You have the rights to their current 3 books, do you shoot each film Essay

You have the rights to their current 3 books, do you shoot each film individually or do you shoot all at once to make certain for continuity Discuss Strength a - Essay Example It is a well known fact that "time is money", and since time is saved in this method of filming the series or several of its movies together, it can be said that money is also saved. Furthermore, it is important to remember that in order to execute and commence the production and work on a movie, it is necessary to assemble the crew, and working on a few movies one after another avoids having to find new crew, or contacting the old movies crew to see if theyre available, or even around. Actors tend to be on the move, whether theyre beginners looking for a break, or famous celebrity actors who film movies all over the world, and may be out of the country, working on another movie. Hence, the availability of the crew and actors is very problematic, and can be avoided by filming several movies together. Moreover, filming a series saves some costs. Equipment, settings and backgrounds, as well as arrangements and payments for locations can all be used for more than one movie, especially if its a trilogy or some other sequel series, which presents a continuing plot. These can reach great amounts of money, and using them for all the movies and all at once would result in a substantial reduction in costs, meaning more profits and fewer expenses. First and foremost, it isnt known in advance whether the movie will succeed or fail. Investing resources in each movie can reach millions of dollars and more, therefore investing in a few movies means risking dozens or hundreds of millions of dollars, and if done, there is no guarantee of success. Should the series fail at the box office, the huge amounts of money poured on producing and executing the film will all be lost. Some claim that if the movie, transformed from a book or a series on television, already has a large fan base, the potential of fans going to watch the movie is greater than the risk of losing the money

Performance Evaluation Essay Example for Free

Performance Evaluation Essay There are forces of the government of the United States of America that give the protection and assurance that the said country will be safe and sound despite the opponents or the countries that try to oppose it. There are air forces, military on land and something that we call the United States Marines whom are assigned to take charge of the transactions and dealings with the bodies of water under the premises of America. There might be some circumstance that we have no grasp in evaluating the performances of the officials under this sector since they are a bit far from the media. However for this case, we might wish to evaluate their performance, whether they deserve the positions they are into, or they are just wasting the funds of the government of America. In what I assume to be a reasonable form of evaluation, there must be written and oral reports of the transactions of the marines. Since they are all trained, I think they have the capability of putting their actions and performances into words that will be understood by many. The reports will contain financial and development reports that happened during a month because it will be a burden for them if they will do it everyday. Another form of evaluating their performances is by checking on the stocks of the country whether the Marine forces contribute to the rise of the economy or not. This is a form of auditing aside from the reports they might be passing every month. One of their duties is ensuring peace and safety on seas, that is, if there are reported incidents of conflicts, maybe they are not doing their duties well. It might be a sign that if the rate of progress regarding tourists will rise, the marines perform their duties with the extent of their abilities. With that case, we can say that we can be proud of them because they are worthy of our trust and that they can be good models of discipline throughout the country. References About. com. Marine Corps Assignments Moving. 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008 from http://usmilitary. about. com/od/marineassign/Marine_Corps_Assignments_Movin g. htm Marines. A Heart-pumping Glimpse into the Marines’ World. 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008 from http://our. marines. com/cms_content/show/type/blog/id/517

Impact of Bisphenol A in Bottles on Children’s health

Impact of Bisphenol A in Bottles on Children’s health INTRODUCTION The history of Bisphenol-A is a long story, and the development of this substance has  gathered benefits and drawbacks. In fact, BPA brings several benefits for life’s people. It is  used in the production of epoxy resins and polycarbonate plastics. The polycarbonate plastics may be encountered in many products including dental equipment, eyewear, especially baby bottles, while epoxy resins are frequently used as inner liner of metal food and drink containers to prevent corrosion. However, historical development of Bisphenol A demonstrates that the drawbacks have a much negative impact than benefits. Bisphenol A was discovered in 1891 by Russian chemist Aleksandr Dianin. In the 1930s, scientists discovered that BPA is an artificial estrogen and it has been used widely over the world since 1950 (The Washington Post, â€Å"117 Years of BPA,† April 27, 2008). Recently, the number and diversity in the study of the effects of bisphenol A has grown significantly over the past few years. In 2009, Health Canada studies showed that the majority of canned soft drinks contain bisphenol A (Survey of Bisphenol A in Canned Drink Products,13 March2009). Moreover, in 2010, the University of Texas in USA showed that almost plastic packaging and canned milk usually contain high the percentage of BPA[Journalists Resource.org]. In addition, study in the US showed that consumption of soda, school lunches, and meals prepared outside the home make a significant contribution t o the increasing BPA in the urine [Lakind JS, Naiman DQ (2010)]. Therefore, the wide use of BPA in plastic fabrication and epoxy resins has a negative impact on health people, which interferes with the endocrine system in animals and humans and contribute to adversely affect children’s health. Furthermore, plastic containers, especially baby bottles, become more popular with consumers and retailers as they are cheap, functional and hygienic way to transport products. This leads to the fact that many children will be