Dulce Et Decorum

Dulce et Decorum Est Wilfred Owen’s poem is settled in the battlefield of World War I. It features a group of soldiers who seem to be returning to camp after a long day at war. Some of these men had lost their boots and other articles of clothing. When all of a sudden gas shells drop near them and they all went to put on their gas masks in fear of dying from the gas. The narrator thought everyone had got their masks on, but then he still heard one of his friends yelling and screaming in agony. He watched a member of his crew die from these gas shells and he could do nothing about it.Then the narrator goes forward in time, sometime after he has returned from war, and he cannot get the image of his friend dying out of his head. He always thinks about that night and he even dreams about his comrade’s deaths. He also speaks of the people coming home that are desperate for glory as the return home from this war. Throughout this poem there are many things about it that allows the poem to be so successful. The word choice that Wilfred Owen chose to use in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est,† really set a mood and gave great imagery, which led for the success of the poem.The structure that Wilfred Owen used for â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† is another factor that helped the poem become very successful. These aspects of Dulce et Decorum Est really allow Wilfred Owen’s poem to be seen as a very successful poem. Wilfred Owen’s word choice throughout â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† set this poem up for success. Wilfred Owen’s superb description in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† allows the reader to get an image in their head that helps them understand the poem even more.Throughout â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est,† Wilfred Owen shocks the reader with his description of the events that are happening. For example, â€Å" Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge. † This puts the image of tired soldiers marching through some sort of nasty, muddy area after being out fighting in war. Also, his word choice is different from other poems because of the gruesome details he uses in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est. † This is different because a lot of poems do not use the detail he does to express this terrible war.For example, â€Å"And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime. Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. This is saying that the gas is a terrible death, like being set on fire, he does not get any air to your lungs, only gas, as if the soldier was drowning in water. Wilfred Owen’s word choice and description in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† are huge factors on why the poem is such a success. The structure that Wilfred Owen used for â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† push the poem in the right direction to become a success.The style Wilfred Owen wrote in for â€Å"D ulce et Decorum Est† is similar to the French ballade poetic form. By using a similar style like the French ballade poetic form and then breaking the conventions of pattern and rhyming, Owens makes the reader notice the deranged and disruptive events being told in the poem. Owen breaks the poem into two different parts, each consisting of fourteen lines. In the first part of the â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est†, Owens writes it in the present as all of the action of this event happens and him and his crew are reacting to the gas shells going off around them.In second par of the poem, Owens writes it in the future of the event that. The second part looks back to draw a lesson from what happened at the start. The two fourteen line parts of â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† again shows a formal poetic style, but it is a broken and unsettling version of this form. The structure Wilfred Owen chose gave this poem a different look at a formal poetic style and is what made this poe m successful. There are many things that can make a poem a great and successful poem.The many things that Wilfred Owen did with â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† to make the poem what it is today is really amazing. The word choice Owen’s used to show detail allowed readers to get an image of the horrible event that happen to the soldier and his crew. The broken structure of the French ballade form that Owen’s used with this poem set put it to the level of success the poem has reached. These things that Wilfred Owens did with this piece of work shows how to make a successful poem.

