Should Video Games Be Introduced into Schools Research Proposal

Should Video Games Be Introduced into Schools - Research Proposal Example The implementation of video games in the classroom provides an effective platform for teachers to assess the educational ability of students. Portal and Minecraft are some of the video games which can facilitate the cognitive learning achievement of students. The activity in the game Minecraft includes gathering, exploration, combat and crafting (Prensky, 2010). This provides an opportunity for players to virtually create anything. Portal is a puzzle-based videogame and its game style is more physics-based. The law of physics such as inertia and gravity is implemented by players to advance to the next level of Portal. The game is designed to inherent critical thinking and problem-solving. Both of the video games can be easily adapted to create different environments in the classroom. In high school, the Portal game can be utilized by teachers to teach physics. Minecraft game can be used to teach children. There are many video games that provide an opportunity for people to develop an entire city within the allocated money. Students get to know the basic comprehension of handling finances and managing budgets. The benefits of using video games in the learning process are not only regarded as advantageous to teach finance and strategy but also foster an interest in the branch of economics or business. Video games can be used by teachers to examine the characteristics of students. This includes individual differences, self-concept, goal-setting, and self-esteem. Moreover, video games can stimulate the learning process by allowing students to experience challenge, novelty, and curiosity (Willis, 2007). The application of games in the classroom can help to maintain and achieve the attention of an individual for a long period of time. This resembles the fact that it can benefit students by providing an element of interactivity. Children who have a development problem or are severely retarded can be benefited by the application of video games. A child suffering from this symptom is known as autism. The implementation of video games can help to develop cognitive and basic skills. Some of the basic skills include social, basic reading, language, and basic math skills. Video game enables to treat fear of confined heights and places. The use of video games can enhance the learning experien ce and makes easier for a teacher to provide feedback of every student to the parents.

Plato Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Plato - Essay Example In about his fortieth year Plato is said to have left Athens to study with Pythagoras at Crotona. Plato was perhaps the only Pythagorean whose work and teachings are known today. Traveling to Syracuse, Plato met Dionysius I and became friends with his brother ¬ in-law, Dion, who later became his follower (Jaspers, 1962). After leaving Italy Plato traveled to Egypt, Cyrene, Judea and to the banks of the Ganges. It was said that his mind became a treasure house of the world's wisdom (Thomas & Thomas, 1941). But it was Socrates to whom Plato remained devoted all his life. Plato returned to Athens in 386 to start his Academy, which he patterned after Pythagoras' school in Crotona. Here he immortalized the mental prowess of his master, Socrates, presenting Socratic ideas in the form of dialogues though the mouth of his teacher. He gave us a fair picture of Socrates but little of himself, so that it is hard to tell when Socrates leaves off and Plato takes over. When Plato was sixty (c. 368) Aristotle, then twenty, joined the Academy and continued as Plato's primary student for the next twenty years, until Plato's death in 347 BC. Personal Opinion Merely recalling the name of Plato brings instant and complete admiration in most educational circles. As Alfred North Whitehead put it, it seems that all of Western history is a series of footnotes to Plato. Plato took the liberty of giving his personal philosophy through the mouth of Socrates. The two seem inseparable. Socrates is known to us because Plato took the time to write down the story of his teacher. Everything we know of Socrates was written by Plato. There is no way to know where Socrates' thinking stops and Plato's begins. Body Influences on Plato Plato's early life and writings were very much influenced by Socrates. Plato's beginning works reflected Socrates' thinking, and perhaps ideas that came to him as Socrates was speaking, but which Socrates himself never uttered. As time passed the words of the teacher appeared to reflect the original thinking of the student. In time Socrates became a secondary character, then finally disappeared altogether in Laws (Jaspers, 196 2). Plato and Socrates are distinct in some aspects. They approached life in two utterly different ways. Socrates walked the streets of Athens verbally proclaiming his message while Plato lived in seclusion, away from the evils of society. Socrates was bound to Athens; Plato remained an Athenian but was on his way to becoming a cosmopolitan; he was capable of living and working outside of his native city. Socrates philosophized in the immediate present, Plato indirectly, through his works and the school he founded. Socrates remained in the market place, Plato withdrew to the Academy with a chosen few. Socrates did not write a line, Plato left a monumental work (Jaspers, 1962, p. 121). On their darker sides, the two philosophers shared an acceptance of homosexual attraction between adult males and their young male students that most would not agree with today. In his Symposium Plato creates an argument for homosexual love for boys. He suggests that some men are meant to pursue heaven ly love and some earthy love. Those who look to heaven are more attracted to boys than to women. Why? Because boys are mentally keener, more beautiful, thus closer to the realm of perfection. According to Plato, loving boys is a means of acquiring wisdom. But also necessary to the pursuit of perfection, according to Socrates and Plato, is the exercising of

