So apparently I’m having a sense of déjà vu and am now typing a blog about the ideal student…again. I don’t think my concept of an ideal student is that different now than it was before though. The big thing I’ve noticed is I feel grades don’t really say everything even more now. You can have a student that works hard, does everything he’s asked, and still comes out without a great grade due to some circumstance that is out of their control. It’s bound to happen, it’ll happen to some more than others, I feel sorry for the ones that it happens to a lot. A student shouldn’t be 100% based off a piece of paper that lists grades.
It’s like that saying it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Students don’t have to be at the top of the class to prove they’re great students. It’s having the drive to succeed, and the work ethic to actually commit to things that makes them the ideal student.
Honestly, I feel that the performance in the classroom is the least contributing factor. It’s a little bit
of a paradox, being in class doesn’t contribute to being good at class. I think it’s more important to want to be that student. You can sit anybody in a chair and they could learn and be a good student, but the ideal student has to have that want to learn. Having outside influences like a good circle of friends and family are extremely helpful in molding an ideal student because it gives them confidence and support.
So I guess all in all I’m trying to say that an ideal student is a hard worker, someone who strives to succeed someone who wants to learn. Ideal and perfect aren’t completely synonyms, students can make mistakes, being that student with the 4.0 GPA isn’t the biggest factor. Besides, nobody’s perfect so the concept of a perfect student doesn’t exist. An ideal student is a student who when he leaves the classroom knows that there is nothing else that they could’ve done.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Stem Cells + Communication = ?
How do stem cell research and the written, oral, and visual communication thinking domain connect? Well how did you first learn about stem cells? Unless you were a scientist or researcher who first thought of the idea of using stems cells, you probably heard about it somewhere. That's communication. Without this communication there would never be any information passed along.
The way society has grown and evolved has created several new forms of communication. In the past people always depended on newspapers and radios to get their information. Now with things like the internet and televison, we can reach across the world sharing information easily.
There are various types of communication, each having their own pros and cons. Articles, books, and websites are the main forms of written communication. The difference though is that articles and books don't have to be in the electronic form. Websites though alow for more information because you don't have to worry about physical pages, you can just add another electronic page, allowing for endless customization. They can be used for many things. I've found articles about this history of stem cells, about the problems, and some that are just Q&A's.
Oral communication is great, especially for persuasive purposes. It allows views to see the speaker and their body language and gestures can help to reinforce their points. It also has the benfit over written communication that you get the tone and emotion of the speaker. two people can read the same thing and come out with two completely different views on how to interpret it. The main forms of this communication are speeches. A great example connected to stem cells is the speech Barack Obama gave describing his efforts to reduce the restrictions on research.
Visual communication is basically an enhancement of oral or written communication. It allows for things like pictures, or charts, or graphs that help reinforce points. Television is the main visual communication form. It gives off the same messages as written and oral, just sometimes with more technology involved. You see tv pundits all the time arguing about controversial issues and one of those issues is stem cell research.
All in all, ommunication is essential to stem cell research. Without it we wouldn't be able to share ideas and gather new information. Its these new ideas and pieces of information that drive the advancement of stem cell research, without them we would be nowhere.
The way society has grown and evolved has created several new forms of communication. In the past people always depended on newspapers and radios to get their information. Now with things like the internet and televison, we can reach across the world sharing information easily.
There are various types of communication, each having their own pros and cons. Articles, books, and websites are the main forms of written communication. The difference though is that articles and books don't have to be in the electronic form. Websites though alow for more information because you don't have to worry about physical pages, you can just add another electronic page, allowing for endless customization. They can be used for many things. I've found articles about this history of stem cells, about the problems, and some that are just Q&A's.
Oral communication is great, especially for persuasive purposes. It allows views to see the speaker and their body language and gestures can help to reinforce their points. It also has the benfit over written communication that you get the tone and emotion of the speaker. two people can read the same thing and come out with two completely different views on how to interpret it. The main forms of this communication are speeches. A great example connected to stem cells is the speech Barack Obama gave describing his efforts to reduce the restrictions on research.
Visual communication is basically an enhancement of oral or written communication. It allows for things like pictures, or charts, or graphs that help reinforce points. Television is the main visual communication form. It gives off the same messages as written and oral, just sometimes with more technology involved. You see tv pundits all the time arguing about controversial issues and one of those issues is stem cell research.
All in all, ommunication is essential to stem cell research. Without it we wouldn't be able to share ideas and gather new information. Its these new ideas and pieces of information that drive the advancement of stem cell research, without them we would be nowhere.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Gender Divided Classrooms
Establishing gender divided classroom s would seriously harm children’s development. Yes, sometimes having the other gender in a classroom can be distracting for everyone, but by separating the genders you create a whole new set of problems. Gender divided classrooms aren’t going to solve this problem, just change it. Students need to develop these social skills for life anyway. They’re going to have to interact with the opposite gender eventually. Why not give them time to develop those skills before throwing them into the world to fall on their face. If anything this would make the problem worse. It will create a gap between the two genders. How are you supposed to understand the other gender when you have no interaction with them? It will just lead to conflict which will make the situation worse. Yes, there are differences between boys and girls and their learning styles, but dividing classes isn’t going to help. By dividing the classrooms, it almost feels like a punishment for learning differently. Have parents interact more and promote different styles of learning, have teachers find new methods that can teach to either side, these things will help, not gender divided classrooms.
One of the big reasons to support gender divided classrooms is that it allows teachers to teach to each gender’s “strengths,” which for boys would be math and science. Well according to “Girls' and Boys' Developing Interests in Math and Science: Do Parents Matter?” they discovered that girls can be just as strong. It doesn’t take altering schools to make that happen either, it just takes some support from parents. In their study they followed a group of children all through grade school and monitored their interest in science and math. The results showed that children of either gender can be more interested in those subjects with a little motivation from their parents. So why split up the classroom when there’s a simpler answer lying at home?
Source: Jacobs, Janis E., and Martha M. Bleeker. "Girls' and boys' developing interests in math and science: Do parents matter?." New Directions for Child & Adolescent Development 2004.106 (2004): 5-21. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 Oct. 2010.
One of the big reasons to support gender divided classrooms is that it allows teachers to teach to each gender’s “strengths,” which for boys would be math and science. Well according to “Girls' and Boys' Developing Interests in Math and Science: Do Parents Matter?” they discovered that girls can be just as strong. It doesn’t take altering schools to make that happen either, it just takes some support from parents. In their study they followed a group of children all through grade school and monitored their interest in science and math. The results showed that children of either gender can be more interested in those subjects with a little motivation from their parents. So why split up the classroom when there’s a simpler answer lying at home?
Source: Jacobs, Janis E., and Martha M. Bleeker. "Girls' and boys' developing interests in math and science: Do parents matter?." New Directions for Child & Adolescent Development 2004.106 (2004): 5-21. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 Oct. 2010.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)