easily caught disease as well as influence the development of children. This essay will discuss about concentrations of BPA in urine which can cause danger for children ages from 6 to 17 as well as the impact of Bisphenol A in bottles on children, such as early puberty, obesity and lower IQ (Csaba Leranth, 2013), and the positive solutions to minimize problems such as a ban, use plastic bottles as less as possible. SITUATION The discovery of Bisphenol A in the 20 century was just an accident. Although Aleksandr Dianin, Russian chemist, discovered Biisphenol A in 1891, until the year 1900, Dr. Feldman made some important discoveries of this. In 1990, Dr. Feldman and his colleagues have carried out a research into estrogen, and they found out strange substance that looked like an estrogen. In 1992, strange substance was found in experimentation related to plastic flask and was not present in glass flask. Dr. Feldman identified this substance as Bisphenol A. According to International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Nomenclature (IUPAC), Bisphenol A (BPA) or 4,4-dihydroxy-2,2-diphenylpropane is a carbon-based synthetic compound with the chemical formula C15H16O2 and molecular weight 228.28634 g/mol (Bisphenol A, 2005). This substance was used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastic, which typically present in bottles. Furthermore Dr. Feldman said that Bisphenol A is a major health risk. Nevertheless, the negative effect of Bisphenol A that Dr. Feldman research do not help inhibit the increasing manufacture of bottles, which contain high-level BPA, and the provided pie chart below illustrates the figure for baby bottles purchase worldwide. Sources: Icon Group â€Å"The 2009-2014 World Outlook for Baby Bottles†- Philip M. Parker, PhD/SGD At first glance, the manufacture of bottles in North America experienced the highest portion while Indian gained the least attention in this field. It is noticeable that 24 was the percentage that mass-produce bottles in North America, compared to 22% of Europe and 14% of Russia, Africa and Middle East. However India and Latin America just put the modest manufacture of bottles, which was 5% and 8% respectively. In 2008, there were 22 billion food cans and 100 billion cans for soft drinks, which were produced with BPA. (Hemi Weingarten, 2009). With the innumerable bottles produced each year, people, and children in particularly, are easily expose to Bisphenol a contained in bottles. The number of children whose exposure to BPA had increased significantly since BPA was used widely from 1950. Furthermore, Karin B. Michels, associate professor of epidemiology at HSPH and Harvard Medical School said that drinking water from polycarbonate bottles in just one week went up urinary BPA levels more than two third, and if people heat those bottles, the levels would be higher (Karin B, 2015). The line graph below demonstrates the concentrations in urine samples in children. (Source: http://www.epa.gov/ace/biomonitoring/bpa.html) To find out whether or not children expose to Bisphenol A, many scientists research in urine samples from all age groups, including children and adults. This data which show concentrations in urine samples are obtained from individual survey participants conducted by National Center for Health Statistics and National Center for Environmental Health, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The figure for the Median and 95th percentile concentrations in urine decreased significantly. Between 2003 and 2004, the number of the median concentration of BPA in urine of children ages 6 to 17 years is 4  µg/L in comparison with 16  µg/L of 95th percentile concentration in urine. It is noticeable that the figure for 95th percentile concentrations in urine reached a peak at 17  µg/L in 2005-2006 while 2009 was the year that the Median experience the lowest percentage, about 2  µg/L. These changes are extremely important in reducing the rate children whose exposure to Bisphenol A. PROBLEMS Although the current trend in using Bisphebol A had declined significantly, BPA pose risk to human health. Bishenol A was researched in several scientific reports of the independent research group over the world. According to a scenario analysis of 12 experts in the National Toxicology Program NTP, BPA makes the reproductive system and the brain of newborn animals develop abnormally. A small dose of BPA can cause negative effects on young children. Some studies even suggest that young children are easily affected by Bisphenol A because the young body is still developing. Therefore, the immune system cannot protect and remove the dangerous chemical, especially Bisphenol A. Generally, although eating too much or lack of exercise are the important factors that lead to obese in teenager, said Dr. De-Kun Li, Bisphenol A might also contribute to the increasing in the obesity rate. Li and his colleagues studied 1326 children aging from 9 to 12, and measured BPA levels in their urine. (Corvese, 2013). The girls who have higher BPA levels were associated with the double risk of obesity. Researchers explained that Bisphenol A is referred to as endocrine disrupting chemicals, which interfere with elimination of natural hormones in the body. These natural hormones are responsible for reproductive development, fertility and maintenance of homeostasis. Therefore, when the concentration of BPA are high in girl, Bisphenol A which acts like estrogen make a significant contribution to the early puberty and cause weight gain. With the weakened immune system and the consequences of obesity caused by Bisphenol A, young people are more likely suffer diseases such as: high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes (Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM, 2011). People who become obese as early as age are more likely suffer cancer in adults including cancer of the breast, colon, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder, and prostate. (A Cancer Journal for Clinicians2006). In 2010, a report from The President’s cancer Panel identified more than 130 studies that have linked BPA to obesity, breast cancer and other disorder problems (World-wire.com, 2010). Besides, there are many serious consequences of BPA that are proved by many scientists, such as: brain and behavior problems, heart problems and low IQ (Empen, 2013). If these diseases are not treated effectively, they have a negative impact on the development of children in the future. Therefore, eliminating Bisphenol A from the body can help young children h ave an excellent health