Is Business Ethics Important

Before we discuss the importance of ethics in business, it is very essential to examine a prominent theory when conducting business ethics and that is utilitarianism. This theory accounts for the concepts of duty or obligation, rights, and justice. It is routine that the utilitarianism theory is divided up into two groups. These two groups are that of teleological and deontological theory. The teleological approach deals with consequences. â€Å"It states that whether an action is right or wrong depends on the consequences of that action† (DeGeorge, 2010, P. 2) The deontological theory, in contrast to teleological theories such as utilitarianism, deny that consequences are relevant to determining what we should do. â€Å"Deontologists typically propose that we have a duty to perform certain acts not because of some benefit to ourselves or others, but because of the nature of these actions or the rules from which they follow† (Boatright, 2009, P. 31). According to the te xtbook, individuals who mix the teleological and deontological approaches might be called ethical pluralist.The aforementioned information is very necessary to understand how to answer the question of the importance of ethics in business. The ethical theory provides a baseline for what we expect the standards of ethics to be. It is very apparent that we has human beings would come to a cohesive agreement that business ethics is important. This is because we assume that it is better to be right than wrong, moral than immoral, good than bad or just than unjust. In reality this is not a very acceptable answer because it fails to go into detail why we think it is better.The only evidence proves being good is better than being bad is religion, the government, and our elders. It may seem that this response is an iota short of being loquacious; however, ethics in business can be so ambiguous you have to consider all the variables to understand how ethics are viewed in our culture. The comp lexities of ethics in business are something that even ancient scholars possessed a challenging time understanding how to couple ethics with society. Nevertheless, ethics in business is very important because the rimary goal should be to protect people and society. In my opinion ethics is very important in business especially when it relates to being ethically correct with customers and employees. Customers and employees position themselves as the foundation and framework of any company. Therefore, practicing ethical behavior with those two parties should be considered fundamental. The society in which we live money is the leading force for survival, security, and classism. In most cases this is the motive that drives unethical behavior.Personally, I believe that ethics is very important in business because it holds executives accountable for unethical behavior. Even if you are in business and you have no compassion for the employees employed by the company or the customers, the mer e fact that being unethical in business can sometimes jeopardize the welfare of the company. For example the beech-nut company who were accused of producing bogus apple juice, that in turn was nothing more that sugar water, suffered enormous scrutiny because of their deception to customers and they could not defend whether the apple juice was healthy for babies or not.The lack of ethics that were displayed in this case and the uncertainties regarding the health hazard prevented Beech-Nut from being a company with longevity. In conclusion, having strong ethics in business would be more conducive than detrimental to the company. Therefore, being ethical in business shows society that your company can be trusted and people would be more inclined to do business with your company. Discuss the problem of assigning monetary value to things. How could it be argued that it is? Appropriate to assign monetary value to things like friendship, love, and life?The problem of assigning monetary val ue to things derives from the cost-benefit analysis. The primary use for this method is to use monetary units to articulate the benefits as well as disadvantages of a project. The cost benefit analysis is typically used by economist to determine allocation of resources. The cost benefit analysis has been frowned upon on many different levels. This is because not all costs and benefits have an easily determined monetary value. This is the problem with assigning monetary value to things.This is because placing a dollar value on some goods reduces the perceived value. For example, there are plenty of diamonds that have a price value that exceeds that cost of a college education. Could it be a possibility that consumer’s value diamonds more than a college education? If so that would be preposterous. According to John R. Boatright, some goods that have been place with monetary value have been distorted by various factors, therefore, the price of these goods do not mirror their tru e value. Furthermore, assigning monetary value to things people deem impossible are not impossible.This is because we speak with our dollars. The experts in cost benefit analysis began to dodge the problems with assigning value to noneconomic goods by fostering a technique called shadow pricing. This technique showed experts that even though individuals felt it was inappropriate to come up with an arbitrary number to place value on noneconomic goods, they knew that people would pay for what they value. For example people pay for peace and quiet by means of vacations and suburban living, and people also require higher pay for more risky occupations.In reality, the problem with assigning monetary value to noneconomic goods has many complexities due individuality. Every individual believes and value things differently. It just so happen that some things we come together as a people and cohesively value things on the same level, and because of individuality some values standalone. In op position, it could be argued that it is appropriate to assign monetary value to things like friendship, love and life because some applications of cost benefit analysis require that a value be placed on things like a human life.This is so all of the variables can be in place when determining how much to spend on prenatal care to improve the rate of infant mortality, or reducing the amount of cancer causing emissions from factories to name a few. We even justify the appropriateness of assigning monetary value to love by adding prenuptials to our marital agreements. This exposes the expression that money is valued at a higher level than love. Moreover, friendship is also a noneconomic good that could have monetary value. If you had a friend that asked you for a dollar, more than likely you would allow your friend to have a dollar.However, if you friend asked for five hundred dollars, contingent upon your relationship with that friend five hundred dollars may supersede the way you valu e that friend. What is whistle-blowing? Why might it be considered ethically problematic? Why might it be considered morally justified? According to John Boatright the author of Ethics and the conduct of business six edition, whistle-blowing can be defined as the release of information by a member or former member of an organization that is evidence of illegal and /or immoral conduct in the organization or conduct in the organization that is not in the public interest.This is a very succinct point of view because there are multiple components of whistle-blowing. First, to understand clearly whistle-blowing can only be done by a member of the organization. That member is fully recognized as a whistle-blower once they have observed a crime, notifies the police, and then witnesses in court. In addition, whistle-blowing usually contains information that is nonpublic and the whistle-blower presumes that the nonpublic information that they have will captivate spectators. Furthermore, the evidence usually contains some form of misconduct and inappropriate behavior.Once the whistle-blower has the information, it must be released outside the proper channels of communication. For instance, most companies have a policy to inform upper management if u see suspicious activity to report to them and it will be confidential. Some companies have ombudsman for handling employee complaints. Recognize that whistle-blowing does not have to go public because there are internal whistle-blowers as well as external whistle-blowers. However, whether internal or external whistle-blowing it must be voluntary and it must be quality information that would evoke change.The purpose of whistle-blowing must be undertaken as a moral protest with a motive to correct something that is wrong and not to seek revenge or personal advancement. Whistle blowing could be considered ethically problematic because when you first approach the whistle-blowing concept it lucidly displays disloyalty. It illustr ates an employee employer relationship gone wrong. This would be comparable to a mother broadcasting negative information about a child of theirs. Employees are under obligation to not share information with individuals outside the company, unless protecting oneself or a third party person is involved.Also, whistle-blowing might be considered ethically problematic because as an employer when you extend someone the offer of working for and with your company, you expect them to always be in favor of the best of the company. Sometimes companies mess up and do not want every growing pain to be played out in the public. Whistle-blowing might be considered morally justified because people feel that the whistle-blower is holding the company to the standard that they bought into once they became a member of the organization. Whistle-blowers are also morally justified because they are ultimately protecting the public.They are shedding light on information that we as consumers would have neve r known that that behavior was be exhibited in that specific company. Whistle-blowing is also justifiable when the whistle-blower causing a disturbance that would save lives and protects humanity. Holistically, society will consider a whistle blower reasonable if the consumer felt they have been or would have been affected by the company’s unethical behavior. Is ethics relevant to the role as a manager? Discuss ethical management and the management of ethics. It is of high significance that people comprehend the importance of being ethical.Some argue that being ethical in business is no different than being ethical in private life. There has even be some rationality that all managers need just need to be ethical people and not have any specialized training skills or knowledge in the area of ethics. In my opinion, it is quite radical for people to assume that if you are typically an ethical person you would perform ethically in the role of management. Although we can be in agr eement that there is no separation between business ethics and personal ethics, we must realize that some business situations arise that are not easily addressed by ordinary ethical rules.Ethics is relevant to the role as a manager because sometimes management obligations conflict with personal morals or ethics. Case in point, a manager may be forced into the position of terminating an employee for the good of the company with no regard on the impact that will have on the employee lifestyle. A manager may also conclude that it morally wrong for terminating an employee for inadequate reasoning. However, if that termination is in the best interest of the company, then that termination needs to take place.This could go against personal ethical principles a person might obtain, but for the betterment of the company this is considered ethical behavior Furthermore, when a manager is committed to ethical behavior, they have a responsibility to different parties and must consider a wide ran ge of interest. For example, when a manager rejects the promotion of a friend who happens to be an employee or terminating n employee may be the proper channels to follow, however, all variables are to be considered. Moreover, it is reasonably difficult to understand a manager’s role and their relevance to ethics because we need specific management type.There are several different levels of management, top, middle and lower level management. However, top management are the managers that ethical behavior is expected from the most. This is because high level managers are expected to make ethical decisions about strategy and policies. Ethical management and the management of ethics have very distinctive differences. Ethical management is acting ethical as a manager by doing the right thing. Maintaining proper ethical behavior is conducive for individual success as well as corporate success.Because of ethical misconduct, it has ended promising careers and firms have been extremel y harmed furthermore destroyed by the behavior exhibited by a few individuals. There is an old saying that says â€Å"a few bad apples can spoil the bunch†, which can be translated into ethical management as a few bad mangers can destroy a company. These predicaments result from misconduct or even committing illegal activity. The management of ethics is acting effectively in situations that have an ethical aspect. These situations occur in both the internal and external environment of a business firm.Internally, organizations unite employees together through myriad rules, procedures, policies, and values that must be carefully managed. However, effective organizational functioning also depends on gaining the acceptance of the rules, policies, and other guides, and this acceptance requires a perception of fairness and commitment. In order to practice both ethical management and the management of ethics it is necessary for all managers to possess some specialized knowledge in r egards to ethics. Many ethical issues have a factual background that must be understood.In short, to make sound ethical decisions and to implement them in a corporate environment are skills that come with experience and training. Some managers make mistakes because they fail to see the ethical dimensions of a situation. Other managers are unable to give proper weight to competing ethical factors or to see other people’s perspectives. Thus a manager may settle a controversial question to his or her satisfaction, only to discover that others still disagree. Even the most ethical managers must rethink their own personal beliefs about how business should be conducted.