Week 5 - Journal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 5 - Journal - Assignment Example is a portrayal of the failure of the national government since it shows failure in formulating appropriate laws and creation of appropriate agencies to curtailing the problem that threatens the social order in the country. Among the laws that govern immigration in the country are Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 (United States, 1978). The two have provided an effective system for legal immigrants but have failed in protecting the country against the problem of illegal immigrant. So far, the government has adopted the open but closed border policy in the management of the Mexico-US border. I believe the policy has the ability to enable cross border trade while containing the rising illegal immigrants menace. Prior to this week’s reading, I believed that the government was losing the fight against illegal immigrants. However, after studying some of the policies including the open but closed border policy, I now believe that while the problem is serious, the American government in collaboration with the neighboring governments is striving to seal off the borders thereby curtailing the problem (Krikorian, 2010). United States. (1978).  Illegal immigration and U.S.-Mexican border control: Analysis and recommendations : Critique of administration adjustment of status proposals. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print.

Kingdoms of Life Essay Example for Free

Kingdoms of Life Essay On our planet earth we have what are called kingdoms, 5 to be exact, consisting of a very diverse group of living things. Using these five kingdoms we classify our species and organize information on what we are and what resides with us. When we place every living creature into one of the five kingdoms it better helps us understand the world around us and its habitants. The five kingdoms include: Moneran, Protist, Fungi, Plantae, and the one we call home, Animalia. 1. Monera The simplest of all organisms is the bacteria of the Moneran kingdom. They are broken down into two types: Eubacteria and Archaebacteria. Eubacteria is known as the â€Å"true bacteria† which makes up the roughly 10,000 species in the Moneran group. Archaebacteria or ancient bacteria if you will, is the minority of the group and are only found in extreme environments including but not limiting; swamps, salt lakes, deep-ocean hydrothermal vent, etc. There are many types of species belonging to the Moneran kingdom that have yet to be discovered. Monerans are also the only group within the five kingdoms that are all prokaryotes. Prokaryotes are one-celled or colony of cells. 2. Protista In this kingdom we have multi cellular organisms (Protista) which are not a part of nor do they fit, the Animal, Plant, or Fungus Kingdom. In the beginning, protozoa were placed in a sub-kingdom of Animalia but because of the problems this classification had, it later became its own kingdom. All members of this phylum have what are known as nucleated cells and live in aquatic habitats (both freshwater and marine). According to Lynn Margulis, K.V. Schwartz and M. Dolan (1994), the cells of all Protoctista originally formed by bacterial symbioses or symbiogenesis. Members of this kingdom are not considered animals because they do not come from an embryo, they are not plants nor are they considered fungi because they do not develop from spores. 3. Fungi There are some members of the Kingdom Fungi that are associated with algal cells of the Kingdom Protista and/or prokaryotic cyanobacteria of the Kingdom Monera. Fungi plays a very critical role in natures continuous rebirth: Fungi actually recycle all dead organic matter turning it into useful nutrients. Fungi consits of species like: mushrooms, molds, mildews, stinkhorns, rusts, puffballs and many others. There are on estimate 100,000 known species today with hundreds of new species being discovered each year. 4. Plantae  With over 1.6 million species of living organisms on earth and new species discovered every single day, in particular; insects and nematodes residing in rsecluded tropical regions. However, with the present rate of destruction, a majority of the virgin tropical rain forest are headed straight for extinction, leaving millions of species undiscovered by the human race. It is the theory that approximately 99 percent of species that ever resided on earth were extinct long before the human ever set foot on this planet. Even with humans having such an incredible significance to the development of earth, technically they are considered to be newcomers on this marvelous planet. If all theories are correct, earth is aged at about 4.5 billion years old, meaning the ancient life forms (such as the cyanobacteria) appeared roughly 2-3 billion years ago. 5. Animalia There are nine phyla of this kingdom including the following: Porifera (poriferans), Cnidaria (cnidarians), Platyhelminthes (flatworms), Nematoda (roundworms), Annelida (annelids), Mollusca (molluscs), Arthropoda (arthropods), Echinodermata (echinoderms) and Chordata (chordates). Animals are considered to be part of this group because they are all multi-cellular organisms whose cells are connected by a plasma membrane and not by a cell wall of cellulose like the others. The differences between plants and animals led to the division of all life into what is known as (referenced above) Plantae and Animalia. In animals, the cells are organized into tissues and specialized tissue systems that permit them to move freely in search of food. They build energy by acquiring and ingesting their food, unlike plants, which use the system photosynthesis to benefit from the nutrients they need to survive. A well developed nervous system with sensory and motor nerves is what enables animals to receive environmental stimuli as well as a response to the environment around them. It was found that some were plant like while others (protozoa) resembled animals in that they obtain locomotion by means of flagella and that they actually digest food. The Animal Kingdom holds the most species of all of the kingdoms, ringing in a little over one million. Interesting fact, is that more than half of the animal species are insects. The result of 300,000 beetles plus the 800,000 different insect species a make up the largest order of insects (one fifth of all speciesusing a total of 1.5 million). It has been said that if the species between plants and animals on earth were lined up at random, every 5th species would be a beetle. Viruses Viruses are out of the Kingdom assortment completely and sometimes they are said even to belong to their own kingdom, the kingdom Virus. The small and less complex infectious agent is made of tiny macromolecular units composed of DNA or RNA covered by an outer protein coat. Virus do not contain membrane-bound organelles, ribosomes, a cytoplasm, or any other source of energy formation of their own. They do not have the self-maintenance metabolic reactions of living systems, they lack cellular respiration and gash exchanges. They are completely capable of reproducing but only at the expense of a host cell. They can and will only survive as minute macromolecular particles outside of their body. Plant viruses are transferred between each other by insects that feed on sap, such as aphids, while animal viruses can be carried by blood-sucking insects (mosquitos for instance). http://www.biology-questions-and-answers.com/life-kingdoms.html

