There were plenty of interesting speakers present, but one I still remember one in particular. Her name was Pamela Hurst. From Todmorden, England she helped put together an initiative called Incredible Edible. Formerly a politician, Pam claims to be a guerrilla planter. She discussed the need for “forever projects” using the language of food, one that I’m sure everyone understands (unless they look like this). Connecting people to what they eat makes them personally responsible rather than removed, which is something I voiced previously.

As a politician she recognized that she lost people with the polititalk, using words like “sustainable, climate change, geofluvialmorphologist…” most of these words have many different meanings in different contexts. She wanted to use a “Trojan horse of food to change the future.” In her own words, she stated that she took the crap areas in her hometown and she made them into herb gardens, and vegetable gardens and flower gardens.” She didn’t ask, she just did, and no one opposed, because most of these places looked better once she and her guerrillas did their work. The good things about the spots that were replanted were that they were accessible to all, so adults and children alike were able to access and take the food.

These illegitimate gardens worked to create a sense of community within her own home town. They became the community of the cabbage, linked through food. And as more of these propaganda gardens popped up, more people wanted to help and put them in both private and public property that could be accessed by all. She managed to get the police station, the hospital and the school to plant gardens, fruit bearing trees and such that people were allowed to enjoy and to eat from. She also provided images and signs to encourage the use of these gardens, telling people when to pick the fruits and vegetables as well as how to cook it. Now there have been tours put together to specifically visit the areas that have be restored. And the volunteers, those who give between an hour and months end up picking up and improving skills they didn’t know they had. (Theres always a link :D)

“In our work with schools we’re aiming to foster a reconnection with where food comes from; how it’s grown; how it’s transformed by processing and cooking. The learning possibilities are immense.

But it’s not just at school and college that learning is needed. We’ve pioneered working with Pennine Housing on local housing estates. We’ve helped provide planters for growing, organise volunteers. And with Tony Mulgrew from the High School we’ve run cooking and food awareness events like this.

Our direct involvement in running courses has grown a lot. At first We helped run grafting, permaculture and bee-keeping courses. Now in 2011 we’re partners with Calderdale Adult Learning in running courses in many subjects. See the range here. We cover the basics of growing, skills of pruning and grafting, and more complex and specialised areas like edible fungi, herbal medicine and bees.”

So maybe during the last couple of weeks of summer I’ll head out and throw seed bombs at my neighbours’ lawn and see how the status quo responds to that!

I could include a personal photo of me lying on the deck during this period of enlightenment. But once again, Crimes Against Hugh’s Manatees took my thoughts and created a well written comic. 

Doing this course has allowed my mind to wander. Yes, I am aware of that old proverb:

An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.

But sadly for Satan that wasn’t the case. I had been working, researching to be specific, right until the day before we were set to leave. And this job, unlike most of my previous jobs involved more mental exertion rather than the physical kind (not that I’m truly capable of much physical exertion, I have the upper body strength of a toddler). When I wasn’t engaging my mental faculties with work-related issues I was preparing to head up to Huntsville, which involved me making mental lists, check-list, to-do lists… So as a result I never took the time to just sit around and let my mind meander.

Late one hot day when we were checking our traps every hour we decided against heading straight back up, sitting for less 15 minutes, then heading back down again. Instead we left our habitat and walked across the road to the dock and wiped out unceremoniously in our bug nets and hiking boots near the water oblivious to the locals leisurely passing by in the boats. Obviously unprepared for the opportunity to relax, I hadn’t brought my book to read or my iPod to listen to any music. So I just lay there. It was warm out, and the dock was more comfortable than the beds back at the centre, so lulled by the warmth and water I began watching the water. There weren’t too many boats going by so I was watching the ripples of water and how the reflection long grass edging the water was distorted and how difficult it was to differentiate where the grass ended and the water began…but then a boat finally did go by and the wake awoke me (pun intended) from the reverie that I had been in.

