The, By John Abel - 1920 Words

Just as Steinbeck diverges from the usual interpretation of Charles and Caleb as Cain, he does too in the cases of Adam and Aron as the biblical Abel. Abel is originally described as the good one, the innocent and more likeable, after all it was his gift that God preferred over Cain’s. This is also the case of Adam’s son Aron, that Aron is the preferred son over Caleb. In the first generation of the Trasks, following the Abel-Cain framework, Steinbeck had Adam as the Abel figure. Because there is only little information about Abel’s personality in the Biblical story from Genesis, people make their own assumptions of Abel’s character. All we know is that Abel was the preferred one and at the same time, he was killed by his brother Cain,†¦show more content†¦Adam and Aron had also one thing in common, that they left their home, with no regard to their family. Adam simply went to the army, which seemed as some kind of escape than a service for the country and Aron decided to leave the Salinas to go to college. After Cyrus died, Adam told Charles that he hated their father, even though Cyrus preferred Adam the whole time. This is another example of strange behavior to his brother Charles, who feels abandoned in their family home. Adam did not write him any letters, only to inform him if and when he was coming home. At this point of the story, Adam is no longer the pure and innocent Abel figure. When Adam tells Charles about his time spent in prison, Charles â€Å"felt warmth for his brother you can only feel for one who is not perfect and therefore no target for your hatred† (East of Eden 144). Leatham claims that at this point in the novel, the standard interpretation of Cain and Abel breaks down, and â€Å"so do[es] the dualism that separated Charles and Adam and the arbitrary and false divisions humans in general draw in order to categorize others and order their world† (Leatham 14). This means that neither Charles nor Adam are longer a hundred percent pure good or bad char acters, it seems like they exchanged some of the traits. Adam is not an entirely good character because he neglects his family, he disrespects his father and he is not hard-working, but on the other hand, a reader has to seeShow MoreRelated John Steinbecks East of Eden: Modern Biblical Story of Cain and Abel2225 Words   |  9 PagesJohn Steinbecks East of Eden: Modern Biblical Story of Cain and Abel And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brothers keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened herRead MoreInterpretive Question : Genesis 4 : 1-6 And Adam Knew Eve His Wife967 Words   |  4 Pagesconceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect . And Cain was very wrothRead More John Steinbecks East of Eden - Biblical Symbols and Symbolism1255 Words   |  6 Pagesrepresenting Cain and Abel.   Both pairs are similar to Cain and Abel in the way they go about winning their fathers’ favors.   All four give gifts to their fathers, and the fathers dismiss the gifts of Charles and Caleb, the Cain representations (Marks, Jay Lester. p.121).   Caleb and Charles Trask are obviously the more malignant brothers.   They are also the more loving towards their father.   Steinbeck’s purpose in this is to illustrate the need of the Cain character in the story.   Abel, Adam and Aron,Read MoreJohn Steinbeck s East Of Eden1279 Words   |  6 Pagesthis statement is true more than any other in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Whether one believes that all stories in the Bible have actually happened or not, at least some concepts of them did. How would a writer arrive at the ideas of two brothers and jealousy of love, without having seen it or felt it before? Yet again, how would these ideas survive for so long, unless many people felt them as well and connected to them. The story of Cain and Abel has been around a long time, but the feelingsRead MoreDeeper The Messages of The Crucible by Arthur Miller613 Words   |  3 Pagessince of entitlement can easily be compared to Cain in the story of Cain and Abel. Cain is ultimately jealous of his brother Abel whenever God accepts his offering and not his. As Abigail is jealous of Elizabeth, she can easily be compared to Cain’s hatred for his brother and his jealousy to gain God’s approval. After Abigail’s jealously leads her to try and get Elizabeth convicted of witchcraft, her plans fail and result in John Proctor’s extermination. Abigail’s agony and guilt overwhelms her and drivesRead MoreBiblical Allusion Of John Steinbeck s East Of Eden1249 Words   |  5 Pagesby John Steinbeck, biblical allusion is a literary device that references characteristics of judeo christian doctrine. Steinbeck alludes to the bible with his characters and setting in East of Eden. Salinas Valley and Adam Trask’s garden allude to the Garden of Eden. Steinbeck portrays the biblical allusion of the chapter Genesis from the bible throughout the book. The characters in the novel are allude to those in the book of Genesis. Steinbeck’s characters alluded to Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, andRead MoreThe Significance of Sibling Rivalry in Steinbecks East of Eden1400 Words   |  6 Pagescharacters embraced Steinbeck’s characters throughout every concept in the novel, the good vs. evil confines the characters personality in every idea of Steinbeck’s novel. From the biblical story of Cain and Abel to Adam and Charles to Cal and Aaron the story continues through out every generation. John Steinbecks novel, East of Eden is the epic story of a California family who struggle to overcome issues of betrayal, infidelity, and the age old battle between good and evil and sibling rivalry. The storyRead More House Made Of Dawn Essay1056 Words   |  5 Pagesthe remembrance of words, but the remembrance of images. Momaday shows the reader twice how different the white men’s words are from the Native American’s word. The first is with Tosamah when he tells about the way John describes his insight. He says of John, amp;quot;†¦old John was a white man, and the white man has his ways, oh gracious me, he has his ways. He talks about the Word. He talks through it and around it. He builds upon it with syllables, with prefixes and suffixes and hyphensRead MoreSwiss Army Man And The Myth Of Cain And Abel1437 Words   |  6 PagesArmy Man the Myth of Cain and Abel In the first book of the bible, the Book of Genesis, readers are introduced to the characters of Cain and Abel. The myth of Cain and Abel relates to jealousy and rage, and how there are always consequences for our actions. The morals that can be learned from Cain an Abel are still relevant today, but in another format, such as in the poster for the 2016 film Swiss Army Man. The Swiss Army Man poster and the myth of Cain and Abel have overlapping themes, such asRead MoreEssay Biblical Allegories in Modern Literature1378 Words   |  6 PagesJohn Milton, in his epic poem â€Å"Paradise Lost,† expresses that â€Å"the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven† (Milton). This idea not only counteracts the basic ideals of Christianity but simultaneously disrupts the widely accepted idea of a separated heaven and hell and the expectations needed to be met to achieve entry. Religion and the bible, two of the most widely disputed topics in history, serve as a muse for authors to explain humanity’s fatal flaws

The Effects Of Celebrities On Mental And Physical Health...

