What Is Curriculum free essay sample

According to Portfolio, more than 120 definitions of the term appear in the professional literature devoted to curriculum, presumably because authors are concerned about either delimiting what the term means or establishing new meaning that have become associated with it (as cited in Marsh, 2009). They range from basic definitions, What we actually teach (Schmoozer, 2011) to more complex and multifaceted definitions. Leslie O. Wilson writes: Anything and everything that teaches a lesson, planned or otherwise.Humans are born learning, thus the learned curriculum actually encompasses a combination of all of the below the hidden, null, written, political and societal etc Since students learn all the time through exposure and modeled behaviors, this means that they learn important social and emotional lessons from everyone who inhabits a school from the Janitorial staff, the secretary, the cafeteria workers, their peers, as well as from the deportment, conduct and attitudes expressed and modeled by their teachers. We will write a custom essay sample on What Is Curriculum? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As cited in Wilson, 2005) Although there are various definitions of the term, it must be recognized that auricular encompasses more than a simple definition. In spite of its elusive character, it is the writers opinion that curriculum is the set of prescribed guidelines mandated by a school, college, district, or state on what is deemed important for a student to learn in any given academic subject area. These guidelines are then used as the criteria for the completion of a certain level of education.This portion of the definition is especially relevant for high school and collegiate curriculum as the completion of the guidelines result in the acquisition of a degree, diploma, or artifice. It is also the writers opinion that curriculum consists of the total learned experiences one has inside and outside a given stage of academia. The first definition represents more of what curriculum actually is in schools today and the latter, what curriculum should include.In an attempt to defend the definition, it is important to look at both parts separately. With the current push toward common core state standards throughout the country, states are attempting to streamline what is taught in schools. The idea is that if everyone is consistent in what they are caching, all students will be equally prepared for college and the workplace. This translates to the development of a set of guidelines that are deemed most important for a student to learn. According to N. E.Stators, The majority of definitions given, however, tend to see curriculum as a document consisting more or less of the general aim, objectives, content, methodology, and methods of evaluation of an educational process (Stators, 2006). We have also seen this since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001). Guidelines were set to schools and districts molded their curriculum to meet these guidelines. While many agree with the main concept of the act, some view these guidelines as unrealistic. Critics also argue that the act limits many schools curriculum development by only focusing on reading and math, giving the impression that the other subjects are not The second definition emphasizes that curriculum deals with the as important. Total learned experiences in and outside the school or institution. According to Allan Orenstein and Francis Hunks, curriculum deals with the learners experiences. By this definition, almost anything planned in or outside of school is part of curriculum (Orenstein Hunks, 2013, p. ). This theory lends itself to a more flexible curriculum, where educators and students have more freedom in the direction the curriculum goes. A. V. Kelly also supports this theory and defines curriculum as the totality of the experiences the pupil has as a result of a provision made (as cited in Stators, 2006). As stated earlier, it is the writers opinion that this is the direction in which curriculum should move toward.The writer believes in avian structure in terms of what is taught but there is also a need for teachable moments which provides teachers and students with leeway to explore academically. Currently, curriculum is seen by many educators as a check list of learning objectives that must be completed in preparation for a particular assessment. Larry Cuban and Baffle Cohn say that, Certain subjects, such as reading and math, are emphasized at the expense of subject matter that has moral, creative, and emotional value (as cited in Orenstein Hunks, 2013, p. ). Although there is retreat value in the creation of standard curriculum guidelines, there is also great value in an organic and creative learning process. Teachers and students both benefit when they have the freedom to explore and create their own learning paths using a standard curriculum as a guideline. Ronald Doll states, Every school has a planned, formal acknowledged curriculum, but it also has an unplanned, informal and hidden one that must be considered (as cited by Orenstein Hunks, 2013, p. ). Orenstein and Hunks further explain that, The planned, formal curriculum focuses n goals, objectives, subject matter, and organization of instruction; the unplanned, informal curriculum deals with psychopathology interaction among students and teachers, especially their feelings, attitudes, and behaviors (Orenstein Hunks, It would be an understatement to say that curriculum has many 2013, p. 9). Definitions.

How to Cite a Source and Why Citations are Important

How to Cite a Source and Why Citations are Important What is a Citati​on? A citation is something that you include in your writing when you use information provided by another person. The purpose of this is to give the other person fair credit for their work and insight. It is also to give readers information on the source you used, in case they want to do their own investigating. The particular way in which you cite a source depends on the citation format/style you are using, and how you are using the cited information. There will be more about that later as we discuss how to cite a source. Why is it Important to Cite Your Sources? In addition to giving your readers important information and giving proper intellectual credit, citing a source gives your paper additional credibility. The first and most obvious point is that you are not taking credit for another persons work. The second is that you backing your writing up with evidence and inviting your readers to verify what you have said. Then, there is the matter of academic honesty. Using another persons work and not giving them credit is plagiarism. It doesnt matter if you dont use any direct quotes. If you have an uncredited summary, you are at risk of being accused of plagiarism. What is the Best Way to Learn How to Cite Your Sources Several years ago, this advice would have been different. We would have advised students to simply buckle down and learn the various citation requirements for inline citations, works cited pages, footnotes, and bibliographies. This would have also included learning to write annotations. Today, this is no longer necessary. Modern technology has made it easy to figure out how to cite your work. Academic Databases and Citations When you log into an academic database, either your schools or an external database, and access an article to read you will be given information on how you are to cite that source. In many cases, you even have the option to select your citation format and you will be provided with the citation that you can simply copy and paste. Many articles that are stored on these databases also have notes in their text on how you should cite them. Scholarly Articles and Citations If you use a search engine to search for scholarly articles, you will often get the same results as you do when accessing an academic database. All of the work of writing the citation is done for you. All you need to do is copy and paste the citation in the proper space. Apps for Citing Sources Finally, there are many services available that will help you cite your sources. With these websites, all you need to do is find your service online, and they will format your citation for you. If you are using a hard copy of a source, you can scan the barcode, and a source will be created for you. How could things be any easier?