without affecting by prevalence diseases in modern life SOLUTIONS Recognizing the harmful effects of Bisphenol A and considering it as a national issue, scientists and governments take this problem in serious concern. From a scientific perspective, developing alternative to Bisphenol A is a major breakthrough in eliminating BPA from the body as well as in cancer research. Furthermore, under the pressure of people who worry about the BPA’s adverse affect on human health, researchers over the world put more effort in finding the substitute for Bisphenol A. In fact, many manufactures in United States show that it is possible to replace BPA not only in baby bottles, but also in food cans and drinking bottles. They developed a chemical which originate in sugar, and this substance allow us to create a family of isosorbide-based epoxy resins that is capable of standing in for Bisphenol A, said Professor Michael Jaffe (Harrington, 2010). Besides, there are many possible substitutes to bottles and containers containing BPA, such as stainless steel, Tritan Copolyester, Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polyamide , Polyethersulfone (PES) and oleoresin [Oregon Environmental Council, 2013; Det Økologiske Rà ¥d, 2013], all of which are environmentally friendly alternatives. In 2008, Nalgene said that they produce baby bottles with these substitutes, and it is obvious that these materials do not contain Bisphenol A. Apart from practical concerns mentioned above, it would be unfair without considering the contributing factor of government in wiping off Bisphenol A from baby bottles. Canada becomes the first government in the world to carry out the negative effects of Bisphenol A. In October 2010, they imposed limitations on using bottles which contain BPA. Apparently, these ban helped decrease the rate of using bottles. Not only does Canada’s government ban using Bisphenol A, but also other countries legislate on the reduction of baby bottles. Washington is a good illustration for campaigning to act against BPA. â€Å"Bans BPA from children’s food and beverage containers (other than metal cans) and all reusable water bottles.(Adopted in 2010)† according to Washington State Legislature. Besides, governments force manufactures to label each baby bottles with the contents and statistics of Bisphenol A. Hence government can manage the concentration of BPA in bottles. In addition, thanks to attaching label, individual can easily check the bottles whether or not contain BPA. If the products say â€Å"phthalate free† or â€Å"BPA-free†, consumers can purchase these products without worrying the harmful effect of Bisphenol A (Niehs.nih.gov, 2015). EVALUATION As we know, nothing interesting is ever completely one-sided, these solutions that wipe Bisphenol A of baby bottles also have the pros and cons. It seems to me that the potential consequences of rules and regulations are significant than the possible dangers. On the one hand, imposing constraints have a negative effect on the quality of products. Bisphenol A is a suitable chemical for hardening polycarbonate plastics. If government ban using Bisphenol A in baby bottles, the quality of these bottles will degrade. Furthermore, the substitute is not as good as Bisphenol A. For instance, acrylics, which stand in for Bisphenol A, are used in producing bottles. However, this substance is more brittle than Bisphenol A, and it is obvious that the bottles are easily broken. On the other hand, I would argue that these drawbacks are outweighed by the benefits. Removing Bisphenol A will be of benefit to economy. In 2008, there were 12,404 cases of childhood obesity and 33,863 cases of coronary heart diseases that associated with Bisphenol A. By eliminating this substance from the body, we can reduce child health care expenditure, which was about $2.98billion. Specifically, the cost of BPA- attributable childhood obesity and coronary heart were approximately 1.5 billion and 935 million respectively (Trasande, 2014). . Furthermore, if we use the substitute for Bisphenol A, it costs a fortune. Some report suggest that oleoresin, which stand in for Bisphenol A, can cost 2.2 cent more than BPA in the lining of aluminum cans. With 100 billion these cans produced each year, the cost of substitute for BPA would be 2.2 billions [LaytonL, 2010]. CONCLUSION The development of Bisphenol A has gathered advantages and disadvantages. Although BPA is the crucial factor in manufacturing baby bottles, it was inevitable that there would be impact of Bisphenol A in baby bottles on children health. The negative effects associate with prevalent diseases in modern life such as early puberty and obesity. Hence, governments and scientists take into action as soon as possible to preclude child health expenditures, which are closely related to large economic burden. In the future, it is necessary to test potential substitutes in order to prevent the use of replacement Bisphenol A that may lead the same or worse health consequences. REFERENCES Calafat A.M., Ye X., Wong L.Y., Reidy J.A., and Needham L.L., â€Å"Exposure of the U.S. Population to Bisphenol A and 4-tertiary-octylphenol: 2003-2004,† Environ Health Perspect, 2008 Jan;116(1):39-44 Bisphenol A. (2005). [online] Available at: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Bisphenol_A [Accessed 2 Apr. 2015]. Hc-sc.gc.ca, (2015). ARCHIVED Survey of Bisphenol A in Canned Drink Products [Health Canada, 2009]. [online] Available at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/packag-emball/bpa/bpa_survey-enquete-can-eng.php [Accessed 7 Apr. 2015]. Karin B, M. (2015). BPA, chemical used to make plastics, found to leach from polycarbonate drinking bottles Into humans | News | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. [online] Hsph.harvard.edu. Available at: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/bpa-chemical-plastics-leach-polycarbonate-drinking-bottles-humans/ [Accessed 11 Apr. 2015]. Corvese, G. (2013). BPA linked to obesity in young girls. [online] Thechart.blogs.cnn.com. Available at: http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/12/bpa-linked-to-obesity-in-young-girls/ [Accessed 11 Apr. 2015]. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012.Journal of the American Medical Association2014;311(8):806-814. Harrington, R. (2010). Sugar-derived epoxy lining could replace bisphenol A. [online] FoodProductionDaily.com. Available at: http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Packaging/Sugar-derived-epoxy-lining-could-replace-bisphenol-A [Accessed 11 Apr. 2015]. Empen, K. (2013). The Facts About Bisphenol A, BPA. [online] Webmd.com. Available at: http://www.webmd.com/children/environmental-exposure-head2toe/bpa [Accessed 11 Apr. 2015]. Niehs.nih.gov, (2015). Bisphenol A (BPA). [online] Available at: https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/sya-bpa/ [Accessed 11 Apr. 2015]. Trasande, L. (2014). Further Limiting Bisphenol A In Food Uses Could Provide Health And Economic Benefits. Health Affairs, 33(2), pp.316-323. Fda.gov, (2010). Bisphenol A (BPA): Use in Food Contact Application. [online] Available at: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm064437.htm [Accessed 11 Apr. 2015]. Vom Saal et al., â€Å"Chapel Hill Bisphenol A Expert Panel Consensus Statement: Integration of Mechanisms, Effects in Animals and Potential to Impact Human Health at Current Levels of Exposure,† Reproductive Toxicology, 2008 August-September, pp. 131-138. 1 Title: Impact of Bisphenol A in Bottles on Children’s health

