Diagnostic Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Diagnostic Writing - Essay Example The patriarchal society was created by men to maintain a dominant position in the society that restricts the role of women in any decision making and promotes a set of rules for their conduct and actions, both within the family and outside the family environment. The women are denied the basic right for self expression and empowerment of women has increasingly become a major issue for the societies at large. Later, when the women, especially those coming from lower strata of society and from black community, started sharing work with their counterparts, they were denied their rightful wages and status. Truth’s speech in 1851 at Ohio’s Women’s Rights Convention, is a persuasive text that question’s the society’s moral right to deny the women equal rights when they have shown that they are capable of working alongside men, in every field. In her speech, Truth has pointed out that though women, in general, have been denied equal rights and decision powers but the ‘black’ women have even been stripped of their gender identity and denied the basic minimum respect that ‘white’ women command! She has been highly critical of system that lets the ‘black’ woman do the work of men but when it comes to recognizing them at par with the men, there is no hesitation in highlighting the gender discrimination. It is but for a woman, Mary, that ‘Jesus our God’ was born so how can a society morally deny the women any rights? She says that she has worked like a man, borne lashes and at times, even done better than them. At the same, she has borne and reared children who were sold into slavery in front them and still she has not been accorded the status of either a woman or equal partner! She has exhorted the women to fight collectively for their rights because ‘if the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to

Clusters, small business (Five forces, Porter's generic strategies, Essay

Clusters, small business (Five forces, Porter's generic strategies, STP with marketing) - Essay Example First, it can use mass marketing strategy where it focuses on medium-end quality door according to different ages as they have different segmentations. Targeting the mass market may help drive huge purchases of their products for them to survive and grow in the international market (Panda, 2008: 98). Secondly, the company can use targeted marketing strategy. They should focus on high income individuals by tailor making high quality doors. By communicating their value proposition well, they will be able to attract and retain many customers internationally (Tyagi & Kumar, 2004: 72). Thirdly, they can use tradeshow marketing strategy. It should participate in Trade Fairs, Chinese Guangxi - Southeast Asia Business Expo, the CAEXPO as well as other transnational commodity fairs so as to attract both local and international customers. Finally, the company should use global marketing strategy. The company should have sales agents through other countries door expositions in Europe so as to e xpand its customer base (Nijssen & Frambach, 2001: 45). It helps the company to analyze the industry and the market in which it will operate. This theory can equally help the company attract current buyers and future buyers over the world especially in Europe market. The company can use personalized or differentiated services so as to win customers thereby avoiding the threat of new entrants that may decrease profitability or take away some customers (Hill & Jones, 2010: 179). The personalized of differentiated products can create customer loyalty to the company’s brands thus creating a barrier to entry. To protect itself from the threat of substitute products, the company should develop high quality state-of-the-art doors with low ease of substitution (Roy, 2009: 64). This will increase the customer satisfaction thus reducing buyer propensity to substitute. Further, the company can implement loyalty programs to reduce bargaining power of

Measuring And Reporting The Cost Of Quality

Measuring And Reporting The Cost Of Quality It is well known that most of the company promote quality as the central customer value and consider it to be a key factor to achieving competitiveness. Since continuous improvement is not only to meet customers demand, but also to do it at the lowest costs, any related to improve quality must take into account the costs associated with achieving quality. Nevertheless, this can only be happen if they identified and measures reduction on costs needed to achieving quality. Therefore, measuring and reporting the cost of quality (COQ) should be consider as an important concern for managers. The term Cost of quality is widely used and also widely misunderstood. Although in the early decade, quality cost were describe as the cost of rework, inspection, scrap and the cost of running in the quality department but still people often misunderstand cost of quality as the cost of creating a quality product or service. The earliest writing on the concept of quality costs was Juran, (1951). Juran introduced Gold in the Mine which represents