Carol Ann Duffys Mean Time

Carol Ann Duffy's Average Time Carol Ann Duffy's poetry Average Time is another way to lose love, change time and lose life itself. This poem is very personal and autobiographical for Duffy's life. It is almost the same as her poetry. Average time is based on mourning your lost love and when you awake one day you realize that it's not just time passed, regret seems meaningless but time also I steal my life It is your mourning regret. This contemporary Victorian poetry can also be compared with the Shakespearean sonnet and another contemporary Carroll Andhafi poem. Ann Hathaway plays a loving wife and an adventurous woman at Anne Hathaway's poet Anne Hathaway. Duffy 's way of demonstrating this is by her choosing the type of structure used in that poem. She became a rhyming crowd that could be thought of as resembling Shakespeare's Sonnet style, using a modified sonnet. After all, this couple almost imitates the style used in Shakespeare's sonnet. Because they always use rhyming coupl ets and end up with dramatic rhyming tuplets. Anne Hathaway was a wife of Shakespeare, so this sonnet style was being considered in her poem. Finally, using this rhyming phrase highlights the focus of her and his beloved poetry. Compare Carol Ann Duffy 's Valentine' s Day and Andrew Marvell with this mission 's niece and compare Carol Ann Duffy' s Lovers with Andrew Marvell 's To Coy Mistress. Valentine's Day written in this poem is the 20th century and speakers use onion as a metaphor for expressing her love. The poetry of giving his niece in the 17th century tells the poet that he is trying to persuade his lover to sleep with him. - The poetry of Andrew Marvel and John Donne is the era of beautiful poetry. In particular, the two poets, Andrew Marvell and John Donne, wrote a poem by Carpediem full of vivid images and metaphysical meditation. Everyone tells the message live for the present. This information can be clearly seen in Marvell and Donne's flea poem To the coy Mistress. Th rough clever metaphor and tools these poems are not only symbolic but also have physical features.

Environmental Impact of Balfour Beatty Company Term Paper

Environmental Impact of Balfour Beatty Company - Term Paper Example Considering the nature of activities carried out by this company such as infrastructure development and investment, and construction services, it contributes a lot towards environmental destruction. The three main negative environmental impacts contributed by this company include pollution, human and animal population displacement and destruction of natural habitat (COUNCIL OF EUROPE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY 2002). Pollution is the release of harmful substances to the environment which may be in different forms such as air, water, radioactive materials, soil, heat, and light. Emission of gaseous waste to the atmosphere has been caused by this company as a result of the fleet of cars owned by this company which emits carbon waste and sulfur compounds to the environment. These are as a result of the various new cars which are constantly on the roads to the construction sites. It is an estimated fact that most air pollution is caused by car emissions. Another way of increased carbon into the atmosphere by the company are the many construction plans which are distributed in the 80 countries, these industries release their waste to the atmosphere, increasing the amount of carbon dioxide. The lethal effects of carbon dioxide include the formation of smog which blocks sunlight from reaching the earth’s surface. This prevents the process of photosynthesis from taking place in plants, resulting in wilting. The destruction of the natural forest is a great worldwide concern as its effects lead to dire consequences (COUNCIL OF EUROPE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY 2002). Such emissions have contributed to global warming and formation of acid rain due to increased carbon levels in the atmosphere.  

The Benefits of Nuclear Power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Benefits of Nuclear Power - Essay Example The Nuclear Power was the most significant innovation of the Twentieth Century and could potentially affect the Twenty First Century as much as any other innovation. Nuclear energy is commonly understood to the most practical alternative to electric generating power plants that burn coal for fuel. Nuclear powered plants, as a substitute for coal-burning plants, could play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The biggest test mankind faces in the Twenty First Century is reversing the cataclysmic effects of global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions and to combat the misperceptions of nuclear generated power from the extensive criticism it has been subjected to during the past three decades. If the world’s countries and people are serious about ending the burning of fossil fuels and stop the acceleration of global climate change, alternative fuels such as bio-fuel and renewable energy such as solar and wind power must be rapidly employed on a large scale. However, these types of energy alone are not sufficient to replace oil and coal as the most prevalent power sources therefore the levels of CO2 emissions will continue to rise. Scientists have caution that if far-reaching radical steps are not employed now, the consequences of global climate change will quickly become irreversible and the earth’s temperature will continue to increase despite future attempts to diminish these dangerous emissions. Consequently, nuclear power plants should be built as soon as possible to replace coal burning facilities. â€Å"Nuclear energy is a clean, safe, reliable and competitive energy source. It is the only source of energy that can replace a significant part of the fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) which massively pollute the atmosphere and contribute to the greenhouse effect† (Comby, 2006). Nuclear plants are the only alternative to coal that would be able to provide all the electricity power needs for both residential and businesses and residential customers. Nuclear power is the only feasible energy alternative that could replace the enormous energy needs of the world’s people and, if implemented with a sense of urgency, could be constructed in time to save the earth from the most horrific consequences. Environmentalists who are against nuclear electric plants should appreciate that this is the best way to avoid the ominous affects of irreversible global climate change. Their anxiety principally concerns nuclear waste disposal. â€Å"Nuclear waste is to be deposited in deep geological storage sites; it does not enter the biosphere. Its impact on the ecosystems is minimal. An intelligent combination of energy conservation, and renewable energies for local low-intensity applications, and nuclear energy for base-load electricity production, is the only viable way for the future† (Comby, 2006). Some detractors of nuclear power point to the possible deaths resulting from nuclear accidents. To date, o nly the nuclear power plant melt-down at Chernobyl caused deaths. No deaths are associated with the recent plant damage in Japan. Compare nuclear power plants safety record to that of coal mines. Chernobyl was unique. That type of accident could not occur in any other plant because all the currently operating reactors in the world are located inside a containment structure (Chernobyl was not). The 1979 Three Mile Island reactor core meltdown, which was the result of a failure in its core cooling system, emitted a lot of radiation but the reactor was housed in a containment structure which kept the radiation from being released into the air. There were no deaths or injuries. (Miller, 2004) Nuclear power is safer and more dependable than ever before. We cannot allow the