Creative Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Creative Leadership - Essay Example Secondly, communication and vision is very important. This guides the behavior o the members and allow them to make sense of the changes that the organization need. Finally, he also argued that empowerment of all members is very important in making changes more effective. The more involved people are in the process of change, the more effective the change will be and the more lasting it will be for the company (Coyle and Kossek, 2000). There are different forms of leadership that can be applied in implementing business goals and strategies. There are lots of valuable leadership forms, which many leaders could use. They represent the most effective and the least effective leadership strategy. To name them as most ineffective is not to say that they could not be use. These forms of leadership can be used however it must depend on the context. Leaders must find ways of diversifying their leadership styles to ensure that they are applied appropriately to certain situations. Leaders would need to balance authority and democracy in their leadership styles (Goleman, 2000). There is a need to have the sensitivity and emotional capacity to recognize what would be the most appropriate leadership strategy that is being called for by the situation. In many cases using just one strategy cannot generate effective results. One of the important components in leadership is also reco... According to many psychological studies, which aim to recognize the character behind some of the effective leaders in successful organizations, emotional intelligence is very important for many leaders (Goleman, 2000). This has been widely reviewed in many literatures. According to Goleman (2000) this emotional intelligence can be reflected on the ability of leaders to have the necessary social skills. This means that they must be able work well with their people under different circumstances to ensure that there are no barriers to communication. This would help the problem to be resolved immediately and for improvements of the programs be initiated efficiently. They must also have high levels of motivation, which would allow them to do things through initiative and exceed the expected results. They must be really flexible as well to the call of the times and the moment. Finally creative leaders should be able to know their limitations and admit that they cannot possibly do everythin g. B. F. Skinner is considered the Father of operant conditioning, and he maintains that "Operant conditioning is a type of learning where a given behavior is followed either by reinforcement (leading to the strengthening of that behavior), nothing (leading to the weakening of that behavior), or punishment (leading to aversion to that behavior)." (Learning Theory and Christian Leadership). Leaders must know how to deal with problems creatively. Part of the creative leadership is to signify new challenges for managers. There is a need to redistribute the power within the organization and make managers as influencers rather than controllers of subordinates. That

International Politics - advising John Deere on recent drought in Essay

International Politics - advising John Deere on recent drought in Brazil - Essay Example cy response to drought, the Brazilian government highly prioritizes the availability and distribution of clean drinking water to save the lives of the people living in affected communities more than the need to supply water for agricultural activities (Osava). As an end result, the profitability of the businesses related to agricultural products suffers most. A large number of agricultural farmers in Brazil purchase their agricultural equipments from the world’s biggest manufacturer of farming machineries known as Deere & Company. (John Deere) As part of Deere’s marketing strategy, the company extends a credit loan to as much as 17 countries worldwide including the medium- and large-scale agricultural businesses in Brazil (John Deere Credit). Since majority of the agricultural business in Brazil are seriously experiencing financial difficulty to pay their credit loan to John Deere Credit, several marketing and non-marketing strategy will be provided in order to prevent the negative financial impact of the phenomena in Brazil over the business performance of John Deere. Drought can exist in any country temporarily. Considering the demand for corn and soybean will always be present, it is highly expected that the business performance of agricultural companies in Brazil will normalize as soon as the period of drought ends. In times of a global natural phenomenon such as the existence of drought, it is advisable on the part of John Deere Credit management to extend the loan payment to affected agricultural companies in Brazil. This can be done by extending the number of payment years depending on the length of forecasted drought period and the time frame wherein the Brazilian farmers will be able to plant and harvest crops including a grace period of at least one year to allow these businesses to recover from the financial loss caused by the uncontrollable environmental factor. Considering the proposed strategy, John Deere Credit could maintain a good business

Economics slp module 02 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Economics slp module 02 - Essay Example As the trend for going â€Å"Green† is on the rise globally, the demand for organic foods which are environmentally friendly, healthier and more nutritious than other grown foods is also growing rapidly. The official figures say that organic markets are increasing by about 20% per annum as compared to 2% to 4% in the non organic market1. The supply of organic milk is very hard to cope at the moment. This is because dairy farms have to follow extremely careful practices on providing their cows with the right environment and not over-milk them. Organic means natural, this is why cows have to be treated in the most natural way possible. Wal-Mart therefore lay down strict guidelines for its organic milk producer Aurora, to meet. Being Wal-Mart, the whole procedure had to be big as well, so Aurora is currently using 3500 cows for its organic milk production. The cows are given a break when they are not lactating, which is about three to four months a year. Apart from this, the cows are also given a huge field to roam around in and graze in grass like they would naturally do. This 3500 figure might not look big enough for most dairy farms, but for organic milk production this is a huge number of cows to handle. This is why the company tripled its size of grazing fields since the start of production. Naturally, Wal-Mart has since encountered many criticisms from its competitors. The biggest is Whole Foods. This is the current biggest organic food supplier in the market. The market reputation of Wal-Mart has been slightly affected by these criticisms because when some competitor firms like Whole Foods and Organic Valley examined the procedures and facilities at the diary farm they dubbed them â€Å"unacceptable†. However, since then Wal-Mart has their dairy farms examined by independent inspectors and gotten a satisfactory result. This has made the market position of Wal-Mart a little stringer in the organic

The Punishment by Means of Death Sentence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Punishment by Means of Death Sentence - Essay Example Certain cultures and societies stand against it and others support it. In this paper we will be discussing that capital punishment is an ethical and moral way of punishing individuals who indulge in wrong doings. To support this view, the argument will be backed with the ethical theory of Utilitarianism and Kant’s Categorical Imperative. Discussion According to the Utilitarian perspective, actions should be considered as right or wrong on the basis of utility or benefits and costs those actions have to offer to the society (MacKinnon, 2009, p.38) . The view even suggests that those actions should be selected which have higher utility than cost for the society, as compared to any other actions that can be conducted. Death penalty, offers more benefits than costs to the society, therefore, it is considered as a morally and ethically correct action. The various benefits of death penalty include; death penalty is considered as a very harsh punishment, people fear death. This fear of death may stimulate other criminals from committing crimes in the future. Therefore, death sentence inflicts fear of death in criminals, and due to this fear, criminals might avoid committing future crimes. Another benefit of death penalty is that those criminals who are currently conducting crimes and will possibly commit future crimes will be removed from the society and the number of criminals currently existing in the system will decrease. Another advantage of the death sentence is the satisfaction that the society as well as the victim’s family receives from knowing that justice has been served, and the criminal has faced equal consequences and pain that the victim faced. Those who are not in the favor of death penalty argue that due to death penalty, those individuals have to experience death that might have not actually committed the crime and have been held responsible. Some contradictors of death penalty even state that there is no pure research stating that death penalty has really stopped criminals from committing crime and has stopped potential criminals from conducting future crimes. Contradictors argue that the level of suffering in case of death penalty is less than the suffering experienced in life imprisonment, thus life imprisonment should be considered as a better option than death penalty. Those who are not in the favor of death penalty even state that the monetary cost bared by the government for conducting a case of death penalty is higher than the cost of any other form of trial, thus the society ends up paying in the form of higher taxes. According to retributive justice, those individuals who have committed wrong, should pay the cost of their actions and should be held responsible (Hinman, 2009, p.245). Kant supports this view; Kant believes that equality and justice can only be served if a wrong doer is treated in accordance to his wrong doings. Kant supports the idea that an individual should be treated the same way he has treated others. This does not mean that a murderer should be murdered in the same way he has committed the murder. However, the murder should experience equal pain as the pain felt by the victim who was murdered. Secondly, Kant states that an individual should treat others in a particular way, if he/she is ready to accept the same treatment (Pojman, 2009, p.129).

