Improving mathematics Essay Example for Free

Improving mathematics Essay It is important for Mathematics teachers to create an atmosphere in which the subject is not seen to be outside of the student’s sphere of involvement and therefore irrelevant. Mathematics techniques that relate the subjects to things in the everyday world will more readily grasp the student’s attention and get him or her fully involved in the learning process. Mathematics can become more powerful and engaging if it is built â€Å"into an extended inquiry on a topic of importance for [the] subject, for students, and for the world at large† (Daniels Zemelman, 2004). Since the techniques practiced in the subject are used by people from retailers to engineers, teachers should take real life situations to the classroom and connect them to each lesson. For example, since the world’s population has been growing exponentially, it is possible to illustrate a lesson on exponents using such an example (2004). The constructivist idea that learning should be predominantly an active and social experience should be applied to the teaching of mathematics (Crowther, 1997). Although it is easier to ascertain the level of achievement of a given student via individual work, it is possible for students to gain much more from learning sessions if they are allowed to interact with their peers while completing tasks. This has several advantages, but two very important ones are these: It gives students the opportunity to gain different perspectives on the problem as well as the chance to have the theory explained in a novel way. Since students are more in tune with the way other students think, those who understand the problem will be able to re-present it to their fellow struggling students and to reveal the nuances of their understanding possibly in ways that the teacher had never considered. The other benefit of allowing interaction is that it gives the teacher time and space to visit—not just individual students, which would take the entire class period, but groups. Within the groups, salient issues will likely have already come up, and will most likely be revealed more readily by the students, as the group setting reduces the embarrassment that generally attends airing one’s ignorance on a topic. It is often during working and not teaching that students â€Å"realize† that their understanding of the topic is limited. Creating an atmosphere in which questions will arise and will be easier for the student to ask is a general teaching method that will improve the mathematics learning. A very important and unnerving part of mathematics teaching is the assessment. Assessment has generally been used as a tool for screening and separating students who have an aptitude for mathematics from those who do not (Linchevski et al. , 1998). However, this use of assessment (along with ineffective teaching methods) has contributed to the hatred that many have of the subject (Cock Pickard). Instead, if assessment were used consciously as a tool to determine what students need to learn, it would become a more effective tool in teaching (Linchevski Kutcher, 1998). Inevitably, some (if not most) students in a class will attack at least one problem and come up with the wrong answer. However, during assessment it is necessary for the teacher to scrutinize the process. Mathematics problems can be considered similar to an essay in that the student allows the teacher a glimpse into his or her mental processes via the different steps taken to get from one level in the answer to another. The faulty reasoning that leads to these erroneous steps is the area in which students need help. Planning is a very important part of teaching mathematics, and it can be used in conjunction with this kind of assessment to benefit the students (Linchevski Kutcher, 1998). It might be found that several students make similar errors. In such cases, the teacher has the opportunity to plan general lessons to address the areas in which students have shown weakness. If only a few make similar errors, for one class period following the assessment students could be grouped according to the areas in which they demonstrated weakness. The teacher would then be able to move around to each groups and explain where the members went wrong. References Cock, S. P. Pickard. â€Å"Improving student learning on entry level mathematics courses through course design. † University of North London. http://homepages. north. londonmet. ac. uk/~pickardp/oxbrk696. htm Crowther, D. T.(1997). â€Å"The Constructivist Zone. † Electronic Journal of Science Education. Vol. 2(2). Daniels, H. S. Zemelman. (2004). Subjects matter: every teacher’s guide to content-area reading. Portsmouth: Heinemann. Linchevski, L. and Kutcher, B. (1998). â€Å"Tell me with whom you’re learning and I’ll tell you how much you’ve learned: Mixed-ability versus same-ability grouping in mathematics. † Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. November. Linchevski, L. , R. Liebenberg, M. Sasman A. Olivier. (1998). Assessme.

