Below is a list of CBE projects currently underway. If you are a student looking for a project to do in an upcoming semester, please have a look at our list of available CBE projects.
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CBE Projects Underway
Project Title |
Description |
| #4259 Valuing Hunting and Fishing in the southern Canadian Shield | Background:Hunting and fishing have always been a part of the culture on the Canadian Shield. From the 1800’s when Roosevelt and friends flew into what were then isolated lakes to the strong winter ice fishing season currently experienced each winter. Hunting is an important economic driver in the fall shoulder season and fishing provides both jobs and recreational enjoyment year round.The Ministry of Natural Resources has collected data on such values as hunting and fishing licenses and the money spent by sportsman in pursuit of their hobby. Additional sources of information would include the Ontario Federation of Anglers Hunters, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and local hunt clubs. Purpose:- To determine the economic value of hunting and fishing. Specific Research Questions: Project 2a) To determine the economic value of the following ecological services on the hunting industry:a. Healthy forestsb. Healthy habitats for key speciesc. Native biodiversity Project 2b) To determine the economic value of the following ecological services on the fishing industry:a. Healthy water coursesb. Healthy habitats for key speciesc. Native aquatic biodiversity Expected Outcomes:A report detailing the impact of varying states of forests, water quality, biodiversity, and invasive species on the economic value of hunting and fishing. |
| #4258 Valuing Water Quality in a Cottaging and Recreational Area | Background: Natural ecosystem processes provide many benefits to individuals and communities that are generally undervalued. Fair value assessment of in situ natural processes, would better equate the value of development with respect to the preservation of natural areas. The proposed project is a case study of cottaging values in central Ontario based on data from the District of Muskoka. Muskoka is located two hours north of Toronto, and has been a vacation area of choice in Ontario for well over 100 years. Vibrant natural beauty abounds, with a natural vegetation cover of 94% that includes many lakes surrounded by rocky shorelines and majestic forests. There are three medium sized communities and several thriving villages and hamlets. The permanent population of Muskoka is approximately 55,000 with about 100,000 seasonal residents. The economic base of the community is tourism and recreation and it is heavily dependent on maintaining a healthy natural environment. Muskoka has monitored water quality for over 30 years and these data will be available to the student researcher. Municipal assessment data will also be available. Purpose: To specifically analyze the impact of a change in lake water quality to the value of waterfront properties. Specific Research Questions: - Determine the impact on the economic value of lake water quality based on change in a variety of variables including total phosphorus, recent algal blooms, increase in aquatic vegetation, introduction in invasive species - Correlate the difference in assessed value (or market value) of shoreline residences to variance in water quality (defined by total phosphorus), size of lake, and road access. Expected Outcomes: A report detailing the economic value of water quality on the value waterfront residential development. Resources - Muskoka water quality data - Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) - Real Estate Agents |
| #4257 Valuing Wetlands on the southern Canadian Sheild | Background:There is significant amount of data available on the value of wetlands in other places in Ontario, Canada, and the world, however, there is little information on the value of wetlands on the southern Canadian Shield. The value of wetlands, similar to many natural values, is dependent on its proximity to population centres. Therefore, while studies done in more populated areas can provide some insight to the local value of wetlands, work is required to understand their value in the less populated areas of the southern shield.In conjunction with Project #2 (Valuing Water Quality in a Cottaging and Recreational Area), the economic value of wetlands to maintaining recreational water quality should be explored as that will have a significant impact on local values.In addition, a review of literature is required to understand the value of wetlands for sequestering carbon. Purpose:- To determine the economic value of the ecosystem services provided by wetlands on the southern Shield. Specific Research Questions: To determine the economic value of the wide range ecological services provided by wetlands including but not limited to:a. Purification of lake and river waterb. Sequestration of carbonc. Provision of native biodiversityd. Hydrogeological functionse. Flood attenuation Expected Outcomes:A report detailing the economic value of wetlands services to communities in the southern Shield based on a variety of ecosystem services. |
