Dreams vs. Reality Essay

The world is a deadly, unforgiving and often ironic place where people become all consumed by their surroundings. There are many occasions around the world in which people only care about themselves; for example on Black Friday people get pushed, hurt or even trampled because someone is trying to get the best deals before they are all gone. People have a tendency to lose sight of their goals and dreams. Mentally, people struggle to maintain their sanity in this game of life that has no set of rules. In the book Of Mice and Men, this story portrays the inequality between people’s dreams and what can actually be accomplished. John Steinbeck, the author Of Mice and Men, utilizes his general themes of friendship and loneliness, through his deep characterization and connection between characters in order to illustrate â€Å"The American dream.† The American dream consists of the ideas of freedom, equality, and opportunity. It also means life of individual contentment and material goods as usually wanted by Americans. At the beginning of the novel, the relationship between Candy and the old dog was very close. Candy is very passionate about his dog and spoke proudly of him. â€Å"You wouldn’t think it to look at him now, but he was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen† (Steinbeck 44). The old dog lived in the bunk house with all the workers. He slept in the same bed as Candy, but the other workers did not like the old dog because he smelled terrible. Everyone liked Candy, but they wanted to kill the dog only because he smelled bad. After they killed the dog, Candy was lonely and isolated himself from the other workers. Candy’s American dream was not met because the old dog was killed by the fellow ranchers. The old dog gave Candy unconditional love. When the old dog died, Candy’s dream died too. He wanted to live with the dog forever, his source of companionship and love was gone. In the novel, George and Lennie share the strongest bond. When George is talking to Lennie about why they are the loneliest guys in the world, he says: â€Å"Guys like us that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. . . . With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us† (Steinbeck 13-14). This example shows how George and Lennie’s friendship is more than most migrant workers. George takes care of Lennie because Lennie is mentally disabled. If Lennie did not have George taking care of him, Lennie would certainly be taken advantage of by other people who don’t have the same moral standards as George. George’s American dream was for himself, Lennie, and Candy to have their own place to live. He wanted to have Lennie in his life because Lennie gave George absolute love. Aunt Clara had explained to Lennie that he could trust George to take care of him and to always listen to him and do what he says. Lennie’s disabilities are defined as him being slow; he needed George as a guardian. George was helped by Lennie’s hard work and physical strength, he was a valuable worker and his pay was going to help buy the land for the new place. Lennie became involved with Curley’s wife and accidentally killed her. After this happened, the ranchers were going after Lennie. George wanted to protect Lennie from torture, so he killed Lennie himself by shooting him in the back of the head without Lennie’s knowledge. This ended their dreams. George would not have his place; Lennie would not have his rabbits. The harsh reality of their actions took away the desire to dream for anything better. The person who expresses his loneliness most openly is Crooks, the African- American stable hand, a victim of racial prejudice. Because of Crooks’ color, none of the other workers would socialize with him. When Lennie enters Crooks’ room uninvited, Crooks is angry and yells at Lennie asking him what his intentions are. He is bullying Lennie because he jealous of the companionship between George and Lennie. He tries to hurt Lennie with lies of George deserting him, trying to make him see what it feels like to be so alone. Crooks envies their friendship; it shows when he says: â€Å"George can tell you screwy things, and it don’t matter. It’s just the talking. It’s just bein with another guy† (Steinbeck 67). Crooks is lonely, and he is trying to make himself feel better by putting Lennie in the same position as he is. Crooks’ American dream was not achieved nor moved back, he didn’t really have one. He just was living at the ranch and he would always get picked on because of his skin color and his disability. He wanted racial equality, but that was so unlikely to happen, Crooks refused to even hope for it. Because he had nothing to hope for, he is a grouchy, negative man with nothing to live for. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the themes of friendship and loneliness between characters to illustrate the â€Å"American Dream.† The characters: George and Lennie, Candy and the Old Dog, and Crooks are used to demonstrate how relationships work, and also the harsh differences between dreams and reality. In the end George decided to end Lennie’s life so that the other workers would not torture him and then kill him later. Finally, reality was stronger than all of their dreams.

Nature VS nurture †Issues, perspectives and debates in psychology Essay

NATURE refers to our innate potential that is influenced entirely by physiological and genetic factors. NURTURE refers to the influence of the environment into & all the learning experiences we have after we are born. The nature-nurture debate has been hotly debated in psychology. At the outset of psychological research the nature-nurture debate was a point of argument between researchers from the behaviourist tradition and other approaches. More recently it has divided researches with regard to social and racial differences in intelligence. Nowadays it’s hard to believe that something as complex as human behaviour can be completely explained by either side of the argument, it’s more likely to be a product of both, as suggested by the Psychologist Robert Plomin. He would like to see the nature-nurture debate end as he says most human behaviours are not influenced by nature or nurture but by nature and nurture. He makes the point that twin and adoption studies have provided evidence for the fact that there is a genetic component to personality, intelligence and general behavioural disorders such as Schizophrenia and Autism. However the genetic influence on these traits and behaviour is only partial, genetics account for on average half of the variance of most traits therefore the environment must account for the rest according to Plomin. This means that they are interdependent. An approach that belongs on the interdependent side of the argument is the cognitive-developmental approach. A key assumption of this approach is that development occurs through the twin processes of nature and nurture. Piaget believed that children were innately curious and programmed to learn (nature) but they needed the right sort of stimulation and environment to be able to do this adequately (nurture). However a criticism to this approach is that Piaget underestimated children’s abilities, this produces a difficulty in his theories and suggests that children are not the way he envisioned them. This could indicate that they are not innately curious and even if provided with the right environment, don’t learn. This can be compared to the Leaning Approach; a criticism with this approach is that it doesn’t consider the effect of nature, similar to a criticism of the physiological approach, which doesn’t consider the effect of nurture. If the theories are proved false it’s tempting to say that that indicates nature and nurture have no effect individually, but must work together. An approach that believes that nurture is entirely responsible for our behaviour is the learning approach. The learning approach presents the assumption that all behaviour is learnt, through interactions with the environment, and at birth we are a blank slate ready to develop. Evidence for this comes from Watson’s study of little Albert. Albert was an 11-month-old baby when the study began; Albert was presented with a white rat, to which he responded with curiosity. After several sessions the presentation of the white rat was accompanied with a loud noise to which Albert responded with fear. After several sessions Albert displayed fear as soon as the rat was presented even without hearing the loud noise. This showed Albert had learnt to associate the rat with a loud noise, which he was frightened of. Albert generalised this fear with other things similar to the rat such as a white rabbit and a white beard. Albert had learnt this behaviour. So according to the learning approach it therefore follows that nurture is solely responsible for human development. Watson’s study was On the other hand is the physiological approach. This approach presents the assumption that genetics are responsible for human behaviour. For example research into genetics has shown there to be genes responsible for certain type of behaviour and characteristics for example tongue rolling and eye colour, and more controversially research has been carried out to find a gene responsible for homosexuality and criminality. Evidence to support this theory comes from research into Schizophrenia. This research has shown there to be an excess of dopamine in the brains of schizophrenics. Schizophrenia has been shown to run in families, 10 out of every 100 children who have one biological parent with schizophrenia go on to develop schizophrenia whereas only 1 or 2 in every 100 in the general population develop schizophrenia. Twin studies on monozygotic (identical twins) have also indicated that genetics are responsible for schizophrenia, as if one twin is schizophrenic there is between a 35 and 58% chance of the other twin also developing schizophrenia. Of course this is only a correlation and this relationship could be caused by another variable. Twin studies are hard to conduct because the necessary situation doesn’t occur particularly frequently in the population, therefore the sample is limited and difficult to generalise. This affects the reliability and validity of the results. The idea of the causes of schizophrenia is explored further in clinical psychology. Schizophrenia is the most commonly diagnosed form of mental illness; 1% of the whole population will be diagnosed at some point in their lives has having schizophrenia. Schizophrenia doesn’t seem to have one single cause but is rather the product of a relationship between biology, psychology and culture. Which suggests both nature and nurture play a role in the development of schizophrenia. As I said earlier twin, adoption and family studies give the clearest indication that genetics play a role in the development of schizophrenia. 10% of children with a schizophrenia parent will go on to develop the disease. This however, because it’s only a correlation, could be caused by another factor, for example the environment. Studies have been carried out using twins to find out the concordance rate of schizophrenia in twins. The increased risk of developing schizophrenia could be the result of difficulties that have arisen during the rearing of a child by a parent with such a disorganised personality. However adoption studies have been carried out which also suggest that genetics are responsible for schizophrenia. Heston (1966) compared the adopted children of 77 schizophrenic mothers with the adopted children of 50 normal mothers and found the former to be 5 times more likely to be admitted to hospital with schizophrenia. This study also shows that those children of schizophrenic parents were more likely to go on and be diagnosed as psychopaths, behaviourally disordered or neurotic. The study by Heston rules out the possibility that the experience of being adopted leads to the development of schizophrenia as the control group didn’t go on to develop higher levels of schizophrenia. However the sample isn’t large so is difficult to generalise and this type of situation doesn’t occur frequently so it is hard to do this type of investigation.