Research and Analysis Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

And Analysis - Research Paper Example the whole government of the United States and more specifically federal government appeared confused and unprepared for this calamity and there emergency response was very minimal, what they did was not satisfactory at all. Federal Emergency Management Agency or (FEMA) were not able to response on time instead they delayed to set up an immediate operation center in New Orleans, in addition to that they seemed not having a concrete plan of action to work upon. Including the president of the day Mr George Bush appeared to be unaware on how bad the situation was on the ground or entire affected region, the number of people stranded or missing, the figure of homes destroyed or under floods and much aid was needed (Levitt & Whitaker, 2009). One reporter described the aftermath of the disaster as a â€Å"total disaster zone† and a place people are â€Å"getting absolutely desperate† daily. Overall emergency needed proper management at different levels and coordination. Many people had nowhere to call home any more while at Superdome where people had gathered the suppliers were running low day by day, the officials were so adamant but finally accepted about 15,000 more refugees running from the storm that following Monday after which they locked the doors. The so called City leaders were seen as status because they had no appropriate plan to follow while tens of thousands citizens were desperate looking for food, water, and at the same time shelter. This led them to Ernest N. Morial and Convention Center complex but what they found was chaos all over, in other words it was now impossible to depart from New Orleans to any other place, this increased desperateness especially the poor people who had no cars and had to go nowhere, for example some group of people attempted to walk over famous Crescent City Connector overpass to the close by town of Grema but it was in vain since the standby police officers carrying short guns stopped them and insisted for them to go

Management and Labour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management and Labour - Essay Example They can either make or break it. Thus, cooperation between the two, working as one unified body towards the goal of the organisation, is crucial, especially so that what brings profit to the organisation is no other than employee’s productivity. Yet, the source of strength of any organisation is also its weakest point because the required unity between management and labour is something elusive to achieve. Worse, it is oftentimes the source of hostility that usually brings the organisation down. As management represents the interest of the capital – gaining super-profit at the expense of exploiting labour – to achieve employee’s trust and full-cooperation for utmost productivity is a century-old challenge to management. This inherent contradiction between management and labour is seen as the usual reason why do employees restrict the level of their output. But as organisational relationships evolve in the course of time, giving more attention on human relations, and as technology displaces labour giving more leverage to management, problems of lessened employee productivity is no longer attributed to labour exploitation but to poor management. Labour is the most productive force of production because no else has the power to produce but the worker’s productivity. Even with the modernisation of technology, the crucial role of labour in capitalist production remains. Thus, ensuring worker’s high performance rate is key function of management, because anything that may cause reduction in the worker’s level of output is detrimental to the interest of the capitalist. But what makes employee restrict their output level –is it the management or the worker’s exploited working condition? To answer this question, it would be best to understand first man’s concept of work. What is work to man? What makes man work? What discourages man to work? Man works not simply to work

Financial implications of disaster management Case Study

Financial implications of disaster management - Case Study Example This paper discusses all the financial aspects of disaster management in the context of organizational settings. Donor Fatigue – with the global economy still in the doldrums and recovery mostly uncertain, major donor countries are now often reluctant to give bigger amounts although the said countries pledge much larger donations but come up short with the actual monies. Series of successive natural calamities had likewise depleted the financial resources of most donors and there is a feeling of fatigue among them, of constantly sending aid with little results. The governmental aid sent by developed countries are now often supplemented by private donors. Non-governmental organizations which are mostly private initiatives must now realize that a fountain of goodwill is not unlimited and must therefore spend their financial resources well. When the next disaster strikes, there might not be enough money for an adequate response. A consequence of donor fatigue is worsening of the situation and drop in funding due to apathy. Politics – humanitarian assistance is the usual international response whenever there is a natural calamity or a man-made disaster (such as regional conflicts and genocidal wars).