Virtual Reality Technology :: Internet Online Communication Essays

Virtual Reality Technology The World of Virtual Reality is getting closer and closer to Neal Stephenson’s idea of the Metaverse in Snow Crash. In Snow Crash, the Metaverse is a world very similar to the world that we know it as, but with one major difference, none of the Metaverse exists. All of the Metaverse is a simulation. The Metaverse has everything that today’s world has, with may additional features. It has all of the buildings, streets, homes, and everyone is represented in what is called an avatar. An avatar is a digital representation of oneself in the Metaverse. The nicer or fancier the avatar normally means the more time or many spent on designing it. In some ways this is happening already. On the internet there are many games where a person can compete against another person, or a person can play a type of social game in which people get to meet others from around the world. The internet has simple chat rooms and there are also social games in which users will interact with each other. In Snow Crash, Stephenson tells how Hiro, the protagonist in the story, runs into two couples on a double date. Each person is represented as their avatar, and they go out on the town in the Metaverse just and in real life. The social setting to the Metaverse exists in many online environments in which many people meet online and date online.. A MUD would be very comparable to the Metaverse in the sense that a person can be the people in which they are playing. A person can navigate their way in Multi-User Dimension to meet other people and chat with individuals. â€Å"Life in a virtual world is s mix of creative playfulness, purpose and serendipity that needs to be experienced firsthand† (Dyril 1). A closer representation of the Metaverse is what is called a virtual world. Dan Costa sums up a virtual world best by describing virtual worlds as having â€Å"smooth chat features and realistic graphic environment, and they offer subscribers the ability to create unique avatars and wander freely† (Costa 1). This is very similar to Stephenson’s Metaverse in the sense that it gives users the opportunity to socially interact with other users without being physically present.