Explain How Groups Can Influence People in Positive and Negative Ways Essay

Being part of a group can give an individual a sense of security, a boost to their self-esteem and a feeling of belonging. They may see themselves as being part of an ‘in-group’. Being part of a group that is seen as being better than others (an ‘in-group’), can create a bond between the members. People of different races or religions, or rival gangs, would be seen as being the ‘out-group’. The sense of security and bonding with the other members can come from having people around you that are working with you, and knowing that you have somebody looking out for you if and when things go wrong. Having people depending on you in a leadership role can give boost an individual’s self esteem. There are many negatives that can come with being part of a group also. Peer pressure and the feeling of having to conform in ways in which may seem inappropriate, could cause members to go along with decisions and behaviour made, so that they fit in even though they know the outcomes won’t possibly be the best ones. The pressure to conform in front of other members of a group was apparent in an experiment carried out by Solomon Asch in the 1950s. It showed how members of a group will go along with decisions that others make even though they know that it’s not necessarily the correct choice. A small group were shown a picture of a line and then asked out of three other lines, which one was the same length. Several members of the group deliberately gave the wrong answer. They had been influenced by the experimenters. The results showed that the level of conformity grew when the answers were said out loud. The level of conformity decreased when the participants were asked to write down their answers in private. The members (not in on the experiment) clearly felt that they needed to conform with the rest of the group, whether it was because they didn’t want to seem stupid or they just felt pressured into agreeing a nd not being the odd one out. During the 1950s and 1960s an experiment carried out by Muzafer Sherif et al (1961) took a group of boys from a summer camp and divided them into two groups. The boys interacted well at first, working together and behaving in ways that would be expected, until they set up a tournament type competition. The behaviour between the groups very quickly turned negative with name calling, hostility and aggression. Within the groups though, the level of solidarity was extremely high between the boys. Once the experimenters intervened and introduced activities that encouraged the groups to work together again, the boys were able to cooperate well and any bad feelings were forgotten. This experiment shows how peer pressure clearly had quite an influence on the boys’ behaviour as the aggression felt towards the other group clearly wasn’t personal as the negative behaviour was quickly forgotten once the experimenters took control. It seems more so that one member, possibly the boy seen as the ‘leader’, made a move, quickly the rest of the group’s behaviour changed one by one escalating to such hostilities. The members of the individual groups would have felt as though they were the à ¢â‚¬Ëœin-groups’ and probably felt a sense of security in that they had others working with them and the self esteem of the ‘leader’ would have risen significantly. Another example of how being part of a group can have it’s negatives and positives is the story of Dorinne Kondo (1990). She was a Japanese American woman who, having lived all her life in America, goes to Japan to study. There, she stays with a Japanese family, the Sakamotos. Kondo finds it hard to conform from the start of her visit and she feels she is being judged for looking Japanese but not acting in the correct manner or being able to properly communicate as she didn’t speak the language. After spending time and helping out with the family she is staying with, Kondo gradually learns the way to do things to suit the Japanese culture. After she gets praise from Mr Sakamoto himself for greeting him with a bow in the traditional manner and when her teacher praises her flawless performance at the tea ceremony, Kondo will no doubt have had a boost to her self esteem and possibly a bonding with the Japanese women. The negatives seem to out-weigh the positives during Kon do’s time in Japan though as she struggled with the fact that women are seen as being below the males and having to bow down (literally) to them. She felt obliged to take on the ‘daughter’ role during her stay and a feeling of peer pressure to perform as a Japanese woman, even though it wasn’t necessarily the way she would act in her life in America. In conclusion being in a social group (the boys from the Robbers Cave experiment) there seemed to be more positives as the boys felt they had others on their side and lots of back up when things turned bad. Their self esteem would have been pretty high and the bond between them all would of grown as the time went on. Kondos story, which showed more of a cultural group, had more negatives as she really felt the pressure to conform to suit her cultural group and setting.

The New Right Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The New Right - Essay Example First coined by the YAF or Young Americans for Freedom in a 1962 article, it became widely used in the late 70s. I was also able to trace it back, in part, to the American â€Å"New Deal† opponents Brent Bozell and Clarence Marion, both writers who were pioneers of what later became a Southern strategy. Other major proponents of the movement were Friedrich Havek and Peter Viereck, whom I believe were two of its most eminent intellectual forbearers. The social changes that were blowing through America in the 60s and 70ms were not well received by everyone. Following the Roe vs. Wade ruling that established abortion rights; a fervent movement for the protection of unborn children was established1. I also see the Equal Rights Amendment as the driver of anti-feminism, which took root with some Americans contending that it eroded the traditional unit of the family and its values. From the readings, there was obvious shock among some Americans at what they viewed as sexual permissiv eness in magazines and film, whereas the gay and lesbian rights movement was attacked as sinful. With ever-increasing rates of crime and divorce, some Americans increasingly blamed the social maladies on America’s liberal welfare system2. ... However, by this time, there was not a lot that was new about this economic and political conservatism. In 1964, I already see that Barry Goldwater had made the repudiation of the â€Å"New Deal† his presidential campaign driving point, declaring that the government was running a dime store New Deal3. Increased welfare and social spending was to be cut to reduce tax burdens on families and individual Americans, whereas government regulations also needed to be reduced in order to re-establish personal freedoms and economic growth. In my opinion, the idea of a â€Å"New Right† took off in the 70s with foreign competition penetrating American markets, which caused people to believe that Goldwater was right. The New Right movement, therefore, was and not surprisingly, strengthened by the financial resources of big American corporations. The Christian Right was another linchpin for the movement, especially with numbers that had swelled since the 50s in the evangelical denomi nations. In fact, between 1963 and 1978, the number of born-again Americans had risen from 24% to 40%4. They had numerous faces, although I think the most important were fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell and the Pentecostalism leader Pat Robertson. I find it remarkable that, in spite of their deep theological divisions, all leaders in evangelical America agreed that there was moral decay in the country. The main points they rallied against were homosexuality and its effect on the family, the â€Å"abandonment† by the woman of her family role, liberal media, and its effect on the youth, and courts for â€Å"banning† religion public schools. In fact, even Catholic Americans agreed with their sentiments, claiming that the Democratic Party had been spending time chasing gays,

Literature Review for Woolworths Research Essay - 1

Literature Review for Woolworths Research - Essay Example Marketing scholars and practitioners have long agreed that the factors which determine a customer’s decision to shop in a specific store are integral as it not only where customers choose to shop, but also what they shop and how much they buy. The key factors identified that influence customer’s store choice behavior include store price, store assortments, convenience in location, availability, and a variety of merchandise, value added store services, personal interaction, physical appearance and promotional activities in such stores. This factor comes third after location convenience and low prices. Assortment size may be in terms of a broad ray of products and the retail price formats which may be either promotional pricing format (Hi-Lo) where prices change with changing seasons, or it may be everyday price format (EDLP) where prices are lower than competitors. Indeed in their analysis of price formats on store patronage, Bell, Ho and Tang (1998) showed that customer s often traded off between lower prices and convenience where they would most likely visit a Hi-Lo store when they are purchasing less, and hence convenience beets price or they would most likely choose EDLP stores when they are purchasing more irrespective of the location of the store, hence low price beats convenience. Briesch, Chintagunta, and Fox (2009) affirm this by showing that customers would be willing to travel a considerable distance to stores that have a wide assortment of products and low price to make their purchases.

Proposal Outline Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Proposal - Outline Example In order to get a solution to this, the telecommunications company had to undertake a market research by deciding to employ Netezza data warehouse appliance as the only vender who performed above the rest, as far as their scalability, simplicity, performance and total cost of ownership was concerned (Froggatt, 2009, 1). According to Froggatt, (2009, 1), the most important requirement of the project was its seamless nature to the business users, and would make the company carry on with its existing tools with the Oracle alongside the new improvements by Netezza. From the proven results above it is seen that Netezza’s performance is 252 times faster than Oracle. This makes the information system even simpler as far as its management is concerned. The company has therefore had dramatic positive results with Netezza as its enterprise data warehouse of choice and the world’s number one in BI software. As a business object and a query tool, the biggest benefit has been the increased company performance (Froggatt, 2009, 2). Therefore, it is worth noting that business objects solutions are basically designed with the purpose of helping organizations gain much better insight concerning their businesses, enhanced enterprise performance as well as improved decision making. It is of prime importance that any information technology system needs to be faster on average speed, such that it can support any type of query. There was need to improve speed of the system in the company (Froggatt, 2009, 2). Secondly, the company systems needed to be simple in their approach, which is quite vital for the users and the information technology department. In implementing new technologies, the complexity of traditional database implementations needed to be cut out, and this could only be delivered by using the most appropriate data warehouse appliances. The use of database administration team needs to be as minimal as possible. This can only be achieved by