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: Theory and Applications

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: Theory and Applications Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Assessment Introduction Definition of Cognitive behavioural Therapy The term Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) covers a number of techniques of spoken interactive therapy which are considered useful in helping people solve life problems such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and various addictive problems. (Beck A T 2005) Basic theoretical principles Cognitive behavioural therapy has arisen as a hybrid therapy combining the elements of cognitive therapy, which was originally conceived and developed to assist in changing dysfunctional beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, and expectations, and behavioural therapy (which is referred to as behaviourism) which was originally developed to change how people acted in response to various stimuli. Influential authorities such as Beck suggested that how one thinks about a situation determines how one acts and our actions determine how one thinks and feels. (Beck A T et al. 1979). This therapy endeavours to change elements of thinking (cognition) and behaviour together in order to achieve its beneficial effect on feelings. The therapy is based on an assumption that feelings and behaviour patterns such as anxiety and avoidance behaviours are related to the development of maladaptive beliefs and their related thought processes in an individual. Therapy is based on a series of collaborative interactions between the patient and the therapist in conjunction with specific cognitive and behavioural techniques such as Socratic dialogue, monitoring of beliefs, activity monitoring and scheduling, analysing advantages and disadvantages of avoidance, graded exposure assignments, behavioural experiments and role-play. The exact form of the therapy will depend on the presentation of the patient and the professional expertise of the therapist. (Hobbis I C A et al. 2005) Brief overview of the evidence base to support CBT There are two basic issues here. In order to define the evidence base for Cognitive behavioural therapy, one has to define the condition for which it is said to be efficacious. In the context of this essay, one can specifically consider Cognitive behavioural therapy in the area of anxiety treatment. A good place to start is the study by Stanley (Stanley M A et al. 2003). This was a small retrospective study which Cognitive behavioural therapy was contrasted with â€Å"usual care† and demonstrated a clear statistically significant advantage in the Cognitive behavioural therapy group on a broad battery of anxiety measurement tools. This correlates well with other findings from larger studies (viz Wetherell J L et al. 2005) and the meta analysis by Pinquart (Pinquart M et al. 2007) Principles and practices of CBT assessment Role and purpose of CBT assessment process related to relevant theory described previously. Describe the different stages of CBT assessment process. There are a number of different assessment models. For an illustrative example one can use the Williams Garland model (Williams C et al. 2002). This model uses five discrete areas of assessment which are described as:- Area 1: Situation, relationships and practical problems For example, Debts, housing or other difficulties. Patients may have problems in relationships with family, friends, colleagues, etc. Life events such as deaths, redundancy, divorce, court appearances may all be relevant. Area 2: Altered thinking An exploration of the typical characteristics of dysfunctional thinking that are commonly found in anxiety and depressive states, for example patients may display an ability to overlook their strengths and become very self-critical. Patients will often unhelpfully dwell on past, current or future problems; they put a negative slant on things, using a negative mental filter that focuses only on their difficulties and failures. They can catastrophise events and will typically mind-read and second-guess that others think badly of them, rarely checking whether this is true. (after Whitfield G et al. 2003) Area 3: Altered emotions There are a number of altered emotional states commonly found in anxiety states which can include feelings of anxiety, stress, worry, fear, panic and being ‘hassled’. Guilt, anger and irritability are common as are shame and embarrassment. Area 4: Altered physical symptoms There is a wide variety of symptoms commonly found in anxiety related conditions and these can include restlessness and an inability to relax, feeling of tension, shakiness or unsteadiness when standing, insomnia, palpitations and feelings of depersonalisation. Area 5: Altered behaviour In anxiety states one of the commonest symptoms is avoidance behaviour which can usually be elicited by asking the question ‘What things have you stopped doing since you started feeling anxious?’ Define and describe role and purpose of formulation in CBT assessment There are two major reasons for this type of assessment. Firstly it serves as a guide for the practitioner to determine the impact of the anxiety (or depression) on the patient’s overall subjective experience and thereby define goals and targets. Secondly it is helpful for the patient. The Five areas assessment model is easily grasped and understood by patients and thereby allows for an understanding of the effects that their anxiety state has on them. Often the act of writing down their symptoms under the headings allows for a degree of emotional distance which allows a patient the ability to examine their symptoms more objectively. Discuss the role and purpose of measurement in CBT model including psychometric and ideographic measures and problem and target statements Include relevant references and appendices (e.g. examples of measures) The academic determination of the evidence base for Cognitive behavioural therapy is ultimately based on studies that have measured the degree of response to the intervention. To this end there are a number of tools available for measurement. A comparatively new tool that has been described in the literature is the Questionnaire on Control Expectancies in Psychotherapy, (Jennings S 2008) which quantifies the degree to which responsibility for change is shared between therapist and patient. Other older tools include the state trait anxiety inventory, the graphic anxiety scale, the hospital anxiety and depression scale, and the anxiety-defining characteristics tool (Chuldham C M et al. 2008) Engagement issues Engagement with the patient can be a complex matter. A brief overview of the literature on the subject suggests that studies that have shown a poor patient response to Cognitive behavioural therapy have identified one of the causes to be inadequate expectancies of the patient specifically regarding the responsibility and the mechanisms of therapeutic change. Responsibility can be assigned to the therapist rather than the patient. In this respect, assessing control beliefs specific to the context of the psychotheraputic approach and specifically linking them to the expected therapy outcome can help highlight this specific aspect. References Beck A T (2005) The Current State of Cognitive Therapy: A 40 Year Retrospective Arch Gen Psychiatry, September 1, 2005; 62 (9) : 953 959. Beck A T, Rush A J, Shaw B F, Emery G : (1979) Cognitive Therapy of Depression. New York, Guilford, 1979 Chuldham C M. Cunningham G, Hiscock M, Luscombe P (2008) Assessment of anxiety in hospital patients Journal of Advanced Nursing Vol 22 Issue 1 Pg 87 93 208 Hobbis I C A, Sutton S (2005) Are Techniques Used in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Applicable to Behaviour Change Interventions Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour? Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 10, No. 1, 7 18 (2005) Jennings S (2008) Perceived responsibility for change as an outcome predictor in Cognitive behavioural therapy. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, Volume 47, Number 3, September 2008 , pp. 281 293(13) Pinquart M, Duberstein P R (2007) Treatment of Anxiety Disorders in Older Adults: A Meta-analytic Comparison of Behavioral and Pharmacological Interventions. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry, August 1, 2007; 15 (8) : 639 651. Stanley M A, Hopko D R, Diefenbach G J, Bourland S L, Rodriguez H, Wagener P, (2003) Cognitive–Behavior Therapy for Late-Life Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Primary Care Preliminary Findings Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 11 : 92 96, February 2003 Wetherell J L, Gatz M, Craske M G : (2005) Treatment of generalized anxiety disorder in older adults. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol, June 1, 2005; 18 (2) : 72 82. Whitfield G, Williams C (2003) The evidence base for cognitive-behavioural therapy in depression: delivery in busy clinical settings. Advan. Psychiatr. Treat., January 1, 2003; 9 (1) : 21 30. Williams C, Garland A (2002) A cognitive–behavioural therapy assessment model for use in everyday clinical practice. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2002) 8 : 172 179 ################################################################ 26.08.2008 Word count 1,439 PDG

