Definition of Cognitive Psychology

The eNotes Blog Decembers Teachers Corner Column Are We Expecting Too Much, TooSoon

Decembers Teachers Corner Column Are We Expecting Too Much, TooSoon Teacher’s Corner is a monthly newsletter from just for teachers. In it, experienced educator and contributor Susan Hurn shares her tips, tricks, and insight into  the world of teaching. Check out this month’s Teacher’s Corner column below, or sign up to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox at . I recently read an article by Laura Katan  in which she shares an anecdote I keep thinking about. At a fair, Katan saw a ten-year-old boy and his mom pass a massage vendor, and she heard the mother ask her son, â€Å"Do you want a massage? It may relax you.† Katan recalls she was â€Å"incredulous† as she overheard the comment. â€Å"Since when do 10-year-olds need to relax?† she asks. Well, apparently now. In fact, there seems to be a lot of kids who need to relax, and most of them are in our classrooms.    A growing body of research indicates that we are demanding too much of kids, too soon. In the name of â€Å"rigor† and in the pursuit of high scores on standardized tests, we’re often getting ahead of their natural growth and development- and by â€Å"we,† I don’t mean teachers. Teachers know how the fallout from too much, too soon impedes learning, but their judgment rarely influences educational policy and administrative mandates. Classroom teachers, however, aren’t the only ones who are ringing alarm bells. According to the Alliance for Childhood, a nonprofit that advocates for children, pushing kids too far, too fast is evident now even in kindergarten curriculums. Consider this passage from Crisis in the Kindergarten, a 2009 report released by the Alliance: Children now spend far more time being taught and tested on literacy and math skills than they do learning through play and exploration . . . . Many kindergartens use highly prescriptive curricula geared to new state standards and linked to standardized tests. In an increasing number of kindergartens, teachers must follow scripts from which they may not deviate. These practices, which are not well grounded in research, violate long-established principles of child development and good teaching. It is increasingly clear that they are compromising both children’s health and their long-term prospects for success in school. A friend of mine summed it up succinctly: â€Å"The kids don’t get to color anymore.† Here’s the full report, Crisis in the Kindergarten.  In â€Å"Reimagining Kindergarten,† Elizabeth Graue raises the same concerns and arrives at the same conclusions. â€Å"Kindergarten is now built on a model of content,† she writes, â€Å"rather than on the needs of children.† Read her article at this link. So, kindergarten has become first grade, first-graders are now expected to read, second grade focuses on third-grade testing, and to make more time for instruction in chasing test scores, recess has been eliminated in many elementary schools. One encouraging development, however, is that the push to get rid of recess is losing steam. This report from Scholastic  on how recess makes kids smarter  offers an update. Middle school and high school? Lots of middle schoolers are taking classes once reserved for the high school curriculum, and many high school kids are taking so many Dual Credit and AP courses that essentially they are going to college before graduating. When you go to college in high school, when do you go to high school? And what is the goal here? To have kids with Ph.D.’s by the time they’re twenty-two? Seriously! When can kids be kids and teenagers teens? It’s no wonder the mom back at the fair offered to buy her ten-year-old a massage to alleviate his stress! Many students are developmentally mature enough to do fine and even excel when pushed to the max in the classroom. Many, however, are not, and even though they can’t articulate that they’re overwhelmed, they express it- in the inability to concentrate or stay on task, in rowdy behavior or quiet withdrawal, and in passive-aggressive self-defense. Some kids simply shut down and refuse to engage until prompted, and prompted, and finally reprimanded. What appears to be a discipline problem is often a manifestation of academic demands getting ahead of natural growth and development. For instance, why do some kids persist in taking their mechanical pencils apart and playing with the pieces? Just to drive their teachers crazy? Probably not. Things being what they are right now, what can be done in the classroom to alleviate students’ stress? Here are a few suggestions: On the board, list what will be done in class; the unknown can be scary. Give kids â€Å"brain breaks,† a time-out to process information; let them talk it over with a partner, write a brief response, or sketch a simple picture, chart, or graph. Incorporate some humor in lessons, activities, and tests. Cartoons are fun and can be subject-appropriate. Allow for movement and fidgeting; give kids hands-on activities with things to hold and manipulate; let them build something or create a physical product. Build in transition time between lessons rather than racing from one to another. Use some activities that call for students to visualize something they enjoy or find restful. Eliminate extraneous noise, and play quiet background music during work time. Lots of kids are not used to silence, and it makes them uncomfortable. Beat the system! Design activities you know are good for your students, and then work backwards to find some standards they meet. For more tips, check out www.stressfreekids.com  and â€Å"5 Easy Ways to Reduce Student Stress in the Classroom† at www.teachthought.com And here’s a suggestion to relieve your own stress. Forget about school and have a great winter break! Happy Holidays! Susan