Two Views on Domesticity Essay Example for Free

Two Views on Domesticity Essay In Joan Williams book â€Å"Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to Do About It†, she defines domesticity as â€Å"a gender system comprising most centrally of both the particular organization of market work and family work that arose around 1780, and the gender norms that justify, sustain, and reproduce that organization. † (1) Throughout the book, Williams seeks to redefine the very meaning of domesticity and how it affects both men and women. The author of the article â€Å"Gender, Status, and Feeling†, seeks to explain how men and women navigate their emotional minefields and why it affects their respective statuses in society. While Williams and the author of â€Å"Gender, Status, and Feeling† differ on the reasons why women are seen as being on a lower pedestal than men, they both agree that women do a good job of dealing the hand they are dealt, for the most part. It is obvious that Williams sympathy lies toward the female half of the population. In the introduction, Williams cites several statistics that shows the reader how women are victimized by the â€Å"ideal worker† norm. The author defines an ideal worker as someone who works forty hours a week year round. (2) She goes on to explain how this norm excludes most â€Å"mothers of childbearing age. †(2) One statistic cited states that â€Å" two-thirds (Williams emphasis) [of mothers] are not ideal workers even in the minimal sense of working full time full year. † (2) Another statistic cited states that 93 percent of mothers are excluded from jobs that require â€Å"extensive overtime. † (2) With sobering statistics like these, Williams tries to show that against towering odds, mothers of childbearing age arent able to compete in the market workplace with men. Williams unequivocally states that she wants to â€Å"democratize access to domesticity. † (174) She then goes on to state that â€Å"a restructuring of market work will give to working class women and women of color greater access to the parental care that remains a widespread social ideal. † (174) This is an interesting idea because earlier in the book, Williams ripped apart a womans book because the author made certain life and career choices that didnt seem palatable to Williams for some reason. Deborah Fallows, a successful linguist in her own right, went down to part time hours, then quit altogether, when her son was born. She wrote a book called A Mothers Work, which described the journey that she took from successful career woman to stay-at-home mom. For some reason, Williams doesnt believe Fallows would happily give up her career for her son and husband, a high powered White House aide. Williams states: â€Å"Thus Fallows presents (authors emphasis) her decision to stay home as a choice she made to improve her own emotional state She quit both to avoid negative feelings and to experience positive ones, as leaving gave her more time â€Å"to partake of the pleasures of [Tommys] company. † (19) Williams sees Fallows choice to stay home as a prime example of how domesticity saturates even the upper levels of society. Williams goes so far as to attack Fallows view on child care. On page 32, Williams wonders why Fallows would be against day care in general when her own experience was positive: â€Å"It is hard to see why the low quality of child care for the poor explains Fallows decision to stay home. † It seems as if Williams is having a really hard time trying to figure out why an upper class woman like Fallows would give up everything she was working for in order to stay home with her child. If staying at home with the kids is okay for poor and working class women, why isnt it okay for a woman like Fallows? On the surface, Williams seems to be fighting for women all across the economic spectrum. However, underneath lies a subtle streak of the same sort of classist attitudes that Williams pins on some feminists later on in her book. With Williams raging against the machine of domesticity, one would think that the author would lash out at the male half of the population. Surprisingly, she doesnt do this. Williams feels that men are also the victims of domesticitys ideas of the ideal worker as well as domesticitys view in other areas of society. For example, on page 3, Williams explains how women generally lose out when it comes to financial support after divorce: â€Å"Mothers marry, marginalize, and then divorce in a system that typically defines womens and childrens postdivorce entitlements in terms of their basic â€Å"needs†, while mens entitlements reflect the assumption (derived from domesticity) that they â€Å"own† their ideal-worker wage. † In this case, Williams chooses not to point the finger at an easy target (men). Instead, she blames a system that allows men to keep the vast majority of their earnings while â€Å"40 percent of divorced mothers live in poverty. † (3) Williams even blames domesticity for the lack of parenting prowess on the part of some men. Again, Williams cites some statistics that shows how domesticity changed attitudes on parenting: â€Å"One study estimated that an average American father spends twelve minutes a day in solo child care. Another reported that mothers spend about three times as much time as fathers in face-to-face interaction with their children. † (3) The author then gives a short history lesson on how exactly did domesticity changed the face of parenting for both men and women: child rearing was considered too important to be left to women, and child-rearing manuals addressed fathers. Men were actively involved, in part because market work and family work were not yet geographically separated, so that fathers generally worked closer to home than most do today In a society that viewed women as the â€Å"weaker vessel,† it made no sense to delegate childrens health, well-being, and eternal souls to the exclusive sphere of women. (3) It seems as if Williams is yearning for a simpler time when fathers could take off work for a few moments and read a story to his children. This isnt a perfect scenario. After all, women were seen as inferior second class citizens who werent capable of molding the minds of her children. What Williams is actually wishing for is a time where the ideas of domesticity didnt interfere with the way that fathers tended to their children. While Joan Williams is sounding a battle cry, the author of the article â€Å"Gender, Status, and Feeling† is blowing a whistle. In the article, the author attempts to explain not only how men and women handle their emotions, but how women use their emotions to navigate a society that still sees them as second class citizens. One thing that Williams and the author article would agree on is that the female half of the population is usually seen as an afterthought in our society. This point would be where the two authors viewpoints diverge. First, the author of the article argues that women use their emotions as a means to an end. In a society that doesnt value a lot of their contributions, some women have found other ways to survive: lacking other resources, women make a resource out of feeling and offer it to men as a gift in return for the more material resources they lack. For example, in 1980 only 6 percent of women but 50 percent of men earned over $15,000 a year. (GSF 163) From this passage, one can see that the author feels that women readily adapted to the hand they were dealt. The author doesnt even seem to think this is a bad thing. They see this manipulation of their emotional palette more as a means of survival. The author even theorizes as to why women are believed to have been born with what Williams calls an â€Å"ethic of care†: As for many others of lower status, it has been in the womans interest to be the better actor. As the psychologists would say, the techniques of deep acting have unusually high â€Å"secondary† gains. Yet these skills have long been mislabeled â€Å"natural†, a part of womens â€Å"being† rather than something of her own making. (GSF 167) Williams would disagree with part of this authors statement. While the author of the article and Williams both believe that the place of women in society is based on societal beliefs, Williams states in her book that the ideas that domesticity has planted is the sole reason for this. For example, on page 182, William says that â€Å" women need to be selfless only because they live in a system that marginalizes caregivers. † In other words, women have no choice but to be selfless caregivers. In her book, Williams does everything she can to fight the societal belief that all women are born with an ethic of care. The author of â€Å"Gender, Status, and Feeling†, however, not only thinks that women are born with this innate need to nurture, but that it comes in handy when women become mothers: â€Å" more women at all class levels do unpaid labor of a highly interpersonal sort. They nurture, manage and befriend children. More â€Å"adaptive† and â€Å"cooperative†, they address themselves better to the needs of those who are not yet able to adapt and cooperate much themselves. †(GSF 170) The author of the article uses the example of male and female flight attendants to illustrate how society views men and women in a position of authority. The author reported that when a female flight attendant makes a request of a passenger, the passengers would usually argue with them. When a male flight attendant was called over to help, the request was usually granted with no problem. Williams claims that most people arent able to help this phenomenon: â€Å"Thirty years of second-wave feminism have seen many accomplishments, but dislodging the ideology of domesticity is not one of them. Most people, feminists or not, believe some version of domesticitys descriptions of men and women. † (193) Williams and the author of â€Å"Gender, Status, and Feeling† would disagree about a lot of things. Williams is a head strong feminist whose goal is to change the core beliefs of society. The author of the article believes that women have used their emotional palettes to adapt to their marginalized role in society and doesnt say whether this survival tactic should be a thing of the past. One thing that is evident in both Williams book and the article is the belief that women throughout history have been resilient in working the hand they are dealt and will continue this tradition as long as society pushes their half to the outermost margins. Works Cited Williams, Joan. Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to Do About It. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000 â€Å"Gender, Status, and Feeling† (article)