My eyes began to wander and then I saw a bunch of fragrant water lilies surrounded by lily pads nearby. Lily pads were something I had honestly only seen in movies. Sad but true, so although I knew what one looked like when I saw it, I didn’t know much else. From my observations however, I noticed that the leaves the appeared above the water were all connected underneath kind of like bunch of balloon or an octopus. Thinking about my reminded me about the paper we had to write before heading to Huntsville, about field skills education. I started thinking about how field ecology was like the base of the stem, holding together all these parts. The lily pad needs all these different nutrients, or subjects: statistics (much to the horror of many ERSers), biology etc. in order to create these different, yet connected pads. These pads or jobs are anything from writing policy in regards to watershed and farmers for Agri-Foods Canada (my next job), to researching about the reproductively of butterflies (please speak to Ainsley Munro for more details - she also created a tumblr for this project). So essentially field ecology is an amalgamation of different fields, not just one. And it provides a sound foundation for the development of different jobs in different areas. Sometimes it seems completely irrelevant, but somehow that little lily pad is connected under the turbid water to a stem.

After that profound revelation, my mind went from lilypads and octopi, to giant squid pie which made me think of sushi, which reminded me that we had to head up for dinner. Back to the workshop it is then.

Azra

He has three ears:  a left ear, a right ear, and a final front ear.

I finally figured out how to insert short animated clips! New skill acquired! However I am not permitted to go into the past and include this with the relevant post.

Enjoy!  

As time goes by

I’ve always thought that timelapse videos were the characterization of the word patience. Those types of videos as well as stop motion videos take a lot of time to do. In this video I feel that its rise and fall beautifully reflects what is going on during the time lapse. The music culminates speeding past like the streets and skies of the cities. The streets at night in the cities glow gold like luminescent rivers. But no one takes the time to stop and admire their surroundings and how life is just going by.

I worked downtown during the recent winter semester, and don’t get me wrong, I truly loved my job and the people I worked with. Outside the building however, it seemed like no one took the time to look up and catch a glimpse at the sky. People always seemed to be in a hurry to get places, to get coffee, to get home. It seems like people have become removed from their roots and were adrift amongst the golden river.

I loved the end of the video where the music tempo slows down and the camera shifts away from the city to the country and focuses on the sky and the stars. That overwhelming feeling supplemented by the music, relaxes into a peaceful lull as you finally catch a glimpse of the night sky.

Before I went to work, I made sure to catch my own glimpse of the sky so that I was able to take that peace and serenity into the city with me. I hope that no matter what you do, you find your source of serenity and take it with you wherever you go.

Patience… is very difficult when you are hungry, and are a t-rex. crimesagainsthughsmanatees creates these amazing comics daily which constantly make me laugh, regardless of the situation. I thought that this was increasing relevant to the post on patience. Not everyone’s got what it takes…

What do you do after staying up all night. Why head towards the nearest dock and watch the sunrise of course!

Patience. The Field Skill all ecologists must learn but is never listed as a requirement or taught in any class. Not outright that is. It is one of the most important skills that you may need to survive in this field. I didn’t realize how much this course would test my patience. And in how many different ways. Working in a group, working long hours in unpredictable weather conditions with little or no results makes you realize the importance of being patient.

There is one moment that remains affixed in my mind, that made me realize that being patient is not a futile endeavor. We had been going out throughout the night during our nocturnal lesson with little success in trapping any nocturnal species in our Havahart trap. We even baited the traps with the good stuff. No birdseed for our mammals, but rather the leftover feta and swiss cheese from our meals that day. We were going out for our last time that day/night, so it was around four in the morning and this time when we checked, like every other time, we didn’t find anything in our traps.

