Connecting with Science
Finding science in the everyday
Welcome to Connecting With Science where you can learn about research into sustainability, sciences, education and learning, and sport. All posts are based on academic literature but written for a more general audience. Use the links below to start exploring the different topics or use the search to see what exists on a topic you are interested in.
Sustainability
- Taking care of industrial food wasteIn the US, approximately 30-40% of all food is wasted according to the USDA. Generally, on this topic the discussion focuses on how to reduce this number with strategies for every stage of the chain from farm and manufacturing to the consumer. But Saba and colleagues (2023) have taken a different approach. Focusing specifically on … Continue reading
- How do you know what clothes to buy?I do my best to make purchases from more sustainable companies, but I can’t do all the research myself. I rely on choosing retailers that I hope, based on their statements, are doing their own investigation into their supply chains; however, research by Fraser and van der Ven (2022) indicates that fast fashion supply chains … Continue reading
Sciences
- Taking care of industrial food wasteIn the US, approximately 30-40% of all food is wasted according to the USDA. Generally, on this topic the discussion focuses on how to reduce this number with strategies for every stage of the chain from farm and manufacturing to the consumer. But Saba and colleagues (2023) have taken a different approach. Focusing specifically on … Continue reading
- What do you keep but never use?I wrote before about things that are too nice to use. At the time, I searched for research on this idea and came up dry. But a recent study has started to fill the gap. Kowalski and Yoon (2022) looked at how the reasons that people are attached to different products impact whether those products … Continue reading
Education and Learning
- Learning is an Active Process; Sitting in Lecture is NotI distinctly remember sitting in a lecture hall listening to the professor talk. I firmly believed that I was learning. I even got home, and something from that class came up on TV, and I said, “I learned what that is today.” But, when someone asked me to explain it, I couldn’t. This is one … Continue reading
- Cheat Sheets for LearningI was reminded this week of having students set up “cheat sheets” to support them during exams. Instructors will call these tools many different things, but the gist is that it is a document of a set size that students can prep in advance and are allowed to bring into an exam scenario. My favourite … Continue reading
Sport
- Exercise and learningWe know that exercise is good for us. It improves our cardiovascular health and strength. It can also help to prevent injuries. But the idea that exercise can improve our brain functions is a newer idea. Research is slowly showing potential links between exercise and cognitive functioning, but of course there are other factors at … Continue reading
- Seeing is Believing When it Comes to Bike InfrastructureI wrote a post a few weeks ago about how the book Curbing Traffic by Melissa and Chris Bruntlett enabled me to understand how targeting cycling infrastructure for 8 to 80 year olds can create a usable network for everyone including commuters. It was their insights about aspects like traffic separation and intersection approaches that … Continue reading
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