Domestic Violence Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Domestic Violence - Article Example The rate of suffering physical abuse in case of the children staying with the parents in an abusive relationship is quite common. They may get harmed while witnessing the spousal abuse closely and at some places some physical abuses get inflicted on them as well. At places, children are used as a barterer instrumental in getting control or manipulating the victim of the domestic abuse. In this case, the conflict between the parents also evolves a kind of mental trauma in the children and they are shattered out of disruption in gaining their love from parents. Also separation from their parents cause a serious mental trauma to them and in their adolescence they might get involved in myriad anti-social activities or may get addicted as well to escape the harsh realities of life. The sign of any means of thrashing can be effective in determining the symbol of abuse in the children. Also some bizarre or violent activity at the social plane is also indicative of the domestic abuse inflicted on children. Locating this kind of symptoms in children requires immediate attention and they should be taken to the family counselling centres or women and child development centres and with the help of the counsellors over there, the case should be reported to the police as well. Athlete: As a kid, initially I was a good student. It started when I was six years old. Suddenly my father became alcoholic and all sorts of problems started during that phase. I could never sleep at night. I completely lost control on my mind and was losing it out every day. Athlete: It was not very easy to get out of it. As a child I was helpless. Some abnormalities were located by my class teacher and she reported it to the concerned authority. I was send to hostel soon after. Athlete: Yes. This is the worst side of the domestic violence. My parents decided to get

The life of Harry Truman in the context of civil Right Era Essay

The life of Harry Truman in the context of civil Right Era - Essay Example This was the true picture as well as impression depicted by Harry Trumann in the context of Civil Right Era (Gardner, 2002). It is of crucial significance to note that Harry Truman led America in gaining victory over World War II. However, tied to this are several of my major impressions relevant to his life in the Civil Right Era. Harry Truman was a leader of dignity, in-depth understanding, humanness as well as vast of wisdom. This was so conspicuous in the way he made his decisions on the context of civil rights. He championed of equality rights for all Americans, including the Whites and the Blacks. This was quite impressive since it enabled for equal consideration of people regardless of race, ethnicity as well as socio-political classes (Truman Legacy Symposium and Geselbracht, 2007). In defiance to the issue of racial discrimination, Truman employed racial integration within the USA military. This was a clear indication that Truman was considerate and wise in decision-making. He considered the pains both the Whites and Blacks underwent in the wars, thereby championing for the spirit of inclusion an d equality amongst all the American citizens (Gardner, 2002). As a leader of humane character, Truman espoused in his campaigns that he believed in the spirit of brotherhood and unity amongst all people in the face of law. He stressed the fact that any form of racial, political, social or economic discrimination could likely cause a state of political unrest as well as insecurity (Truman Legacy Symposium and Geselbracht, 2007). Such could easily disrupt peace and safety to all the citizens. This is quite impressive of Truman since he showed that as a leader, he valued peace, safety and equality amongst all the

Adolescent Suicide Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Adolescent Suicide - Research Paper Example Even silly problems will be perceived as complicated ones and they may take decision to commit suicide to escape from such problems. In many cases, substance abuse, momentary lapse of emotional control, lack of counseling, negligence from parents and beloved ones, stressful events are motivating teenagers to commit suicide. Teenagers with family history of suicide show more tendencies to commit suicide. Nursing professionals can help teenage community immensely in preventing suicide. They can help teenagers to solve their physical as well as mental problems with the help of proper medications and counseling. This paper analyses the reasons of teenage suicide and the nursing implications with respect to this social problem. Adolescent Suicide Suicide is the third leading cause of death in 15 to 24 year olds, and the third leading cause of death in 10 to 14 year olds. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): There are 25 attempted suicides to one completed suicide - with the ratio even higher in youth and the strongest risk factors for attempted suicide in youth are depression, substance abuse, and aggressive or disruptive behaviors (Teen Suicide, n.d). It is impossible to know the teenager who committed suicide first in this world. It is also impossible to predict who could be the last teenager to commit suicide. ... Although child death rates are decreasing steadily during the last few decades, youth suicide rate travels in the opposite direction in United Sates. Reasons for adolescent suicide and nursing implications According to Shilubane et al. (2012), â€Å"Lack of knowledge of available counselors, conflicts in interpersonal relationships, perceived accusations of negative behavior, inadequate social support, past family and peer suicide attempts and poor living circumstances were factors found to be related with suicide attempts† (Shilubane et al. 2012, p.177). As mentioned earlier, many teenagers are committing suicide because of a momentary lapse in emotional control. For example, love affairs or dating relationships are common among current teenagers all over the world and the case of America is also not an exception. Teenagers who have feeble mental power or self-confidence may think about committing suicide when their love affairs break. They may not bother too much to think ab out substituting the lost relationships with another one at that moment. For them breaking of their dating relationships is the end of the road. Nursing professionals can help teenagers to overcome the emotional catharsis at various moments in their life. Many studies have proved beyond doubt that lack of availability and access to counseling is the major reason for increased suicide rates among teenagers. Counseling should be done at individual levels and family levels to educate the public about how to overcome stressful events and avoid suicides. Family nurse practitioner (FNP) is a respected profession in America now and these professionals can help the community in general and teenage community in particular in overcoming the tendencies of suicide. Poor living condition is

Gender Differences in Mathematics Essay Example for Free

Gender Differences in Mathematics Essay Throughout the first half of the 20th century and into the second, women studying or working in engineering were popularly perceived as oddities at best, outcasts at worst, defying traditional gender norms. Female engineers created systems of social, psychological, and financial mutual support, through such strategies, conditions for female engineers changed noticeably over just a few decades, although many challenges remain. Engineering education in the United States has had a gendered history, one that until relatively recently prevented women from finding a place in the predominantly male technical world. For decades, Americans treated the professional study of technology as mens territory. At places where engineerings macho culture had become most ingrained, talk of women engineers seemed ridiculous (Sax, 2005). For years its been assumed that young women avoid careers in mathematics-based fields, like engineering and physics, because they lack confidence in their math skills. But a new study finds that it’s not a lack of confidence in their math skills that drives girls from those fields; its a desire to work in people-oriented professions. It has been found that young women who are strong in math tend to seek careers in the biological sciences. They value working with and for people, they dont perceive engineering as a profession that meets that need. The environment at many tech schools is hostile toward helping students achieve a degree and is more geared toward weeding out those who are struggling. Its difficult to come up with alternative engineering solutions if everybody in the room looks alike. Thats the initial reason why automakers and suppliers are busy trying to identify and hire minority and women engineers. The business case is that if more than half of an automakers customers are either female and/or people of color, which they are, then those groups need to be represented in every sector of the company. One of the most important areas for automakers to get a range of views is in product development. With that diversity mission in mind, DaimlerChrysler Corp. , Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. , all have mounted aggressive programs to identify and hire minority and women engineers. At GM the story is the same. To attract minority and women engineers, the automaker proclaims that innovation comes from the people who see the world in a different way than everyone else. One women and minorities enter into the automotive engineering ranks, they need to be challenged and encouraged to develop their careers or theyll be gone (Sax, 2005). Its not just the Big Three that are working to create a more diverse engineering workforce. Suppliers and engineering support organizations such as the Society of Automotive Engineers are trying to draw more women and minorities into the profession. Faced with chronically small percentages of minorities and women in virtually every segment of engineering, companies are going to great lengths to attract them to the world of automotive engineering. Harvard President Lawrence Summers ignited a firestorm recently when he suggested more men than women are scientists because of differences between males and females in â€Å"intrinsic aptitude. † Many scientists-both men and women-expressed outrage at Summer’s remarks and blamed any lag in math among girls mainly on discrimination and socialization (Dean, 2006). They point out that girls have closed the gap in average scores on most standardized math tests in elementary and high school. Today women constitute almost half of college math majors and more than half of biology majors. But Summer’s supporters say he courageously raised a legitimate question for scientific inquiry. Indeed, in recent years some researchers have been pursuing a scientific explanation for the discrepancies in math and science aptitude and achievement among boys and girls and have found differences, including biological ones. Summer’s suggestion that women are biologically inferior in math infuriated many female scientists. Some asserted that the other two factors he mentioned were far more important in keeping women out of science: sex discrimination and the way girls are taught to view math as male territory. Some differences are well established. Girls do better on tests of content learned in class and score much higher on reading and writing tests than boys. Boys score higher on standardized tests with math and science problems not directly tied to their school curriculum. On tests of spatial awareness, boys do better on tests that involve navigation through space. Girls are better at remembering objects and landmarks. Studies show differences in brain structure and hormonal levels that appear to influence spatial reasoning. But the implications of these differences for real world math and science achievement remain unclear. â€Å"There is evidence that male and female brains differ anatomically is subtle ways, but no one knows how these anatomical differences relate to cognitive performance,† (Dean, 2006). At the heart of the current controversy is a societal implication-that the failure of an institution like Harvard to tenure even one woman mathematician can be blamed on the lack of top-flight women mathematicians, which in turn can be blamed on too-few top female minds in math. As evidence of intrinsic aptitude differences, Summers pointed out that more boys than girls receive top scores on standardized math tests. Today girls receive better grades than boys in math and science through high school, have closed the gap on average scores on most standardized math tests and take more advantage high school classes than boys in almost every category except physics and high-level calculus. In college they constitute nearly half the math majors and more than half the biology majors. Indeed, today a growing number of researchers contend boys are the ones who are shortchanged-judging by the larger proportion of boys in special-education classes and the declining proportion attending college. Women now make up 56 percent of students enrolled in college; by 2012, the Department of Education projects they will account for about 60 percent of bachelor’s degrees (2002). The fact that more boys than girls make top scores on standardized math tests is often invoked as evidence that boys possess an innate superiority in high-level math. Experts on both sides of the divide agree gender differences are real, even if they disagree bout how much is socially learned and how much biologically based. Girls do better on writing and on algebra problems, probably because algebraic equations are similar to sentences, and girls excel in language processing. Boys are better at mathematical word problems; girls are better at mathematical calculation. Boys and girls also differ on spatial skills, and experts are divided over how innate or important these differences are. A recent study of the Graduate Record Exam, for instance, found men did better on math problems where a spatially based solution was an advantage (Gallagher, Kaufman, 2005). Sex hormones have been shown in several studies to affect the ability to envision an object rotating in space. Females who take male hormones to prepare for a sex-change operation improve on tests of 3-D rotation and get worse on tests of verbal fluency, at which women typically excel. During their menstrual cycle, women do better on 3-D rotation when levels of the female hormone estrogen are low; they do better on verbal fluency when estrogen levels are high. If science be taught directly with a hands-on, inquiry-based approach, it sustains girl’s interest in science. Girls like to work in cooperative teams, a lot of science was taught in a competitive mode. Women scientists also earn less than men. But it’s only fair that women who work fewer hours face the economic consequences of lower salaries and less status. References: Dean, Cornelia. (2006). â€Å"Dismissing ‘Sexist Opinions’ About Women’s Place in Science†. A Conversation with Ben A. Barres. The New York Times. July 18, 2006, pp. 1-5. Gallagher, Ann M. , Kaufman, James M. (2005). â€Å"Gender Differences in Mathematics: An Integrative Psychological Approach. Cambridge University Press. National Center for Education Statistics, â€Å"Projections of Education Statistics To 2012†. (2002). Available on-line: http://nces. ed. gov/pubs2002/proj. 2012/ch_2. asp.. Sax, Leonard. (2005). Too Few Women- â€Å"Figure It Out†. Los Angeles Times. Jan. 23, 2005.