How to Sell A Website :: Sell Websites Buy Websites

How to Sell A Website Reprinted with permission of VotanWeb.com It is a joyous time when you are ready to sell your website. While you will be fraught with questions and unknown variables when ultimately you decide to sell your website it can be like winning a jackpot and a big change to your life. You might have been building your web business for years, consistently working on it day after day and night after night. When it finally sells you get a (hopefully) big cash injection and move on to new projects feeling renewed and excited about your future prospects. But before this can happen you have to make the sale, which in and of itself is a tricky task. I sold a website back in 2004 and at the time it was a pretty big deal for me. I had built the site for a hobby in 1998. The funny thing was I didn’t really think about selling my site because it was making money so consistently. It had become so routine that it was just part of my life. One day it dawned on me - Why can’t I sell it? It produces revenue so has a value - let’s give it a go! I really wanted to move on to other projects and just the idea of not having to look after the site was a huge relief - I knew selling it was the right thing to do. But how on earth do you sell a website? How To Sell A Website I’m going to recount the processes I went through to sell my site. By no means should you consider what I did as hard and fast rules but they should give you some guidelines. Remember that there are many ways you can go about the process and you should explore all your options before deciding to sell. How Much Is Your Site Worth? Your site is worth as much as someone is willing to give you for it. Simple answer really. I know, that doesn’t help when you go out advertising a site for sale and everyone is asking how much you want for it and you don’t know what to say. You don’t want to undercut yourself especially after years of hard work, but then again, you are selling a website - virtual property - it just seems a little bit strange doesn’t it.