the potential savings in quality improvement efforts. He describes the cost of poor quality as the sum of all costs that would disappear if there were no quality problem. Cost of quality has become popular since that time. In the 1950s, quality costs were divided into four main categories by some scientists Feigenbaum (1983); Juran and Gryna (1993); Masser (1957) as prevention, appraisal, internal failure and external failure costs. Prevention costs are the costs incurred to preclude the production of products that do not conform to specifications. Examples of the costs are new product review, quality planning, error proofing, quality improvement projects etc. Products that not conforming to specification must be repaired, reworked, or scrapped at an additional cost to the organization, this is what we called internal failure costs. Thus, to prevent pay an additional cost, a firm will conduct appraisal cost which is to determine the degree of conformance to quality requirements. It is also refer as inspection costs which included testing, process or service audits and etc. Lastly, if the non-conformance errors remain after the product is shipped and the product breaks down at the customers site, even g reater repair costs as well as the loss of customer goodwill; this is how often the highest quality cost of all may result and we refer this as external failure costs. As suggested by Joseph Juran in the 1950s, there are organizations which skeptical about the real strength of cost of quality. Johnson (1995) also found a number of quality practitioners who viewed COQ systems as administrative nightmares and as impediments to quality rather than as contributors to quality. Why would this happen? Does this skepticism still existing? Some researchers found out the reasons for not tracking quality cost are lack of management support, absence of management interest in such costs, lack of understanding of the principle of quality costing amongst the management team, lack of adequate accounting and inadequate information systems. 1.2: Research Objective. The objective of this project is to investigate how important cost of quality system should be implementing as a management tool and does it benefit to the firms in both Singapore and Malaysia. In addition, this project also identify whether advance country is more aware with cost of quality management. Besides, in this project, I also decide to conduct a study on customers perception towards product quality. I would like to know whether there is different perception between different countries. The objective of this study is to find out customers concern more on qualities or price. By knowing this factor, a firm can be aware of prevention cost and appraisal cost. Chapter 2 Literature Review Cost of quality (COQ) and total cost of quality (TCOQ) have become the most powerful management tools to measure quality performance during the past two decades. To overcome the skepticism that still prevails, K.Kumar and J.C. Brittain (1995), conducted postal surveys over 107 companies and they conclude cost of quality program could assist to improve the reliability other than reduces costs. They indicate that there is a strong relationship between total cost of quality and reliability of quality. Many companies in British adopted ISO 9000 in order to reach the higher levels of awareness of quality issues. The best way to enhance customers satisfaction, reduce manufacturing costs and also increase productivity is to continuously improving quality of the products. While concentrate to improving quality, we must always remember it must be done at the lowest possible cost as well. Nevertheless, this can only happen when they are identified and measured. Andrea Schiffauerova and Vince Thomson (2006) conducted a research to investigate if companies collect, measure and monitor quality costs, which kinds of costs were considered in the calculations and whether any formal COQ approach was used. Four companies were selected participate in this research. This research is focused on the relation between quality strategies and industrial sectors on the kinds of COQ models used and on the satisfaction with company efforts. From this research, they suggested, cost of quality (COQ) should be a part of management program as it is not complex and well documented. Managers should understand well about the COQ concept, increase their ability to implement this system as how to save money. Cost of quality as presently understood is the sum of the cost incurred within a firm in preventing low-quality product, the costs incurred to ensure and evaluate that the product quality requirements are being met, and any other costs incurred as a result of poor quality. There are different types of quality cost models and PAF model was developed by Feigenbaum (1956) and Masser (1957) which is the oldest of the quality costs models. Some argue that PAF is weak in identifying the causes of quality problems and consume more time when finding the quality problems ad causes compare to other models. Samir K. Srivastave (2008) was utilize the blend of quality-costing, quality-loss and process cost approaches