Teens And Smoking Essay -- essays research papers

Teens and Smoking Abstract Cigarette smoking is of interest to the National Institute on Drug Abuse both because of the public health problems associated with this form of substance abuse and because this behavior represents a prototypic dependence process. In the past few years the government has made every effort to reach the masses, in an attempt to curb the exploitation of tobbacco use, and its acceptance among Americas Youngsters. However, cigarette smoking among adolescents is on the rise. The premise that the behavior of adolescents is influenced by the behavior of their parents is central to many considerations of health and social behavior (Ausubel, Montemayor, & Svajiian, 1977; Bandura & Walters, 1963). Many young people between 10-18 years of age experiment with smoking, smoking is a personal choice, and usually exploratory in nature. Typically, it takes place in rather young people and is largely dependent on: first, the availability of opportunity to engage in the behavior, second, having a fairly high degree of curiosity about the effects of the behavior; third, in finding it a way of expressing either conformity to the behavior or others (such as parents, older siblings or peers), forth, as in "Miller and Dollar's" explanation of Observational Learning, The Copying behavior effect. This research is to examine the effects of parental smoking (behavior), has, on the decision of teens to smoke cigarettes. Due to prior studies using global measures that may or may not include South Eastern North Carolina. The Fayetteville/Fort Bragg area was chosen for this study to pinpoint the effects in this particular locale. Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base have a very diverse socieo-economic and culturally diverse population, which will have a positive effect on randomness of sample selection. With this association in mind, this researcher is interested in knowing if there is a relationship of Parental influence on Teen Smoking within this Military Community. Introduction The prevalence of cigarette smoking among young teenagers is a growing problem in the United States, many young people between the ages of 10-18 are experimenting with tobacco. During the 1040's and 50's smoking was popular and socially acceptable. Movie stars, sports heroes, and celebrities appeared in cigarette advertisements that ... ...ribution statistics will be used to identify significant differences between sub samples. References Bauman, K. E., Foshee, V. A., Linzer, M. A., Koch, G. G. (1990). Effect of parental smoking classification on the association between parental and adolescent smoking. Addictive-behaviors, 15,(5), 413-422. Horevitz, M. J., (1985). Disasters and psychological responses to stress. Psychiatric Annals, 15, 161-167. Hu, F. B. Flak, B. R., Hedeker, D. (1995). The inlfuence of friends and parental smoking on adolescent smoking behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, v4 (3), 215-225. Jessor, R. (1993). Successful adolescent development among high-risk settings, American Psychologist, 48, 117-126. Johnston, L., O'Malley, P., Bachman, J. (1988). Drug use among American high school students, College students and other young adults. National trends through 1991. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Research Monograph Series, (1979). Cigarette Smoking as a dependence Process. National Institute on Drug Abuse. 23

Pedagogical Techniques: Cognitive Disequilibrium an Goldilocks Principle

Cognitive Disequilibrium There will always be different kinds of intellects at classrooms. What are considered the worst students do not like to think through a problem or find out how a mechanism works, while some of the better students may understand the same concepts but do not think further about them once they are done learning what they had to learn. This is when the presence of a teacher asking them questions comes into play. A technique used to make students think further is called the cognitive disequilibrium. Cognitive disequilibrium is in charge of daring students to think of better ways why something works the way it does.The name itself points at imbalanced knowledge towards a certain topic. Let’s take for example a group of students leading an experiment where they are mostly sure of what the outcome will be. Their desire to find results that matches their theory will be biased, and if something in the experiment indicates their theory is not completely true ther e will be a moment of conflicting cognitions; this is what researchers call cognitive disequilibrium. Starting as early as the 1950’s, social psychologist Leon Festinger coined the term â€Å"cognitive dissonance† in his book When Prophecy Fails.At the same time, developmental psychologist Jean Piaget realized his work in cognitive developmental theory, including a close approach to cognitive dissonance. He conceptualized that as a child grows up, he will constantly be finding new information that will challenge the former beliefs he had, thus making an imbalance in cognition and making the child adapt to a new set of ideas (Colombo, 2002). This kind of conflict affects learning the same way it can affect the process of gathering information. Much like in research, theories can change drastically based on how big the changes are when finding new data.According to Chin and Brewer (1993) there are seven different forms of response to inconsistent information, the unpredi cted information that can possibly throw off one’s already learned knowledge: ignoring, rejecting, excluding, abeyance, reinterpreting, peripheral change, and theory change. Because