« La simplicité » est un principe essentiel de l’esthétique de George Sand, ce goût permanent marque non seulement la vie réelle de l’écrivain, mais aussi ses œuvres, surtout la série de romans champêtres et socialistes (1840-1853), dont le décor principal est la campagne berrichonne. Nous allons étudier successivement, en trois grandes parties, la notion de simplicité chez George Sand et son sentiment de la nature, la simplicité en tant que constituant de la nature humaine et enfin la simplicité considérée comme le comble de l’art. Les personnages sandiens, paysans ou aristocrates, s’unissant dans une vie idyllique, sont souvent empreints de la même caractéristique se présentant sous diverses facettes : rejet de l’affectation, absence de duplicité et de prétention, refus des artifices, goût pour le naturel et la transparence, ou sublime, naïveté, ingénuité, sincérité, candeur, etc.. Sur le plan esthétique, la simplicité signifie le non composé, le non apprêté, l’originel, le primitif, l’élémentaire, le caractère d’un ensemble formant une entité harmonieuse pouvant être saisie par une intuition synthétique. Tout cela se voit dans la musique populaire et les objets d’art créés par des artistes naïfs. La simplicité sandienne se présente aussi dans d’autres domaines comme les mœurs rustiques, la société et la politique, mais cela restera notre travail post-thèse. / Simplicity is a fundamental principle of George Sand’s aesthetics.The taste for simplicity has also not only pervaded the writer’s life but her whole work, and notably the socialist and country novels (1840-1853) taking place in the Berry landscape.Our purpose is to analyse firstly, Sand’s concept of simplicity and the way she perceives nature, then simplicity as a component of humanity and finally simplicity revealing consummate artistry. Sand’s characters, either peasants or aristocrats sharing an idyllic life, often show this same psychological characteristic under different features: reject of affectedness, absence of duplicity, taste for naturalness and openness, longing for sublimity, innocence, ingenuousness, genuineness, naivety, etc.Aesthetically speaking, simplicity refers to all that is not composed, not prepared, and, positively, to that what is genuine, primitive, and elemental. Simplicity is also accomplished in any harmonious whole perceptible through synthetic intuition, like popular music pieces and naif works of art.Sand’s concept of simplicity also operates in other fields like rural customs and habits and society and politics, as we will show in our subsequent research.

At best anger is problematic for most of us and especially an issue for women (and other discriminated groups). True a collaborative craft project focusing on silver objects, I investigate female anger and how it is perceived. Also, how the prevention of acting it out silences our need for change. I use the aesthetics of magic to reference the judging of women acting outside of set rules, and also as a tactic of female liberation.

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Over the span of the last 16 years of my teaching career I have taught elementary, secondary and adult learners in both traditional classroom environments, alternative school settings and distributed learning platforms. Regardless of the grade, subject or environment I have been an advocate of digital technology in education, and enthusiastically welcomed George Siemens’ predicted paradigm shift to connectedness enabled through its uses (as cited in Wikipedia, 2013). However, over the past decade this ability to connect through technology has also lead to an increase in cyber-bullying coupled with inherent risks associated with online environments making the connection between cyber-bullying and social media an important area of study. This study began because of a legal case study I was presented with during a graduate course at the University of Victoria concerning issues related to teachers and the law. The case study is based on a high profile YouTube cyber-bullying incident in Canada. Using concepts such as neoliberalism and the promotion of technology as a 21st century tool for schooling, I reviewed Government of Canada and British Columbian research as well as international research regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the use of technology by humans and in education. These documents provided an overview of debates around the benefits for using the Internet, and contrasted this with risks connected to loss of privacy and possible bullying online (cyber-bullying). My methodology for the study is grounded in qualitative research in which I used three different focus groups from which to gather data. The first group included graduate students from the University of Victoria enrolled in Leadership Studies. The second group consisted of members from a Social Justice Committee. The final group represented a team of teachers, administrators and support staff at a Secondary School on a coastal School District in British Columbia. Each focus group observed a video posted on YouTube and the discourse that was left below the posting of the video. Participants were asked to reflect individually, discuss as a group and record their thoughts and feelings for the purposes of the study and as a means to suggest ways to mitigate change. Their comments and suggestions for ways to mitigate change supported research I found and at times pointed towards directions I had yet to consider. Similar to me, the act of viewing and participating in the case study left an impact as to how best to mitigate change through the use of case studies and discussions that helped develop compassion and awareness for cyber-bullying victims. The study concludes with a review of current technology and health and career curriculum as it pertains to issues involving cyber-bullying and promoting socially responsible behaviour on the Internet available to schools in British Columbia, along with information regarding new initiatives including the E.R.A.S.E. bullying website. / Graduate / 0515 / 0710 / 0530 / ssamaras@sd46.bc.ca

Biological invasion is a strong threat to native biodiversity, with limnic systems being especially vulnerable due to historical separation and resulting prey naivety. The prey naivety hypothesis states that native species may not be able to recognize novel predators due to a lack of common evolutionary background and, therefore, become easy targets. In a laboratory experiment, we added cues of native European bullhead (Cottus gobio Linnaeus, 1758) and invasive round goby [Neogobius melanostomus (Pallas, 1814)] to Ancylus fluviatilis Müller, 1774 originating from two different populations within the same river (one naive, one experienced towards round goby) and compared their predator avoidance behavior. Individuals from both populations recognized cues from the known predator C. gobio and reduced their locomotive activity. To round goby cues, however, naive individuals did not respond, thereby supporting the prey naivety hypothesis. Experienced individuals, in contrast, reduced their activity, suggesting a learning effect due to the co-occurrence of invasive predator and prey. At fast moving invasion fronts of highly invasive species like N. melanostomus, prey naivety can, hence, enhance their negative impact on ecosystems. Behavioral adaptation of native species resulting in predator avoidance reactions could, therefore, play an important role in ecosystem resilience and temporal invasion dynamics.