to estimate quality costs in monetary term as per PAF model, and suggested there are still issues about capturing the full PAF costs. Although COQ system is very popular and important for organizations to adopted, but still there are numbers of organization do not utilize it, Victor E.Sower, Ross Quarles and Eric Broussard (2007), did a research to investigate why there are still some organizations do not make use of COQ systems. They come out a conclusion that most frequent reasons for not tracking quality cost are lack of management support, absence of management interest in such costs, lack of understanding of the principle of quality costing amongst the management team, lack of adequate accounting and inadequate information systems The measurement of quality costs is a good indicator of the quality and the overall performance of a firm. There have been many attempts to measure quality costs in both theoretical and empirical research. Mine Omurgonulsen (2009), did a study to measure quality cost with specific reference to the Turkish food manufacturing industry. Panel regression method has been used by him to analyze the relation between conformance costs and non-conformance costs in seven food manufacturing firms for the period between years 2000 to 2005. He concludes that there is a trade-off between conformance and non-conformance costs and the non-conformance costs can be reduced by increasing conformance expenditures. The negative relation found between conformance and non-conformance costs can rather be attributed to external failure costs than internal costs. Amar Ramudhin, Chaher Alzaman and Akif A. Bulgak (2008) explored the challenges of introducing a model integrating the COQ into the modeling of supply chain network. They incorporate COQ in supply chain network design and conclude that it able to ensure the lowest overall cost. It is because it reduces the probability of defective and hence the probability of additional cost which might be due to corrective action. They also suggest presented a graphical demonstration of how quality costs affect the overall quality conformance of a given system, which can observe that as the quality level rises, failure costs decline and appraisal plus prevention costs increase. The most effective tools for evaluating the success of a quality management program are the measurement of quality costs. A systematic approach is need for measuring quality costs. S.B. Jaju, R.P. Mohanty and R.R Lakhe (2009) conducted a study to capture quality costs in a manufacturing company. Appropriate framework is proposed by S.B. Jaju, R.P. Mohanty and R.R Lakhe for capturing quality cost and various statistical analyses are carried out to characterize trends and relationships between various components. They concluded that quality cost should not be seen as solving a problem with a unique definition, as there is a whole space of reasonable concept of quality improvement rather than and these concept can be seen as actionable guiding principle to successfully implement a TQM program. Oiang Su, Jing-Hua Shi and Sheng-Jie Lai (2009) did a real case study which is concentrates on the statistic analysis of the trade-off relationship between quality costs and the quantitative calculation of the balanced point. The statistic analysis reveals that the trade-off relationships within quality costs will not show up except when time delays are taken into account. With these time delays, the related total quality costs (RTQC) can be derived and utilized to compute the balanced point of the quality costs. Regarding to this case study, they demonstrates that the findings and approach can provide a useful assistance in the quality cost saving and management improvement. A research was conducted by Mark A. Johnson (1995), to investigate measure of the cost of quality in engineering departments. It was to identify existing measures of the cost of non-conformance in engineering operations, and to recommend some measures for possible use in the client engineering unit. Information was obtained from the telephone interviews with engineering quality practitioners from a variety of major US corporations. Based on Mark A. Johnson, information provided may be of some use to engineering quality practitioners who are considering implementing their own COQ program. Perhaps, they too may benefit from the information pertaining to the benchmarking of COQ elements and the organizational, behavioral and accounting processes necessary to implement a COQ measurement system successfully. Ozgur Akkoyun and Huseyin Ankara (2009) did a study case which developed PAF quality cost model for marble processing plants. Data were collected from quarries and factories located in Diyarbakir Region (Turkey). All costs occurring in marble processing systems were examined, identified, classified and calculated. Several costs formulas were generated to define and control the system with models. A new computer program incorporating these models and other algorithms was developed to control total and quality costs in marble plants. Regarding to this study, it was found that quality costs vary depending on products