Transculturation Essay example -- Literature Poem Africa Essays

Transculturation A familiar lesson in elementary history might be that a conquered people will generally acculturate into the dominant culture of their conquerors. However, the process of how these two cultures interact is often not that simple. For example, the term transculturation was coined in the 1940s by sociologist Fernando Oritz to describe the process by which a conquered people choose and select what aspects of the dominant culture they will assume (Pratt 589). Unlike acculturation, transculturation recognizes the power of the subordinate culture to create its own version of the dominant culture. In an essay entitled, "The Arts of the Contact Zone," author Mary Louise Pratt argues that transculturation does not have to be confined to the social spaces where disparate cultures intersect; it can be extended to everyday situations, such as the classroom. However, though Pratt recognizes that transculturation can take place on a very personal level, she still fails to discuss the emotional natu re of transculturation. An analysis of Derek Walcott's poem, "A Far Cry from Africa," using scholar Homi Bhabha's concept of "mimicry" will give a deeper understanding of Pratt's vision of transculturation by redefining it as a process of personal struggle by which each individual in a subordinate group is moved to choose and select which aspects of the dominant culture he or she will assume. "A Far Cry From Africa" is the story of a man half African and half English, who is witnessing the death and destruction of his homeland resulting from the English colonization of South Africa. In his description he does not, however, favor one side over the other, but focuses rather on the injustices of both cultures. At the end of the po... ... Works Cited Bhabha, Homi. "From 'Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse' in the Location of Culture, pp. 85-92." Stanford Presidential Lectures and Symposia in the Humanities and Arts. 02 March 2000. 15 September 2000. <http:// prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/bhabha/biblio.html>. Bradley, Heather M. "Conflicting Loyalties in 'A Far Cry from Africa'". Literature of the Caribbean. The Scholarly Technology Group, Washington and Lee University. 1997. 15 September 2000. <http://landow.stg.brown.edu/post/caribbean/walcott/ bradley2.html>. Pratt, Mary Louise. "Arts of the Contact Zone". Ways of Reading. Ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. 5th ed. Boston: St. Martin's, 1999. 582-596. Walcott, Derek. "A Far Cry from Africa". Derek Walcott Collected Poems 1948-1984. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1986. 17-18.