Executive Summaries Essay Example for Free

Executive Summaries Essay The executive summary is usually no longer than 10% of the original document. It can be anywhere from 1-10 pages long, depending on the reports length. Executive summaries are written literally for an executive who most likely DOES NOT have the time to read the original. †¢Executive summaries make a recommendation †¢Accuracy is essential because decisions will be made based on your summary by people who have not read the original †¢Executive summaries frequently summarize more than one document Types of Summaries Summaries written in order to recommend a specific course of action are executive summaries. Summaries that highlight the major points of a long piece are called abstracts. The purpose of an abstract is to allow readers to decide whether or not they want to read the longer text. View our Writing Guide about Abstracts Standard summary only refers to a summary of someone elses published work and is written for a variety of purposes. View our Writing Guide about Standard Summaries Processes for Writing an Executive Summary Executive summaries are typically written for longer reports. They should not be written until after your report is finished. Before writing your summary, try: †¢Summarizing the major sections of your report. You might even copy text from your report into the summary and then edit it down. †¢Talking aloud or even tape recording yourself summarizing sections of your report. Questions to Ask Yourself as You Write †¢What is your report about? †¢Why is it important? †¢What is included in the report? †¢What is included in each section? Concise Statement As a cover sheet to your document, an executive summary need not go into ANY mention of how you conducted your analysis and/or what youre basing your conclusion on. Instead, begin with a concise statement of the conclusion you reached after conducting your analysis and/or research is the paper that will be attached. For example, after a comparison of what other schools like CSU do about personal calls for faculty, you conclude that the CSU is charging for calls most other institutions do not. How you word the conclusion will differ depending on your audience and what they care most about. The following examples illustrate how the wording must change given an audiences needs. Example One Colorado State should discontinue the practice of charging faculty for personal calls. This is a good example if the people you work for are only interested in this issue. It begins with a summary of conclusions regarding only the CSU population. Example Two Because I have found that over 75% of comparable institutions do not charge for personal calls, I have concluded that our faculty is justified in objecting to this practice which should be seen as a perk for our faculty. This sentence provides unnecessary information about other institutions and/or why the faculty think they deserve to have these calls paid for. Your readers can get that information from the report. Further, the use of I is unnecessary since your readers already know who wrote the report. Writing Recommendations After beginning with a summary statement of your findings, the executive summary should go on to provide a specific recommendation for action geared toward your audience. For example, the report on charging for personal calls was requested by the presidents office, not the individual departments and colleges who actually determine policy. As a result, the recommendation for action is geared toward what the presidents office should do, not the other departments involved. To learn more about writing recommendations: After summarizing the entire article and/or research report(s), an executive  summary ends with a one or two line recommendation for action. Simple Formula Executive summaries frequently make use of transitional phrases to encapsulate the preceding information in the same sentence as the recommendation. The format can almost be envisioned as a formula: [transitional word] + [concise statement of information provided in summary], I recommend that [corporation, office, person in question] do [recommendations]. More Complex Recommendations In other cases, the recommendation might be complicated enough to justify a summary of causes for the recommendation. In this case, the recommendation paragraph usually begins with a summary of how the writer reached the recommendation. Example Susies Cookies began as a small business in Cleveland, Ohio which has expanded to include 45 stores throughout the Midwest. Plans have already been instituted to expand sales nationwide, using the same mall-concept marketing strategy which has proven successful in the Midwest. Despite these plans, Susies Cookies may be in danger of bankruptcy. Susies quadrupled its sales in the last two quarters, realizing a profit of $750,000 in the current year, an increase of $250,000 over the previous year, due to its increase in advertising. To realize equivalent sale figures nationwide, however, it is projected that advertising costs will increase by 200% for the first two years of the national expansions. Further, construction costs for the new stores are estimated to be 20 million dollars. The result of increased advertising and construction costs will put a substantial debt burden on Susies cookies, an estimated $750,00 to 1 million a year. Given that sales did not reach current levels in the Midwest until the 45 stores had been operating for five years, projected sales nationally will not cover expansion costs. As a result, Susies Cookies is likely to show a loss of almost $2 million for at least the next five years. Due to the high advertisement and development costs of national expansion. Susies Cookies may not be able to continue doing business in the future. Therefore, I recommend that Mrs. Fields does not participate in the hostile takeover  under consideration because the threat of competition will not be realized. Justification Finally, an executive summary provides an analysis and/or justification for the proposed action in terms the audience will consider important. In many cases, this might involve a monetary analysis as in the example to the right, but actions can be justified many ways, depending on the concerns of the audience and the topic of the report (e.g. for CSU these might include increase in student learning, better relationship with the community, etc.). justification for the recommendation by referring to information summarized. A recommendationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s justification is usually based on a reference to material already provided in the summary. In other cases, the justification for the recommendation might be complicated enough to justify a summary of causes for the justification. In this case, the recommendation paragraph usually begins with a summary of how the writer reached the conclusion that leads to the justification. Example Justification Based on the current number and length of long-distance personal calls by faculty, such a proposal would cost the university $150,000 annually. In comparison to the overall budget, this is a small amount, but one which might pay for itself in terms of faculty satisfaction and possible recruitment benefits. Example Susies Cookies began as a small business in Cleveland, Ohio which has expanded to include 45 stores throughout the Midwest. Plans have already been instituted to expand sales nationwide, using the same mall-concept marketing strategy which has proven successful in the Midwest. Despite these plans, Susies Cookies may be in danger of bankruptcy. Susies quadrupled its sales in the last two quarters, realizing a profit of $750,000 in the current year, an increase of $250,000 over the previous year, due to its increase in advertising. To realize equivalent sale figures nationwide, however, it is projected that advertising costs will increase by 200% for the first two years of the national expansions. Further, construction costs for the new stores are estimated to be 20 million dollars. The result of increased advertising and construction costs will put a substantial debt  burden on Susies cookies, an estimated $750,00 to 1 million a year. Given that sales did not reach current levels in the Midwest until the 45 stores had been operating for five years, projected sales nationally will not cover expansion costs. As a result, Susies Cookies is likely to show a loss of almost $2 million for at least the next five years. Due to the high advertisement and development costs of national expansion. Susies Cookies may not be able to continue doing business in the future. Therefore, I recommend that Mrs. Fields does not participate in the hostile takeover under consideration because the threat of competition will not be realized. Example Executive Summary The Mountain Resort charges below average rental rates. (concise statement of findings) The attached report recommends a 20% increase in price for the following equipment: 1. downhill skis, 2. telemark skis, 3. boots/shoes for downhill, telemark, and cross-country skis. (specific recommendation for action) Based on average rental business for 1992-1995, these increases would generate an annual rental profit for Mountainview of $750,000. This figure represents an overall gain of $150,000 over current rental profits.(justification for proposed action) Additional Resources Other Writing Guides are available to help you write executive summaries. Choose any of the following for more information: †¢Purpose †¢Audience †¢Organization