types in range from 9 to 34% of total production costs for the three different stone types. Quality in construction is directly related to time and cost, and vice-versa. A poor quality managed project can consequence in extra cost and time extensions. A poor manage in time and cost can affect the conformance of requirement. Hamzah Abdul-Rahman (1997) conducted a pilot survey on construction professionals. There were six question asked and the sample was consisted of engineers, project engineers, project manager technical manager, quantity surveyor and estate manager. The survey was to identify the steps taken by firms to ensure quality and how professionals would react to the issue of cost of failure. Every participant agreed that it is important to collect failure cost. The results of the survey confirm that the construction industry is much concerned with the quality management. A study conducted by Muhsin Halis and Ahmet Oztas (2002) to determine the quality costs in business organizations having ISO 9000 certificate, deriving from the application of the standards. The objectives are determine both the reasons for implementing ISO 9000 and the factors affecting costs during this implementation process, to show that quality costs provides a method that determine problems which otherwise may not be recognized. A questionnaire was prepared and sent to 1100 companies in manufacturing and service sectors that have ISO 9000 certificate. Collected quality costs data were then analyzed using a number of analysis methods. From the analysis, the direct and indirect factors affecting the quality costs were determined and have been categorized into four groups. Muhsin Halis and Ahmet Oztas (2002) suggested that the importance of quality costs is increasing especially during the decision making process and the firm which have not enough knowledge about quality costs, co nsideration to the quality costs and documentation could be given within the ISO 9000 standards. Judy Oliver and Wen Qu (1999) did a study which to examine the quality management practices of Australian manufacturing firms certified to AS/NZS ISO 9000 specifically focusing on COQ reporting. Few questionnaires were proposed and it was based on an earlier Australian survey conducted by Ross (1993). Slight modifications were made to the structure of the questionnaire, specifically in relation to the ordering of questions. Questionnaires were sent to 400 Australian manufacturing firms which has certified to AS/NZS ISO 9000. They analyze the result from questionnaires and conclude that, quality is widely acknowledged as a key competitive weapon to enable firm to survive in global marketplace. Majority of respondents from the survey stated that the adoption of quality management practices was driven by the desire to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. A research did by Ali Uyar (2008), to evaluate how company performance has changed after COQ system implementation, and to identify the objectives behind COQ measuring and reporting. A postal questionnaire survey was sent to the top 500 Turkish manufacturing firms. He concludes that companies implementing quality initiatives are also COQ system implementers. This is a significant sign that the companies are measuring the cost of quality-related activities. After COQ system adoption, customer complaints has decrease, rework and scrap does decreased, warranty expenditures and failure costs decreased too, and the important point is sales volume has increased. The finding indicated that the ultimate objectives behind COQ measuring and reporting in descending importance are overall quality improvement, setting cost reduction targets and so on. Recently studies on quality management, certification and supply chain management emphasize that ISO 9000 certification is becoming a must for many companies to compete. Thus, Pietro Romano (2002) did a research to examine whether the diffused adoption or confidence in ISO 9000 quality system requirements by diverse supply chain members can really influence quality management practice. This research was examined through analysis of data gathered by means of a survey based on a sample of 100 Italian certified manufacturing companies. It was found that those firms with the most advanced internal quality system tend to buy extensively from certified suppliers and to be reliant on the quality level of their deliveries. From a suppliers point of view, customers are more sensitive to certification, thus, certification can be represent a good visiting card. Collin Ramdeen, Jocelina Santos and Hyun Kyung Chatfield (2007) did a research which applies the cost of quality concept by using PAF model in a hotel restaurant environment. Data was collected from percentage of sales approach and it had been used in order to evaluate the significance of the cost of quality measures in the PAF model. The analysis of the COQ measures in the PAF model was accomplished through the process of interview and secondary data collection. Through this study, they concluded that the COQ measures used in the PAF model can improve the quality of food and services provided to the customers and result that it could lead improvement in overall profitability. Chapter 3 Data and Methodology 3.1 Data set and scope Two hundred sets copies of the survey (hard and electronic copies) of the survey were distributed to various users. Surveys are divided into two categories; one of them is to test whether every company has implement total quality management system in their internal control department. The other survey is to test the customers perception towards product quality. Respondents come from two different countries; Malaysia and Singapore. The period of data in this survey was conducted from 17th October 2010 to 27th October 2010. 