As Psychology Essay

One of the key differences between the concepts of STM and LTM is duration. â€Å"Duration† refers to how long a memory lasts before it is no longer available. Short term memories don’t last very long. An example of STM in action would be trying to remember a seven-digit phone number that you have just been given. This is maintained in the short-term memory by REPETITION until the number is dialled, and then fades once the conversation starts. The way most people keep information in their STM for more than a few seconds is to rehearse it. So rehearsal is one way of keeping a memory active. The result of verbal rehearsal is that STM are held in the STM store and eventually become long term. Duration of LTM LTM refers to memories that last anywhere for 2 hours to 100 years plus, i. e. anything that isn’t short term. Some memories are very long lasting. For example Shepard (1967) tested duration of LTM. He showed participants 612 memorable pictures, one at a time. An hour later they were shown some of these pictures among a set of others and showed almost perfect recognition. Four months later they were still able to recognise 50% of photographs. The material to be remembered was more meaningful to the participants and therefore the duration of the LTM was better. Key study on duration of STM Lloyd and Margaret Peterson (1959) conducted a landmark study of the duration of STM. They enlisted the help of 24 students attending their university. The experimenter said a consonant syllable to the participant followed by a three-digit number (e. g. WRT 303 or SCX 591). The consonant syllable was selected to have no meaning. Immediately after hearing the syllable and number, the participants had to count backwards from this number in 3s or 4s until told to stop. Then the participants were asked to recall the nonsense syllable. The reason for counting backwards was to stop the participants rehearsing the syllable because rehearsal would aid recall. Each participant was given two practice trials followed by eight trials. On each trial the retention interval (time spent counting backwards) was different. They found that participants remembered about 90% when there was only a 3-second interval and about 2% when there was an 18-second interval. This suggests that, when rehearsal is prevented, STM lasts about 20 seconds at most. Evaluation The findings from the Peterson and Peterson study have been challenged. We might argue that, in this experiment, participants were relying on more than STM alone because they knew they were going to be asked to recall the items after an interval filled with a distracting activity. Other research such as Marsh et al, (1997) has suggested that when participants do not expect to be tested after this interval, forgetting may occur after just 2 seconds. This suggests that our understanding of the duration of STM may not be as clear-cut as first thought. In fact, more recent research even suggests that the duration of STM is not as short as Peterson and Peterson’s study would suggest. Nairne’s et al (1999) found that items could be recalled after as long as 96 seconds. In Nairne’s study, participants were asked to recall the same items across trials, whereas in the earlier study different items were used on each trial, which would have led to interference between items, decreasing recall. Capacity and Encoding Capacity is a measure of how much can be held in memory. It is measured in terms of bits of information such as number of digits. STM has a very limited capacity (less than 7 chunks of information) whereas LTM has potentially unlimited capacity. Increasing the capacity of STM The magic number 7+/-2 George Miller (1956) wrote a memorable article called â€Å"The magic number seven plus or minus two†. He reviewed psychological research and concluded that the span of immediate memory is 7; people can cope reasonably well with counting seven dots flashed onto a screen but not many more than this. Miller also found out that people can recall 5 words as well as they can recall 5 letters – we chunk things together and can then remember more. The size of the chunk matters Simon (1974) found that people had a shorter memory span for larger chunks, such as 8-word phrases, than smaller chunks, such as one-syllable words. Evaluation Cowan (2001) reviewed a variety of studies on the capacity of STM and concluded that STM is likely to be limited to above 4 chunks. This suggests that STM may not be as extensive as was first thought. Vogel et al, (2001) looked at the capacity of STM for visual information and also found that 4 items was about the limit. Encoding in STM and LTM PAGE 23 Encoding is the way information is changed so that it can be stored in memory. Information enters the brain via the senses. It is then stored in various forms such as visual codes (picture), acoustic forms (sounds), or a semantic form (the meaning of the experience). Information in the STM is mainly encoded acoustically (information is represented as sound); whereas information in LTM tends to be encoded semantically (information is represented by its meaning). Acoustic and semantic encoding We can compare the ways information is stored in STM and LTM in terms of encoding of the memory trace. Acoustic coding involved coding information in terms of the way it sounds The multi-store model of memory The multi-store model of memory (MSM) is an explanation of how memory processes work. The MSM was first described by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968. There is three stores/components in the MSM which are the sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. Sensory memory The sensory memory is composed of several stores which are the eyes, ears, nose, etc, and the corresponding areas of the brain. If a person’s attention is focused on one of the sensory stores, then the data is transferred to STM. Attention is the first step in remembering something. Short-term memory Information held in STM is in a â€Å"fragile state†. It will disappear relatively quickly if rehearsal is prevented. Information will also disappear if new information enters STM pushing out the original information. This happens because STM has a limited capacity. Long-term memory The second step is moving information from STM to LTM. Atkinson and Shiffrin said that this also happens through rehearsal. The more something is rehearsed the more it will be remembered. This kind of rehearsal is referred to maintenance rehearsal. Evaluation The sensory store Sperling (1920) gave participants a grid of digits and letters for 50 milliseconds. They were either asked to write down all 12 items or they were told they would hear a tone immediately after the exposure and they should just write down that row. When asked to report the whole thing their recall was poorer (5 items recalled, about 42%) then when asked to give one row only (3 items recalled, 75%). This show that information decays rapidly in the sensory store. The serial position effect Glazer and Cunitz (1966) gave participants a list of 20 words, presented one at a time, and then asked to recall words they could remember. They tended to remember the words from the start of the list (primary effect) and from the end of the list (recency effect) but were less good at recalling words in the middle. The primary effects occur because the first words are best rehearsed and transferred to LTM. The recency effect occurs because these words are in the STM when people start recalling the list. Areas of the brain associated with STM and LTM One way to demonstrate the existence of separate stores in memory is to link STM and LTM to specific areas of the brain. Modern techniques of scanning the brain can be used to take images of the active brain and enable us to see what region is active when a person is undertaking particular tasks. Research (Beardsley, 1977) has found that the prefrontal cortex is active when individuals are working on a task in STM. The working memory model Baddeley and Hitch (1974) used the term ‘working memory’ to refer to that bit of memory that you are using when you are working on a complex task which requires you to store information as you go along. The components of the working memory Central executive This is the key component of the working memory. The function of the central