Why Science is Difficult to Learn

Why Science is Difficult to Learn Johnstone (1991) confirms that science was once easy to learn and teach. This was a time before modern scientific advancements when everything was clearly defined and separated into distinct sections and no learner was asked to apply their knowledge to an abstract situation. But Johnstone asks: Was this science? There seems to be an inherent idea held within society that science is difficult to learn. This essay will highlight some of the barriers to learning science and address why the idea is held that science is difficult to learn; it will then progress to identify some strategies which could be used in order to lower these barriers and make science more accessible. Part One Why can science be difficult to learn? Through classroom observations and wider reading it is apparent that there are many different barriers to learning science. These barriers can be due to many different factors; cognitive development, practical, financial and psycho-social; especially motivation and relevance of the subject material. Appendix 1 shows the 10 hardest GCSEs ranking chemistry, physics and biology as 7, 8 and 9 respectively. The research shows that the sciences are difficult to learn when compared to other subjects studied at the same level; but why is this the case? Cognitive demand In 1956 Benjamin Bloom proposed a hierarchy of educational objectives which ordered cognitive processes from simple to higher order thinking skills (Capel et al, 2009, p.254). The taxonomic pyramid (Appendix 2) shows knowledge retention as the basic foundation for higher order cognitive ability with analysis, synthesis and evaluation shown as high level skills. It should be noted that within science, knowledge retention and understanding, although low on the hierarchy, can involve a great deal of information for learners to process. For example when learners start secondary school at 11 years old they are introduced to scientific equipment they have never seen before and have no idea what it is called. Yet they need to be able to recall the name of apparatus and understand their uses within a practical investigation. Science lessons in many secondary school settings aim to incorporate as much practical as possible in order to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum. This type of investigative learning requires the learners to access and use higher cognitive skills such as analysis and evaluation hence making the requirements of the lesson much more difficult. It is the conclusion and evaluation of investigative work that is the most valuable in assisting pupil progress yet inevitably the most difficult and challenging. From this it is evident that higher order cognitive skills are required and used much more frequently in science than in many other subjects hence making it more difficult. Jean Piagets cognitive development theory (1963) linked a childs maturation with cognitive ability. Capel et al (2009, p.254) states: He saw intellectual and moral development as sequential with the child moving through stages of thinking driven by an internal need to understand the world. In a secondary school science lesson, based on Piagets development theory, it would be appropriate for the teacher to assume that the learners would be in one of the final two stages: concrete operational or formal operational. You can see from the diagram in Appendix 3 that the concrete operational phase covers from 7-11 years old and suggests that learners can think logically; at 11 years old they can then apply their ideas to abstract situations and become concerned about the future. If you were to assume that all learners followed these stages in the rigid format implied, then it would be correct to assume that all learners in a year 7 class would be able to use logical thought processes yet their ability to apply their logic to new abstract situations and make hypothesises would still be quite limited. This causes problems with learning the Key Stage 3 (KS3) science curriculum as it is full of abstract ideas which do not follow the learners logical thought processes. There are more abstract ideas in science than in any other subject and if learners are not yet in the final stages of cognitive development suggested by Piaget, they are going to find the context very difficult indeed. Learners in the concrete operational stage of development are going to experience barriers to their learning when their logical cognitive abilities are challenged by new abstract ideas. This conflict between different thought processes and accepting that their logical reasoning is in fact incorrect can be damaging and prevent further progress in their immediate learning. It takes time to teach abstract ideas and this is even more of a challenge if your learners do not reach the final stage of development. Piagets stages of development are rigid and somewhat flawed when applied to a real classroom setting where you can have 30 year 7 pupils all at varying levels of cognitive ability. Teachers will always have learners in their class who have progressed through the stages very quickly and have their own ideas and thoughts about many different abstract situations. On the other hand there will be pupils in the class who may never fully complete the final stage of development. The use of correct scientific language is difficult as learners may, through their own life experiences, hold different meanings for scientific words. These are known as heteronyms; words that have a different meaning in one context and then another in a scientific context. These alternative meanings make understanding more difficult, especially for learners where English is not their first language. It also means that learners can struggle to accept the scientific meaning hence making their learning more difficult. Research carried out in America by Sruggs and Mastropieri (1993 cited by Sullenger, n.d) indicated that over 750 scientific words were introduced from kindergarten through to sixth grade, and the story is no different in Europe. Science is a subject of high cognitive demand; learners will struggle to be successful in the subject if they are unable to access higher thinking and communication skills. If learners lack the vocabulary to share their scientific observations and explain their ideas they are going to underachieve; not through lack of understanding but through poor literacy. When relating these ideas regarding literacy and language to Piagets theory it can be noted that learners should be able to use language to represent objects during the pre-operational stage which is experienced from 2-7 years old. The abundance of difficult words used in science means that learners need to have well developed language skills and could experience a setback in their cognitive development. They need to do this whilst teachers are also expecting them to think logically and apply ideas to abstract situations. It is a lot to ask of an 11 year old especially one who is already behind in terms of their cognitive development. Osborne (1996, p274 cited by Henderson and Wellington, 1998) says of learning physics that it is: more akin to the learning of a foreign language than it is to the learning of historical facts. This is equally true of the other sciences. Everyone it seems considers science to be a practical subject but fail to realise the complexity of the language which needs to be learnt in the first instance. Orey (2010) discusses the educational implications of Piagets theory. They stress the importance of the consistency between the content of the lesson and the developmental stage of the learner. They also state that opportunities should be provided to allow learners of different developmental stages to work together. I have seen this method used in secondary school; it is called challenge groups and works well to allow learners to scaffold each others learning. This idea is also given strong focus by the work carried out by Vygotsky. Vygotsky (1962) believes in the importance of a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) in order to develop higher level thinking skills. The ZPD is the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers (Vygotsky, 1978 cited by Chaiklin et al, 2003 p.39). Please see Appendix 4 for a visual representation of Vygotskys theory. The work of Vygotsky highlighted the importance of talking, and research in the UK has highlighted its importance to learning (Capel, 2009). Communication is the essence of the socio-cultural experience when students are learning and problem solving. Through language and culture, teachers and students negotiate meaning (Connell and Charles, n.d). Vygotsky strongly believed that talking and socialisation facilitate higher order thinking skills; however the idea of requiring full social interaction in order to learn can become problematic when trying to apply the ideas in the average secondary school science lesson. Group work can easily take place in small, safe classrooms with small class sizes however when there is only one teacher to over 30 learners in a science lab this can become much more difficult. It can become even less practical during experiments and investigations where health and safety is of upmost importance. It is clear from the analysis of these three different learning theories that the content of the science National Curriculum requires learners to use higher level cognitive skills in order to learn and achieve in the subject. These skills can take a long time to develop and learners need a lot of practice before they become competent high level thinkers and have the language skills necessary to access higher cognitive skills such as analysis and evaluation. In is also clear that social interaction is very important however in practice it can be limited in a laboratory especially when class sizes are large. Practical and financial barriers Based on personal observations, and discussions with staff from various secondary schools, it is clear that some science departments