3.2 Research Question 3.2. 1: Research Question 1 Does cost of quality important to use as a management tool? This question is trying to draw on the fact that how important is cost of quality system important for a firm to use as management tool. To overcome the skepticism that still prevails, K. Kumar and J.C. Brittain (1995) conducted an investigation on this issue and concluded that, cost of quality program could assist to improve the reliability other than reduces costs. However, to determine why some organization still do not utilize cost of quality system, Victor E. Sower, Ross Quarles and Eric Broussard (2007) has did a research. Most frequent reasons for organizations not utilize quality cost been highlight by them which are lack of management and understanding COQ systems. Furthermore, in order to enhance customer satisfaction, improving quality is considered to be the best way. Besides focus on quality improvement, product must also be done at the lowest possible cost as well to meet quality requirements. To achieving these, cost of quality must be measure. Andrea Schiffauerova and Vince Thomson (2006) did a research to determine whether any formal COQ approach could be use. Result was COQ systems should be a part of management program. Due to various comments on cost of quality systems, I am here would like to test the importance of COQ systems. Below are the hypotheses according to the research question. Hypothesis0: Cost of quality is important to use as a management a management tool in both Singapore and Malaysia. Hypothesis1: Cost of quality is not important to use as a management a management tool in both Singapore and Malaysia. The statement above will be tested as hypotheses in order to get an answer to the research question one Does cost of quality important to use as a management tool? This is trying to draw the fact that cost of quality system is same important to both Singapore and Malaysia to implement. Cost of quality system could have an effect towards company internal performances, especially for those manufacturing and servicing organization. As we know that, a firm always spent a huge amount of money on inspection and reworking. COQ is divided into four perspectives; prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure and external failure, thus by implement COQ system, it could help to reduce on cost of production. By using the above hypotheses, if the hypothesis null is being accepted, it is prove that COQ system does bring an effort towards organization. This would be the best persuasive reason for those firms which have not implement COQ system. 3.2.2: Research Question 2 Does quality affect customer purchasing decision? In general, quality costs fall into two major categories: the cost of achieving good quality which also known as cost of conformance, and the cost associated with poor quality products which is referred to as the cost of non-conformance, Russell Taylor (1995) Mine Omurgonulsen (2009) also conducted a study and concluded that non-conformance costs can be reduces by increasing conformance expenditures. Besides, negative relation found between conformance and non-conformance costs can rather be attributing to external failure costs than internal costs. This indicate that if product does not conforming to specifications and these error still remain after the product is arrive at customers site, it may causes loss of customer goodwill. Thus, in order to ensure products quality can achieve customer satisfaction, organization must pay more attention on cost of conformance. Moreover, S.B Jaju, R.P. Mohanty and R.R. Lakhe (2009) did a case study to capture quality costs in a manufacturing company. They demonstrated that quality costs should not be seen as solving a problem with a unique definition, but a whole space of reasonable notions of quality improvement. To succeed in this high competitive market, firms should set goals and understand customer expectations. In order to meet the desires of customers, companies should continue their migration towards a holistic quality cost management approach. Inspired by above studies, I would like to test the impact of products towards customer purchase decision making. Hypothesis0: Quality affects customer purchasing decision. Hypothesis1: Quality does not affect customer purchasing decision. This statement would be tested as a hypothesis in order to get an answer to research question two of this project. Does quality affect customer purchasing decision? This question