| #4249 Cottage Dreams Evaluation - Visitors, Hosts and Sponsors | This project has been divided into two parts as there are two groups interested. One student will focus on the cottage visitors and this project will focus on the cottage donors and program sponsors. |
| #4248 Values, Influences, and Peers Program Evaluation | The purpose of this project is to build upon the first phase of the research and continue to review the current VIP (Values, Influences, and Peers) Program, offered to Grade 6 students in twenty-six schools in the City of Peterborough and village of Lakefield. Students will be required to conduct an in-depth evaluation into the relevance and effectiveness of the current program. If possible they will establish a mechanism for on-going evaluation of the VIP program. With the results of this research, students will form alternatives and make recommendations as to what improvements could be made to the current program. Specifically, this project will evaluate the effectiveness of the VIP program in our community and make recommendations based on findings. |
| #4247 Farm-to-Table Sourcing (Kitchen Plan) | The purpose of the project is to determine how local gardens can best meet the needs of the host organization - especially given an increased capacity with a new root cellar. The project will also include an analysis of the costs associated with a 'local farmer ' food sourcing process, in comparison to the costs of purchasing food from alternative sources (e.g. the Ontario Natural Foods Coop). |
| #4245 Buckhorn School Gardens: Phase Two | A follow up project from student work over the summer. This project will focus on further development of curriculum. |
#4244 Haliburton County Community Food Security Report Card | FoodNet is the networking of food programs in Haliburton County. This committee meets four times per year. Over 13 different organizations &/or food program meet to share challenges and successes. Over the years this networking has lead to the sharing of resources i.e. food, money, transportation etc. and has lead to some advocacy work with the social determinants of health. Members of food net find the networking very valuable for themselves, their agency but most importantly the people they serve. Food Net is not widely known in the community and there has been an expressed need to increase our profile. It is important to note the FoodNet itself does not produce a program but the members deliver the program and FoodNet facilitates strength in numbers and sharing. Our goal is to achieve community food security. |
| #4243 Kennisis Lakes Shoreline Inventory Project: Phase Two | In the summer of 2004, the members of the Kennisis Lake Cottage Owners Association (KLCOA) endorsed a proposal from the Lake Steward to form a Steering Committee to develop a Lake Plan. The Lake Plan was completed in 2007 and endorsed by the KLCOA and Dysart et al, the municipality. The Lake Plan identified a number of priorities through community consultations. The volunteer Steering Committee continues to address these priorities through project initiatives The purpose of the Kennisis Lake Plan is to recognize and protect the unique character of the watershed. Ways to ensure the long-term protection, maintenance and restoration of natural, social and physical features of the watershed are recommended in the plan. A lake plan website (http://www.kennisis.ca/index.htm) contains background and documents / tools for implementation of the Lake Plan. |
| #4242 Transportation Needs in Haliburton County | The purpose of this project is to analyze survey data in order to learn more about the transportation needs and attitudes of residents. The information learned through the survey will inform a feasibility study on transportation options. |
| #4241 Indigenous Community Garden Needs Assessment | The purpose of this project is to provide the host organization with a clear idea of community interest in a community garden project so that their programming can reflect the needs of the community. The final report will also include information from other Indigenous and non-Indigenous Community Garden Projects and personal reflections on these initiatives. The project will also provide the student with meaningful work experience in community assessment with Urban Indigenous People. |
| #4238 History of a Summer Camp | The purpose of the project is to document the milestones and history of the camp – with a particular focus on youthdevelopment, traditions, community impact and organizational growth. This research will contribute to a number ofpublications (online and in print) being coordinated by the camp in preparation for our 20th anniversary in 2012. |
| #4235 Social Media/World Issues Content Writer | The purpose of this project is to support the host organization's mandate by providing public education and engagement on relevant world issues and their local connections in a timely manner - using various communications and social media tools. |
| #4234 Waste Management at Abbey Gardens | Abbey Gardens is a developing project that has a vision for providing local food to the Haliburton area. An exhausted gravel pit will become the home to greenhouses, demonstration centres, and outdoor gardens. This project will focus on aspects of waste management related to the site. |