Cognitive Development Theories

Cognitive Development Theories Cognitive development refers to the development of the ability to think and reason. It is the transformation of the childs undifferentiated, unspecialized cognitive abilities into the adults conceptual competence and problem-solving skills (Driscoll, 2005). For many psychologists, cognitive development answers the questions about how children moves toward reaching the endpoint of gaining the adults skills, what stages they are pass through and how do changes in their thinking occur and what role dose learning play? Among many theories that are introduced to explain the children cognitive and knowledge development, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky proposed the most influential theories that contributes to this component of psychology. Their theories underlined that the way the children learn and mentally grow has a critical role in their learning progress and abilities development. Piaget and Vygotsky were considered as constructivists who believed that learning occurs as a result of mental construction and by fitting the new information into the cognitive structure (scheme) that the learners already have (Driscoll, 2005). Constructivism approach also suggests that learning is affected by the context in which knowledge transfer occurs and by learners beliefs and attitudes . Piaget and Vygotsky also agreed on the societal influences in cognitive growth; however, they differ in the learning progression process. Piaget believed that children learn by interacting with their surroundings but with no impo rtance for the input from others and that learning occurs after development; Vygotsky, on the other hand, held the idea that learning happens before development and that children learn through history and symbolism and they value the input from their surroundings (Slavin, 2003). Further, it is imperative for teachers to understand the progression of cognitive development and the constructs of the major theories in the field in order to be able to attend the unique needs of each child and to develop the learning program, instructions plans and classroom activities in a developmentally appropriate approach. Kindergarten program is an example of these learning programs that is of particular interest because it influences children in very young age and shapes their cognitive development journey. Kindergarten learning programs should be designed on the natural approach for children learning as suggested by the cognitive development theories. The natural approach suggests that the physical, socio-emotional and cognitive development of children depends on activity and interactions with others (Driscoll, 2005). This means tha play is a key aspect of the Kindergarten learning programs and that is seen as phenomenon of thoughts and activity growth (Piaget, 1951). Play consists of activities performed for self-amusement that have behavioral, social, and psychomotor rewards. Play is directed towards the child, and the rewards come from within the individual child; it is enjoyable and spontaneous (Healthline.com). Play consists of different types that could be utilized to serve different needs of children in different situations and settings. Types of play range from physical play which involves jumping, running and other physical activities to the surrogate play at which ill children watch others play on their behalf. They also range from inactive observation play at which children prefer to stay away and watch to active associative at which children engage in group play that requires planning and co operation (Healthline.com). Play types also include expressive play which involves playing with materials (such as clay, play dough,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) and the manipulative play that gives children the measure of control over others and their environm ent (for example, to throw a toy out of a cot, watch a parent pick it up, and then throw it out again). Symbolic play (also be referred to as dramatic play) is another important type of play at which children enact scenes where they substitute one object for another (for example, a child will use a stick to represent a spoon or a hair brush to represent a microphone). This kind of pretend play takes on various forms: The child may pretend to play using an object to represent other objects, playing without any objects and pretending that they are indeed present. Or the child may pretend to be someone else and imitate adults and experiment what it means to be an adult in a role they are exposed to in their surrounding environment (for example, mother, father, care-giver, doctor and so on). They may also pretend through other inanimate objects (e.g. a toy horse kicks another toy horse). Symbolic play in children can usually be observed during the beginning of the second year of life an d it has been linked through the studies and experiments to the cognitive problem solving skills, creative abilities, and emotional well-being. In the following sections of this paper, the major constructs and ideas proposed by Piaget and Vygotsky theories will be examined in relation to symbolic play for cognitive and knowledge development of children; and the implications of each theory for instruction and practice in Kindergarten educational settings. Theories of Cognitive Development: Piaget and Vygotsky It is a fact that most of the methods and approaches for teaching are driven from Piaget and Vygotsky research studies. They both offer teachers good proposals on how to teach certain learning materials in appropriate approach that matches the child developmentally conditions. Piaget (1896-1980) believed that children progress through an invariant sequence of four stages. Theses stages are not arbitrary but are assumed to reflect qualitative differences in children cognitive abilities (Driscoll, 2005, p.149). He proposed that each stage must represent a significant qualitative and quantitative change in children cognitive and that children progress through these stages in a culturally invariant sequence. Each stage will include the cognitive structures and abilities (schemes) of the previous stages (constructivism) which all will act as an integrated cognitive structure (accumulated knowledge) at that given stage (Driscoll, 2005). These knowledge structures (schemes) can be prepared, changed, add to or developed through two processes of assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation occurs when a child perceives new objects or events in term of existing scheme (Driscoll, 2005); in other words, within information the child already knows. Accommodation occurs when existing schemes are modified to adopt (or fit in) a new experience or information. If the new information doesnt fit or it conflicts with the existing scheme then the disequilibrium occurs. Equilibrium, however, is the master developmental process which encompasses both assimilation and accommodation and prepares for the child transaction from one state of the development to the next (Driscoll, 2005). Piaget stages of development are: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations and formal operations. Sensorimotor stage is over the period between the birth to two years. During this stage, the child experiences the world around him through the senses and movement. The child develops object permanence which refers to the ability to understand an object exist even if it is not in field of vision (Woolfolk, 2004). Toward the end of this period, children begin to mentally represent object and events but to that point they only can act and during the transaction to the mental representation, they may use simple motor indicators as symbols for other events (Driscoll, 2005). They also begin to understand that their actions could cause another actions developing a goal-director behavior; for an example, throwing a toy from the cot to make parents pick the toy and pressing the doll button to make the sound and so on (kind of the manipulative play). Preoperational stage extends from the child second year to seventh year. According to Piaget, children have not yet mastered the ability of mental operation or to think through the actions (Woolfolk, 2004) but they acquire the semiotic function early in this period. This means that they are able to mentally represent the objects and events, as evidenced in their imitation of some activities long after it occurred (Driscoll, 2005). Hence, pretending, or symbolic play, is highly characteristic stage and the language acquisitions. One more interesting idea proposed by Piaget is that during this stage children are considered to be egocentric assuming that others share their points of view and which makes them engage in self monologue with no interacting with others (Woolfolk, 2004). Concrete operations period that is from seventh year to eleventh, is characteristic to be the hands-on period at which children overcome the limitation of egocentrism and learn through discovery learning while working (operating) with real tangible objects (Woolfolk, 2004). They become more internalized and able to create logical-mathematical knowledge resulting in operations (Driscoll, 2005). Formal operation occurs from eleventh year to adulthood and at which propositional logic is developed. Reaching this stage, children (who become adult) should be able to not only to think hypothetically but to plan systematic approaches to solve problems (Driscoll, 2005). The acquisition of the met-cognitive (thinking about thinking) is also an important characteristic of the formal operations. Piaget also believed in the active role of the child during development. He proposed that children act on their own environment and cognitive is rooted in the action (Driscoll, 2005). He acknowledged the social interaction aspect of the children development but only to move the child away from egocentrism to develop the social knowledge that can be learned only from other people (language, moral rules, values..). Although, Piaget theory of cognitive development proposed an integrated and beneficial framework for children learning that can be utilized by educators and parents to influence and enrich the learning process of the children; the theory has faced serious challenges and especially in the recent years with the contemporary research add to this filed. For an example, Piaget believed that all children, regardless of the culture, progress through four stages and once particular stage is reached, the regression to earlier stage cant occur. Replications of Piagets experiments have shown that children in different cultures do not pass through the same types of reasoning suggested in Piaget stages (Driscoll, 2005). Moreover, there are people, in any culture, who fail to reason at the formal operation level; we experience interacting with these people in our day-to-day life in personal and professional levels. Also, Piaget claimed that there must be a qualitative discontinues change in cognit ive from stage to stage; this has been questioned with the ability to accelerate development and the studies and experiments showed that that children can learn more than Piaget thought they could (Siegler Svetina 2002 as cited in Driscoll, 2005). One more is that children dont exhibit the characteristics of each stage; for example, children are sometimes egocentric beyond the proportional stage and the preoperational children are not egocentric all the time (Driscoll, 2005). However and despite these challenges, understanding Piagets proposed stages and development sequence suggests useful and effective certain learning and teaching strategies at each level. Example of these strategies as implications of Piaget theory will be discussed in the next section. Vygotsky (1896 -1943) proposed an alternative to the Piaget stages of cognitive development, he stated that children learn mainly by social interactions and their culture plays a major role to shape their cognitive (woolfolk, 2004). He believed that individual development could not be understood without reference to the social and cultural context within which such development is embedded (Driscoll, 2005, p.250). His theory suggests a co -constructed process of social interactions at which through children move toward individualized thinking. When a child receives a help through social interaction , the child then develops enhanced strategy to solve a similar problem if encountered in future. This co-constructed channel of communications between the child and his culture will lead to internalization and eventually to independent thinking (Woolfolk, 2004). A good example to understand social dialogue and internalization is what introduced by Vygotsky himself and cited in Driscoll (200 5) One a child stretching out her hand for an object she cant quite reach, an adult interprets the gesture of pointing and responds accordingly. Until the adult responds, the child is simply grasping for an object out of reach, however, the situation change with the adult respond to be a social exchange and the act of grasping takes on a shared meaning of pointing. When a child internalizes the meaning and uses the gesture as pointing, the interpersonal activity has been transferred into intrapersonal one. (p.252). The zone of proximate development is another principle introduced by Vygotsky. He agreed with Piaget that there is knowledge and skills associated with the child developmentally range of understanding, but he believed that with given help and support, children can perform problems that Piaget would consider out of their staged mental capabilities (Woolfolk, 2004). Scaffolding is the technique proposed by Vygotsky to support the discovery learning through social interaction and in the zone of approximate development. Scaffolding entails providing the child with a hint or clue to solve the problem. This encourages the child critical thinking and enhances his/her problem solving approach. Further, Vygotsky highlighted the importance of the mediation cultural tools to support learning and higher-level processing in children. These cultural signs and tools involve technological, symbolic and any available resource that aids in social communication (language, signs, symbols, media television, computer, booksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). Although the tools at hand may include sophisticated toys, children are successful at creating imaginary situations with sticks and other common objects in their environment. This leads into the symbolic play as a strategy for children teaching. Driscoll (2005) noted that in play, Vygotsky argued, children stretch their conceptual abilities and begin to develop a capacity for abstract thought; the signs they establish in their imaginations, in other word, can make up a very complex symbol system, which they communicate through verbal and nonverbal gestures(P.259). The development of language is another major principle that is proposed by Vygotsky s theory. Althoug didnt address specific implications for instruction of language, he believed that language constitutes the most important sign-using behavior to occur during the cognitive development and this is because it frees children from the constraints of their immediate environment. The language of a certain group of people reflects their own cultural beliefs and value system and children initially associate the words meaning to their contexts and life aspects till they learn to abstract the word from a particular concrete context (decontextualization). This process of decontextualization must occur with any symbol system if it is to serve higher mental functions such as reasoning (Driscoll, 2005, p. 259-260). Once again, Vygotsky suggested that symbolic play is important for language learning in young children. He also emphasized the importance of the private speech as a self-directed regula tion and communication with the self to guide actions and aid in thinking; this is in contrast to Piaget who viewed privative