News

NEW!! SFU Partnership

The Science divisions at SFU and Kwantlen have signed a Dual Enrolment Pathway Partnership wherein Science students at one institution can access courses at the other institution towards completion of their degree. The courses must be unavailable at the home institution either because they are not offered that semester or because there are no vacant seats remaining. The contact point for Kwantlen students is Kwantlen's Registrar's Office at any campus, while SFU students will require a letter of permission from the Office of the Dean of Science at SFU. Students will pay tuition at the rate charged by the institution where the course is taken. Kwantlen students must be in good academic standing and enrolled in an Associate of Science program.

SFU guarantees course transfer credits and admission to finish a Bachelor of Science to any Kwantlen Science student who has taken an SFU course via the Dual Enrolment Pathway Partnership, and who has since completed a Kwantlen Associate of Science degree (with a 2.0 cumulative GPA or better).

NEW!! Bachelor of Arts with a Minor in Mathematics

Kwantlen will offer a Bachelor of Arts with a Minor in Mathematics in Fall 2007. If you are interested in Math, or want to teach Math in high school, check out the details!

Math exams have become too easy, says thinktank

Math exam standards have declined significantly over the past 50 years, with generations of teenagers facing undemanding questions that do not test their independent reasoning abilities, a report said yesterday. /more

Without the big math stories our numbers are plummeting

What is the point of studying mathematics? I have never used a sine or cosine in my everyday life. And solving quadratic equations? Although a footballer subconsciously solves one every time he works out where to stand to volley a free kick, I don't think Wayne Rooney is using the formula he was taught in school to make his decision. So should we be worried by a new report out today claiming that the failure of mathematics education in the UK has lead to the disappearance of half a million mathematicians? /more

Students have to overcome fear of math and science
Published: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 The Ottawa Citizen

The latest scores show that Canadians are doing well at teaching our children science -- yet at the same time we might also be teaching them something harder to measure: Fear and self-doubt. /more

Kwantlen Science Challenge

The Kwantlen Science Challenge is a day-long event for teams of grade 11/12 high school students. The challenge consists of 5 one-hour-long, practical laboratory activities in Biology, Chemistry, Engineering Design, Mathematics, and Physics. The activities are designed to be educational, entertaining, and challenging. The next challenge will be held on Saturday, November 22, 2008.

NEW!!Bachelor of Science in Integrated Pest Management

Despite clear warnings and mounting evidence of a trend of global warming for well over a decade, it has been only recently that (some) key politicians and change makers have given it due attention. That being said, the opposing forces of denial remain as powerful and politically positioned as ever. In May 2001, delegates from more than 120 nations agreed on a pact at a United Nations conference to minimize and eliminate some of the world’s most dangerous chemicals – dubbed the dirty dozen. Of the top twelve "world's most dangerous man-made products or wastes causing death, disease and birth defects in humans and animals," ten of them are chemicals (pesticides and insecticides) used for the control of insects, rodents and weeds.

They are:

Aldrin	A pesticide applied to soils to kill termites, grasshoppers and other insect pests.
Chlordane	An insecticide used extensively to control termites and as a broad-based control on a range of crops
DDT	This chemical was widely used in World War II to protect soldiers from malaria, typhus and other diseases spread by insects. Although banned or severely restricted in over 60 countries, it is still unregulated in many countries.
Dieldrin	It is used mainly to control termites and textile pests.
Dioxins	These brand of chemicals are used in the manufacture of pesticides and other chlorinated substances that can impact the earth’s ozone layer. They are also emitted from the burning of hospital waste, municipal waste and hazardous waste.
Endrin	This is an insecticide sprayed on the leaves of crops such as cotton and grains. It is also used to control mice and other rodents.
Heptachlor	This is used mostly to kill soil insects and termites.
HCB	This substance was introduced to treat weeds, but it also kills fungi that affect food crops.
Mirex	This insecticide is mainly used to combat fire ants.
Toxaphene	This insecticide is used on cotton, cereal grains, fruits, nuts and vegetables.
The remaining two on the list of twelve are furans and PCBs.

The four year Bachelor of Science in Integrated Pest Management (BSc-IPM) focuses on pest (commonly referring to insects, mites, rodents, viruses, fungi, bacteria and weeds) reduction within the horticulture industry – greenhouse and nursery crop production, turf maintenance, and landscape installation and maintenance. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a systems approach where pest biology, plant quality, sustainability and the environment are integrated in the establishment of best-practice pest suppression strategies. An IPM approach is a balance and protection of economic, ecological and aesthetic interests of the public which would otherwise be in conflict with each other.

While Kwantlen’s BSc-IPM centres on pest issues within the horticulture industry, which is in line with School of Horticulture offerings and its Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, IPM strategies and pest behaviours share common attributes in all fields where biological pests have become problematic. Below are links to three notorious culprits that have set hold in British Columbia. The middle one was caught early enough in time, this time, before it could wreak havoc under the title Sudden Oak Death to the nursery and landscape industries and possibly the municipal and provincial parks and forests of British Columbia.

European Chafer Beetle: http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/chafer.htm

Phytophthora Ramorum: http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/sod.htm

Mountain Pine Beetle: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/mountain_pine_beetle/

Kwantlen News