Prompt #4 Negative Effects of Celebrities on Mental and Physical Health of Our Youth In my opinion the only thing that people spend more time doing than watching TV shows or movies is sleeping. When you turn on the TV or go to the movies, you see TV and movie stars, but you may not always be thinking about the impacting effects that celebrities have on your personal health. The message to viewers so consistently seen in the various forms of media conveys that celebrities are above the law and should be imitated and as much as possible is harmful to our youth and the public in general. The message comes across not only in movies and TV shows but also in TV commercials, ads in your favorite magazines, radio shows and every other way that celebrities use their names as brands to promote products. Now, more than in the past, celebrities are enormously influential in the lives of people who view them. From the casts of our favorite current television shows to mainstream, celebrities are all over the world in the media and used to sell and endorse almost every invention or idea out there. While there are many positive role models among today’s celebrities, there are also many out there who provide a bad influence on young minds. Schor stated that â€Å"the prevalence of harmful and addictive products, the imperative to keep up, and the growth of materialist attitudes are harming kids. (384). People who try to follow in the footsteps of these celebrities they witness in the media mayShow MoreRelatedSocial Media Allows People To Share Pictures And Ideas1057 Words   |  5 Pagesused scholarly articles all relating to how social media affects body image to decide what my view point was. After research, we can conclude that social media has a negative effect on a woman’s body image. The media consumption can lead to dissatisfaction and even have a correlation with eating disorders. â€Å"Social Media effects on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns: Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research† by Richard M Perioff. This article focuses on the correlation between media and bodyRead MoreMy Worst Year By Ellen Degeneres1618 Words   |  7 Pagesused to have a celebrity joke contest, but it quickly turned into an insult contest. In the beginning the jokes were those cheesy ones about Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, like â€Å"What does Bruce Lee drink when he is thirsty? He drinks WATAAAA.†, then the jokes became about other Celebrities, for example, â€Å"This just in. The government shutdown has lasted longer than any of Taylor Swift s relationships.†, Afterwards the jokes became about Celebrities that did horrible things. One of our favorite comediansRead MoreThe Social Aspect Of A Self Image1746 Words   |  7 Pagesself-portraitur e with â€Å"More then 1 Million Selfie’s taken each day†. The global popularity of this ritual of social networking has even had a song dedicated to this trend, symbolising of an era of youth culture. The ‘bandwagon’ mentality fashioned from this phenomenon of a popular trend, in effect attracts greater popularity as a result of people doing something, not based on its merit, but based on what others do. The concept of a self-image is not a new idea as the involvement of self-portraitsRead MoreMedia and Its Effects on Society1437 Words   |  6 Pagesits Effects on Society Media plays a crucial role in our life nowadays. It serves as a bridge that connects people to the world, leading to a global exchange of information and knowledge. Media also offers platform for people to voice their thoughts on political and social issues, providing room for different perspectives. Unquestionably, media affects our life in nearly every ways. With a turn of a magazine page, a tune on a radio, or a flip of a TV channel, media somewhat plays a part in our lifeRead MorePersuasive Essay On The Standard Of Beauty1529 Words   |  7 Pagesof everything she hates about her body, â€Å"I wish my stomach was flatter, my chest was bigger, my thighs were skinnier, my arms were more toned, and my waist was smaller.† She looks into the mirror, comparing her body to the bodies of her friends, celebrities and the images she sees in magazines. Alyssa does not look like all those girls and this makes her feel gross, insecure and out of place. Beauty standards are so high the y create negative body images and women who hate the way they look. Women lookRead MoreEng 1011630 Words   |  7 Pagesleave a negative impression on young children. Violence in music videos can cause health problem. Music videos that promote negative lyrics are affecting young children. Music lyrics with vulgar languages affect the development and well-being of young children. For example, the study author (Stone, 2009) found â€Å"that music with explicit references to drugs, sex or violence can be associated with negative effects on school work behavior and emotions† (p. 2). Media violence not only provokes violenceRead MoreEssay on Overview of ADHD1063 Words   |  5 PagesAttention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, otherwise known as ADHD, is the most common psychiatric condition effecting 9.5% of school-aged children in the United States (intuniv, 2013). If the disorder goes untreated, it will cause more long-term side effects and difficulties for the individu al as an adult. Adults who have this condition face several adversities in every day life, such as impulsive behavior, low self-esteem and poor work performance. People are not aware of the complications that comeRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effects On Society1421 Words   |  6 Pagesif not used in the right way has negative effects especially on today s youth, for example teens and children can be exposed to online predators or become victims of cyberbullying. This is why It is important to bring light to both sides of this topic because it is a huge part of our society today, Also because Social Media has only just boomed in this generation we are slowly starting to acknowledge and learn more about the impacts it can have on our lives. Most of the time when we think of SocialRead MoreThe Impact Of Media On Child Development1510 Words   |  7 PagesViolence has progressively increased in the past decades, at an alarming rate in the United States. The top three leading causes between adolescent and youths are unintentional injury (accidents), homicide and suicide according to the World Health Organization. Media and entertainment play a huge part in child development, as technology has seemed to overpower today’s generation. Nearly, forty percent of the human populations have access to an Internet connection at home via any device type and connectionRead MoreThe Adverse Effects Of Advertising On Children1428 Words   |  6 PagesThe Adverse Effects of Advertising on Children By: David Tran Advance Placement Psychology Mr. Cuetara 6/4/2015 Abstract Advertisers have been targeting children to market their products to for years now. The purpose of this report is to expose the advertisers and large corporations’ adverse effects on children all for the sake of making an extra buck. The targeting of children by advertisers has left us with a â€Å"obesity epidemic† which