Learning: Online Versus the Classroom Essay

Which would you prefer, learning online or sitting in a physical classroom? With the advent of technology the question of which is better has become difficult to answer. However continuing education has become much more accessible due to online classrooms. Focusing on the benefits and drawbacks between learning online and the traditional classroom will provide valuable information to make an informed decision. It is obvious that each method of learning has its own benefits and drawbacks. One example is the traditional classroom provides face to face instruction with immediate feedback, while online is less formal and individualistic. Web-based learning has a dynamic nature that allows for near instantaneous sharing and updating of information. (Thrasher, Coleman & Atkinson, 2012) The traditional classroom is a more static learning environment, only able to update information less frequently. Understanding online learning versus the traditional classroom requires some definition. The traditional classroom is defined as a physical setting at a college campus or other area that students gather to receive teaching and instruction. Typically this is a classroom with seating for students with an instructor giving a daily lesson. An online classroom is a virtual location of the designated school where students discuss topics in a forum. Individual lessons are studied and submitted to a designated location within the online environment. An instructor is assigned to provide feedback, guidance, and instruction in each lesson. The traditional classroom is still highly valued as a teaching method for the benefits it provides. Having and instructor on site provides an immediate interactive learning environment. Depending on the course, there is hands-on learning with lab work and experiments. There is also peer  review within the classroom and interactivity among the students. John Higgins of Accenture Learning cites a study from ITtraining consultancy stating that traditional training approaches are more popular today than in 2004. (â€Å"E-learning versus the,† 2007) Drawbacks to the traditional classroom include lag times in feedback on homework assignments. There are students who don’t participate in classroom activities due to shyness and do not fully benefit from the classroom environment. After class help is not available after a certain timeframe. The classroom setting is not designed for the working individual. As a full time employee, it is very difficult to schedule classroom activities into a full day of employment, family time, children’s activities, appointments, and other responsibilities. Online learning has many benefits, yet it is not for everyone. In the business perspective it is cost effective and easy to align with the business needs. It also includes reduced employee turn-over and a more highly motivated staff. (â€Å"E-learning versus the,† 2007) Online learning is designed for the working individual to schedule into a busy life. Since classes are online there is no specific time that students need to be in class. Students are able to attend classes on their own time, be it in the morning, after work, or even throughout the day. Class materials, sometimes, are provided electronically within the virtual classroom, eliminating the cost and weight of multiple books. For every benefit there is a drawback and online learning has its fair share. Online learning requires a high level discipline that not everyone is able to maintain. Distractions in the home abound ranging from children needing help with homework to cooking meals. Internet connectivity can be an issue when the internet goes down or during power loss. Online learning can also suffer from computer problems, viruses, data loss, even hardware failure. Everything in life has its benefits and drawbacks. It is up to each individual to determine personal needs and wants in life and how to best  achieve those goals. It is very important to research online learning and traditional classroom learning to determine which method best suits individual needs and goals. Which would you prefer, learning online or in the classroom? That is a question that only you can answer. References E-learning versus the classroom. (2007, March 12). IT Week, Hernandez-Julian, R. & Peters, C. (2012, April). Does the medium matter? online versus paper coursework. Southern Economic Journal, 78(4), 1333-1345. Thrasher, E., Coleman, P., & Atkinson, J. (2012). Web-based versus classroom-based instruction. Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, 7, 1-9.