is trying to draw on the fact that product quality could affect a persons purchasing power. Thus, in order to increase customers satisfactions on its product, a firm should also first understand customers demand on product quality. Customers demand is a key factor for a firm to knowing how they should continuously improve their product or service quality. A firm can track customer satisfaction on product quality through market research and their preferences on a specific product. By having this information, a firm can accord it and improving their product or service quality in a strategic way. Nowadays, customers demand a right price for the right quality product. If the price is too high, regardless of quality, people will not buy it. Thus, a product which is not achieving proper quality will cause a firm losing its customers. It is a well-known accepted principal which is of one satisfied customer will bring in many more customers. 3.2.3: Research Question 3 Does ISO 9000 certification enhance customers reliability towards the company and influence the companys sales turnover? Since the end of 1980s, ISO 9000 norms have been increasingly recognized and accepted as a reference model for quality assurance. Recent studies on quality management emphasize that ISO 9000 certificate is becoming a must for many companies to compete. Regarding these studies, Pietro Romano (2002) did a research and found that those firms with the most advanced internal quality system tend to buy extensively from certified suppliers and to be reliant on the quality level of their deliveries. From a suppliers point of view, customers are more sensitive to certification, thus, certification can be represent a good visiting card. Inspired by above study, I would like to test the impact of ISO 9000 towards the customers reliability and companys sales turnover. Hypothesis0: ISO 9000 certification does enhance customers reliability towards the company and influence the companys sales turnover. Hypothesis1: ISO 9000 certification does not enhance customers reliability towards the company and influence the companys sales turnover. This statement would be tested as a hypothesis in order to get an answer to research question three of this project. Does ISO 9000 certification enhance customers reliability towards the company and influence the companys sales turnover? This question is trying to draw on the fact that by having ISO 9000 certification, it can increase customers reliability and also influencing companys sales turnover. Company which has applied ISO 9000 certification is kind of providing customers with the assurance that their product quality has been meet with the quality standards established. Such efforts have brought higher levels of customers satisfaction and thus it becomes a company people want to do long term business with. By having ISO 9000 certification, it can help a firm increase to access into international markets. Besides, there are some histories indicate that ISO 9000 leads to following improvement: increase market share, on-time deliveries, production backlog, return on investment and overall margin. 3.3 Methodology There are three methods I use to describe the relationship between variables; Two-Sample t-Test, Pearson correlation coefficient model and 3.3.1 Two-Sample t-Test: Comparing Two Means This is using to test two populations which distributing two different means;  µ1 is means for population one, while  µ2 is means for population two. In this project, I am using this Two-Sample t-Test to test my research question one. Below are the steps that how I will do the test. Step 1: Hypothesis for RQ1 Hypothesis0: Cost of quality is important to use as a management a management tool in both Singapore and Malaysia. Hypothesis1: Cost of quality is not important to use as a management a management tool in both Singapore and Malaysia. H0: ÃŽÂ ¼1 = ÃŽÂ ¼2 H1: ÃŽÂ ¼1 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚   ÃŽÂ ¼2 Step 2: Pool-variance t test Where S12 and S22 are sample variance of sample 1 and 2, n1 and n2 are the sample size of population 1 and 2. Step 3: Critical Values The critical value is search from statistical table. Step 4: Test Statistic Where xÃÅ'„ 1 xÃÅ'„ 2 is the differences between samples means, d0 is hypothesized difference between means. Step 5: Conclusion If the t-Test is > the critical value, hypothesis null will be reject. In contrast, if the t-Test is 3.3.2: Pearson correlation coefficient model This is using to measure RQ2 by calculating the coefficient of correlation, which measures the strength of the relationship. The following are the steps of doing it. Step 1: Hypotheses Hypothesis0: Quality affects customer purchasing decision. Hypothesis1: Quality does not affect customer purchasing decision. H0: p = 0 H1: p à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚   0 Step 2: Coefficient of correlation Where, r is the sample coefficient of correlation, X = values of the explanatory variable, Y= values of the dependent variable. Step 3: Critical Value It would come out with both positive and negative critical value. Step 4: Test Statistic Where Ph0 is hypothesized value of the population coefficient of correlation. Step 5: Conclusion If the t-Test is + critical value, hypothesis null will be reject. Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis

Australia :: Australia Research Papers

Australia Australia, the continent down under, filled with kangaroos, koala bears, and many more unique creatures. I always wanted to go to Australia, but never knew much about it, like the history behind it, and what there really is to do. So I decided to research it and talk to people that are familiar with it. I started my search off by looking in an encyclopedia called Encyclopedia International and looked up Australia. The encyclopedia was written back in 1970 but things have changed since that time. The general information about Australia did not change though, such as the temperatures, the types of animals and birds that live there, and geographic facts. This article did not give me enough information so I kept on looking. I then got online and went to the search engine Dogpile and looked up "Australia." I got tons of matches for my search, but found an interesting site. (www.australia.com) This was the official site for Australia, so that is why it is so reliable. It was loaded with information about almost everything in Australia that I wanted to learn more about. It discussed the places to see, things to do, exotic experiences, food and wine, and the nightlife in Australia. The site still left some details out that I was still looking for such as what kinds of shopping is there to do, what the Australians are like, etc. After learning more about Australia, I called Liberty Travel in Harrisburg and spoke to a very nice lady named Helen Andrews. Helen explained that she was once there many years ago, but has sent numerous people there recently. So Helen could give me a lot of great information I was looking for. She gave me a website to look up. She said it is wonderful and has very good information. Thanks to her, I found out what airline to take to Australia and what the best way to get around the continent is. Helen was a huge help! I got back online to check out the website (www.trafagar.com) that Helen gave to me. It was loaded with all types of tours of Australia. It had all the prices, what you would be doing, how long the trip would be and so on. Each tour was very different and exciting. It also had the full itinerary of each tour as well, which was very helpful! I still remained online to discover another interesting and informative website.

Ethical Problems in Business Environment Essay

â€Å"Business ethics examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and business organizations as a whole† (â€Å"Business Ethics,† 2010). In today’s society, many people pursue careers in businesses for different reasons such as convenience, salary, and many other reasons that do not include ethics. Unfortunately, people’s professional values are no longer mirroring their personal values. (Tinkler, 2005). Individuals are giving up everything to move ahead professionally and as a result, businesses are becoming worse at upholding their ethical standards because they are able to get away with it. Poor Human Resources practices are one example of how today’s businesses affect our community. Many businesses fail to create a system where there is strong communication between the employees and human resources. As a result, employees are unable to voice their complaints to the HR department and the HR department is unaware of problems within the company. Employees must clearly know what is expected of them, and when they are not delivering they must be addressed. This type of system is beneficial to the company because once flaws are addressed, then the company can come up with solutions to better manage the business. When businesses take the time to discuss projects and explain their goals to the employees, the employees feel as though they have a special place within the company and they become motivated. Keeping the employees updated on tasks, the more they become invested in the project. Also, many times companies fail to recognize and reward their employee’s achievements and this creates a bitter relationship between the employees and the company; human beings become motivated to do well through positive reinforcement. Favoritism also becomes a huge problem between human resources and the employees; if all employees are treated fairly then everyone will put in the effort to perform well and stay loyal to the company. Human Resources play one of the largest roles in ethics within businesses; many of the reasons employees stay loyal to companies are because of the solid structure of the human resources department. In addition to keeping the employees of a business happy, in order to uphold business ethics, customers must also trust and respect a business. Unethical practices in marketing and products are another reason today’s businesses are negatively affecting our community. In today’s society, consumers no longer have any trust in businesses. Businesses are encouraging their employees to aggressively approach customers by using deceptive advertising; customers