of its ability to change theories and change our perception of beliefs, cognitive disequilibrium is not only a concept, but it also serves as a major pedagogical technique. In the context of educational psychology, cognitive disequilibrium can be used as a tool to defy students and their ideas.We can see instances where in class a teacher asks a student a question related to the material to see if the student is familiar with it, but that does not show understanding of the material. By asking more in-depth questions of why a student thinks he has the right answer or by asking about how he came about finding the answer we are solidifying a pathway that shows us why the answer is such. If there is not an exact pathway that could explain how one came to conclude that the answer is correct, there may be an error in between that could change the answer. In the case of our lecture class, Dr.Zola has made use of this technique in a couple of occasions to motivate students into thinking deeper about their answers to simple questions he makes. I remember at least one occasion where he asks a simple question about a student’s take on a subject, and when the student confidently answered, Dr. Zola asked follow-up questions that made the student rethink his response, and thus think better about his argument. Not only would he give follow-up questions, but introduce new ideas backed up by other researchers of prestige that could really change the way we think.The times he presents new information that unbalances our beliefs are just followed by very small pauses where we reconsider our ideas, until we have to discuss them with other students or we move ahead to new material. Every concept that we rethink due to new information presented should be given a good amount of time to brea k down what we know about the concept and build up a new conclusion in our minds. By giving us more time to think, we can further build up on the ideas on our mind and solidify the new concepts we are learning.Like I said before, we need to plan out a pathway that leads us to our concluding ideas or theories. Due to the fact that most of our work in lecture and discussion is based on partner or group talk; we need to be ready to give out our opinions on different matters with a solid argument. It is true that most of the concepts we learn about in lecture are somewhat familiar to us since we have dealt with them ourselves or we have seen people been affected by what researches have to say about cognitive development.However, it is always good to satisfy the need to learn more about different concepts by bringing up new information that will make us see the concept from a different angle. We need to be able to break down what we know about the concept, pick up the details that are st ill useful to us, get rid of the details that are no longer any useful, and accept the new details that will shape our concepts in different ways. Goldilocks Principle Another technique used by effective teachers deals with being able to assign tasks and assignments to students so that they fit their levels of skill or prior knowledge.The Goldilocks principle is appropriate for this, since it deals with finding the right level of difficulty materials that are given to students. Like Graesser mentioned it (2008), material that is too easy for the audience will be disregarded as it may seem repetitive from what the audience or students have learned before; if the material is too hard, students may find it too frustrating and will give up. This technique suggests that materials and assignments should not be too hard or too easy.At a right, constant level students will remain engaged with the material. This is related to what O’Donnell, Reeve, and Smith (2008) explained as Vygots ky’s â€Å"zone of proximal development† as the concept that tells us that a child should be taught at his own level of recent maturity. This means that a student shouldn’t be pushed to work the material as if he has already mastered it or been experienced with it, but that he should work the material as if he’s still practicing it. As Wolfe et al. 1998) demonstrated in their article a group of researchers from two different schools experiment how background knowledge can affect students’ ability to comprehend different materials given. In this experiment, students were given the task to learn about something of background knowledge to them; in this case, it was the functions if the human heart. Students were given the same material but in different reading levels. The researchers found out that little background knowledge on the topic made the students gain about as much knowledge as the students with major background knowledge did.In other words, students whose prior knowledge did not overlap enough with the contents of the text did not learn well but neither did students whose knowledge overlapped too much with the contents of the text. At the end of their research, they found out that â€Å"low-knowledge† students understood just as much as â€Å"high-knowledge† students when their material was customized for the highly coherent and detailed, just as when the material given to high-knowledge students was presented with coherent gaps that they had to fill in by themselves.This technique should be used in a classroom environment to reach for those students that are not fully engaged to the material given. In the classroom we could find different types of learners, but it is fair to say that under-challenged and over-challenged students make up most of the class. By finding a way to balance the material and presenting it in a way that is fully detailed for some and challenging for others the instructor will be able to have most, if not all of the class fully engaged. Based on what I have experienced in class, we can say that Dr. Zola has made good use of this technique. Dr.Zola is letting his students use their own background knowledge to fill in gaps in the knowledge of other students through discussion. By bringing up questions that almost everybody is familiar with, but that everybody has a different take on, the discussions amongst students can last for a good while, and students always end up learning from each other when sharing stories and background knowledge. After all, there are several ways to keep a variety of learners engaged in the classroom, as by having discussions to keep the class active, integrating other fields in the material, stimulating the senses of the audience, etc.These last mentioned only keep the class active, and hopefully everybody engaged, but as a teacher one must still work on filling those gaps that some students may have about the material being learned . References Colombo, J. (2002) Infant Attention Grows up: The Emergence of a Developmental CognitiveNeuroscience Perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science  , Vol. 11, No. 6 (Dec. , 2002), pp. 196-200. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/20182811 Wolfe, M. W. , Schreiner, M. E. , Rehder, B. , Lahman, D. , Folts, P. W. , Kintsch, W. , & Landaure, T. K. (1998).Learning From Text: Matching Readers and Text by Latent Semantic Analysis. Discourse Processes, 25(2/3), 309-336. Graesser (2008). 25 Learning Principles to Guide Pedagogy and the Design of Learning Environments. Life Long Learning at Work and at Home. Retrieved from http://psyc. memphis. edu/learning O’Donnell, A. , Reeve, J. , Smith, F. (2008) Educational Psychology: Reflection for Action. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Chinn, C. A. , & Brewer, W. F. (1993). The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: A theoretical Framework and implications for.. Review of Educational Research, 63(1) , 1. Pedagogical Techniques: Cognitive Disequilibrium an Goldilocks Principle Cognitive Disequilibrium There will always be different kinds of intellects at classrooms. What are considered the worst students do not like to think through a problem or find out how a mechanism works, while some of the better students may understand the same concepts but do not think further about them once they are done learning what they had to learn. This is when the presence of a teacher asking them questions comes into play. A technique used to make students think further is called the cognitive disequilibrium. Cognitive disequilibrium is in charge of daring students to think of better ways why something works the way it does.The name itself points at imbalanced knowledge towards a certain topic. Let’s take for example a group of students leading an experiment where they are mostly sure of what the outcome will be. Their desire to find results that matches their theory will be biased, and if something in the experiment indicates their theory is not completely true ther e will be a moment of conflicting cognitions; this is what researchers call cognitive disequilibrium. Starting as early as the 1950’s, social psychologist Leon Festinger coined the term â€Å"cognitive dissonance† in his book When Prophecy Fails.At the same time, developmental psychologist Jean Piaget realized his work in cognitive developmental theory, including a close approach to cognitive dissonance. He conceptualized that as a child grows up, he will constantly be finding new information that will challenge the former beliefs he had, thus making an imbalance in cognition and making the child adapt to a new set of ideas (Colombo, 2002). This kind of conflict affects learning the same way it can affect the process of gathering information. Much like in research, theories can change drastically based on how big the changes are when finding new data.According to Chin and Brewer (1993) there are seven different forms of response to inconsistent information, the unpredi cted information that can possibly throw off one’s already learned knowledge: ignoring, rejecting, excluding, abeyance, reinterpreting, peripheral change, and theory change. Because of its ability to change theories and change our perception of beliefs, cognitive disequilibrium is not only a concept, but it also serves as a major pedagogical technique. In the context of educational psychology, cognitive disequilibrium can be used as a tool to defy students and their ideas.We can see instances where in class a teacher asks a student a question related to the material to see if the student is familiar with it, but that does not show understanding of the material. By asking more in-depth questions of why a student thinks he has the right answer or by asking about how he came about finding the answer we are solidifying a pathway that shows us why the answer is such. If there is not an exact pathway that could explain how one came to conclude that the answer is correct, there may be an error in between that could change the answer. In the case of our lecture class, Dr.Zola has made use of this technique in a couple of occasions to motivate students into thinking deeper about their answers to simple questions he makes. I remember at least one occasion where he asks a simple question about a student’s take on a subject, and when the student confidently answered, Dr. Zola asked follow-up questions that made the student rethink his response, and thus think better about his argument. Not only would he give follow-up questions, but introduce new ideas backed up by other researchers of prestige that could really change the way we think.The times he presents new information that unbalances our beliefs are just followed by very small pauses where we reconsider our ideas, until we have to discuss them with other students or we move ahead to new material. Every concept that we rethink due to new information presented should be given a good amount of time to brea k down what we know about the concept and build up a new conclusion in our minds. By giving us more time to think, we can further build up on the ideas on our mind and solidify the new concepts we are learning.Like I said before, we need to plan out a pathway that leads us to our concluding ideas or theories. Due to the fact that most of our work in lecture and discussion is based on partner or group talk; we need to be ready to give out our opinions on different matters with a solid argument. It is true that most of the concepts we learn about in lecture are somewhat familiar to us since we have dealt with them ourselves or we have seen people been affected by what researches have to say about cognitive development.However, it is always good to satisfy the need to learn more about different concepts by bringing up new information that will make us see the concept from a different angle. We need to be able to break down what we know about the concept, pick up the details that are st ill useful to us, get rid of the details that are no longer any useful, and accept the new details that will shape our concepts in different ways. Goldilocks Principle Another technique used by effective teachers deals with being able to assign tasks and assignments to students so that they fit their levels of skill or prior knowledge.The Goldilocks principle is appropriate for this, since it deals with finding the right level of difficulty materials that are given to students. Like