speech as egocentric (or immature) (Woolfolk, 2004). Undoubtedly, Piaget and Vygotsky introduced important views and suggestions on the cognitive development in children. Piaget suggested that the children progress through maturation stages and discovery learning with minimal social impact. Vygotsky, from other hand, stressed the importance of the cultural context and language on cognitive development. The following will browse, in general, some implications of the both theories for instructions in different educational settings then more specific for symbolic play in kindergarten. Implications for Instructions of Piaget and Vygotsky Educators and school systems have been applying the cognitive development theories of Piaget and Vygotsky in classrooms teaching for some time. The most important implications of the both theories are that the learning environment should support the discovery-learning and that child should be effectively involved in the learning process. They stressed the role of peer interaction and the symbolic play. Both also agreed that development may be triggered by cognitive conflict; this entails adopting instructional strategies that make children aware of conflicts and inconsistencies in their thinking (Driscoll, 2005). A good example of this would be the Socratic Dialogs which fosters the critical thinking through a series of questions and answers that enable learner to develop the understanding of the learning materials. However, Piaget and Vygotsky differ in the ways of guiding the discovery learning in children. Piaget recommended a very little teacher interference while Vygotsky prompted the teacher to guide the discovery learning offering questions to students and having them discover the answer by testing different options (Scaffolding). According to Piaget, teachers dealing with children in preoperational stage (like in kindergarten) are encouraged to incorporate the play as a pedagogic strategy; in play children are engaged in active self-discovery activities employing concrete object or symbolically. It also helps to understand that and since the children in this stage have not yet mastered the mental operations, the teacher should not only use action and verbal short instructions but also to demonstrate these instructions. Using visual aid is very important in this stage to create attractive and discovery-oriented learning environment (Driscoll, 2005). Moreover, is to pay attention to the egocentrism as a character of this stage, teachers are encouraged to be sensitive that children dont understand that not everyone else has their view or can understand the words they come up with (Woolfolk, 2004). It is important to in the stage to provide the children with a range of experiences and knowledge to build the found ation (basic scheme) for concept learning and languages those children are expected to master in coming stages. Teaching children in the concrete operation stage should involve hands-on learning at which children have the opportunity to test and manipulate objects, perform experiments and solve problems in order to develop logical and analogical thinking skills. Teacher should consider using familiar examples to explain the complex ideas and this is by linking to the existing knowledge of the learners (scheme). While teaching the students in formal operations stage requires teachers to offer student open-ended projects that enhance their advanced problem solving and reasoning skills. It is critical in this stage for the teachers to help learners understanding of the broad concepts and their applications in the real life. The teachers applying Vygotsky teaching methods would be very active player in their students education. The most popular technique to be utilized is the scaffolding at which teachers will provide assistance and the feedback as the knowledge source to support learning of new information. The teachers then will not present information in one sided way but will provide the guidance and assistance required for learners to bridge the gap between their skills level and the desired skills; when they are able to complete tasks on their own, the guidance and support will be withdrawn (Greenfield, 1984 cited in Driscoll 2005). Also teachers applying Vygotsky theory utilized the meditation tools and teach students how to use these tools in their learning (computers, books,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). Vygotsky emphasized the language and other sign systems (such as symbolic playing) as important tools for children learning. Language is the cultural communication tool that transmits history and cultural va lues between individuals and from parents and teachers toward children. Most importantly, is incorporating the group or peer learning as an important source of cognitive development. A good application of Vygotsky principles of social learning and the zone of approximate development zone is the strategy at which teachers encourage children with varying level of knowledge to help each other by allowing the child who master the skill to teach and guide his or her peer who still trying to master this skill. It is evident to be an effective learning strategy not only in children learning but also in adult learning. Piaget also believed that peer interactions are essential in helping children move beyond the egocentric and that children are more effective to provide information and feedback to other children about the validity of their logical constructions (Driscoll, 2005); hence the instructional strategies are favored that encourage peer teaching and social negotiation. Applying Piaget or Vygotsky, the teachers main goal should be to support learners and to provide the assistance plan that fulfill the learner needs and promote his thinking skills and cognitive development. Teachers should also prepare the learning environment that attracts children attention and encourages their self-discovery. The instruction plan should be designed on the premises that classrooms have students with different cultural, linguistic and knowledge backgrounds. In preparing learning activities, teachers should be able to get children to play and learn collaboratively and enhance their understanding through teacher feedback, peer feedback and social negotiation. Symbolic Play: Cognitive and Language Development As introduced, the cognitive development theories encourage play and symbolic play-in particular- as a pedagogic strategy for active self learning and language development. In play, the children initiate and take control of their activity (Driscoll, 2005); and this very nature of play along with other criteria are what distinguish play from other behaviors: play is essentially motivated with self-imposed goals, play is activity of spontaneous and pleasure, play is free from imposed rules, player is an active participants in the play; play focuses on means rather than ends, play is characteristics by the as if dimension that encourages children to use objects and gestures as if they were something else ( Hymans, 1991 ; Fein Rivikin as cited in Yan, Yuejuan Hongfen, 2005; Piaget, 1951; Rubin, Waston Jambor, 1978). In symbolic play that starts in second year of life, children use tools of objects, actions, language, signs and roles to represent something from their real or imagined world of experiences. It enables the children to build and express their understanding of either individual or social experience (Driscoll, 2005; Hymans, 1991; Lenningar, n.d; Lyytinen, Poikkeus Laakso, 1997; Piaget, 1951; Woolfolk, 2004). Symbolic play indicates that the child developed the two main cognitive operations: reversibility and decentralization; reversibility refers to the child awareness that he or she can come from the pretended role to the real world at any time while decentralization refers to the child understanding that the child in the play is still him/her at the same time with the person he/she is imitating (Rubin 1980 as cited in Marjanovic Lesnic, 2001). The next intellectual skill noticeable in the symbolic play is conservation which refers to the child ability to preserve the imaginary iden tity of the play materials despite the fact they are perceptually and could be functionally inadequate (Marjanovic Umek Lesnic Musek, 2001). The social element of the symbolic play is also a very important aspect to be considered for the cognitive development in the children. According to Vygotsky, children learn to use the tools and skills they practice with social parents; he also emphasized that learning occurs in social interactions and it is affected cultural context it occurs at. He further proposed that social interaction could lead to developmental delays or abnormal development as well as to normal or accelerated development (Driscoll, 2005). Piaget also highlighted the importance of social interaction for the children to develop beyond the egocentrism that is a characteristic of pre operational stage. The impact of symbolic play in this dimension is supported by Smilansky (1968) studies at which she proposed that social activities influence the development of the childs cognitive and social skills. When children are engaged in a role performance; they have to reach a agreement about the play idea, the course of actions and the transformation of roles and play materials and this can only be achieved when individuals come over their egocentrism and develop the ability to communicate and empathize (cited in Marjanovic Umek Lesnic Musek, 2001). Smilansky then developed the Scale for Evaluation of Dramatic and Socio-Dramatic Play; the scale tracks the progressive development in the use of the objects in the symbolic play over five stages. The first stage includes simple manipulation followed by the stage of imitating the adults activities of adults by using the model of the object as adult do (as using the hair brush as a microphone). In the third stage, the object becomes an instrument for enacting certain roles while in the forth stage the use of object/toy goes together with the speech and gestures. The final stage focuses in the speech without using objects or gestures (Smilansky 1968; Smilansky Shefatya, 1990 as cited in Marjanovic Umek Lesnic Musek, 2001). Smilansky scale supported also the role of symbolic play in the language development that was firstly proposed by Vygotsky and this language-play relation has been investigated all the way since then. The research studies discussed the component of the language in the context of symbolic play and mainly in the role playing part of it. In role playing, children engage in a communication dialogue with their playing parties. It is evident that the role playing and object transformations enable the childe to use lexicographic meanings and clear speech (Pellegrini Galda as cited in Marjanovic Umek Lesnic Musek, 2001). According to Lyytinen, Poikkeus and Lassko (1997); their study to observe and examine the relationship between language and play among 110 18-month-old children showed that early talkers of these children displayed significant more symbolic play than the late talkers ; a significant connection was found between the language comprehensive and percentage of symbolic play. Th is is supported by the study conducted by Marjanovic Umek and Lesnic Musek (2001) at which they compared three age groups of children in preschool settings with different level of play using Smilanskys Scale for the Evaluation of Dramatic and Socio-dramatic Play; the observations and results proved stronger use of the language in the function of defining roles, scenes and materials that are required for the play context. More interesting studies looked into the implications of symbolic play for the education of children with special needs and disorders such as Down syndrome and Autism. Example of these studies is the study conducted Stanley and Kinstantareas (2006) who investigated the relationship between symbolic play and other domains such as nonverbal cognitive abilities, receptive language, expressive language and social development among 131 children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The result indicates a significant positive relation between symbolic play and development of these domains in children with (ASD). The study also stressed that training in symbolic play will help to improve these children skills in other domains (Stanley Kinstantareas , 2006). Another recent study conducted by Venuti, Falco, Giusti and Bronstein (2008) to investigate the impact of mother-child interaction in the play on the cogitative functions of children with Down Syndrome concluded that such inter action leads to enhanced cognitive functioning (Venuti, Falco, Giusti Bronstein , 2008). Symbolic play, then, inked through the literature to the development of cognitive problem solving skills, linguistic transformation and creative abilities. It also supports the emotional and social development. Role playing is seen to be a way at which children escape from the real world conflicts into fantasy more comfortable world. From different aspect, it enhances the child self awareness and self directed through the positive feedback the child receives from parents and/or play mates. In term of social development, the children enjoy playful interactions with others starting with parents through whom they learn their culture values and aspects. An interaction with other children helps them to grasp the concepts of boundaries, taking turns, teamwork, competition, social negotiation, sharing, patience and the ability to deal with winning and losing emotions. Also, place assist the children physical and moral development. Physical play enhances the children motor skills as they run, jump and repeat more of pleasure full body movements. In the moral aspect, during the play with parents and other children, children begin to learn that cheating is not accepted and how they should respect others feeling and more of boundaries between the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Therefore, models of children learning and preschool education in professional settings are mainly driven from different understanding and implications of symbolic play which are in turn based on the premises of different cognitive development theories. Play and Learning: Educational Framework in Kindergarten Settings Children learn through play is the golden rule that any educational frameworks in the preschool (Kindergarten) settings should revolve around. According to the theories and studies discussed in this paper, the natural approach for children learning is dependent upon activities and discovery. Through touching, exploring, manipulating testing, imitating, and symbolic playing, children learn about their world. While through social interaction with other children and adults, they develop the language skills and learn about their culture, values, history, themselves and their relationships to others. The goal of the Kindergarten learning program is to help children to achieve a degree of self-confidence, to acquire social skills and to participate in activities that enable significant development in knowledge and language. The Kindergarten learning program then should engage children in different types of play that covers the range of physical, inactive, associative, solitary, parallel, surrogate (onlooker) and definitely the symbolic play. It is important to be sensitive to the developmentally characteristic of this stage of age and give the children the space for self-discovery and when instructed, instructions should visual, clear and short. The learning program should consider the stages of complexity of play in link to Scale for the Evaluation of Dramatic and Socio-dramatic Play in moving from simple touching and manipulation into object-free role playing. Teachers should be sensitive to the children differences and to the egocentrism characteristic of this age and encourage children gradually to engage in more collaborative kind of playing. For an example, the teacher can int