executive is to direct attention to particular tasks, determining at any time how ‘resources’ are allocated to tasks. The central executive has a very limited capacity. Phonological loop This also has a limited capacity. The phonological loop deals with the auditory information and preserves the order of information. Baddeley (1986) further subdivided this loop into the phonological store and an articulatory process. The phonological store holds the words you hear, like an inner ear. The articulatory process is used for words that are heard or seen (inner voice). Visuo-spatial sketch pad The Visuo-spatial sketch pad is used when you have to plan a spatial task (like getting from one room to another). Visual and/or spatial information is temporary stored here. Visual information is what things looks like and spatial information is the relationship between things. Logie (1995) suggested that the Visuo-spatial sketchpad can be divided into a visual cache (store) and inner scribe which deals with spatial relations. Episodic buffer Baddeley (2000) added the episodic buffer because he realised the model needed a general store. The episodic buffer is an extra storage system that has a limited capacity. It integrates information from the central executive, the phonological loop and the Visuo-spatial sketchpad and also from the long-term memory. Evaluation Doing two tasks using the same or different components Hitch and Baddeley (1976) gave participants two tasks to do simultaneously. Task 1 occupied the central executive and task 2 either involved the articulatory loop or both the central executive and articulatory loop. Task 1 was slower when given a task involving both the central executive and articulatory loop. The speed on task 1 was the same whether using the articulatory loop or no extra task. This shows that doing two tasks that involve the same component causes difficulty. Evidence for the central executive Bunge et al. (2000) used an fmri to see which parts of the brain were most active when participants were doing two tasks (reading a sentence and recalling the final word in each sentence). The same brain areas were active in either dual- or single – task conditions but there was significantly more activation in the dual-task condition indicating that increased demands were reflected in brain activity. Evidence for the Visuo-spatial sketchpad Baddeley et al. (1975b) demonstrated the existence of thee Visuo-spatial sketch pad. Participants were given a visual tracking task (they had to track a moving light with a pointer). At the same time they were given kne of two other tasks: task 1 was to describe all the angles on the letter F, task 2 was to perform a verbal task. Task 1 was very difficult but not task 2. This is also evidence related to the effects of doing two tasks using the same or different components. Evidence for the episodic buffer Baddeley et al. (1987) found that, when participants were shown words and then asked for immediate recall, their performance was much better for sentences (related words) then for unrelated words. This supports the idea of an immediate memory store for itesms that are neither visual nor phonological. Accuracy of Eye Witness testimony Loftus and Palmer were interested in whether misleading interesting distorted the accuracy of an eyewitness’s immediate recall. What did they do? 45 students were shown seven films of different traffic accidents. After each film the participants were given a questionnaire which asked them to describe the accident and then answer a series of specific questions about it. There was one critical question. This question was about ‘how fast were the cars going when they hit each other? One group of participants were given this question whereas the other five groups were given the verbs smashed, collided, bumped or contacted in place of the word hit. What did they find? The group given the world ‘smashed’ estimated a higher speed that the other groups (about 41 mph). The group given the word ‘contacted’ estimated the lower speed (about 30 mph). Evaluation Supporting DO LATER (PAGE 33) Factors influencing the accuracy of eye witnessing testimony Many researchers have looked at the relationship between anxiety and accuracy in eyewitness testimony. Deffenbacher et al. 2004) carried out a meta-analysis of 18 studies published between 1974 and 1997, looking at the effects of heightening anxiety on accuracy of eyewitness recall. From these studies it was clear that there was considerable support for the hypothesis that high levels of stress negativity impacted on the accuracy of eyewitness memory. Anxiety enhances recall Christianson and Hubienet te (1993) found when they questioned 58 real witnesses to bank robberies. Those witnesses who were threatened in some way were more accurate in their recall and remembered more detail than those who had been onlookers. This continued to be true even 15 months later. The weapon focus effect Johnson and Scott (1976) identified the weapon-focus effect. In their initial experiment, Loftus et al. used two conditions, one involving a weapon and one not. In both conditions participants heard a discussion in an adjoining room. In condition 1 a man emerged holding a pen and with grease on his hands. In conditions 2 the discussion was rather more heated and a man emerged holding a paperknife covered in blood. When asked to identify the man from 50 photos, participants in condition 1 were 49% more accurate, compared with 33% accuracy in condition 2. This suggests that the weapon may have distracted attention from the person holding it and therefore explain why eyewitnesses sometimes have poor recall for certain details of violent crimes. Evaluation Explaining the apparent contradiction Deffenbacher suggests that this contradiction in research finding could best be explained with reference to the Yerkes-Dodson law, which states that performance improves with increase of arousal up to some optical point then declines with further increase. Many researchers believe that anxiety effects in eye-witness testimony are curvilinear. This means that small to medium increases in arousal may increase the accuracy of memory, but high levels interfere with accuracy. Those studies which had found improved memory accuracy were most likely dealing with increased arousal within the first part of the Yerkes-Dodson curve, whereas studies which showed that accuracy decreases with increased arousal were most likely operating in the second part of the curve. MORE EVALUATION!! The cognition interview Fisher and Geiselman (1992) developed an interviewing technique, the cognitive interview. The original cognitive interview technique could be characterised by four distinct components 1. Report everything (hypermnesia) 2. Mental reinstatement of context- the interviewer encourages the interviewee to mentally recreate the environment and contacts from the original incident. 3. Changing the order- the interviewer may try alternative ways through the timeline of the incident, for example by reversing the order in which events occurred. 4. Changing the perspective- the interviewee is asked to recall the incident from multiple perspectives The first two components are based on the principle that if there is consistency between the actual incident and the recreated situation, there is an increased likeliness that witnesses will recall more detail therefore more accurate in their recall. The latter two components are based on the assumption that information that observed can be retrieved through a number of different routes into an individual’s memory. Evaluation Kohnken et al. , (1999) did a meta-analysis of 53 studies found, on average, an increase of 34% in the amount of correct information generated in the cognitive interview compared with standard interviewing techniques. Milne and Bull (2002) examined the relative effectiveness of each of the four components of the cognitive interview. Undergraduate students and children were interviewed using one of the components of the cognitive interview and compared to a control condition (where they were instructed to simply ‘try again’). When participants were interviewed using a combination of the components ‘mental reinstatement’ and ‘report everything’ their recall was significantly higher than in all other conditions.