| #4233 Youth Perspectives on Celantrocapitalism | The purpose of this project is to engage local youth in critical and reflective dialogue about the emerging trend of celebrities aligning themselves with world issues through philanthropy, by asking key questions: What is Celantrocapitalism? Does compassionate consumption help or hinder long-term development goals? What are implications for youth participation in celantrocapitalism? The key project goal is to engage high school youth in critical dialogue exploring current issues and trends in global social justice. |
| #4231 Water Education Does it Make a Difference: an Evaluation process for the Haliburton Muskoka Children’s Water Festival | The Haliburton-Muskoka Children’s Water Festival is a fun, experiential water education event which is used by schools and teachers of the Trillium Lakelands District School Board. The idea is to not only provide children with an outdoor, active learning experience but to compliment the elementary curriculum and aid teachers in achieving their goals. The HMCWF has tried on various occasions to elicit feedback from teachers through post evaluations to help maintain a high quality event which aligns itself with the goals of the attending schools but have not been very successful. The purpose of this project is to design a simple but effective evaluation process which will occur on site during the festival to elicit the feedback required from teachers, parent supervisors as well as the students, for analysis after the event. The results of the evaluation process will be used for constructive maintenance and upgrading of the festival activities and to demonstrate its effectiveness as a water education tool. |
| #4229 Women's Court Support | The purpose of the Court Support Project is to respond to the specific needs of women, including Aboriginal and immigrant women, seeking legal resolution of the issues that arise following their experience of abuse: child custody/access, maintenance enforcement, and court appearances (as a complainant and as a person charged). The project will identify viewpoints of abuse-survivor and local agencies involved in service delivery about the nature of the challenges and barriers that abused women must overcome, such as access to justice (e.g. legal aid and representation, court attendance). |
| #4228 Assessing Active Transportation Initiatives: Have things changed? | The purpose of this project is to gain a better understanding of people’s transportation choices and behaviours, and if they have changed over the past 4 years. Students will replicate a survey conducted by Trent Geography students in 2007 in order to collect new data and undertake a comparative analysis. The research project will involve refining an existing survey tool to gather qualitative data from residents about how important trails, sidewalks and other active transportation infrastructure are to them in relation to their physical activity level, their transportation choices and what barriers, perceived or otherwise, influence their physical activity levels and transportation choices. The survey will be offered on-line and in hard copy and will be promoted widely throughout the County. Students will then carry out a comparative analysis of data collected from this survey with data collected in 2007 to gain a better understanding of people’s transportation choices and behaviours, and if they have changed over the past 4 years. |
| #4227 History of a Community Organization II | The purpose of this project is to record the history of a local Centre’s work, growth, development and involvement in the Peterborough community. |
| #4226 Evaluating a Social Enterprise | The purpose of the project is to evaluate an alternative food service business (i.e. social purpose business) operated by the host organization - with specific focus on the benefit of alternative businesses toward an individual’s recovery from illness and comparing local operations to social purpose business models in other jurisdictions. |
| #4225 Planning for housing | The purpose of this project is to identify available municipally owned land and assess its potential for housing development. In addition, the assessment will include zoning and the types of services available or close by. In addition recommendations about the types of housing (size, target population, etc.) that would be appropriate for each site are welcome. |
| #4224 Listenership survey for local radio station | In order to assess the success of our three year strategic plan and inform the development of our next strategic planning exercise, we need to conduct a community listener survey to more accurately determine:° present demographic° listener share ° listener music and program preferences° peak and off-peak listener demographic° Reasons for tuning in or out |
| #4223 Newcomer Housing: Building Connections | To assist the us in understanding the challenges faced by Newcomers to Peterborough in accessing housing. The project further seeks to identify solutions that the we can offer Newcomers in light of the barriers identified. |