Landmines in Vietnam and War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Landmines in Vietnam and War - Research Paper Example Claiming over five hundred victims a week, landmines are weapons of mass destruction in slow motion† (Relief Web 2011). It can be clearly seen that landmines have become a threat in the society and should be removed on humanitarian grounds. U.S participation in Vietnam was extremely controversial and consequently it was considered to be an awfully unstable country during the late 1950’s and 1960’s. All through the Vietnam War, landmines were utilized by the United States plus the North South Vietnamese military. Majority of the landmines were placed intentionally and were created commercially by china and the U.S, yet, as a minimum one- third of these were made spontaneously by locals. These landmines that Vietcong made were formed on the battleground with bamboos and volatile weapons of American armaments that did not detonate. Since the nature of the Vietnam War was guerilla, the conventional blockade theory of the landmine was no more applicable so as a result the armed forces invented a new use for those landmines. These landmines were released from the planes to occupy bigger areas as scattered landmine orderliness put in a new aspect to the grounds of mine war. According to Sarah Elizabeth â€Å"properly employed, scattered landmines provides the commander with a rapid, flexible and effective means for delaying, harassing, containing or canalizing the movement of enemy ground forces while simultaneously reducing the significant manpower and material requirement previously associated with the employment of landmines† this new method altered the use of landmines from being a protective and defending weapon to an offensive one. Landmines are distinctively ferocious in the time of recent or traditional war not just for the reason of their horrifying personal effect, but additionally because of their lasting societal and monetary obliteration. The Vietnam Battle rutted America opposed to communism and was an unforgettable model of a conflict that can be identified as a cold war. The mere thought of Vietnam beginning the procedure of changing to communism was unacceptable to America. As Johnson on 17, March, 1964 issued the national security memo that stated â€Å"to pressure an independent, non-Communist south Vietnam which is necessary to prevent all Southeast Asia from turning communist and prove to the rest of the world that communist wars of national liberation could be curtailed.† This statement eloquently provided the reason for the war in Vietnam and encouraged and intensified the American involvement (Smits 2007). By dropping these landmines from the plane the U.S military gained an advantage since they were able to scatter it over a large area. Moreover this new technique needed very less manpower since it only required a trained pilot. These landmines were positioned inside the territory of the enemy without the possibility of causalities of the American force. According to Mc Grath â€Å"usin g landmines as an offensive weapon by dropping them from airplanes enshrined the area-denial philosophy into military thinking.† The area denial viewpoint initially executed the region’s larger areas under war, futile to the opponent by layering it with weapons. It was anticipated that in 1965, seventy percent of sea killing was the consequence of the landmines and additional entraps created from these weapons. Vietnam

ECN 302 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

ECN 302 - Essay Example Over half of the Americans have a contrary view and claim that all the government intervention achieves is causing more damage than benefits, while six percent believe that it had no effect and 17% were found to be unsure (Fox, 2012). In a contemporary era, whereby auto bailouts, maximum debt and Dodd-Frank reform, interventions by the government, seem to be the Obama administration’s solution option, according to the article. The article claims that this stand has created a deep partisan gap between supporters and the opposition of the viewpoint. It highlights that the proposition is gains support mostly from democrats while most republicans and independents oppose the approach. It further explains that more divisions resulted due to class differences, as the wealth class claimed that economy management by the government was helpful while the middle class respondents believed that government control destroyed the economy (Fox, 2012). The model states that the economy will be boosted when the governments spends enormous sums of borrowed funds. The article highlights these as it highlights how the $787 stimulus package involves federal tax reductions and expenditures on infrastructure and other government projects. These will help to address the recession crisis. The model is used to address the sluggish US economy more with the current