Elderly Patient Surgery Case Study

Elderly Patient Surgery Case Study Every nurse has the responsibility to safeguard their patients from harm and the NMC (2009a, p.14), states that it is every adults right to live in safety and be free from fear and abuse. There are a number of individuals who can be classed as a vulnerable person, these individuals can be either children or adults. A vulnerable adult is someone who is over 18 years old and meets any one of the following criteria: is receiving any form of healthcare or welfare service, needs assistance to carry out daily activities, unable to take care of him or herself and is unable to protect him or herself against harm. (DoH, 2009, Section 59)(DoH, 2000, p.8-9). Older people are generally regarded as vulnerable adults because of their general poor health and their high dependency on others to help with daily activities. In Peters case, he is not very young, is inclined to be forgetful and has mobility issues and therefore has the high probability of requiring help at home to help with his independe nce. All of these issues combined could have serious impacts on his health and safety which would mean that Peter could fit into each, if not all, of the mentioned categories and therefore he should be regarded as a vulnerable adult. The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) is responsible for the vetting and barring of any individuals who may come into contact with or work with vulnerable individuals (ISA, 2009, p.3). The ISA have an Independent Barring Board who are responsible for maintaining two separate lists, one for the protection of children and the other for the protection of vulnerable adults, which contain the names of any person who has been referred to them for the harming of any vulnerable person (ISA, 2009, p.3). The harming of a vulnerable person, whether it be physical, verbal, psychological, emotional, financial or neglect, is regarded as abuse. Vulnerable adults may be abused by a wide range of people, including family members and abuse can be in the form of a single or a recurring act. As Peters daughter wants him to have the surgery the nurse will have to establish whether there is an underlying reason for this. Assessment of this situation would be essential because intimidation or coerci on, which are both forms of psychological abuse, may cause Peter to be incapable of making his own decisions (DoH, 2000, p.11). As such, if this was assessed to be abusive behaviour, it would be important to remove Peter away from his daughter as the nurse has a duty of care to ensure that her patient remains safe at all times (NMC code). Nurses have a professional responsibility to their patients, are accountable for their actions when the patient is in their care and have a duty of care to ensure that the patient receives good quality care at all times (NMC code 1.4). Every nurse must always ensure that they work within their abilities and should raise any concerns, to a senior member of staff, if they have been asked to perform any duties which they are not competent in performing and therefore may potentially cause harm to the patient (NMC, 2009b). Reasonable care must be taken to avoid acts or omissions which are likely to cause reasonably foreseeable harm to whomever a duty of care is owed (Dimond, 2008, p.40). If the nurse does not provide sufficient care to the patient and causes harm as a result, she will be held liable in the tort of negligence (Tingle crib, p.92), which is a civil wrong for the breach of duty to take reasonable care not to injure or harm a person. In order to be held liable in the tort of negligence it must first be proven that the nurse owed a duty of care to that patient, next the claimant must prove that there was a breach in this duty of care and then it must be proven that the damage being claimed for was caused by this breach of duty (Tingle). The Bolam Test is the test which is used to determine a breach of duty and is concerned with how negligence should be established (Legal aspects). It does this by testing the standard of care which should be given from a professional and comparing it to the standard of care which was actually given in the cases of the alleged negligence (). Accountability means being responsible for something or to someone (NMC, 2002, p10). According to Dimond (2008, p.5), registered nurses are held accountable to the patient, the public, their employer and their profession, and these are known as the four arenas of accountability. Where the registered nurse is accountable to the patient and the public, she is accountable to the law and accountability to her employer means she is responsible for keeping to her contract of employment and failing to do so may result in a hearing in front of the employment tribunal. Professional accountability assumes that the nurse is a member of the profession and that she has accepted the rights, status and responsibilities of the profession (foundations, p.473). The NMC (2002, p.3) suggests that professional accountability involves using knowledge, skills, experience and professional judgement in order to make decisions which are in the best interests of the patient and should be able to justify the re asons for her decisions. This implies that nurses, as professionals, are competent in their area of practice, which allows the patient to gain trust in the nurse and enables the nurse to be able to act in the patients best interest (foundations, p.473). Therefore, nurses have a duty of care to those they care for and as such, this implies that there is a right and a duty attached to professional accountability. Registered nurses must follow the guidelines within the Code of Professional Conduct and as such should be legally accountable for their work (NMC, 2009b) and will be brought in front of the Fitness to Practice Panel, and possibly removed from the register, for unprofessional behaviour that breaches the Code of Conduct (Brooker and Nicol, 2003, p.6). This is different for nursing students, as they are only accountable to their employer, in this case the university, and the law. It is not possible to hold students professionally accountable as their names have not yet been entered onto the professional register however the NMC states that students are still responsible for their actions (NMC, 2010, p.1). From this it must be said that it will be the registered nurse who is mentoring, or working with, the student that can be held accountable for the students actions or omissions as it is their responsibility to ensure that the student is working within their abilities (Brooker and Nico l, 2003, p.7). Nurses are fundamentally responsible for the promotion and restoration of health, the prevention of illness and to ease suffering for their patients (Hendrick, p.76), however nursing is not just about treating a patients illness; its about caring, teaching and supporting a patient at a time when they need it the most. This can be done if the nurse makes building a nurse-patient relationship with her patient a priority in the patients care. Communication is a necessary foundation for any nurse-patient relationship to be built appropriately and there are a number of ways in which people can communicate such as verbally, non-verbally, written or electronically. The nurse should always communicate with the patient at their level of understanding and should always avoid using medical jargon when speaking to the patient (NMC). Effective communication is not just about talking, it involves active listening too and is an essential key in building a trusting relationship with the patient. Dif ferent communication techniques could be used between the nurse and the patient which include observing, listening, silence and open-ended questions (Brooker and Nicol, 2003, p.46). Without the appropriate use of these different communication techniques the relationship will not have a base to build on and if there is no relationship, the patient will not have the trust required for them to share their feelings, anxieties or wishes. In our scenario, Peter has opened up to the nurse by telling her how he is feeling and has put his trust in her to help him make the decision as to whether or not he should have the surgery. In this situation communication is the vital key as it is important that Peter is given open, honest, accurate and unbiased information about any procedures or assessments that will be carried out and the nurse must ensure that he fully understands the benefits, risks, side effects and consequences of these procedures (). The patient should be consulted every step of the way which will enable them to remain autonomous. All healthcare professionals should have a respect for their patients autonomy and should treat their patients as individuals, with rights, rather than objects of care (Hendrick, p.95). Autonomy is the right of the person to make their own decisions and accepting their choices. One way in which a patient can exercise their autonomy is by giving consent and as such, autonomy is a requirement for consent (tingle cribb, p.143). Consent can be given in different forms such as expressed or implied. Expressed consent can be either written or verbal and this can be given by the means of a written and signed consent form or by word of mouth. Implied consent can be a simple gesture, such as holding their arm out for an injection or by arriving at the hospital for an operation. Each form of consent is as equally valid as the other however, consent is only legally valid if it is given voluntarily, based on clear and accurate information and if the patient is competent (tingle and mchale, p.100 -105). Gillan (Tingle and Cribb, 2007, p.140) defines consent as a voluntary un-coerced decision made by a sufficiently autonomous person on the basis of adequate information to accept or reject some proposed course of action that will affect the patient. This definition suggests that communication, autonomy and consent are intricately liked as effective communication is important because you must give adequate, open and honest information to the patient in order for the patient to fully understand and consider all the issues involved, which will enable the patient to be able to make an autonomous decision and ultimately be able to give consent. No other person is authorised to give consent, for any procedure or treatment, on behalf of another adult unless they are the legal power of attorney for the patient (legal aspects). Gillans definition of consent states that consent can only be given by a sufficiently autonomous person. The DoH states that healthcare professionals must not make any assumptions that a person is incapable of making their own decisions, therefore they should carry out an assessment which would assess whether the individual is mentally capable of making these decisions for themselves. Autonomous decision making is therefore based on the matter of capacity or incapacity (foundations p.500). The term capacity is used to define the individuals ability to make their own decisions about a particular matter at a particular time (Legal aspects) and, as autonomy is the basic foundation for consent, if incapacity is suspected the individual is therefore not allowed to give consent until they are deemed competent. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 states that healthcare professionals are required to assume that every person has the capacity to make their own decisions and that the healthcare professional has to prove that the individual has a lack of capacity and must then be deemed incompetent (tingle and crib, p.143). Deciding whether a person has the capacity to make informed decisions for themselves is determined using the assessment tools defined in the Mental Capacity Act and cannot be established or judged by an individuals age or appearance (The Mental Health Act section 2 and 3). There are two basic concepts that underpin the Act these are: the concept of capacity and the concept of best interests (Legal aspects). Both of these concepts link together and as such, if the patient lacks mental capacity actions can be taken or decisions can be made on their behalf and these must be made or taken in the best interests of that person. The assessment used to determine whether a patient is capable of making a treatment decision is split into two stages: the first stage is to determine whether the patient has any issues which prevent them from making a decision, and the second is to establish if this issue which prevents the patient from making a decision causes the patient any problems in communicating their decisions or wishes (Legal aspects). A person is not able to make their own decisions for themselves if they are not able to understand any of the information given to them, remember the information, utilise that information as part of the decision making process and are not able to convey or share their decision (Legal aspects). However, if the information is not given to the patient in a way that is appropriate to his circumstances such as using simple words or visual aids, they are not to be judged as unable to understand that information (legal aspects, p.139). Additionally, if the patient has a short memory span and can only retain information for a short period, they must not be classed as unable to make their own decisions, as this issue may not prevent them from being able to make the decision relevant to the treatment (legal aspects, p.139). In such instances this decision must be made whilst the information is still held within the patients memory. From this is must be said that every person should be encourag ed and enabled to make their own decisions or to participate as fully as possible in the decision-making, by being given the help and support they need to make and express a choice (NMC, 2008a). In this scenario it states that Peter has an inclination to be forgetful, because of this he must not automatically be deemed incompetent and it is vitally important that all the steps required to deem a person incompetent must be taken into account. One of the steps suggests that even though the Peter has a short memory span, it is vital to ensure that the information given is understood clearly and that the decision is made before the he forgets. This would enable Peter to give informed consent, however if he forgets this information and has not made an informed decision before his memory span lapses he must be deemed incompetent. From this we can establish that it is important to have the necessary mental capacity as it protects the individuals right to make their own decisions (legal aspects). If the individual is lacking in capacity then decisions need to be made on their behalf and these decisions that are made on behalf of someone else should be the decisions which limit the p ersons basic rights and freedoms the least (legal aspects mc). The Human Rights Act 1998 ensures that individuals rights are respected and that basic human rights such as the right to life, the right to not be discriminated against, the right to liberty, and the right to freedom from torture or degrading treatment and the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence are promoted (Human Rights Act 1998). These rights can be promoted by providing high standard of care and treatment, respecting a patients privacy, dignity and confidentiality and by safeguarding the patients from harm. A persons rights and freedoms are protected and promoted by the nurse when she acts as an advocate for them. Being an advocate for the patient is vitally important as it ensures that the patients choices and decisions are respected. The nurse can act as an advocate in many different situations such as, offering an alternative explanation, or asking the other professionals to give the information again in basic terms, if the nurse feels that the patient has not been given clear, honest and adequate information. (NMC). Another way for the nurse to act as an advocate is to try to adhere to the patients wishes if the patient was proved to be incompetent; if this is not possible then she must act in their best interests. As Peter has asked the nurse in this scenario to help him make the decision as to whether or not he should have the surgery, he is putting his trust in her and allowing her to become his advocate. However, until all the necessary steps have been taken to ensure whether Peter has understood what he has been told and once his mental capacity has been assessed, no other person can make this decision for him, unless he was deemed to be mentally incompetent. If he was deemed to be incompetent the decision as to whether he has the surgery or not will be made by the healthcare professionals, unless his daughter has lasting power of attorney, and will be based on his best interests. The decision that is likely to be made is that Peter will go ahead with the surgery, as this is in his best interests and will improve his quality of life. If Peter is deemed competent, then Peter should make the decision for himself and his decision will be final. If Peter decides not to go ahead with the surgery, then Peters home life would need to be assessed. Inter-professional working is required in order to care for the patient holistically. Holistic care is primarily concerned with ensuring that the patients basic needs are met (NMC, 2009a, p.9) and making sure that any observations, medications and decisions are recorded accurately (NMC, 2008b, p.6). A nurses role also includes supporting and teaching the patient and their families about the illness or about improving their lifestyle to prevent the illness from re-occurring. It is extremely important that the nurse develops a close working relationship with these other multi-disciplinary professionals, as Peter will need support when he gets home whether or not he has had the surgery. The range of other professionals which may be involved in Peters care when he gets home include social workers, occupational therapists and physiotherapists. It may be possible that Peters daughter may be pushing for Peter to have the surgery as she may be his primary carer and might be feeling stressed or overworked and if this surgery can improve his mobility, this may offer her some form of relief. If this is the case, the nurse could arrange for a carer to help them within their home and that way Peters daughter may get some relief from the work involved in his care. In this case, the nurse can act as an advocate to ensure that the decisions are not being made for him or that he is under no undue pressure or being forced to make the decision. Being an advocate for a patient implies that there should be a level of trust between the nurse and the patient and this level of trust can be built up through a therapeutic relationship. Therapeutic relationships are an intervention which is central to nursing and a nurse should have an essence of self-awareness and self-knowledge and have an awareness of the boundaries of the professional role in order to be able to establish a therapeutic relationship with their patient. Effective communication, trust, respect, genuineness, acceptance and empathy are key principles in establishing this relationship (Brooker and Nicol, 2003, p.45). When this relationship has been established the patient may feel at ease to share information and have a willingness to open up and share their feelings (Dossey and Keegan, 2008, p.370). Establishing and maintaining this nurse-patient relationship is vital to the holistic care of the patient and even though the nurse should develop a close relationship w ith the patient in order to open up communication barriers she must always keep and emotional distance from the patient and their families. It is the nurses responsibility to ensure that she never oversteps the professional boundaries throughout the care of the patient (NMC Code). In conclusion it has been established that in order for a patient to be given high quality, safe care a nurse needs to have the appropriate skills and knowledge to be able to perform the even the simplest of tasks competently. This assignment has briefly looked at the importance of a therapeutic relationship with communication being one of the vital keys, as without using it effectively it will be difficult to bond and build a professional relationship with the patient. It has also been identified that every nurse has a duty to protect their patients, that they should safeguard their patients and promote their rights and autonomy. It is vitally important that the nurse has the confidence to speak up to other professionals if she feels that the information hasnt been delivered to the patient honestly, accurately or clearly, otherwise she could be held accountable if something was to go wrong. The importance of the guidelines and codes issued by the NMC, have also been discussed, as th ey are in place to help protect, not only the patient, but also the professionals who are involved in the patients care. One of the guidelines which has been focused on, is for the nurse to make sure that the patient has given informed consent without any undue pressure and that the nurse, acting as the patients advocate, can help protect the patient. We have also looked at the importance of using assessment tools to assist in decision making process as this is used to identify whether the patient has the capacity to give consent or not. We have established that all health care professionals need to work together as a team and must communicate, not just with each other, but with the patient and his family to ensure patients needs are met and that every patient should be awarded the opportunity to live independently or be offered help and support from the necessary health care professionals to enable the patient to live as independently as possible.