Ethics in Project Management Free Essays

ETHICS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT 1ABSTRACT This essay will describe about ethics in project management which will provide us an overview of the aspects how the organizations develop the ethics in an organization and about the differences in the ethical decision making among various professionals in their given field. In order to understand various aspects of the chosen topic various literature have been examined including peer reviewed articles which have been carefully chosen. In today’s world all the professional fields have adopted the ethical code of conduct in one way or another but there are differences in the decision making because of variation in company culture and the ethical values of a project manager and the employees. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethics in Project Management or any similar topic only for you Order Now 2INTRODUCTION Ethics basically define the values and the standards or customs of a particular person or a group of people. There are two things that provide the specification for the ethics. First, ethics refers to well based standards of right and wrong that set what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one’s ethical standards. As mentioned above, feelings can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to constantly examine one’s standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based. To make good ethical decisions it is essential that the professionals must have trained sensitivity to the ethical issues and a methodology that will help in exploring the ethical aspects of a decision making. In the business world, ethics scandals have caused the downfall of global corporations and non-profits, causing public outrage and sparking increased government regulations. Globalization has brought economies closer together but has caused a realization that our practice of ethics may differ from culture to culture. The rapid, continuing pace of technological change has provided new opportunities, but has also introduced new challenges, including new ethical dilemmas. The Code of Ethics and Professional Development was approved by the PMI Board of Directors in October 2006. Breach of Code of Ethics: Should, in the opinion of the National Council, a breach or a series of breaches of the Code of Ethics indicate that the member concerned has conducted himself/herself in a manner seriously prejudicial to the profession, then the Council shall advise the member that his/her name shall be removed from the Register of Members and in the case of Registered Project Managers, from the Register of Project Managers. The other important issue is importance of monitoring to control unethical problems. There is no doubt, control is necessary to prevent unethical problems, especially illegal ones, like frauds, and it helps organisations to ensure the accepted policies perform properly. However, there are some possible conflicts here, especially about considering people’s privacy and answer to this question that how far should this control go? People do not like their personal actions to be watched by others and they expect their privacy to be respected, also in some situations, applying very strictly suspect view to control causes people feel to have to try to prove their innocence because someone thinks they are guilty. In my opinion, definitely people‘s right to have their privacy respected could not be ignored, but there are other rights for people too, they want to feel secure when they trust to an organisation and give their information to the organisation and it’s responsible to protect them against someone that tries to access the information and use it to abuse them, or they also want the information related to their banking transactions to be secure. In all of these cases, it is not a acceptable excuse to these organisations not to check their staffs’ or customers’ suspect actions just because of being care about respecting to people privacy rights. As we see, beside to privacy right, there are other rights that should be considered as well. So the someone privacy right should be respected as far as it does not provide possibility of break other people‘s right. Ethics in IT: Mentioned by Strassmann, there is an issue for which, about our personal responsibility to other’s unethical behaviour and deciding whether or not play the role of the ethics police for people including our colleagues, partners, customers or even our boss. Bill Nance, a professor of management information systems at San Jose State University, disagree with such a way of thinking, he believes this â€Å"don’t ask, don’t tell† policy might end up costing a lot more than the money saved by the illegal money-saving strategies. He gave reason that â€Å"If a client or co-worker is doing something that is beyond unethical –something that is illegal — and others involved know or `could have reasonably known,’ as lawyers say in court, they could be considered an accomplice†. I personally think in this sort of situation expectation of always acting as a moral cop is to some extent idealist and not realistic; sometimes because of the side effects of playing such a role, it could cost too much, such as losing job or popularity, so it would not worth to do so. Following are the main objectives that are meant to be achieved with the implementation of ethics in the organization:- Inspiration: To inspire members of the profession to act more ethically in the work environment. Sensitivity: To give encouragement to the members to remain sensitive towards the moral aspects of their jobs Discipline: To enforce certain rules of the profession on its members to achieve integrity Advice: To provide advice in cases of moral complexity and ethical dilemma Awareness: To alert employers and clients as to what they can expect of the member when performing his or her job. Ethics in Construction: The American Society of Civil Engineers claims that corruption accounts for an estimated $340 billion of worldwide construction costs each year. Corruption (including bribery, embezzlement, kickbacks, and fraud) in construction projects undermines the delivery of infrastructure services. Further, corruption poses significant risks to construction and engineering companies themselves. Owners, while trying to minimize their costs for construction projects, are also required to address the ethical and social responsibilities to their shareholders. Terms such as â€Å"socially responsible investments,† â€Å"integrity,† â€Å"honesty,† and â€Å"ethical business conduct† can be found in the operation statements or codes of ethics of almost all public companies. Whistleblowing: In the past thirty years numerous pieces of legislation have been passed to offer protection to whistleblowers from retaliation for disclosing organisational wrongdoing. An area that remains uncertain in relation to whistleblowing and its related policies in organisations is whether these policies actually increase the individualisation of work, allowing employees to behave in accordance with their conscience and in line with societal expectations or whether they are another management tool to control employees and protect organisations from them. In the professional environment, defining what is ethical could be too subjective. So providing enough information about accepted ethical values is very helpful to make ethical decisions. In other words, it is organisations’ responsibility to have related ethical policies and inform people, who need to know about that, properly. Another point is that some people usually take lightly of what is considered unethical behaviour in the industry while they may think that this behaviour is highly unethical or even illegal in real life. This situation emphasizes necessity to pay more attention to cultural infrastructure to promote ethical issues e. g. in construction, medical or IT area. Finally, considering that The Project Management Institute does have a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, every professional should accustom to commit to the code seriously and adhere to it in all circumstances. Also enforcement of the ethical standards should be a must for the organization to maintain a reputation and also to protect the interest of the public. REFERENCES 1) Reedy, Patrick. 2008. ‘Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: Reflecting on the Ethics and Effects of a Collective Critical Management Studies Identity Project. ’ Management Learning Vol. 39 Issue 1 p 57-72. EBSCOhost viewed September 25, 2008. ) Garrett, Michael. 2008. ‘What Will You Do When Your Desire to Please and Ethics Collide? ’ Business Source Complete, p 42-44, EBSCOhost viewed September 25, 2008. 3) Small, M. 2006, ‘A Case for Including Business Ethics and the Humanities in Management Programs’ Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 64 Issue 2, p195-211, EBSCOhost viewed Se ptember 26, 2008 4) Tsahuridu, E. , Vandekerckhove, W. 2008, ‘Organisational Whistleblowing Policies: Making Employees Responsible or Liable? ’ Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 82 Issue 1, p107-118, EBSCOhost viewed September 26, 2008 5) Sohail, M. , Cavill, S. 008, ‘Accountability to Prevent Corruption in Construction Projects’ Journal of Construction Engineering Management, Vol. 134 Issue 9, p729-738, EBSCOhost viewed September 25, 2008 6) Annas, G. 2008, ‘Military Medical Ethics – Physician First, Last, Always’ New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 359 Issue 11, p1087-1090. EBSCOhost viewed September 26, 2008 7) Swartz, N 2003, ‘Business Leaders Form Ethics Organization’, Information Management Journal, Vol. 37 Issue 2, p14. EBSCOhost, viewed September 23, 2008 8) Belsie, L 2002, ‘Watching for technology abuse at work’, Christian Science Monitor, Vol. 0, Issue 184, EBSCOhost, viewed 24 September 2008. 9) S trassmann, P 2000, ‘Practice ethical IT’, Computerworld, vol. 34, no. 14, EBSCOhost, viewed 24 September 2008. 10) Jane, R 2002, ‘Facing ethical dilemmas’, InfoWorld, vol. 20, no. 52/01, p. 73, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 September 2008. http://www. acm. org/about/code-of-ethics http://www. pmi. org/info/AP_PMICodeofEthics. pdf http://www. scu. edu/ethics/practicing/decision/framework. html http://www. cpsr. org/act/contest/4wi2 http://gbr. pepperdine. edu/052/itmatters. html http://www. misq. org/archivist/vol/no16/issue4/effyoz. pdf How to cite Ethics in Project Management, Essays