Essay Of Benefits Of Technology In Education English Language Essay

Essay Of Benefits Of Technology In Education English Language Essay Using the new technology in education has become a center point of many researches and studies. Modern education has to combine with modern technology to come up with best results. The teacher and the student both can use the technology to enhance the teaching and learning strategies. On the other hand, many people are worried of the possible harmful effects of using technology in the classroom or at home. Will children lose their ability to relate to other people? Will they become dependent on technology to learn? Will they find inappropriate materials? The same was probably said with the invention of the printing press, radio, and television. All of these can be used inappropriately, but all of them have given humanity unlimited access to information which can be turned into knowledge. Appropriately used- interactively and with guidance- they have become tools for the development of higher order thinking skills. To begin with, TV the invention that helps us to get useful information in easiest way. I think, the most important advantage of television is that it is a huge source of informations, knowledge and entertainment. (wojtas Dodano, 2003). Although TV is not a new invention, people try to find many new ways to use it as a communication tool. Some of the TVs benefits that it may help the learners in different ways. For example, the learner of English Language -or any other language- can find a collection of programs, movies, series, documentary and educated programs and channels that they can use to learn the language they want. Moreover, TV is an easy, cheap, and available tool to communicate with all over the world and know the latest news anytime anywhere. To focus more on language learning, TV can help in many ways. For example, the learner can watch the movie while reading the subtitles, or watch a simple language program to strengthen the listening skills. TV can also present many different shows, not only entertainment, but also News, documentary programs, educated programs, historical and scientific movies. Secondly, the internet, which become the most popular technology these days. It can be consider as the best way to keep in touch with friends from all countries over the world. In other words, the internet makes our earth as a small village. It actually has so many benefits; we can mention here the use to search for information and data for academic purposes. Students can always use the internet to get more information for their researches. It also became a popular way to communicate, you can send emails, use chat, voice chat, or even video chat with your friends and family. If we take a closer look, internet is playing an essential role in education nowadays. In his article, Muthukumar said that the Internet is a complex storage area containing a huge maze of information from a variety of sources. It has become a famous source of information for many people worldwide. The Internet wave has also hit the educational landscape in many big ways. The use of technologies such as the Inter net as a teaching tool in schools is not the issue now since it is pervasively used. Relatively, the issue is how to effectively employ such technologies and harness fully the new opportunities created by them to promote positive student learning experiences. Computer assisted learning is being widely used by teachers and studied by researchers. Teachers use computers inside classrooms and give the students assignments to integrate the technology with the homework. A number of studies have been done concerning how the use of computer for language learning affects the development of language learners four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). Most report significant gains in reading and listening and most CALL programs are geared toward these accessible skills because of the current state of computer technology. However, most reading and listening software is based on drills.  On the other hand, using current CALL technology, even with its current limitations, for the development of speaking abilities has gained much attention. There has been some success in using CALL, in particular computer-mediated communication, to help speaking skills closely linked to communicative competence (ability to engage in meaningful conversati on in the target language) and provide controlled interactive speaking practice outside the classroom.  Using chat has been shown to help students routines certain often-used expressions to promote the development of automatic structure that help develop speaking skills. This is true even if the chat is purely textual. The use of videoconferencing gives not only immediacy when communicating with a real person but also visual cues, such as facial expressions, making such communication more real. However, when it comes to using the computer not as a medium of communication (with other people) but as something to interact with verbally in a direct manner, the current computer technologys limitations are at their clearest. Right now, there are two fairly successful applications of automatic speech recognition (ASR) (or speech processing technology) where the computer understands the spoken words of the learner. The first is pronunciation training. Learners read sentences on the screen and the computer gives feedback as to the accuracy of the utterance, usually in the form of visual sound waves.  The second is software where the learner speaks commands for the computer to do. However, speakers in these programs are limited to predetermined texts so that the computer will understand them. Finally, Cell phones are having a great influence in our live and are very convenient to keep with us. Cell phones are a faster and more effective way to transfer information. Indeed, it is a resource that gives its users great advantages. (Gupta, 2010). mobile phones are the fastest way to communicate with people, and it can save many things with its pocket size. Mobiles are mainly used as a tool to make calls and send short messages. However, nowadays they have been developed so much to be a device with multi-purpose use. As example, we can connect to the internet through mobiles. We can also use some applications in the system like GPS, dictionary, entertainments, and others. Mobile phones with cameras are now very popular also that anyone can use the camera to take pictures and videos when they have special events. These were the benefits of using the cell phones in general. However, if we want to narrow down the usage to the learning part, we can find many examples on how we ca n use our mobile phones in language learning. As example, many cell phones nowadays have special applications for learning and communication. We can use our cell phones as a dictionary if needed, while we can also use the cellphone to access to the internet anytime anywhere. A powerful tool to improve their education is already in kids hands.  Cell phone  delivery of knowledge to learn could richly supplement traditional book/print methods obsolete very soon. The two key factors are: 1. The students already have the cell phones in developed countries and are getting them very fast even in the least developed parts of the world. 2. Multimedia technology is maturing quickly on the  cell phone  screens. A very immediate and practical way to improve education for kids right now is to push getting learning material to the  cell phone  screens!   To sum up, technology has many faces and means, and we should choose the appropriate use of technology to get the most benefits of it. We have to lead the technology, and dont let the technology leads us. TV, Internet, and mobiles are some examples of technologies we cant ignore using them in our daily life, and to follow the speed track you need to follow the speed of the technology. Using technology in education has become a fact in our lives. Advantages and disadvantages are issues to be further investigated in future researches.