Essay --

English 102 Professor Su Suoccai Arnaud Fragniere 19 February 2014 The different aspects of the Grandmother’s personality in ’’A Good Man Is Hard to Find’’ In Flannery O’Connor’s story ‘’A Good Man Is Hard to find’’, the author narrates the events as a third person, centering it on the grandmother who decides to go with her whole family for a road trip from Georgia to Florida. The grandmother does not want to go to Florida. During the journey she selfishly and manipulatively forces the whole family to go see a plantation that she mistakenly think is on the way. This results in them having an accident and meeting the Misfit, an extremely violent criminal who defies ‘’the beliefs that Christians have in the ability of Jesus to raise the dead’’. As the story develops, the Misfit and his accomplices kill all members of the family except for the grandmother, who up to her death, falsely tries to convince herself and the Misfit that he is a ‘’good man’’. At the end, the grandmother has a moment of grace. However, it proves unavailing as the Mis fit, proceeds to kill her without remorse. Throughout the text we realize that the major trait of the grandmother’s personality is the fact that she considers herself as morally superior. This is based on her belief that she is a ‘’lady’’; sophisticated, wealthy, overall better of a woman. In her eyes, this allows her to judge others. Not only does she see herself as superior, but she thinks that her faith along with her being a good Christian would save her from anything that could cross her path. We discover that she is also extremely selfish and manipulative; for her, her life has much more value than anything else, including the life of her children and grandchildren. To unders... ...e times through the chest. The grandmother’s selfishness and ability to manipulate people fails to help her during the biggest threat that she has to face through her entire existence: her imminent death. Her inability to change the Misfit’s mind and manipulate him the way she wants costs her life. O’connor’s story shows us an old grandmother who considers her as a superior person being powerless against her antagonist in life. The Misfit, this criminal who doesn't believe there is real pleasure in life challenges everything the old lady might say or do in order to live. The old lady tries in vain to save her life using all the tools that she knows, even if she selfishly has to serve this purpose and letting her whole family get killed. The grandmother must abandon all of her manipulative self-absorption, her focus on class and her external show of Christianity.

Black Like Me: A Cultural Book Report :: Black Like Me Essays

John Howard Griffin was a journalist and a professional on race issues. After publication, he became a leading advocate in the Civil Rights Movement and did much to promote awareness of the racial situation sand pass legislature. He was middle aged and living in Mansfield, Texas at the time of publication in 1960. His desire to know if Southern whites were racist against the Negro population of the Deep South, or if they really judged people based on the individual's personality as they said. Because of this he felt that they had encouraged him to cross the color line and write Black Like Me. Plot:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Black Like Me is the story of a man named John Howard Griffin, who underwent a series of medical treatments to change his skin color temporarily to black; a transformation that was complete when John Howard Griffin shaved off his hair, and looking in the mirror, saw a bald, middle-aged black man. The reason he does this is for an experiment to see how racism was in the Deep South from personal experience. From November 6th to December 14th in the early 60's, he hitchhiked, walked, and rode through Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia. After three weeks in the Deep South as a black man John Howard Griffin produced a journal covering his change into the black race, his travels and experiences in the South, the shift back into white society, and the reaction of those he knew prior his experience. The book was published and released. The reaction on the society differed in great ammounts. Characterization:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Howard Griffin is the main character in the story. Throughout the story, this person displayed many qualities. He showed determination because he was bound and determined to become a black man so he could expose the truth about the Deep South and how racist they were. He also showed courage, for being able to pull through and do the things he did, such as become a whole new person of another race and going into dangerous territory where he knew he wasn't really welcomed. He also displayed a sense of dignity, because after he was done with this experiment, he was threatened several times and even burned in effigy in his hometown, but he still maintained his ground as long as he could. And last, but not least, he showed us a sense of hope, because no matter what, even in the darkest times, he would still keep at least a small bit of hope in him. Black Like Me: A Cultural Book Report :: Black Like Me Essays John Howard Griffin was a journalist and a professional on race issues. After publication, he became a leading advocate in the Civil Rights Movement and did much to promote awareness of the racial situation sand pass legislature. He was middle aged and living in Mansfield, Texas at the time of publication in 1960. His desire to know if Southern whites were racist against the Negro population of the Deep South, or if they really judged people based on the individual's personality as they said. Because of this he felt that they had encouraged him to cross the color line and write Black Like Me. Plot:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Black Like Me is the story of a man named John Howard Griffin, who underwent a series of medical treatments to change his skin color temporarily to black; a transformation that was complete when John Howard Griffin shaved off his hair, and looking in the mirror, saw a bald, middle-aged black man. The reason he does this is for an experiment to see how racism was in the Deep South from personal experience. From November 6th to December 14th in the early 60's, he hitchhiked, walked, and rode through Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia. After three weeks in the Deep South as a black man John Howard Griffin produced a journal covering his change into the black race, his travels and experiences in the South, the shift back into white society, and the reaction of those he knew prior his experience. The book was published and released. The reaction on the society differed in great ammounts. Characterization:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Howard Griffin is the main character in the story. Throughout the story, this person displayed many qualities. He showed determination because he was bound and determined to become a black man so he could expose the truth about the Deep South and how racist they were. He also showed courage, for being able to pull through and do the things he did, such as become a whole new person of another race and going into dangerous territory where he knew he wasn't really welcomed. He also displayed a sense of dignity, because after he was done with this experiment, he was threatened several times and even burned in effigy in his hometown, but he still maintained his ground as long as he could. And last, but not least, he showed us a sense of hope, because no matter what, even in the darkest times, he would still keep at least a small bit of hope in him.