Watership Down Essay Research Paper Watership Down free essay sample

Watership Down Essay, Research Paper Watership Down was written by Richard Adams, who was born May 9, 1920, in Berkshire, England. He won two awards for this novel. He is still populating. Fictional characters Hazel became the leader of the coneies once they left their original Warren. He was a really smart and slippery coney who won the regard and trust of the other coneies by his bravery and many great workss. He ever handled jobs calmly so others would besides stay composure. Whenever a program was needed, Hazel would ever come up with one. Fiver, the younger brother of Hazel, was alone because of his little size and ability to anticipate danger. He saved the coneies from decease by warning some coneies of the danger. Bigwig, a great combat and brave coney, was indispensable for the success of the travelling coneies. He loved to contend and ever did his best to protect the others. We will write a custom essay sample on Watership Down Essay Research Paper Watership Down or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He was besides the bird Kehaar? s best friend and bask disbursement clip with him. Blackberry was the most intelligent coney in the group. For illustration, he made a boat to traverse a river although the others had neer even seen or understood the drifting construct. Blackberry ever helped Hazel to believe of thoughts when jobs arose. Dandelion, another smart coney, was known for his velocity and for his great narrative relation of El-ahrairah, the coney common people hero. He could ever state narratives which distracted and eased the coneies from jobs. Pipkin, a good friend of Fiver, was little like Fiver but acted as if he was every bit large as Bigwig. He ever did what he was told and neer complained. Plot One twenty-four hours Fiver, feeling danger, convinced his brother Hazel that they must go forth their Warren. Hazel tried to warn the Chief Rabbit of the danger, but he did non listen. Hazel gathered a group and went along the creek until they reached another Warren of coneies. These coneies were really unusual and acted otherwise from other coneies. Hazel and his group decided to go forth after Bigwig got caught in a wire. The adult male would feed the coneies so they would go large and healthy ; so the adult male would kill them. After many yearss of travel, Hazel and Thursday vitamin E others came to Watership Down, which was an first-class topographic point for a Warren. The dirt was perfect, and enemies could be spotted from many stat mis off. Here they dug a tunnels where the coneies were happy. Hazel made friends with animate beings such as mice and even a bird named Kehaar. Hazel so realized that the Warrens needed does to last. He used Kehaar to happen some does. They made a foray on a farm and brought back two does. Then three of four coneies left to see a large Warren to inquire for more does. However, the party came back tired and injured because the Warrens Efrafa did non hold to give up the does ; the group had to get away. Hazel decided that about all of the coneies must travel and steal some does. The coneies came up with a great program where Bigwig would inquire General Woundwort, the leader, if he could be in the military. Bigwig was accepted and led 10 does onto a boat in the river. Efrafa tried to halt Bigwig, but they failed. After some clip at Watership Down, the Efrafa military and Woundwort came to take back the does from Watership Down. Hazel idea of a alone program to make full all the holes with soil. All crowded into one room with Bigwig guarding the one entryway. Hazel and two others went to entice the Canis familiaris from the farm to the Warren to kill the enemy. The program worked, and Woundwort had disappeared. The remainder of the enemy left while some stayed to populate at Watership Down. Efrafa and Watership Down made peace and decided to get down another Warren with some coneies from each of the two Warrens. At last, after Hazel saw the Warrens prosper with new babes and happy coneies, he left his organic structure to run with extraordinary strength and velocity over the Fieldss. Setting This book takes topographic point in New Hampshire in May through the winter. The narrative begins in the Saddleford Warren and ends in Watership Down. Distinguishing Features: : : : : : : : : Richard Adams? composing keeps the reader? s attending and involvement. He makes the coneies appear and act like worlds. He often uses some phrases and words in Lapine, an carnal linguistic communication. His descriptions of nature are really elaborate and easy to conceive of.

Virginia Essays - Southern United States, , Term Papers

Virginia Virginia is located in the eastern coast of the United States. It is surrounded by the states of West Virginia, which lies to the north west of it, Kentucky, west of it, and North Carolina, which is to the south. It has also the Atlantic Ocean to the east of it. Virginia has a coastal plain with tidal swamps and marshes flowing into rivers that lead into the Chesapeake Bay. The James, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac rivers split the mainland into three peninsulas. The size of Virginia is a total of 42,326 square miles. It also has the population of 6,733,996, which is the estimated in 1997. It is made up of 77.4 percent of whites and 18.8 percent blacks. Virginia's metropolitan areas have a great deal of ethnic diversity. For the people there the religion is predominantly Protestant. The largest denominations are Methodists and Baptists. Its capital is Richmond, which was named for the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth 1st of England. Some of the largest cities there in Virginia are Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Chesapeake. Most of the economic activity that takes place in Virginia involves services and government agencies. Some of the government agencies are The Pentagon and the Department of Defense. The manufacturing of transportation equipment contributes more to personal income than any other industry there. Virginia also has about 43,000 farms that cover more than one thirds of the states land area. They mostly produce livestock. The state bird of Virginia is the Cardinal and its state flower is the Dogwood. The first people to ever arrive in Virginia is said to be nomadic groups of hunter about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago and made communities along the Chesapeake Bay. Later in abou 1607 the english settlers landed on a swampy Virgina peninsula and built Jamestown. The town encountered many problems. They had to deal with starvation, iliness, poor leadership, and the hostilities of the Powhatan indians. All that kept the town at the brink of disaster. Finaly in about 1609 the town of Jamestown had a new leader sent to them, Daron De La Warr as governor. He reorganized the town and in two years the town was completely revitalized. The new governor let the tobacco farmers to farm for their own profit. And they also found a way to remove the bitter taste from their tobacco. Virginia is also home to Shenandoah National Park, which covers a large part of Blue Ridge. It also has the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park which is the site where Confederate forces surrendered in 1865. Some of the major colleges over in Virginia are Averett College, Bluefield College, Bridgewater College, and Christopher Newport University. A good vacation spot in Virginia is Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate and Monticello, the home that Thomas Jefferson designed for himself. So in conclusion I think I would like to live in Virginia because it has much to offer. It has clean, open spaces in which to go relax in if I ever get frustrated with the daily hassles of life. Also because it has the cites near by when I want to go back and live with all the noise of the cities.

Al-Awa Paper Essays - Criminology, Penology, Criminal Law

Al-Awa Paper Essays - Criminology, Penology, Criminal Law Alexandra Tolhurst Al-Awas paper on the Islamic penal law system is one that can easily be broken down to the main contributions that make up the theories of punishment in the system: retribution and deterrence make up the main theories, while I would argue that circumstance, morality and reformation each would make up a smaller theory. To understand the application of these theories, one must first understand what is considered a crime in Islamic law and where these are derived from. Islamic criminal law recognizes six major offenses, two of which Al-Awa doesnt even recognize because their punishments are not defined in the Quran or the Sunna, which is the definition of a hadd punishment. Along with the fact that hadd punishments are written in the text, its important to point out the distinguishing factor from tazirs in that they cannot be pardoned by any non-divine authority once reported. This divinity was the reason the original jurists found no reason to prescribe a purpose for the punishments an d is now the basis for all of the theories of punishment and the Islamic law system itself, which we will now discuss. The first theory of punishment is retribution. Retribution is a universal theory and is revealed in the Quran as the purpose of punishment in this world and the Hereafter (which greater confirms the divinity of the law.) The Arabic word for retribution is jaza which means punishment and reward, which makes the theory of retribution similar to the usage in Western law, apart from the divinity. When it comes to hadd punishments, its important to remember that they are the most severe punishments in the world for the crimes theyre prescribed to, which draws attention to the consequences, and also that mediation is prohibited, so combining these features brings a very retributive effect in Islamic culture. The theory of retribution in punishment is shown by the fact that in the case of multiple offenses, multiple sentences will be imposed, with the criminal serving them from least severe to most severe ending with the death penalty. The second theory of punishment is deterrence, which is recognized as the most dominant reason for the hadd punishments. This fact is interesting to me in that the idea of deterrence is the opposite of retribution because deterrence justifies the punishment with regards to the future while retribution justifies punishment with regards to the past, seeing each offense as an isolated offense. With deterrence, two effects are seen: general deterrence on the population as a whole and individual deterrence on the criminal. The punishment is justified with this theory because future crime is being prevented, both by the population because the punishment is made as public as possible, and by the individual criminal because the inhibitive effects of serious punishment makes one reluctant to ever offend again (or so the theory goes.) This theory has evidence to back it up in that Saudi Arabia has seen a significant decrease in their crime rate since re-implementing hadd punishments in the 20t h century. While retribution and deterrence are the main recognized theories of punishment, I think circumstance, reformation, and morality are worth being noted. What is meant by circumstance is that many determinations for punishments were once made to be based on what suited the community of the Prophet. Now because of circumstances that have changed with the times, the punishments (more-so certain characteristics of the punishment) have had to change with the times. We see this in the case of theft where one of the controversies between jurists is the value of the stolen property; a relevant value for hadd punishment in the Prophets time surely would be sufficient for our time. We also see this in the case of the hadd punishment of execution for armed robbery, which is to be done by the sword. Some would argue this is more of a medieval practice and the method should be changed to meet the current circumstances of the time. Reformation as a theory of punishment only has roots in one hadd cr ime, which is armed robbery. One of the hadd punishments for this crime is banishment or imprisonment, which naturally would suggest that the reason for the punishment is to