Essay --

Less than 1% of the water supply on earth can be used as drinking water. By the time a person feels thirsty, his or her body has lost over 1 percent of its total water amount. About 25,700 litres (6,800 gallons) of water is required to grow a day's food for a family of four. A child dies every 8 seconds from water-related disease. Groundwater can take a human lifetime just to traverse a mile. A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water. If a human does not absorb enough water dehydration is the result. Most of the earth's surface water is permanently frozen or salty. If all the world's water were fit into a gallon jug, the fresh water available for us to use would equal only about one tablespoon When water contains a lot of calcium and magnesium, it is called hard water. Hard water is not suited for all purposes water is normally used for. An acre of corn will give off 15,000 litres (4,000 gallons) of water per day in evaporation. A small drip from a faucet can waste as much as 75 litres of water a day. Of all the water on earth, o...

Report on Intelligence and link to Gender

In my study I am traveling to speak about intelligence: specifying the word intelligence, IQ proving and theoreticians work on intelligence, if there is any grounds linked with gender differences in intelligence. I will include possible factors that may impact gender differences in intelligence for case environmental and biological factors. The methods I will utilize to acquire grounds for this study are as follows ; I will utilize books on what theoreticians findings are on this topic, use the cyberspace and diaries. The intent of this survey is to happen out, if there are any possible differences between gender, and associating this to intelligence. Encarta dictionary definition of intelligence ‘is the ability to larn facts and accomplishments and use them ‘ . Deary ‘s ( 2001, p.17 ) definition of intelligence ‘is a really general mental capableness that, among other things, involves the ability to ground, program, work out jobs, think abstractly, comprehend complex thoughts, learn rapidly and larn from experience ‘ . Galton ‘s familial mastermind is to make with the different degrees of intelligence measured by familial factors. Galton thought that higher intelligence was being passed down to kids. Day, Macaskill, & A ; Maltby ( 2007 p.258 ) province that ‘intelligent people show the ability to react to the big scope of information gained through their senses ‘ . So the 5 senses of the human organic structure are critical such as odor, gustatory sensation, hearing, sight and touch because this will find how intelligent a individual may be, if they do non utilize their senses right, the individual will hold less intelligence than those who can for case, a individual does non cognize the difference between Sweet and salty. A babe ‘s gustatory sensation and odor buds are really good because, the babe will cognize when it is clip for dinner by utilizing their odor sense. Babies use gustatory sensation buds go od because when my brother was younger he would prefer to eat the sweet nutrient instead than the salt nutrient, it would take him longer to eat the salty nutrient, on the other manus when eating the sweet nutrient it wo n't take every bit long as the salt nutrient. Cattell ‘s mental trial is to make with mensurating a individual ‘s intelligence through hearing and weight these experiments were carried out utilizing the psychometric theoretical account. Problems with this experiment Chamorro – premuzic ( 2007, p. 67 ) examined this and suggested that ‘ therefore, most of the variables he measured were more â€Å" elemental † than â€Å" mental † , and referred to really basic cognitive procedures that are now known to be related to intelligence ‘ . From this remark you can see that the experiment he did was more on the indispensable side of things such as how good child can hear and non based on mental accomplishments such as numeracy, jo bs work outing or literacy. The IQ trial was developed by two Gallic scientists, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, the intent of the trial was to measure kids at school so that stupid kids or kids with behavioral troubles could have equal and appropriate instruction. IQ proving is to make with mensurating your intelligence for illustration comprehension, job resolution and concluding accomplishments. Criticisms of IQ proving are as follows they do non accurately step intelligence, and everyone has different strengths and failings in different countries of intelligence, such as person could be good at job resolution, but