Research Ideas

 

Mathematics (funded by SSHRC + Fields)

  1. Infinity in my hand (gr. 3: fractions, infinity, limit)
  2. Making sums of 10 (gr. 3-4: patterning, linear functions)
  3. How to fence a pen (gr. 2-4: area, perimeter, optimization)
  4. Where parallel lines meet (gr. 2: geometry of a sphere)
  5. Probability race (gr. 2-4: probability with dice)
  6. Odds and evens (gr. 2, 7: growth patterns, odds, evens)
  7. Low floor, high ceiling (big ideas for young mathematicians)
  8. I don't like math anymore (I love it now! - math-for-teachers)
  9. Math performance (what did you do in math today?)
  10. Research performance (arts-informed research dissemination)
Mathematics (funded by KNAER)
  1. How much is a billion? (gr. 3: Fermi questions, social justice)
  2. Math pattern trains (gr. 1-4: growth patterns, slope, linear functions)
  3. Math waves around us (gr. 3-4: patterning, trigonometry)
Science
  1. Cough, cough (gr. 4: pollution, social justice)
  2. Eating plastic (gr. 3-4: the great plastic dump, social justice)
  3. Refraction action (gr. 2-3: refraction)
  4. Will it float, will it sink? (gr. 2-3: density, buoyancy)
  5. Gravity's pull (gr. 2-3: gravity, density)
Peter Jaffe on violence & abuse
  1. Never met a happy bully (bullying and breaking the silence)
  2. The lizard in your brain (violence in the media)

 

 

 

 


 

Feeding the lizard in your brain (how the media you consume feeds violence)

Violence in the media and violence against women and children

Peter Jaffe asks: What is the relationship between violence in the media and violence against women and children? Some research is showing that the relationship is as strong as "smoking and cancer", "lead ingestion and lower IQ", and "condom non-use and AIDS."

Peter Jaffe is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario and the Academic Director of the Centre for Research on Violence Against Women & Children. He is the Director Emeritus for the Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System, which is a children's mental health centre specializing in issues which bring children and families into the justice system in London, Ontario. See Peter Jaffe's UWO website.

Music video: Feeding the lizard in your brain

This song was written based on an interview with Peter Jaffe (shown above-right). See also the music video I've never met a happy bully.

Lyrics/video by George Gadanidis. Music by Ian Parliament, Ryan Casselman, Emily Parliament & Ricardo Scucuglia. Download the mp3 file.

How do you learn
To be violent and abusive?
How do you stop caring
Stop feeling, reacting
And lose your empathy?

What do you learn
From media around us?
Where violence sells
And the hurting of others
Are images you consume?

What do you learn
From hockey fights
Where blood flows
Where violence is cool
And people stand and cheer?

What will you do?
There’s an OFF button
Go ahead and push it
And turn on the love in your life
Turn on the love in your life

What do you lose
Playing gory games
For hours on end
Shooting and maiming
To get a winning score?

Violence and gore
Feed the lizard
In your brain
Where visceral sensations
Erase reflective thoughts

Imagine a child
Surrounded by this
Day in, day out
Desensitized
To the pain of others

What will you do?
There’s an OFF button
Go ahead and push it
And turn on the love in your life
Turn on the love in your life