are limited in their delivery of the National Curriculum based on the availability of equipment/ resources and their cost. This can have an impact on the quality of teaching and learning which can take place and therefore support the idea that science is difficult to learn. It is beneficial for learners to experience science within a laboratory not only for safety and practical reasons but also to help pupils put science into a real-life context and help with understanding of the relevance of the subject. It is not a surprise however that fitting laboratories is very costly as is replacing old equipment and replenishing resources for use in practical investigations. Laboratories not only require the usual resources provided in a normal classroom such as interactive whiteboards and a teacher computer, which are very costly, they also require specialist desks and stools, an isolated gas, electricity and water supply, fume cupboards and space; space for the equipment, space for the large class sizes and most of all space so learners can work safely. The question is can learners still experience an outstanding lesson and learn science when not in a laboratory. I would say that a huge amount of appropriate learning can take place outside of the laboratory if good technology is available; however learners need to experience scientific theories in context in order to develop and confirm their own ideas. For example it is very easy to teach the structure of the heart in an ordinary classroom and learners will be able to repeat the knowledge in an exam; but give a learner a heart to dissect and suddenly their understanding is much greater. Another barrier to learning in science can be the availability of specialist staff such as lab technicians. As with everything extra staff comes at a cost but it is essential to have well trained, experienced technicians if the department is going to deliver science in such a way that is conducive to learning. Technicians are of upmost importance when it comes to delivering practical lessons. Teachers would not be able to deliver their lesson effectively if it was not for the vital support offered by the technicians. If there is not enough money available to employ technicians then there would be a massive impact on learning. In these times of financial difficulty there needs to be a balance between where cuts are made in order to have the least impact on learning. A huge barrier to learning can be caused by the teacher themselves. If the teacher lacks confidence in their abilities, has poor subject knowledge and is not effective in their transmission of information then the content of the lesson is going to be even more difficult to learn. Teaching science is a demanding job with most teachers expected to teach across four disciplines at KS3 (biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences) and at least 2 disciplines at KS4. To be competent in all these areas and to be competent in their delivery requires great cognitive ability and perseverance. Effective teachers in the future will need to deal with a climate of continual change (McBer, 2000, p.4). Research carried out by McBer (2000) on behalf of the DfEE found that there were 3 main factors linked to the effectiveness of the teacher which influenced learning and progress: teaching skills, professional characteristics and classroom climate. The research identified that effective teachers use their professional knowledge in order to use appropriate and effective teaching skills effectively and consistently, successfully apply subject knowledge and incorporate the use of the national numeracy and literacy strategies. It is again made clear from the research that science is a very difficult subject to teach consistently to an outstanding level; made more difficult than other subjects by its diverse nature and large content across the 4 disciplines. This raises the question: is science difficult to learn because of poor teaching, or because the teachers have so much content to cover with potentially little resources at their disposal? Psycho-social barriers Due to the continuous variation of social context within a classroom environment learners are frequently involved in unfamiliar learning situations (Boekaerts, 2002). In some learners this creates a sense of challenge; for others it causes uncertainty and some level of distress. Boekaerts (2002, p.8) states that: Students try to make sense of novel learning situations by referring to their motivational beliefs. Motivational beliefs refer to the opinions, judgements and values that students hold about objects, events or subject-matter domains. The research she carried out found that motivational beliefs can result from a range of different experiences: direct learning, observation, verbal statements by teacher, parents of peers and social comparisons. As a teacher you can have a vast range of different abilities within your class; ability can have a direct impact on the motivation of the learner. It is quite often found that higher ability students show greater self-motivation to learn than their peers who have special educational needs or struggle with certain subjects. It is important that as a teacher to know the motivational level of your students and encourage those who lack motivation to be more engaged in the lesson. It is important to know which learners have developed unfavourable motivational beliefs about a topic as this can greatly impact on their learning. Another barrier which contributes to a lack of motivation is the learners perception that the science topic is not of relevance to them. If a learner can see how the topic is of relevance to them or to their future aspirations or even if they just consider it useful they will definitely be more motivated to learn; therefore a teacher must consider the relevance of a topic to their learners and if necessary find an innovative way to make it relevant. Staver (2007, p17) states: Cognitive learning theory emphasizes the importance of learning something new by relating it to things that are already meaningful and familiar. Science teachers must remember that their own intrinsic motivation to learn science is likely not shared by many of their students, whose motivation is more likely activated instrumentally, by connecting science to things that are already familiar and important to them. It is especially important to motivate females in science as they often find it more difficult to find relevance in the topic especially when studying physics. It is important that teachers set high expectations for learning as this will directly influence that learning (Staver, 2007). It is important that expectations are high for all students regardless of their gender, background or cognitive ability; special educational needs or gifted and talented. Part 2: What can Science teachers do to help? Past surveys have found that Some 51% of teenagers think science lessons are boring, confusing or difficult (BBC News Online, 2005). This view has not changed and research is showing that if anything learners are finding science more difficult and do not recognise its importance or relevance to everyday life. Todays teenagers are the scientists of tomorrow so things need to change in order to make science more accessible and enjoyable for all. Lowering the language barrier The correct and appropriate use of language is important across the curriculum regardless of the subject. In Part One literacy and language were highlighted as a barrier to learning due to the complexities of its use in a scientific context. Henderson and Wellington (SSR. 1998 p.35) quote from the science national curriculum: Pupils should be taught to express themselves clearly in both speech and writing and to develop their reading skills. They should be taught to use grammatically correct sentences and to spell and punctuate in order to communicate effectively. This was interpreted and adapted by the QCA to state that pupils should be taught to use appropriate scientific vocabulary to describe and explain the behaviour of living things, materials, and processes. Vygotsky highlights the importance of talking and listening as part of socialisation to facilitate higher order thinking skills. It has been highlighted that it is important to let learners speak not only to the teacher but to each other, and learn through speaking (Henderson and Wellington, 1998). Learners must be provided with opportunities to communicate and collaborate with their peers in order to explore their own ideas on a certain topic (Henderson and Wellington, 1998) as well as develop their language skills. Discussion-based learning is important in developing the learner not only in a science lesson but also socially. This helps to lower the language barrier as learners gain a lot from their peers who can usually word complex scientific concepts in a simple way a teacher never could. Some learners will not like this style of teaching and will find it embarrassing to talk to their peers even if in small groups rather than to the whole class. It is important that the teacher facilitates the discussion and thinks carefully about the groups. It would be useful to group learners based on their abilities as mentioned in Part One using a method observed called challenge groups. A great deal of science teaching involves the teacher telling and there is little opportunity for pupil talk. How can we be sure that the class have understood the science if they are given no chance to discuss, exchange ideas, or interpret? (Henderson and Wellington, 1998 p.36). Grouping pupils of varying abilities in order to discuss different scientific concepts helps to scaffold the learning of weaker pupils and secure the knowledge of the more able pupils. It is important that the teacher ensures the correct terminology and language is used which can sometimes be difficult especially in a laboratory where seating arrangements are not always ideal for group/class discussions. For lower ability groups who struggle with literacy it is important to use other