During this trek down however, we were to ID birds as well since many birds would be getting up around this time. Being tired and chilly we stood at our sites silently, waiting to hear a peep or even a whistle from that stupid early bird looking for the elusive worm that everyone always quotes around. We didn’t hear anything. It seemed like the silence would go on forever and suddenly there was a chirp, then a caw, then a low whistle and then it was like all the birds decided that NOW was the moment to let it rip. Being from the city meant that my aural identifying skills didn’t go much beyond mourning dove and seagull (both those sounds are my personal version of nails on a chalkboard). But as more and more birds came out, I was able to discern one call from the other with the help of my teammates. The sky continued to get lighter and soon we were able to see some of the birds responsible for the boisterous wake-up call this morning. Without even realizing it, we went over the time we had allotted while listening to the forest wake up. And instead of spending our time counting down the minutes were had genuinely just stood and listened to our surroundings.

That moment made me realize that field ecology and patience go hand in hand. You can’t just head out in the field for an hour, scribble down a sketch and some blurbs about the weather and be done with it. It is a long term process, one that sometimes takes years to start and decades to finish. I remember Lien talking about his work in Africa and how it took him years to just gather the research which he then analyzed to obtain results. He told us that it took ages for him to learn and identify the different species of flora and fauna until it became natural to him.

It reassured me that even though I may not be able to automatically tell the difference between a black capped chickadee and the carolina chickadee (edit: for the record though you can tell the difference by their sounds). I know that with time and practice I will be able to. Having patience, and time and knowing that mistakes are bound to happen makes the waiting worth it.

Some words from my friend Kinobi with a little bit of editing from my part:

 Yoda:              ”I cannot teach [her]. The [girl] has no patience.”

 Obi-Wan:       “[S]he will learn patience.”

Yes, yoda, yes I will.  

Keep On Trekking? Why not just keep on hiking or something. Well I’m a sucker for puns. I know some people may say that puns are considered the lowest level of humour but it still kills me when someone formulates a well worded joke.

Try this one for size:

 A toothless termite walked into a tavern and said, “Is the bar tender here?”        

If that didn’t tickle your funny bone it might be a good idea to stop reading here.

According to the world wide web trekking is defined as being “A long arduous journey, especially one made on foot.” (I like to take my creative license and replace arduous journey with adventurous.)  The root of trekking also is the name of my favorite science fictions shows. That’s right, live long and prosper. So I mixed a little science fiction with some field science and came up with pretty punny blog name (I’ll stop the puns here).

But have you listened to opening monologue of Star Trek?

“Space… The final frontier…

 These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.

 Its continuing mission:

 To explore strange new worlds…

 To seek out new life; new civilisations…

 To boldly go where no one has gone before!”

 Jean-Luc Picard, Captain, Starship Enterprise

 Jean-Luc talks about the journey of discovery, something that everyone goes through during their lifetime. Isn’t that the reason that we do what we do? To learn, to explore the world in which we live in, to discover things old and new. Humans are curious beings, and I hope that even when we think that we’ve seen everything there is to see e continue to trek where no one has trekked before.

Beam me up Scotty!

Azra

My spidey skills aren’t that shabby are they?

So for your viewing/listening pleasure. I have rewritten the lyrics to the original spiderman theme song so that it reflects my newfound technological and ecological skills. 

Spiderman, Spiderman, 
Does whatever a hacker can 
Surfs the web, any size, 
Catches trolls just like flies 
Look Out! 
Here comes the Spiderman. 

Is he smart? 
Listen bud, 
He’s got interactive blood. 
Can he work from his bed?
He would, but the wi-fi’s dead.
Hey, there 
There goes the Spiderman. 

In the chill of night 
At the habitat site

With a smart bright red light.
He’ll ID all that’s in siiiggght!

Spiderman, Spiderman 
Eco-Friendly Spiderman 
Wealth and fame 
He’s ignored 
Action is his reward. 

To him, life is a great big bang up 
Whenever there’s a hang up 
You’ll find the Spider man.

Ok maybe I lied about never writing a song again. But that’s the last time I will ever (re)write a song.

Azra