| #4222 ESL Service Audit | The purpose of the project will be to conduct an audit of English as a Second Language (ESL) services in the Peterborough area. This audit will showcase the available services from pre-school to adult, at all levels, to pin point the specific gaps in ESL service in the Peterborough area. |
| #4221 Sex Worker Outreach Program | The purpose of this project is to assist the Peterborough Lakefield Community Police Services' Victim Services Unit in the development of an effective method to inform sex trade workers in Peterborough of the legal and social services available to them. Specifically, to answer the following questions: What services are available for sex trade workers in the Peterborough area and what is the most efficient means of informing sex trade workers of the services? |
| #4220 Partner Response Programming and the Feminist Perspective | The purpose of the proposed project is to further research the effectiveness of the Partner Assault Response programming offered specifically to women who are both in conflict with the law, or have been victim of crime. The goal of the proposed project is to investigate how to make this program centered around feminist knowledge. |
| #4219 Peterborough Regional Health Center Archives | Approximately 50 feet of historical records that have been acquired from the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) need to be processed. This involves cataloguing the inventory and arranging them into collections. Private and administrative collections will be described according to the Rules for Archival Description (RAD). The PRHC archive contains historical records from all superseded protestant hospitals in Peterborough up to the present. The PRHC Museum and Archives also held records of the Woman’s Auxiliary and the Nicholls Hospital School of Nursing. These records are included in the hospital archive the Peterborough Museum and Archives (PMA) acquired. |
| #4218 Breaking it down: Network Security | The present project will explore the current trends and best practices pertaining to network and database security at the small business/not-for profit scale. A detailed exploration of the topic will be paired with the creation of a short fact sheet for the less computer literate. |
| #4216 Experimental Eradication of Buckthorn: Part II | This project emerged from the original Trent Nature Area proposal Eradication of Invasive Plant Species. The project got split into two projects focusing on Buckthorn and Dog Strangling Vine. So much work was put into establishing Buckthorn study plots that the host saw the benefit of having two students working on different aspects of the eradication question. Jess is working with Prof. David Beresford and the Trent Nature Areas to determine the details of her study. |
| #4215 Trends in Recidivism in Diversion Programs | This project will track the trends of recidivism in the diversion program, jail, or warnings for youth or young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Gender will be an interesting factor to dissect or by comparison: identified mental health condition, incidence and nature of index offences, disposition (length/type), system double standards, how impact of stigma, institutionalization, criminalization leads to recidivism or changes in recidivism. |
| #4212 Transitional Housing II | The purpose of the long term longitudinal study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the transitional housing services offered to the women who stay at Cameron House with a view to making program improvements. The goal of the research is to track the successes of the women who access the transitional housing component of Cameron House and who then leave. These successes range from a tenant engaging in and/or completing programs or activities, feeling healthier, making better decisions and moving out of the transitional housing program into permanent housing. Specifically, in this second phase of the research the researcher will, to some extent, critique and adjust phase one of the research while moving the program forward. The researcher will continue to develop an evaluation strategy for the transitional housing while observing the implementation of the tenant entry surveys. |
| #4210 Greening a school yard | The purpose of the project is to develop a multi-year Green School Yard plan for RF Downey’s staff and students. This will support RF Downey in our efforts to promote and demonstrate school yard greening practices. |
| #4206 Issues and Opportunities for Rural Transportation | The purpose of the project is to undertake an environmental scan of issues and opportunities for change related to transportation in rural Peterborough County. |
| #4205 Recreation, Leisure and Aging in a Rural Township | With the demographics of our residents changing- getting older- we need to look at the recreation and leisure services that we provide. Recreation and leisure services are critical to promoting good health and to making our community attractive to new residents. This project would review and inventory the existing services that we provide, conduct research to support the changing demographics of our community, set up and conduct public meetings and groups sessions to research what the community needs or wants, and compile all this information into a research paper that can be used on a go forward basis to making decisions. |