strategies to ensure they are able to fully access the content of the lesson. The teacher could use visual representations of the words in order to assist understanding. They could use diagrams to show methods rather than a list of words if the learners struggle to read and use wordmats and glossaries to help support the learners in their written work and spellings. It is important that the spelling of key terms is addressed consistently and is a cross-curricula responsibility for all staff. Developing thinking skills From reading and applying the learning theories in Part One and based on my observation in school it is apparent that many secondary school learners are behind in their cognitive development and will struggle to access higher cognitive skills in lessons. Focussing on methods to improve critical thinking skills and problem solving skills highlighted by Blooms Taxonomy is important in order for learners to gain confidence and competence in their scientific knowledge and understanding. Ideally these skills need to be written within the scheme of work for each topic and the best way to improve these skills is through investigation and problem solving tasks. This can have an impact on lesson time available to cover all of the content but is a crucial factor which needs to be accounted for. Without developing these crucial thinking skills at KS3 learners are going to struggle to access the more demanding content covered at KS4. It would be ideal if these skills were covered across all subjects however different departments may have different delivery techniques which could cause further confusion. In order to address the development of thinking skills a new initiative emerged in 1995 called Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE). The intervention was based partly on the theories of Piaget; it was designed to accelerate development so that pupils progress from concrete thinking to formal operational thinking by the end of the two-year programme (Jones and Gott 1998). The programme was aimed at year 7 and 8 pupils who were previously identified as vulnerable in terms of cognitive ability. Please see Appendix 5 which details the five stages of the CASE approach. The stages encourage learners to use discussion to resolve cognitive conflicts and reflect on their own thinking before applying their new ideas to abstract contexts. It is easy to see the influence of Vygotsky as well as Piaget in the application of CASE. A very important part of the intervention is giving learners time to think before they answer. All too often teacher expects an immediate answer therefore not allowing learners time to process any new information. The principles of CASE have also seen success in both English and Maths (Angus Council, 2001). The results clearly show an improvement in the attainment of pupils who received CASE intervention however the results also show that females benefit from an earlier intervention than boys (Shayer 1999); this could have huge implications for policy in mixed gender schools. The fact that this intervention appears to have been used in only the core subjects: science, English and maths, appears to reinforce the view that these subjects are more difficult to learn as they require higher order thinking skills and intervention to achieve them. Over the past 17 years CASE has helped learners to overcome the demands of the content of the science National Curriculum. In schools where CASE was applied up to 25% higher grades were seen in English, maths and science when compared with non-CASE schools (Shayer 2000). Conclusion It is clear that the teaching and learning of science is difficult due to the high cognitive skills which are required in order to understand the subject content and apply knowledge to answer questions on abstract situations. The language skills required in order to access these higher skills in science cause a barrier to learning along with other barriers such as a lack of motivation from learners who cannot see the relevance of science in their everyday lives. Applying the learning theories of Bloom, Piaget and Vygotsky can help schools to employ strategies to try to overcome these barriers. It is important that interventions such as CASE continue to be used as well as other strategies to encourage the uptake of science based subjects in further education especially by females. Science is difficult to learn; however this makes the sense of achievement, both as a teacher and a learner, even greater. Word Count: 3,999 References: Angus Council (2001) Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education. Monifieth High School, Angus. Last accessed on 28th December 2012 from http://www.cognitiveacceleration.co. uk/documents /ca_stories /secondary/developing_science_in_KS3.pdf Atherton, J. S., (2011) Learning and Teaching; Piagets developmental theory [Online] last accessed on 27 December 2012 from http://www.learningandteaching.info /learning/piaget.htm BBC News, 2005. Science dull and hard, pupils say. [Online] (Last updated 16th June 2005). Last accessed on 28 December 2012 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ education/4100936.stm. Boekaerts, M., (2002). Motivation to learn. Educational practices-10. International Bureau of Education. Available at http://www.ibe.unesco.org. Capel, S., Leask, M., and Turner, T., (2009) Learning to Teach in the Secondary School. 5th Ed. Oxon: Routledge Chaiklin, S., (2003) Vygotskys educational theory in cultural context, Chapter 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Henderson, J., and Wellington, J., (1998) Lowering the language barrier in learning and teaching science. [pdf] School Science Review, 79(288). Last accessed on 28th December 2012 from https://www.ase.org.uk/journals//1998/3//SSR288Mar1998p25.pdf Johnstone, A. H., (1991), Why is science difficult to learn? Things are seldom what they seem. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 7, 75-83. Jones, M., and Gott, R., (1998): Cognitive acceleration through science education: alternative perspectives. International Journal of Science Education, 20:7, 755-768. McBer, H., (2000) Research into Teacher Effectiveness, A Model of Teacher Effectiveness. DfEE Research Report No216. Last accessed on 27th December 2012 from https://www.education.gov.uk/ publications/ eOrderingDownload/RR216.pdf. Orey, M., (2010). Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology. Switzerland: The Global Text Project. Retrieved from http://textbookequity.com/oct/Textbooks /Orey_ Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf on 27th December 2012. Richardson, K., (n.d) Cognitive Development and Learning [online]. Last accessed on 27th December 2012 from midnightmelody.pbworks.com. Shayer, M., (1999) Cognitive acceleration through science education II: its effects and scope, International Journal of Science Education, 21:8, 883-902. Shayer, M., (2000) GCSE 1999: Added Value from schools adopting CASE intervention. Centre for the Advancement of Thinking, Kings College, London. Staver, J. R., (2007). Teaching Science. Educational practices-17. International Bureau of Education. Available at http://www.ibe.unesco.org Sullenger, K., (n.d) Fostering Higher Levels of Scientific Literacy: Confronting Potential Barriers to Science Understanding .University of New Brunswick. Appendix 1: Image taken from http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/languages-are-the-hardest-gcses-research-finds-13423306.html Appendix 2: Image taken from http://www.bio.unc.edu/Courses/2009Summer/Biol202/ Appendix 3: Image taken from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm Appendix 4: Image taken from http://cadres.pepperdine.edu/omcadre6/BookProject/vygotsky.htm Appendix 5: Image taken from http://www.cognitiveacceleration.co.uk/documents/ca_stories /secondary/developing_science_in_KS3.pdf Bibliography Anon (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Book 1, Cognitive domain [online]. Last accessed on 27th December 2012 from http://centeach.uiowa.Edu/materials/Taxonomy%20of%20 Education%20Objectives.pdf Cimer, A., (2012) What makes biology learning difficult and effective: Students views. Educational Research and Reviews Vol. 7(3), pp. 61-71. Last accessed on 27th December 2012 from http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR Jenkins, E. W., (2000) Changing science teachers work: a question of professionalism. School Science Review 81(297). Last accessed on 27th December 2012 from https://www.ase.org.uk/journals Palmer, A. J., (2001). Fifty Modern Thinkers on Education: From Piaget to the Present. London: Routlledge. Appendix 1 10 hardest GCSEs 1. Latin 2. German 3. Spanish 4. French 5. Statistics 6. Vocational engineering 7. Chemistry 8. Physics 9. Biology 10. IT Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Stages of Cognitive Development Stage Characterised by Sensori-motor (Birth-2 yrs) Differentiates self from objects Recognises self as agent of action and begins to act intentionally: e.g. pulls a string to set mobile in motion or shakes a rattle to make a noise Achieves object permanence: realises that things continue to exist even when no longer present to the sense (pace Bishop Berkeley) Pre-operational (2-7 years) Learns to use language and to represent objects by images and words Thinking is still egocentric: has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others Classifies objects by a single feature: e.g. groups together all the red blocks regardless of shape or all the square blocks regardless of colour Concrete operational (7-11 years) Can think logically about objects and events Achieves conservation of number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9) Classifies objects according to several features and can order them in series along a single dimension such as size. Formal operational (11 years and up) Can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systematically Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems Appendix 4 http://cadres.pepperdine.edu/omcadre6/BookProject/images/vyg1.gif