Why did you choose seneca college to study Essay

Why did you choose seneca college to study - Essay Example Furthermore, what attracted me to the school initially, apart from the scholastic offerings that are therein available, was the fact that the college was seemingly perfectly position between the look and feel of a very large university and that of a more intimate setting. Both of these concepts appealed to me for differing reasons. Firstly, with respect to the look and feel of a large university, this provided the necessary stepping stone I require to acquaint myself with the full-scale university experience. Similarly, I am also attracted to the small university setting and/or feel due to the individualized attention and intimate settings that such an approach necessarily invokes. As a result of these factors and the needs that I have sought to fulfill within my own personal development as a student, I have selected Seneca College as it provides me with a means to satisfy each of the above determinants that I have listed as well as providing a superior education within the majors that are

The use of Biometrics and Bio-information to Support New Systems Research Paper

The use of Biometrics and Bio-information to Support New Systems Integration - Research Paper Example metric traits (for example face, fingerprint and iris) are not able to be stolen, lost or simply forged; they are as well recognized as to be more and more constant and distinctive. Utilize of biometrics is not latest; fingerprints based reorganization have been effectively employed intended for over one hundred years in law and forensics enforcement agencies to recognize and arrest criminals. However, as biometrics infuses our society, this detection technology featuring novel challenges. Biometric is the mainly secure as well as suitable authentication system. It is not able to be stolen, borrowed or elapsed as well as falsify that is mainly impossible. Biometrics based detection and calculations are based on individuals exceptional behavioral or physical features to identify or validate their characteristics. General physical biometrics comprise hand, fingerprints or retina, palm geometry iris, plus facial features. Behavioral characters features comprise voice, signature, gait an d keystroke. Biometrics taken as an automatic detection of people foundational on their physiological or behavioral features. Uni-modal new technologies based biometric systems carry out person identification foundational on a single source of biometric data and are influenced through issues similar to non-universality, noisy sensor data plus lack of independence of the selection of the biometric attribute, lack of an invariant illustration for the biometric feature as well as vulnerability to circumvention. A number of these issues are able to be improved through making use of the state-of-the-art integrated biometric systems that combines confirmation as of numerous biometric sources. Combination of proofs acquired from numerous indication is a challenging aspect plus combining at the identical score level is the majority widespread method for the reason that it presents the most excellent trade-off among the information content as well as the easiness in integration. In this

The challenges of doing business in China and Vietnam Term Paper

The challenges of doing business in China and Vietnam - Term Paper Example The global marketplace that has no borders takes into consideration the participation of all countries. Several changes are occurring in the global scenario, more with the enhancement of communications and technology (Understanding the Global Marketing Environment, n.d., pp.4-8). Several political, social, economic and technological implications arise owing to the changes and developments in the modern business world. These factors play a major role in the international marketing. The changes and developments are eventually encountered by all marketers who face the challenges in their operations in the â€Å"global business environment†. Changes in the international market reveal the emergence of newer sources of power in Brazil, China, India and Russia. The economic development seems to be shifting towards a restricted and impartial direction engaging itself in global businesses. New customers are also emerging with higher needs and demands with increasing competition among businesses. Indistinct boundaries of industries are causing deregulation in the business world. There are frequent changes in the use of technology accompanied by the emergence of greater service sectors than manufacturing as well as increasing transparency of business practices. C onsidering all the business benefits and obstacles, this report would primarily focus on the challenges of doing business in China and Vietnam. ... Entering a Global Market: Key Areas of Concern: The essential issues needed to be taken into consideration before entering a global market include Culture, Government, Economy, Infrastructure, and Relationships. As the report focuses on the businesses in China and Vietnam, these key areas are discussed in the context of China and Vietnam. Culture: The exchange of goods and services and other expertise among different countries tend to increase globalization reflecting increasing interdependence in the economy. Universal culture arises from particular groups of individuals in the different countries involved in different businesses. These cultural issues include the values and practices followed in a business (Leung, Bhagat, Buchan, Erez & Gibson, 2005, pp.358-359). Culture in China is known for its â€Å"orderly, hierarchical and control-based society† with the Chinese people being â€Å"patient, eager to learn, respectful and accepting of authority† (McKern & Denend, 2 004). If the culture practices in China are studied, it can be observed that China has its own â€Å"unique business culture and etiquette† (Chinese Culture, n.d.). Business relationships in China mostly involve a social relationship that tends to remain for a longer period of time. They give high importance to designations. Giving appropriate respect is a very important notion followed by the Chinese companies. Gifts and presents are always esteemed and accepted as adding value to the relationships. Moreover, business discussions in China generally include a lunch or a dinner that are highly focused in China (Chinese Culture, n.d.). The Chinese business can be found to maintain corporate social responsibility that is particularly focused on the human issues, scientific development, and harmony in