| #4199 Popular Education for Gardens | As a site for educational projects the Trent Vegetable Garden is seeking to expand the educational opportunities it offers the greater Peterborough community. This project will include a significant service-learning portion with hands-on work in the gardens. Additionally, the project will consist of two phases, and hence two reports. The first phase will research what population education models and programs other gardens are employing. The second will conduct an evaluation of existing TVG programming and implement strategies (based on phase 1 research) to improve them. |
| #4188 Social Benefits of Culture and Heritage | The purpose of this project is to conduct research on social benefits of cultural heritage conservation and develop a list of indicators to evaluate these benefits. Ideally, students will complete a project that can be used for advocating cultural recognition and protection, heritage conservation, and appreciation in the Kawarthas. |
| #4177 Car Share Tool Kit | Car sharing through either car co-ops or through private sector initiatives are gaining popularity in the city. The car share model combining public transit with car sharing would not work in a rural area such as Haliburton County. Research has been completed that considers how car sharing could work in rural areas. This project aims to compile a resource kit for individuals who want to start a car sharing venture, whether it is with their neighbours or County wide. Students will gather tools from identified car sharing efforts in Canada and put together a tool kit that could be used by members of the community who are interested in starting any size of car sharing effort. The manual will “make a case” for car sharing, discussing its economic, environmental, social, and accessibility benefits. It will include mission and goals, types of organizational structure (for-profit, non-profit, cooperative), the vehicles (acquisition, insurance, and maintenance), operations (fees, billing, scheduling), education and marketing. |
| #4165 Impact of uranium exploration activities | To examine the potential impacts of uranium mining exploration and drilling on the metal content of surface soild and local plant communities. |
| #4161 History of a Student-Led Organization | The host organization is approaching its 35th year in operation. Over the past three and a half decades, it is known that it has been at the forefront of local social justice and environmental issue activism within the Peterborough area, and that its working groups have won spectacular victories. However, the development of the organization into its present condition is but a vague memory. The purpose of this project is to detail the historical growth of this Peterborough student-led organization, as well as wider such movements in Ontario and Canada. |
| #4111 Bethel Church: past present future | In many rural areas, small churches that stand empty are homes to incredible community history and have the potential to showcase the heritage of an area. The church is now part of the municipality and this project is focused on compiling the history of the church and, if appropriate, identifying the cost to restore the building to create a heritage site. |
| #4105 Evaluation of Forward Contracting | The student will research tradition “forward contract” models, complete case studies on alternative structures/contracts and propose recommendations for how the organization can develop and forward contracts. Although the organization is primarily interested in contracts between food growers and buyers, there may be models in other sectors that may be beneficial. |
| #4095 Off-Road Network: Market Survey | As part of a larger feasibility study, students will develop a survey to gauge the potential interest in and use of a Haliburton-based off-road vehicle park. Students will have access to the membership of the OFTR to administer their survey. An analysis and recommendations about how to tailor park development for this market will be part of the final report. |
| #4041 A Cultural History of Lakefield Lock - Development of the Lumbering Industry | The purpose of this project is to document the cultural landscape at the Lakefield Lock Station over the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The project will focus on the development of the lumbering industry Student(s) will be responsible for conducting historical research using period maps, plans, engineering drawings, photographs, art work, oral interviews and documentary material that relate to the development and subsequent modification of the lock station at Lakefield. |
| #4014 Sustainability at Windy Pine | The aim of the project will be to develop and create an implementation strategy for the long-term economic sustainability of operating the Windy Pine property. |
| #854 Trent University Course Inventory | The purpose of this research project is to create an inventory of current and 'on the horizon' academic courses at Trent University with content related to the 'community context of research, teaching and learning. |