Analysis and Critique of Research – Based Literature

I. Summary of Hofstede’s Model of Cross-Cultural Management Early management gurus used to presume that their ideas on management apply to everybody all over the world. Their notions were challenged when the Japanese became a world economic superpower, along with the significant rise of dragons and tigers economies. The notion that management principles are not universally applicable across all cultural boundaries soon emerged and began to develop itself through various cross-cultural studies, such as Lane and Beamish’s (1990) study on western companies that built joint-ventures with people from other nations, without considering the differences in their management cultures and thought that it would be sufficient in dealing with global competition problems. Also read this  Critique of Stuff Is Not Salvation One study that stood out from the others came from Geert Hofstede (1980a), who defined culture as: â€Å"†¦the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another†¦the interactive aggregate of common characteristics that influences a human group’s response to its environment†. Richards (2001) mentioned that Hofstede’s study was focused on the differences in ‘mental programming’ among groups of people in different nations, through their collective preferences on certain states of affairs over others. His study was conducted through a questionnaire survey on IBM’s employees in fifty nations and his analysis was based on comparative data from that survey. Hofstede’s empirical study would then strengthen the belief that western, particularly American, management practices could not directly be applied on management from different cultures, which are based on different values. Geert Hofstede identified four levels of social attachments through which culture displays itself: symbols; heroes; rituals and values. Among said levels, values play the biggest part in explaining cultural differences. Hofstede further identified five primary value dimensions from which a pecking order can be established for each target country. These dimensions are: 1. Individualism versus Collectivism: The way in which people live together and the relationship that exists between the individual and the collectivity. 2. Large versus Small Power Distance: The extent to which a society accepts or rejects inequalities in such areas as prestige, wealth and power, or hierarchy versus equality. 3. Strong versus Weak Uncertainty Avoidance: The extent to which culture cope with uncertainty or unstructured situations, and encourage risk-taking, through technology, law and religion (risk avoidance versus risk comfort). 4. Masculinity versus Femininity: Attitudes to quality of life, achievement, assertiveness and competition (task versus relationship). 5. Long-term Orientation (Confucian work Dynamism): Value persistence (perseverance); having a sense of shame rather than guilt; search for virtue, rather than truth; long-term approach to life; and ordering relations by status and observation of it. Hofstede then placed countries within the above dimensions and found that a culture in one country makes people from that country to more likely behave in a certain way than other. This research was found to be very enlightening (Richards, 2001, p. 172), especially in paving the way to look deeper into the differences in cultural values and norms. In his 2002 counter-argument made toward McSweeney’s critique, Hofstede (2002, p. 1355) even claimed that his pioneering research had resulted in a ‘paradigm-shift’ in the field of cross-cultural studies. Later on in 1987, he developed what he called as ‘theory T’ (Richards, 2001, p. 178), which core arguments are: 1. The world is unequal and everyone has his/her place within the order. 2. Each of the children has his/her birthright place and has to work on his/her duties accordingly, but can improve his/her position through studying with a good teacher, working with a good patron, and/or marrying a good partner. 3. Wisdom is grounded on tradition. That is why human beings do not like change and will avoid it if he/she can. Trying to find the ideal model for these cultural differences, Hofstede then developed his theory T to a more complex model he called theory T +, which added on to theory T the component of change and the ability within a particular culture to modernize and synergize with other cultures through life experience; commitment to change; capacity to lead to change; and people’s learning capacities (Richards, 2001, pp. 6-17). II. Analysis and Critique The prescribed readings that followed after Richards’ (2001) overview of cultural differences, cultural dimensions and syndromes, through previous academics’ works (Hofstede, Trompenaars and others) and his own teachings on cultural understanding, essentially went back and forth on research credibility issues, including validity in the methodologies that these academics utilized in their research (i. e. Hofstede’s critique on Trompenaars’ research methodologies and its subsequent rebuttal from Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars in readings # 2 and 3 of the reading list, followed by more critique from Hofstede on Trompenaars’ work in reading # 4, and still followed by Brendan McSweeney critique on Hofstede’s own methodology and the quality of his evidence in reading # 5, which sparked another refutation from Hofstede in reading # 6, and still another counter-rebuttal from Sweeney in reading # 7). To this writer, all the above debate was focused on several key issues: 1. All theoretical claims have to be based on analysis grounded on empirical research. 2. Selection of methodology made on an academic’s research could determine the credibility of his/her research and subsequent academic analysis. 3. Research design, along with type of data and instruments to gather said data are exceptionally important in the formation of a researcher’s analysis. . The type of analysis used on a researcher’s database would determine the scope of academic claim he/she could create and how valid those claims would be. This writer’s own doubt on Hofstede’s research is mainly based on whether his sample of 117,000 respondents who participated in his questionnaire survey are homogenous, thus representative enough to the world population that was supposed to be the target population of his research on (world) culture. Unlike McSweeney in reading # 5, however, this writer would give Hofstede the benefit of the doubt on his choice of questionnaire content, which must have played a significant part in determining whether cultural differences could be correctly reflected through the selection of question items. Simply put, should the writer be in Hofstede’s shoes and possess sufficient resources within his grasp, he would probably undertake another survey-based research on a much narrower or tighter ‘cultural’ sub-concept or characteristic, which makes up a larger concept of ‘culture’.

How Does Hormones Affect Sexual Orientation Essay

Proponents have also argued that hormones are the primary determinant of sexual orientation, or a co-factor with environmental and social conditions, biological factors, or genes. Having seen that many genetic screens have failed to turn up genes that are responsible for sexual orientation, colleagues have researched that homosexuality may be a carry-over from one s parents prenatal resistance to the hormones of the opposite sex. Early hormones have been hypothesized to influence both sexual orientation and related childhood sex-typed behaviors. Seeing that sexual differentiation occurs in the womb, as a result of hormonal influences, it has been believed that homosexuality may result from a differential hormone balance in the wombs of those who eventually display a homosexual preference. Since hormonal levels within the womb are not available, representatives for hormonal influences have been used to examine the question of how hormonal influences might impact sexual orientation. T hese proxies include differences in size and shape, including the ratio of the longer bones of the arms and legs relative to arm span or stature and the hand bones of adults. In some cases, studies have shown that the mothers of homosexual males suffered a high degree of stress throughout their duration of their pregnancy. Since stress affects hormonal levels, researchers have suggested that decreased levels of testosterone could lead to a demasculinization of the development of the brain.Show MoreRelatedGay Straight, And The Reason Why Essay1497 Words   |  6 Pagesdebated where our sexual orientation comes from, particularly whether its biological or social forces driving these behaviors. 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