Cognitive psychology, retention and learning transfer

Cognitive psychology, retention and learning transfer The way information has been retained and transferred into meaningful output has baffled the minds of Cognitive Psychologists for decades. It is in an effort to discover how this becomes possible that various Cognitive Psychologists have developed hypotheses and presented models. Estes, (1975) posited that some learning theories support hypotheses that are based on instruction that leads to learning outcomes that he regard as a two element paradigm. He however, supports a three element paradigm which involves instructions, memory structure, and learning outcome. If there is not a three structure paradigm how might one account for the retention and the processing that must take place if there is no memory structure? But the structure of the memory system is still a source of controversy. According to the modal model there is not only a memory structure but there are different kinds of memory. But most contemporary researchers assume that there are three types of memory; a sensory memory structure or register, a short term store, and a long term store. There is also support for a two structure model. This is regarded as a two storage system and this is where the emphasis lies. Support for a storage system was highlighted from (Mulner, 1959) research. Her research supports the hypothesis that if the hippocampus was removed it would be difficult for new learning to take place. Eichenbaum, (2000) states that the Hippocampus is seen as critically involved in the rapid encoding of events as associations among stimulus elements and context, in the encoding of episodes as events, and in linking episodes by common features into relational networks that support flexible inferential memory expression. Mulner, (1959) further posited that although items of learning could be held in short term memory, there is no evidence that they were transferred to Long term memory. Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) supported (Mulner 1959) findings. Zechmeister and Nyberg (1982) posited that information enters the memory system through a sensory register that records information impinging on the sense organs. The concept of working memory has been introduced as a part of the short term memory (Bradderly and Hitch, 1974; Hastie and Carlston ( 1980). Short term memory takes information as concepts from the sensory register and maintains activated knowledge drawn from long term memory. Long term memory is comprised of semantic long term memory and episodic long term memory. Semantic long term memory stores structural information. This is information that is not dependent upon a particular time or place. Episodic long term memory stores contextually dependent information. That is information about specific events or episodes. Klatzsky (1980) purports that Episodic Long term memory is constantly changing. This is so because as (Conway, Cohen, and Stanhope, 1991; Semb, Ellis, and Aroujo, 1993) stated, although some of what is learned is lost, the amount is not significantly great. Bahrick, (1984); Bahrick, Bahrick, and Wittingler (1975), Bahrick and Hall (1991); Conway, Cohen, and Stanhope (199 1) reported retention intervals as long as fifty years. From their research they discovered that persons retained a substantial amount of the Spanish, Algebra, and psychology that they were taught in school. Research carried out by Cane and Willey (1939) and Hovland (1940) supported the hypothesis that persons who are given multiple opportunities for learning had better retention. But if one is merely interested in assessing what students have learned over a period of time, the focus will be merely on assessing remembering. However, meaningful learning supersedes mere remembering. Bransford, Brown and Cocking (1999); Lambert and Mc Combs (1998) stated that meaningful learning is recognized as an important educational goal. For meaningful learning to take place instruction must go beyond the simple presentation of factual knowledge and that assessment task should require students not just to recall or recognize but they should be able to construct meaning from what is learned. Hence, students should be able to understand what is learned, apply knowledge, analyze, evaluate and use knowledge to create. If the objective of the teacher is to assess the degree to which students have learned some subject matter content and retained it over some period of time, the focus would be on just one class of cognitive process, namely, those associated with remembering. Mayer (2001) posited that two of the most important educational goals are to promote retention and to promote transfer (which, when it occurs, indicates meaningful learning). Retention is the ability to remember material at some later date in much the same way it was presented during the instruction. Transfer is the ability to use what is learned to solve new problems, answer new questions, or facilitate learning new subject matter (Mayer and Wittrock 1996). In other words retention requires students to remember what is learned, where as transfer requires not only retention but also the application of knowledge to old and new situations (Bradford, Brown, and Cockling, 1999; Detterman and Sternberg, 1993; Heskell, 2001; Mayer, 1995; McKeogh, Lambert, and Marini, 1995; Phye, 1997). Remembering is therefore the sole ingredient of retention. On the other hand transfer involves remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. If the retention of information is the focus then the main focus of the cognitive process is remembering. However, if the focus is transfer it shifts to the other five cognitive processes; understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Mayer, (2001) stated that students understand when they can associate old knowledge with new ones. In other words if students are able to make connections as they formulate new concepts ideas, and create new schematic formulations, they have demonstrated that they have learned. At the application stage (Mayer, 2001) students are able to use what is learned to execute procedures. In other words they are able to carry out tasks based on that knowledge. For example if instruction is based on how to bake a cake, the student should be able to bake the cake. Therefore the bass for application are remembering and understanding. As (Mayer, 2001) continues to review Blooms Taxonomy, he states that to analyze involves breaking ideas, concepts, and schemas into their component parts and demonstrate how the parts are related to each other and to the whole structure. The bases for analysis are; remembering, understanding and applying. In order to evaluate students must be able to remember, understand, apply, and analyze. Evaluation is the ability to make judgment that is based on a given criteria. Mayer (2001) states that the standards may either be quantitative of qualitative. Evaluation is further described as judgment about internal consistency and critique which is external consistency. At this level of transfer students should be able to detect inconsistencies between an operation and some external criteria. The final stage is that at which students are able to synthesize aspects of what is learned to produce a whole, a concept or a schema or something that is tangible such as a machine or a work of art. It is that which enables one to develop hypotheses with a view to solving problems. Therefore in order to create, one must be able to remember, understand, apply, analyze, and evaluate. Chandler and Sewell (1991); Mayer (2001, 2005); Mayer and Moreno (2003); Sweller (1999, 2005) posited that meaningful learning requires learners to engage in appropriate cognitive processing during learning. These cognitive processes include attending to relevant information, mentally organizing the selected information into a coherent structure, and integrating the incoming information with existing knowledge. This is regarded as the triarchic theory of cognitive load and it postulates three kinds of cognitive processing during learning. The first is extraneous processing in which the learner engages in cognitive processing that is not related to the instructional goal or in some instances there are no instructional goals. It is just learning for learning sake. The other is essential or intrinsic processing in which the learner mentally represents the material and which is determined by the inherent complexity of the material. The third is the generative or germaine processing of material such as organizing and integrating the selected material with the desire to understand the lesson. Generative processing is similar to transfer of learning that produces the ability to create. According to (Mayer ,2005; Mayer and Moreso, 2003; Sweller, 2005) line texts can be converted into a graphic organizer through selected relevant text and organized into a coherent structure. When the scaffolding of graphic organizers is provided, learners are less likely to waste precious cognitive capacity on extraneous processing which thereby reduces cognitive load and frees up capacity for essential and generative processing. De Jong (2005); Kirsner, Sweller, and Clark (2006); Klahr and Nigane, (2004); Lillard, 2005); Mayer, (2003, 2004) forwarded that activity theory is based on the idea that deep learning occurs when students are encouraged to engage in productive learning activities. Constructing a graphic organizer can be considered a productive learning activity because the learner must engage in an activity that is related to the instructional objective selecting relevant ideas from the text and organizing them in a coherent structure. Activity theory purports that learner generated graphic organizers do. However three experimental researches carried out by Stull and Mayer (2007) proved the opposite. Below is the full text of experiment 1. The summaries of the other two experiments along with the summary of experiment 1 are included in the appendix. Experiment 1 (Highest Complexity) The purpose of Experiment 1 was to test whether students better understand a scientific passage when they are asked to generate graphic organizers (following pretraining in how to generate hierarchies, lists, flowcharts, and matrices) in spaces in the margin or when the passage contains author-provided graphic organizers. In Experiment 1, participants read a 1,133-word passage about a topic in biology that was augmented by 27 author-provided graphic organizers (author-provided group), participants constructed their own graphic organizers from scratch (learner-generated group), or participants did not receive or construct graphic organizers (control group). Our primary focus is on comparing the author-provided group and the learner-generated group on measures of understanding. Method Participants and design. The participants were 156 college students recruited from the psychology participant pool at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The study was based on a between-subjects design, with three levels of graphic organizer use (author provided, learner generated, and control) as the single factor. Fifty-one students served in the author-provided group, 51 students served in the learner-generated group, and 54 students served in the control group. The mean age was 19.4 years (SD =1.5), the percentage of men was 29.5%, and the mean SAT score was 1184.5 (SD =161.4). Materials. The paper materials consisted of a participant questionnaire, two pretraining documents (author-provided and learner generated versions), three reading passages (i.e., author-provided, learner-generated, and control versions), six short-answer test sheets (one retention and five transfer questions), and eight sentence-completion (all retention questions) test sheets, each printed on an 8.5 x 11 in. (21.25 x 27.5 cm) sheet of paper. The participant questionnaire solicited basic demographic information, including the participants age, sex, and SAT scores. The full version of the pretraining document was developed for the author-provided and learner-generated group, and the control version of the pretraining document was developed for the control group. The full version of the pretraining document consisted of a two-page document printed on facing pages. The left page described and illustrated four types of graphic organizer (concept list, concept hierarchy, concept flowchart, and compare-and-contrast matrix). The right page contained a four-paragraph reading passage laid out in a two-column design. The left column contained the biology text, and the right column contained each of the four types of graphic organizer, horizontally aligned with the matching type description on the left page. The reading material was extracted from a popular college-level general biology textbook, then edited slightly to meet the desired page format as well as to remove external references, but without altering the book like style or the authors voice in the source material. The passage described three biologically important polysaccharide molecules-starch, glycogen, and cellulose. The control version of the pretraining document contained the identical biology text from the left column of the right page but not the left page describing and illustrating the graphic organizers or the integrated graphic organizers from the right column of th e right page. These modifications were made without alteration to the text layout, so the right column was empty. The control version of the reading passage consisted of six pages containing 1,133 words organized into 12 paragraphs, with three figures containing four black-and-white photographs. The three figures with four photographs were required to augment the written descriptions and to maintain the book like character of the material. The page layout matched the two-column design used in the pretraining document. The material was extracted from the same textbook used for the pretraining to maintain a consistent voice and character between the readings. The material described eight reproductive barriers between species (temporal, habitat, gametic, behavioral, mechanical, hybrid inviability, hybrid sterility, and hybrid breakdown) and was divided into two barrier groups (prezygotic and postzygotic). The author-provided version used the identical text, figures, and illustrations but included 27 graphic organizers, each placed in the margin near the corresponding text. One concept hierarchy graphic organizer augmented the introductory paragraph. Each of the eight reproductive barriers was described by a single paragraph and augmented with three graphic organizers (one hierarchy, one list, and one flowchart). A hierarchy graphic organizer and a matrix augmented the conclusion. The learner-generated version was identical to the author-provided version except that all graphic organizers were removed, which left space for learners to construct their own graphic organizers. The version used by the control group was identical to that used by the learner-generated group. Example pages of the three versions are shown in Figure 1. The six short-answer test sheets and the eight sentence -completion sheets each had a question printed at the top of the page, and at the bottom of each sheet were printed the following instructions: Please keep working until you are asked to stop. Do not go back to any previous questions. The eight sentence completion questions (eight retention questions) are presented at the top of the Appendix, and the six short-answer test questions (one retention and five transfer questions) are presented at the bottom of the Appendix. Procedure. Participants were tested in groups of 1 to 5 and randomly assigned to one of the three graphic organizer treatment groups. Each participant was seated in an individual cubicle. First, participants were asked to read and sign an informed consent form, followed by a participant questionnaire to be completed at their own rate. Then they were given oral instructions to carefully read the pretraining document (with control participants receiving the control version and all other participants receiving the full version). In the author-provided group, participants were instructed to compare the descriptions and illustrations of the four types of graphic organizer with the illustrated example on the facing page. In the learner-generated group, participants were instructed to compare the descriptions and illustrations of the four types of graphic organizers with the illustrated example but also told that they would be asked to construct their own graphic organizers. The training la sted approximately 5 min and was intended to familiarize learners with each of four types of graphic organizers-list, hierarchy, flowchart, and matrix-by providing definitions and examples. In the control group, participants were only asked to read the passage but were not provided with or informed about graphic organizers. Participants were asked to stop reading at the end of 5 min, which proved to be more than adequate for the task. Next, participants were given further oral instructions that described the reading assignment, which they could complete at their own pace. These instructions asked the participants to read the material carefully and to be aware that questions about the reading would follow. In the learner-generated group, participants were told that they could construct their own graphic organizers in the margins of the page as they read the material and were informed that this might help them understand the material. Participants in the author-provided group and the control group were not instructed to generate graphic organizers during reading and did not generate any graphic organizers. The time to complete the reading was recorded for each individual. When all participants were finished reading the material, the stack of six short-answer test sheets was passed out. Participants were given oral instructions to work only on the top sheet, to keep working until they were asked to stop, and not to turn to the next sheet until asked to do so. Participants were carefully monitored for compliance. At the end of 3 min, participants were asked to immediately stop working on the current question, turn that sheet face down onto a finished stack, and begin the next sheet. After the last short-answer question, participants were given oral instructions that described the sentence-completion questions, which followed the same procedure as the short-answer questions except that participants were given 1 min to answer each question. The short-answer and sent ence-completion questions were presented in the order listed in the Appendix. After the last sentence-completion question, all material was collected, and the participants were debriefed and excused. Results and Discussion Scoring. We computed the retention score for each participant by tallying the score for the first short-answer question (worth a maximum of 4 points) and the score for each of the eight sentence completion questions (worth a maximum of 16 points). On the short-answer retention question, participants received 1 point for mentioning each of four concepts: (a) prezygotic barrier with (b) before fertilization and (c) postzygotic barrier with (d) after fertilization. On each sentence-completion question (worth a maximum of 2 points each), the participant received 1 point for writing the correctly spelled term for the appropriate reproductive barrier and 1 point for the correct prefix for the barrier subgroup- prezygotic or postzygotic. The correct answers to the eight sentence-completion questions listed in the Appendix are (a) temporal and pre, (b) habitat and pre, (c) gametic and pre, (d) behavioral and pre, (e) mechanical and pre, (f) hybrid viability and post, (g) hybrid sterility and post, and (h) hybrid breakdown and post. Partial terms (e.g., hybrid or sterility instead of hybrid sterility), parallel concepts (e.g., time instead of temporal or geographic instead of habitat), and incorrect spellings (e.g., pro instead of pre) were not acceptable answers. Partial credit was awarded if participants provided only one of the two correct terms. Each participant could earn a maximum of 16 points on the eight sentence-completion questions and 4 points on the short-answer retention question, for a total possible of 20 points on the retention score. We computed the transfer score for each participant by tallying the individual scores on each of the five short-answer transfer questions-short-answer questions 2 through 6 are listed in the Appendix. We scored each question by counting the unique concepts presented in the reading that were used appropriately by the participant to address each question. Acceptable concepts included the 10 specific reproductive barrier concepts: (a) prezygotic, (b) postzygotic, (c) temporal, (d) habitat, (e) gametic, (f) behavioral,(g) mechanical, (h) hybrid inviability, (i) hybrid sterility, and (j)hybrid breakdown. In addition, two general concepts were also counted: (a) crossing organisms to test whether reproduction was possible or recognizing that two species might have crossed to form a hybrid, and (b) mentioning that reproductive barriers maybe relevant to the explanation. Participants were allowed to describe the concepts with partial terms and parallel concepts, and misspelled terms were not counted as wrong. One point was awarded for each of the 12 concepts, for a maximum of 12 points per question. A second person scored all material. The interrater reliability measure was significantly correlated between these two scores (r =.826, p < .001). Discrepancies in the scores between these two scorers were individually evaluated in a blind, third review, which was used to determine the final score. Data analysis. Data were analyzed with one-way analyses of variance comparing the performance of the three treatment groups on each of the dependent measures-transfer score, retention score, and study time. Our major focus was on comparing the author-provided and learner-generated groups, so for each dependent measure we conducted planned contrasts on the mean scores of these groups and computed the corresponding effect size on the basis of Cohens d (Cohen, 1988).2 Table 2 lists the mean and standard deviation of each of the three treatment groups on each of the three dependent measures. Do readers who generate their own graphic organizers while reading a scientific passage learn better than readers who are given author-provided graphic organizers? The top left portion of Table 2 summarizes the mean transfer scores of the three groups in Experiment 1. There was not a significant effect of treatment on transfer scores, F(2, 153) = 1.32, MSE = 10.15, and the author- provided group did not differ significantly from the learner -generated group, t(153) = 1.30, d = 0.24. There is no evidence that constructing graphic organizers or even studying author- provided graphic organizers results in deeper learning. The top middle portion of Table 2 summarizes the mean retention scores of the three groups in Experiment 1. There was not a significant effect of treatment on retention scores, F(2, 153) = 0.210, MSE = 21.38, and the author-provided group did not differ significantly from the learner-generated group, t(153) =0.56, d = 0.11. There is no evidence that constructing graphic organizers or even studying author-provided graphic organizers results in better memory for the presented material. The top right portion of Table 2 summarizes the mean study times of the three groups in Experiment 1. There was a significant difference among the groups in mean study time, F(2, 153) = 82.86, MSE = 9.99, p < .001, and the author-provided group required significantly less study time than did the learner- generated group, t(153) =8.97, p < .001, d = 1.51. Although constructing graphic organizers did not result in better retention or transfer performance, it did require considerably more study time. Although the main focus of this research was on comparing the test performance of the author-provided and learner-generated groups, the types and number of graphic organizers produced by the learner-generated group were also examined. The author-provided group received 27 graphic organizers containing 506 words, whereas the learner-generate group produced a mean of 5.1 graphic organizers containing a mean of 84.2 words. The mean number of graphic organizers produced fell from 2.0 on page 1 to 0.5 on page 5; the mean number of words produced fell from 34.8 on page 1 to 10.0 on page 5. Although the number of graphic organizers produced in the learner-generated group was lower than that given to the author-provided group, all but 2 of the 51 participants in the learner-generated group attempted to construct graphic organizers. Exclusion of these 2 participants from the analysis did not alter the statistical results. These results are contrary to the prediction that graphic organizers facilitate learning. Furthermore, there is no evidence that generating graphic organizers resulted in better learning than simply viewing them on the page, although there is evidence that more study time was required when students generated their own graphic organizers. The open-ended nature of the learner-generated treatment might have been too demanding and confusing for the learners. Although a majority of participants in the learner-generated group attempted to construct graphic organizers, these graphic organizers varied greatly in form and quality. Participants might have been overwhelmed by the requirement to both select and implement appropriate graphic organizers, both of which might have contributed to extraneous cognitive load. For participants in the author-provided group, the margins of the pages were densely crowded with graphic organizers, which were potentially confusing to interpret as participants attempted to compare the concepts in the text with the appropriate graphic organizer. This might also have contributed to additional extraneous cognitive load. To address these issues, we reduced the complexity of the treatment in Experiments 2 and 3 by offering fewer graphic organizers to both groups and partially completed graphic organizer templates to the learner-generated group. Knowledge of how memory works is important to teachers and Cognitive Psychologists as they seek to discover ways and means to enhance learning. But it is possible that the brain can become so inundated with ideas that much of what comes to it simply decay. Bahrick, (1979) stated that much of what is learned in classrooms is lost soon after final examination. Higbee (1977) posited that people forget what they learned in school (usually within a short time after an examination). Never-Benjamin (1990) forwarded that if this is the case it is very serious. Neisser (1982) expressed that there is a difficulty in finding studies that support retention of academic instruction. But Nesser (1982) might not have been searching wide enough. In fact the literature that is available is replete with the suggestion that much work has been carried out. Wert, (19370 suggested that studies in the area of zoology, biology, and psychology, found retention from a few months to three years. It has also been put forward that (keller, 1968) personalized system of instruction and (Blooms, 1968)learning for mastery often include a measure of retention. Studies by (Gaskey and Gates, 1985; kulik, Kulik, and Bangert- Drowns, 1990) posited that students in all conditions retained much of what was taught. Conway, Cohen, and Stanhope, (1991); Semb, Ellis, and Aranjo (1993) stated that although forgetting does occur, the amount loss is not as great as expected by popular belief. Farrs ( 1987) opinion is that the most important variable in long term memory retention is the degree of original learning. Evidence from laboratory studies shows that increasing the number of learning trials enhances retention. Research has also proven that retention often depends on the instructional strategy that is used. A comparison of studies by ( Austin and gilbert, 1973 ; Breland and Smith 1974, Cooper and Greiner, 1971; Corey and Mc Michael, 1974; Glasnapp et al. 1978, Lu, M., 1976; Lu, P. 1976; Schwartz, 1981; Semb et al., 1993; Sharples et al., 1976) advanced that course objectives, content , length, and tests were the same for all the groups in the stu dies. The only difference was the instructional delivery strategy and mastery criteria. All the studies show that mastery conditions produce superior academic performance at the end of the course. Mckenzie and White (1982) observed high levels of retention for students actively involved in learning. In their study three groups of students learned geographical facts and skills. One group was given a learning program which includes pictures, slides, worded examples, sample test items, indications of relevance of information to subsequent application, and transfer of verbal proportions to maps, diagrams and slides. The remaining two groups were given learning program and field excursion. Treatment groups were formed from eight and ninth grade classes from two different schools. The classes were not ability tracked, and class assignments to treatment groups were random. Students in the excursion classes were assigned to either a traditional excursion or a processing excursion. For the traditional excursion students were given an explanatory field guide designed to reinforce the learning program content. The teacher pointed out the geographic areas of interest, and the student veri fied the information by referring to the guide. Students did not do any recording neither di