Graesser mentioned it (2008), material that is too easy for the audience will be disregarded as it may seem repetitive from what the audience or students have learned before; if the material is too hard, students may find it too frustrating and will give up. This technique suggests that materials and assignments should not be too hard or too easy.At a right, constant level students will remain engaged with the material. This is related to what O’Donnell, Reeve, and Smith (2008) explained as Vygots ky’s â€Å"zone of proximal development† as the concept that tells us that a child should be taught at his own level of recent maturity. This means that a student shouldn’t be pushed to work the material as if he has already mastered it or been experienced with it, but that he should work the material as if he’s still practicing it. As Wolfe et al. 1998) demonstrated in their article a group of researchers from two different schools experiment how background knowledge can affect students’ ability to comprehend different materials given. In this experiment, students were given the task to learn about something of background knowledge to them; in this case, it was the functions if the human heart. Students were given the same material but in different reading levels. The researchers found out that little background knowledge on the topic made the students gain about as much knowledge as the students with major background knowledge did.In other words, students whose prior knowledge did not overlap enough with the contents of the text did not learn well but neither did students whose knowledge overlapped too much with the contents of the text. At the end of their research, they found out that â€Å"low-knowledge† students understood just as much as â€Å"high-knowledge† students when their material was customized for the highly coherent and detailed, just as when the material given to high-knowledge students was presented with coherent gaps that they had to fill in by themselves.This technique should be used in a classroom environment to reach for those students that are not fully engaged to the material given. In the classroom we could find different types of learners, but it is fair to say that under-challenged and over-challenged students make up most of the class. By finding a way to balance the material and presenting it in a way that is fully detailed for some and challenging for others the instructor will be able to have most, if not all of the class fully engaged. Based on what I have experienced in class, we can say that Dr. Zola has made good use of this technique. Dr.Zola is letting his students use their own background knowledge to fill in gaps in the knowledge of other students through discussion. By bringing up questions that almost everybody is familiar with, but that everybody has a different take on, the discussions amongst students can last for a good while, and students always end up learning from each other when sharing stories and background knowledge. After all, there are several ways to keep a variety of learners engaged in the classroom, as by having discussions to keep the class active, integrating other fields in the material, stimulating the senses of the audience, etc.These last mentioned only keep the class active, and hopefully everybody engaged, but as a teacher one must still work on filling those gaps that some students may have about the material being learned . References Colombo, J. (2002) Infant Attention Grows up: The Emergence of a Developmental CognitiveNeuroscience Perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science  , Vol. 11, No. 6 (Dec. , 2002), pp. 196-200. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/20182811 Wolfe, M. W. , Schreiner, M. E. , Rehder, B. , Lahman, D. , Folts, P. W. , Kintsch, W. , & Landaure, T. K. (1998).Learning From Text: Matching Readers and Text by Latent Semantic Analysis. Discourse Processes, 25(2/3), 309-336. Graesser (2008). 25 Learning Principles to Guide Pedagogy and the Design of Learning Environments. Life Long Learning at Work and at Home. Retrieved from http://psyc. memphis. edu/learning O’Donnell, A. , Reeve, J. , Smith, F. (2008) Educational Psychology: Reflection for Action. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Chinn, C. A. , & Brewer, W. F. (1993). The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: A theoretical Framework and implications for.. Review of Educational Research, 63(1) , 1.

The Silver Linings Playbook Chapter 21

An Acceptable Form of Coping In the cloud room, I pick the black recliner because I am feeling a little depressed. For a few minutes I don't say anything. I am worried that Cliff will send me back to the bad place if I tell him the truth, but I feel so guilty sitting there – and then I'm talking at Cliff, spilling everything in a wild slur of sentences: the big Giants fan, the little Giants fan, my fistfight, the Eagles' loss to the Giants, my father smashing the television screen, his bringing me the sports pages but refusing to speak with me, my dream about Nikki wearing a Giants jersey, Tiffany saying â€Å"Fuck Nikki† but still wanting to run with me every day; and then Nikki teaching Sylvia Plath to defenseless teenagers, my ripping The Bell Jar in half, and Sylvia Plath sticking her head in an oven. â€Å"An oven?† I say. â€Å"Why would anyone stick their head in an oven?† The release is powerful, and I realize now that somewhere in the middle of my rant I had begun crying. When I finish speaking, I cover my face, because Cliff is my therapist, yes, but he is also a man and an Eagles fan and maybe a friend too. I start sobbing behind my hands. All is quiet in the cloud room for a few minutes, and then Cliff finally speaks, saying, â€Å"I hate Giants fans. So arrogant, always wanting to talk about L.T., who was nothing but a dirty rotten cokehead. Two Super Bowls, yes, but XXV and XXI were some time ago – more than fifteen years have passed. And we were there just two years ago, right? Even if we did lose.† I am surprised. I was sure Cliff was going to yell at me for hitting the Giants fan, that he would again threaten to send me back to the bad place, and his bringing up Lawrence Taylor seems so random that I lower my hands and see that Cliff is standing, although he is so small his head is not much higher than mine, even though I am sitting down. Also, I sort of think he just implied that the Eagles were in the Super Bowl two years ago, which would make me very upset because I have absolutely no memory of this, so I try to forget what Cliff said about our team being in the big game. â€Å"Don't you hate Giants fans?