Personal and Team Effectiveness

Personal and Team Effectiveness Introduction: In every organization particularly in the Health and Social Care Industry which involves individual employees and the entire workforce to where they are the company’s backbone of its existence it all rely on the importance of personal and team effectiveness to achieve the organization’s mission statement and service to their customers. In the influence of the management and organisational factors on the effectiveness of the people involved in the care particularly through developing their ability to work effectively in teams and developing their knowledge and skills so that they can contribute to the delivery of a quality service. All organizations require their people, at times, to work in groups. The most successful organizations find ways to realize the full potential and capability of groups. They understand the important contribution that groups can make effective groups usually outperform individuals. Organizations are comfortable establishing, empowering and promoting the participation of people in groups, value change and adaptation as key to improving productivity, quality and customer service and are constantly looking for creative ways to use groups to drive performance improvements. In looking at strategies for personal and professional development which refine behaviours, improve capability and give individuals the confidence and competence to excel not only for themselves but as part of the entire Health Care team as shown in high-performing organizations, the most successful groups function as â€Å"teams†. Teams flourish in organizations which create a climate where people want to work together giving their best efforts. Definition: Personal effectiveness is a branch of the self help movement dealing with success, goals, and related concepts. Personal effectiveness integrates some ideas from â€Å"the power of positive thinking† and Positive Psychology but in general it is distinct from the New Thought Movement. Team effectiveness refers to the system of getting people in a company or institution to work together effectively. The idea behind team effectiveness is that a group of people working together can achieve much more than if the individuals of the team were working on their own. Content: According to Carl Jung’s premise that all change and development starts from within and its principle underpins to the approach and it all start with personal effectiveness. The middle and senior managers in Health and Social Care should develop their skills and competencies in leading and managing the team. It is where the management of each organization would find how to enlighten and have each of them to explore and examining the facets that each of the employees are unique and valuable individual in the organization for the better good of the entire workforce. By exploring the preferences of others to understand why they behave as they do particularly and inspire those that are into the team and show them how to adapt and collaborate for improved interactions. The team leader and managers should see through it that the individuals and the entire team should focus on the implications and evaluating the by using management for the people for improving the organizational performance. In every individual, each has their own personality, style and personal interactions for effectively doing the job. By achieving this personal development and individual effectiveness comes with training, career development, staff development plans and the management will implement the development programs by in-house training, using supervision and appraisal, external courses, action-centred learning, lifelong learning, coaching and mentoring, assessing competence. The monitoring performance of individuals through observation, appraisal, periodic review, and achievement of successful outcomes as well as the use of targets, benchmarks, feedback from others is one key factor in measuring personal effectiveness. By Identifying individual training and evelopment needs: monitoring of performance, career development planning, changing personal circumstances. Strategies for promoting continuous development: achieving competence, training versus education, partnerships, staff development plans, compliance with external requirements, dedicated allocation of resources, use of external kite marks for exampl e Investors in People. In assessing the individual effectiveness is by describing different ways in which the performance of individuals working in health and social care may be monitored and by describing how individual training and development needs may be identified. Analyse different strategies for promoting the continuing development of individuals in the health and social care workplace. The effective staff development programme may be implemented and evaluate the effectiveness of a specific staff development programme with which the management is familiar. Team effectiveness is determined by several factors: †¢ The right mix of skills. Team effectiveness depends in part on bringing together people who have different skills that somehow complement each other. This can mean different technical abilities or communication skills. In fact, teaming up people who share the exact same characteristics is often a recipe for disaster. Team effectiveness depends on people taking on different roles in a group setting. If there is no agreement on who does what in the group, it is unlikely that the team will prosper. †¢ The right motivation. Team effectiveness is directly linked to the interest that the group has on the project. If the job is too easy or too difficult, or if the rewards for achieving the end result do not seem worth the effort, the team may end up working half-heartedly in the project. The task should also have a clear outcome. Working towards a specific goal enhances team effectiveness significantly. †¢ The ability to solve conflicts without compromising the quality of the project. Team work has one major downfall. Sometimes groups end up making decisions they know are not in the best interest of the project, just so they can keep the process moving. Conflict is innate to any work done in groups, and should be taken as part of the challenge rather than as something to be avoided by compromising. Team effectiveness should be increased, not compromised, through conflict. The model of team development as developed by Bruce Tuckman that teams evolve through four main stages. †¢ Forming is when the members are first brought together. It is a period of exploration, testing and orientation. †¢ Storming is a difficult but inevitable stage, where members may compete and conflict. †¢ Norming is the stage where the team starts to pull together, and noticeable progress begins to be made. †¢ Performing is characterized by a high level of task focus, and the team producing consistent and excellent results. Discussion: It is important as well for a team leader to create a climate in which people can develop and contribute to their full potential. The climate must be one of cooperation, commitment, and team focus. A good leader must also be a good coach. Different members are used as resource leaders because of their knowledge or experience. The focus is on how to get the job done, not on who controls the team. Team members are empowered to do the job they must do. Everyone is involved in the functioning of the team. In light of the discussion, the following points summarize the conditions required to create an effective team environment, each of these factors is important, and they are also highly interdependent. All of these factors are critical to achieving an effective and high performing team. Leaders can help create these conditions through the following behaviours. 1. Trust, Respect and Support †¢ Encourage and protect team member diversity in views, backgrounds, and experiences. †¢ Inspire teamwork and mutual support through example. Keep your commitments and expect the same from all team members. 2. Commitment to the Team †¢ Support and positively represent the team to senior management, peers and other employees. †¢ Ensure that individual member and team accomplishments are recognized and celebrated appropriately 3. Shared Vision †¢ Clarify the tasks to be accomplished. †¢ Establish and communicate a vision about what the members can achieve as a team. â₠¬ ¢ Encourage team members to participate in creating their vision of what the team can accomplish. 4. Open and Honest Communications Communicate fully and openly; welcome questions; avoid the â€Å"need to know† limitations. †¢ When seeking solutions, encourage members to suspend assumptions, reflect on their own thoughts and feelings, clearly voice these, inquire about and listen to opinions of others, and be less reactive. 5. Empowerment and Involvement of all Members †¢ Encourage members to participate. †¢ Make it easy for others to see opportunities to work together. †¢ Clarify that problem-solving is a responsibility of all team members. †¢ Mediate conflicts before they become destructive. 6. A Learning Environment †¢ Guide team members to determine where they actually are relative to their goals, and to clarify why the gaps exist and how to bridge them. †¢ Surface and treat conflicts as learning situations. Peter Senge, in his book â€Å"The Fifth Discipline† says, â€Å"One of the most reliable indicators of a team that is continually learning is the visible conflict of ideas. In great teams, conflict becomes productive. Conclusion: In every Health and Social Care organization they must be People Investors to which people or the staffs are a company’s most valuable resource. Human beings have unlimited potential to grow, develop and learn and in that sense constant training and improvement of personal and team development is needed for the organization to be successful and create a greater impact to the service user and the people involved in the care and service. The leader’s role is to help each team member achieve his or her potential and they act as coach which provide more structure, guidance and direction as well as to clarify tasks, goals, management’s expectations, and the way their performance and contributions will be measured. Teams need to be constantly developed for creating an effective approach on how things should be done for the better service to the clients. Members of the team generally have a broader range and depth of skills and experiences. With encouragement and support from the leader and other team members, individual members can enhance their technical, functional, problem-solving, decision-making, interpersonal and teamwork skills by taking some risks and facing some new challenges. Everyone is capable of making decisions that affect them, provided they are given the appropriate information and training. People do not resist changes they have been involved in making for the benefit of the entire team and the effectively managing the entire conflict which will be turned in to an advantage in solving the problem. Gaining true employee involvement is an ongoing process, not a one-time effort it always develop each personal and team effectiveness, If a change is affecting the team, the leader must be a role model of the â€Å"new† way. The leader must be able to â€Å"let go† in order to empower people. The leader must train and coach people first so they will be ready and able to succeed. The leader realizes mistakes are unavoidable, and helps people learn from them. A key factor which differentiates teams from work groups involves the interdependence of people. As Stephen Covey points out in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, â€Å"Interdependence opens up worlds of possibilities for deep, rich, meaningful associations, for geometrically increased productivity, for serving, for contributing, for learning, for growing. Reference: Tuckman, Bruce W. â€Å"Developmental Sequence In Small Groups†. Psychological Bulletin 63, 1965, pp. 382-399 http://gtwebmarque. com/wikis/gtwm/index. php/The_Fifth_Discipline http://www. skillsforcare. org. uk/workforce_strategy/workforce_strategy. aspx http://www. insights. com/LearningSolutions/Expertise/IndividualEffectiveness. aspx http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Team_building http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Personal_effectiveness http:// www. wisegeek. com/what-is-team-effectiveness. htm