Carl Sandburgs View of Language Essay -- Poem Poet Essays

Carl Sandburg's View of Language Carl Sandburg's poem Languages is a poem about how languages can change over time. On the surface level, it compares the evolution of language to the formation of a river. At the same time, however, it makes a statement on why languages are difficult to label and mark. The lines dividing languages blur very easily. Languages There are no handles upon a language Whereby men take hold of it And mark it with signs for its remembrance. It is a river, this language, Once in a thousand years Breaking a new course Changing its way to the ocean. It is mountain effluvia Moving to valleys And from nation to nation Crossing borders and mixing. Languages die like rivers. Words wrapped round your tongue today And broken to shape of thought Between your teeth and lips speaking Now and today Shall be faded hieroglyphics Ten thousand years from now. Sing-and singing-remember Your song dies and changes And is not here tomorrow Any more than the wind Blowing ten thousand years ago The first three lines of the poem talk about how man has no firm grip on language. It is clearly not a physical thing to be grasped, and it cannot be marked as such. There is an attachment between men and language, but it is not clear. This may be a statement on the many different languages humans speak. It may not be clear when a language has completely changed into something different, or when it is merely a different dialect. It is hard to tell where the boundaries are, which is why it is described as having no handles for men to take hold of and mark it with signs for its remembrance. These difficulties arise because exactly what makes a language is difficult to determine. Sometimes it can be... ...guage dies. In its entirety, this poem describes how a language can evolve or die, and how things said in this language can change or die with it. Boundaries between languages may not be clear. Like rivers they can travel close together, or merge completely. All languages, however, act as rivers. They start at a source and travel. They then travel, merge, or fade away. Upon closer examination, the poem also says why languages are difficult to label. The reason is that they change with time. The English language of today is not the same English language spoken hundreds of years ago. As all languages evolve similarly, this applies to all languages. Subtle changes in gestures, writing, or spoken language eventually add up. After a long enough period of time it is as though an entirely new language has formed, but kept the same name as the previous language.