† he says to me. â€Å"Don't you just hate 'em? Come on now, tell the truth.† â€Å"Yeah, I do,† I say. â€Å"A lot. So do my brother and father.† â€Å"Why would this man wear a Giants jersey to an Eagles game?† â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"Did he not think he would be mocked?† I don't know what to say. â€Å"Every year I see these stupid Dallas and Giants and Redskins fans come into our house wearing their colors, and every year these same fans get manhandled by drunken Eagles fans. When will they learn?† I am too shocked to speak. Does this mean Cliff is a season-ticket holder? I wonder, but do not ask. â€Å"Not only were you defending your brother, but you were defending your team too! Right?† I realize that I am nodding. Cliff sits down. He pulls the lever, his footrest comes up, and I stare at the well-worn soles of his penny loafers. â€Å"When I am sitting in this chair, I am your therapist. When I am not in this chair, I am a fellow Eagles fan. Understand?† I nod. â€Å"Violence is not an acceptable solution. You did not have to hit that Giants fan.† I nod again. â€Å"I didn't want to hit him.† â€Å"But you did.† I look down at my hands. My fingers are all squirmy. â€Å"What alternatives did you have?† he says. â€Å"Alternatives?† â€Å"What else could you have done, besides hitting the Giants fan?† â€Å"I didn't have time to think. He was pushing me, and he threw my brother down – â€Å" â€Å"What if he had been Kenny G?† I close my eyes, hum a single note, and silently count to ten, blanking my mind. â€Å"Yes, the humming. Why not try that when you feel as though you are going to hit someone? Where did you learn that technique?† I'm a little mad at Cliff for bringing up Kenny G, which seems like a dirty trick, especially since he knows Mr. G is my biggest nemesis, but I remember that Cliff did not yell at me when I told him the truth, and I am thankful for that, so I say, â€Å"Nikki used to hum a single note whenever I offended her. She said she learned it in yoga class. And whenever she hummed, it would catch me off guard. I would get really freaked out, because it is strange to sit next to someone who is humming a single note with her eyes closed – and Nikki would keep humming that single note for such a long time. When she finally stopped, I would be grateful, and I also would be more aware of her displeasure and more receptive to her feelings, which is something I did not appreciate until recently.† â€Å"So that's why you hum every time someone brings up Kenny – â€Å" I close my eyes, hum a single note, and silently count to ten, blanking my mind. When I finish, Cliff says, â€Å"It allows you to express your displeasure in a unique way, disarming those around you. Very interesting tactic. Why not use this in other areas of your life? What if you had closed your eyes and hummed when the Giants fan pushed you?† I hadn't thought of that. â€Å"Do you think he would have continued to push you if you had closed your eyes and hummed?† Probably not, I think. The Giants fan would have thought I was crazy, which is exactly what I thought about Nikki when she first used the tactic on me. Cliff smiles and nods at me when he reads my face. We talk a little about Tiffany. He says it seems as though Tiffany has romantic feelings for me, and he claims she is most likely jealous of my love for Nikki, which I think is silly, especially since Tiffany never even talks to me and is always so aloof when we are together. Plus Tiffany is so beautiful, and I have not aged well at all. â€Å"She's just a weird woman,† I say in response. â€Å"Aren't they all?† Cliff replies, and we laugh some because women truly are hard to figure out sometimes. â€Å"What about my dream? Me seeing Nikki in a Giants jersey? What do you think that means?† â€Å"What do you think it means?† Cliff asks, and when I shrug, he changes the subject. Cliff says Sylvia Plath's work is very depressing to read, and that his own daughter had recently suffered through The Bell Jar because she is taking an American literature course at Eastern High School. â€Å"And you didn't complain to administration?† I asked. â€Å"About what?† â€Å"About your daughter being forced to read such depressing stories.† â€Å"No. Of course not. Why would I?† â€Å"Because the novel teaches kids to be pessimistic. No hope at the end, no silver lining. Teenagers should be taught that – â€Å" â€Å"Life is hard, Pat, and children have to be told how hard life can be.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"So they will be sympathetic to others. So they will understand that some people have it harder than they do and that a trip through this world can be a wildly different experience, depending on what chemicals are raging through one's mind.† I had not thought about this explanation, that reading books like The Bell Jar helped others understand what it was like to be Esther Greenwood. And I realize now that I have a lot of sympathy for Esther, and if she were a real person in my life, I would have tried to help her, only because I knew her thoughts well enough to understand she was not simply deranged, but suffering because her world had been so cruel to her and because she was depressed, due to the wild chemicals in her mind. â€Å"So you're not mad at me?† I ask when I see Cliff look at his watch, which signifies our session is almost over. â€Å"No. Not at all.† â€Å"Really?† I ask, because I know Cliff is probably going to write all my recent failures down in a file as soon as I leave. That he probably thinks he has failed as my therapist – at least for this week. Cliff stands, smiles at me, and then looks out the bay window at the sparrow washing in the stone birdbath. â€Å"Before you leave, Pat, I want to say something very important to you. This is a matter of life and death. Are you listening to me? Because I really want you to remember this. Okay?† I start to worry because Cliff sounds so serious, but I swallow, nod, and say, â€Å"Okay.† Cliff turns. Cliff faces me. His face looks grave, and for a second, I am very nervous. But then Cliff throws his hands up in the air and yells â€Å"Ahhhhhhhhh!† I laugh because Cliff has tricked me with his funny joke. I immediately stand, throw my hands up in the air, and yell â€Å"Ahhhhhhhhh!† â€Å"E!-A!-G!-L!-E!-S! EAGLES!† we chant in unison, throwing our arms and legs out in an effort to represent each letter with our bodies, and I have to say – as stupid as it may sound – chanting with Cliff makes me feel a whole lot better. And judging by the smile on his little brown face, he knows the value of what he is doing for me.