buy custom Simple Regression essay

buy custom Simple Regression essay Simple regression is used when one wants to predict value of one variable given values of another variable or it is used to find the relationship between two variables. It is a method that can be used to determine the relationship between a continuous process out put (y) and one factor (x). The relationship can be expressed in the terms of a mathematical equation such as y= a+bx. where x and y are the variables and b the slope, a= to the intercept point of regression line and the y axis. The value b which is the slope is equal to ; The slope (b) = (NXY ( X)( Y))/((N X2 - (X)2 ) and The intercept (a) = (sum; Y-b(X))/ N N is the number of elements of the variables x and y where X and Yare the individual values of the different variables and the sign for summation of the values is where XY sum of the product of the values of X and Y, and X is the sum of the values of x and Y is the sum of the values of y and X2 the sum of the square of the values of x (Hiox calculator n.d). Multiple Regression Multiple regression is used where we want to predict the value of one variable from several independent variables. In multiple regression the several independent variables are used to predict the dependent variable we can use an equation such as the one sampled below. Y= a+ b1X1 + b2X2 .. + bkXk. Using the given formula Y is the value of the dependant variable or what is being predicted, whereas a is the constant or intercept. Variables that follow are independent and they should not be correlated. They are expressed as x1, x2xk . These are the several independent variables that will be used to forecast the dependant variable Y. The values of b1, b2. bk are coefficients which are equal to the slopes of the independent variables (StatSoft, 1998). Buy custom Simple Regression essay

Children and Video games Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Children and Video games - Research Paper Example The physical games enhanced the physique of the children, and enabled them to develop social skills (Vorderer & Bryant, 2006). In spite of all the benefits of physical games, children still spend most of their time playing video games making them forget or ignore other issues that might be important in their lives. For example, some children will ignore their homework or they might do it hurriedly with the intention of creating more time for video games. It is the role of the parents to ensure that their children reduce the time spent in playing video games by encouraging them to participate in physical games. In as much as playing video games enhances the thinking capacity of a child, and keeps him busy, it affects their health, leads to violence and affects relationships. Benefits of Video Games There also exist benefits that come with children playing video games. Since children usually spend a lot of their time playing video games, they frequently develop abilities that are essen tial in making meaningful decisions (Vorderer & Jennings, 2006). During the game play, a child usually takes a considerable time before moving onto the next level; and for good performance to be realized, a child needs adequate thinking capacity. It is clear that video games usually enhance the thinking capacity of the children. ... As mentioned earlier, when children spend most of the time playing video games, they usually ignore other issues that might be important in their lives. Apart from neglecting their homework, most children usually fail to prepare their food. In some cases, they will prepare their meals in a hurry. The food consumed usually affects the health of these children by causing them to suffer from ailments that could have been avoidable in the first place. Since the video games are highly addictive, these children usually develop a habit of consuming poorly prepared food. This situation leads to the parents spending a lot of money in treating their children due to of the developed health complications. It is the role of the parents to control the time spent by their children in playing video games. This approach will be very important in ensuring that their children are not affected negatively by the video games. The approach is also important to both the parents and children because every pa rent desires to be associated with well-behaved children. Effect of video games on children’s health Video games are usually played within the house meaning that strenuous movements do not characterize them. Unlike in physical games that involve many movements, video games is required for the players to gather themselves in a room. It is clear that video games usually eliminate all opportunities that might allow the children to engage in any outdoor or physical game. As mentioned earlier, physical games are important in promoting the interaction as well as creating physical contact among children. However, video games limit the use of muscles posing negative effects on the health of a growing child. Concurrently, outdoor games give the children an opportunity

Building Construction Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Building Construction - Research Paper Example Since shelter is a necessity in mans life, buildings can be traced from time immemorial, as the history date it, the early man stayed in the forest just like other animals. In these forests, there was need for protection from hostile weather conditions, so man improvised a primitive structure that was meant for this purpose. As time goes by man had to come up with a structure which could not only protect him from harsh weather but also from his enemies. These early inventions had to be improved because they had many disadvantages which they presented as they could easily catch fire. In the society, buildings serve as general living space, provides privacy and store belongings. A building as a shelter represents a substantial distinction of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) and the outside (a place that at times may be harsh and harmful). Buildings all over the world have faced many problems from various sources. These includes earthquakes; that is why earthquake proof buildings were constructed, human factors brought by neglect or by terrorist attacks which cause fire explosions inside a building making the situation more difficult for the designers. Due to this a lot of changes have occurred in compliance to the standard rules and protocols set to the construction sectors in order to cancel out the issue of fire which has led huge losses including loss of lives and property. Science and technology have enabled fire engineers to develop ways to protect people and property from fire (Mitcham, 2005). When designing a building or refurbishing a building, these engineers develop a plan for fire protection which is not only meant to limit fire to the building of its origin as it was (1900th century) but also to its object or room of its origin. These advanced plans of the 20th century have significantly boost fire safety and to some extend protected people and properties from fire. Modern construction has measurably