have a failing in concluding accomplishments and another individual could be good at concluding accomplishments and non really good on job resolution. Howard Gardner ( multiple intelligence theory ) he put together eight different intelligence trials which were Linguistic, Logical-mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Nat uralist. Criticism of the Theory like many theories environing intelligence, Gardner ‘s theory of multiple intelligences is controversial and widely criticised. In peculiar, there is uncertainty over his deficiency observed informations – many feel that the 8 ‘intelligences ‘ are merely alternate names for specific endowments or even personality types. Methodology I have used books, the cyberspace and diaries to roll up my informations. This method of researching is called secondary research. Secondary research is the usage of stuff, which has been researched by person else. The different research methods for secondary research are as follows: engineering based and instance surveies. Technology based research is to make with researching from the computing machine to acquire your information, which has a batch of benefits such as the cyberspace provides on-line libraries ; e-books, diaries and encyclopedia. The chief electronic databases I have used for my research were as follows Psycinfo, Psychology & A ; Behavioural Sciences Collection and British ED index. The cardinal read was based on, intelligence and gender differences and how the hunt found a figure of diaries, but some were irrelevant, to what I was looking for. You can download information off the Internet but make certain it is copyright free. Search engines aid you through the mass of information on the Internet two most popular hunt engines are yahoo and google etc ; besides on the cyberspace you can seek for newspaper articles. Case surveies published by other research workers can be used as secondary footing of informations. There is a batch of ways you can utilize them such as identify differences and discuss comparings. I did non utilize primary research because this is to make with transporting out your ain research. The different research methods for primary research are interviews, experiments, questionnaires and observations etc. I did n't utilize this method because I did n't hold adequate clip to make this if I did I would hold done questionnaires to acquire my findings. Literature reappraisal There has been a batch of work done on intelligence and how this is linked to gender differences. Alan Feingold ( 1988 ) examined sex differences for spelling, verbal logical thinking, numerical ability, spacial relationship and linguistic communication and many more. Another individual who studied this was Larry Hedges and Amy Nowell ( 1995 ) , who looked at reading comprehension, vocabulary, mathematics, scientific discipline and spacial ability ( which is to make with the ability to retrieve things by looking at objects and retrieving them ) . Maccoby and Jacklin ( 1974 ) suggested that work forces on norm do better on trials of spacial ability than adult females do. Supporting this ( Feingold, 1988 ; Hedges & A ; Nowell, 1995 ) who have done surveies on spacial trials have proven this hypothesis. In contrast ( Feingold, 1988 ; Hedges & A ; Nowell, 1995 ) have similarities in their experiments for illustration they both tested numeracy accomplishments and literacy accomplishments. On the other manus adult females do better on reading comprehension and vocabulary than work forces do. APA study province that ‘some verbal undertakings show significant average differences favoring females. These include synonym coevals and verbal eloquence ( e.g. calling words that start with a given missive ) , with consequence size runing from d= 0.5 to 1.2 ( Gordon & A ; Lee, 1986 ; Hines 1990 ) ‘ . Males have larger encephalons than females and encephalon size is positively correlated with intelligence. Among kids up to the age of around 14 yr the sex differences are smaller because misss mature earlier than male childs. Work done by Lubinski and Humphreys ( 1990 ) found that the criterion of divergence for males to be 7 per centum larger than for females. It has besides been hypothesised that work forces ‘s higher IQ mark may be direct effect of their larger encephalon sizes, a claim that has been backed up by consistent grounds of correlativities in the p art of.30 between encephalon size and IQ tonss ( Rushton & A ; Ackney 1996 ) . Macintosh ( 2007, p. 184 ) provinces that ‘ the critics would hold been better advised to oppugn whether one can do reasonable illations about differences in IQ between groups from grounds of their differences in the encephalon plus grounds of a within-group correlativity between encephalon size and IQ ‘ . Environmental factor impacting intelligence environmental factors play a big function in finding IQ in certain state of affairss. Malnutrition correlates with lower IQ, proposing that proper nutrition in childhood is critical for cognitive development. ( Cole, 2000:26 ) Even before kids go to school their parents will handle a male child and girl really different. Even in society throughout history this has occurred. A batch of research has gone into this ; your gender is an issue from the minute you are born. Automatically society will state how a miss will act and how a male child will act . If it is a male child, oh he ‘s like that because he ‘s a male child and boys ever take longer to hold on it. The thought that intelligence and personality are mostly inherited has of import educational deductions. Environmental factors, e.g. household experiences, upbringing and schooling play a major function. ( Chamorro-Premuzic, 2008:99 ) . Biological factor impacting intelligence are as follows encephalon size, encephalon operation and testosterone. Testosterone is to make with males endocrines these are substances that travel around the human organic structure to consequence physiological activity, such as growing and metamorphosis Maltby et Al ( 2007, p.360 ) . Consequences or findings The figure below is from Hines ( 2003 ) and shows the magnitudes of some well-known sex differences in human behavior compared to the magnitude of the sex difference in tallness. hypertext transfer protocol: //sexes.martinsewell.com/Hines2003-1-1.png This graph shows that work forces do good in 3-D rotary motion 0.8 divergence units, maths job 0.3 divergence units, maths concept 0.1 divergence units which non much because the consequence size is little. On the other manus this graph shows that verbal eloquence is low in male childs than misss because vitamin D is a negative figure, which shows -0.3 on the graph. This tabular array shows the spread in 1989 was merely 6 % but 10yrs later it had increased to 10 % . It is suggested by S. Ball ( 2008 ) that this spread is an overall statistic and non capable particular he suggests that in 2004 the divergences of this spread was merely 1 % and that in some topics boys achieve better consequences than misss therefore it is non valid to state that all male childs or all misss achieve less in Gcse degrees Discussion The of import issues that I have found are that male childs have bigger encephalon sizes than misss, which is linked to better IQ trial tonss for male childs than misss. Another issue that I found is that male childs tend to make better on spacial accomplishments ; they find mathematics and scientific discipline more interesting to larn about. But on the other manus misss to break on verbal, comprehension and vocabulary accomplishments than male childs do. The importance of this survey was to happen out ; if there were any differences between genders in intelligence besides I was interested in happening this out so I undertook my research study on this topic. During the procedure of garnering the information, it was really interesting to happen out that work forces have bigger encephalons than adult females, which gives them better IQ mark than adult females. Decisions and recommendations The intent of this survey is to happen out, if there are any possible differences between gender, and associating this to intelligence. From making my research in this field, I have found that there is non much difference between male and females and theoreticians have backed this statement up for many old ages. Neisser 1996 province that ‘most standard trials of intelligence have been constructed so that there are no overall mark differences between females and males ‘ . The chief issues that affect intelligence in gender: Boys do better on spacial trials than misss ; in contrast to this misss do better in verbal, comprehension and vocabulary accomplishments. Brain size of males is bigger than females encephalon size which consequences in work forces acquiring better IQ tonss than adult females. If I carry out this survey once more, I would do betterments to the research I have done, by making my ain research in this field to see what consequences I get from making this, I can make this by transporting out questionnaires on IQ. Another manner I could better my research is inquiring people to take the IQ trial. With these consequences I can compare them to one another, to happen out if there are any possible differences.