are often times mislead through copied packaging styles, high pressure selling, and â€Å"bait and switch† selling; these techniques entail targeting groups such as the elderly and finding ways to attract customers and eventually convincing them to purchase an item they can not afford and do not need. Businesses are also hiding information from consumers; unsafe products are on the market and side effects are not stated, as well as information on animal testing. Products are also inaccurately tested. â€Å"NBC Los Angeles uncovered a scheme at local Jiffy Lube stores where customers were charged for repairs that were never done† (Grover, 2008). The scandal was caught on video tape and the public were alarmed and angry; people were going in for services that were never being done. After this story was uncovered to the public, it created anger, confusion, and worst of all trust was lost. Situations like these force consumers to go to competitors and lose faith in businesses altogether. Our last ethical issue in today’s business environment are unfair labor practices. Innocent children and families are working in terrible conditions and making hardly any money so that American companies can manufacture more for less money. Consumers now, need to research companies that they are used to purchasing from because companies are hiding these facts from the government since it is illegal. This practice is beyond unethical, it is cruel. Coca Cola is guilty of this practice; â€Å"From 5,000 to 30,000 Salvadorian children, some as young as eight years old, are working in El Salvador’s sugarcane plantations where injuries, particularly severe cuts, are common, according to the report† (Lobe, 2010). It is unbelievable to watch companies that make billions of dollars, become so greedy that they are willing to practice such unethical ways of labor. Unfortunately, external social pressures sometimes influence business ethics; echnology, competition, and changing social attitudes put pressure on businesses. As a result, they lean towards decisions that are unethical and beneficial to the business. As individuals become aware of some of the unethical practices many businesses are taking part in, they will hopefully choose more wisely which companies they would like to work for. Our choices affect society as a whole, and as long as we ignore our own personal virtues and values, we will continue to support businesses that are unethical.

A Prayer for My Daughter: the Poem

A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER The poem by WB Yeats portrays how a father, blessed with a daughter, prays for the future happiness and wellbeing of her. The poet hopes that instead of growing up to be a woman of immense beauty, his daughter should be blessed with attributes of a virtuous and a great soul. She should be well-mannered and full of humility rather than being strongly opinionated, to avoid any intellectual detestation that could drown her in misery. The prayer for his daughter beyond its personal scope is a prayer for the evolution of a culture and human society based on values of decency and courtesy, magnanimity, innocence and ceremony. It is a prayer for the whole world. The poem begins with a vivid picture of a storm brewing in the seas. The storm is symbolic of the turmoil going on in the apprehensive poet’s mind regarding his newly-born’s future in a world marked with bloodshed and violence. Between his daughter and the raging seas, there stands ‘one bare hill’ and ‘Gregory’s wood’ which might not thwart the storm from reaching the hapless child. The poet is naturally worried as he senses the gale striking the tower and ‘the arches of the bridges’. In his mind, the storm presages the future years of his daughter arriving in a ‘frenzied’, delirious agitation, mounting from the ‘murderous innocence of the sea’. As a father, the poet wishes beauty for his daughter but not in such voluptuousness to engross the others to distraction or make her vain. He knows that people of immense superficial beauty consider beauty to be an end in it itself. They are blindfolded by their overwhelming beauty when the behold themselves ‘before a looking glass’, lose their ‘natural kindness’ and become inadequate to make the right choices in life. They are often lonely souls unable to respond to ‘sincere love’ or ‘find a friend’. The poet does not aspire his daughter to be bereft of kindness. He shudders at the thought of her daughter turning out to be another Helen of Troy, who finding life ‘dull and flat’ eloped with Paris only to ignite a war the completely destroyed the city of Troy. He cites the example of Queen Aphrodite who, having no guardians to impose restrictions on her chose a ‘bandy-legged smith’ for a husband. This substantiates his statement that women of exquisite beauty are often unpredictable and choose a ‘crazy salad’ to go with their ‘meat’. He puts forward a slice of his own life as an example of true exquisiteness and charm which his wife exudes. He philosophically remarks that ‘hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned’. Though men often are initially entices by bewitchingly stunning females, it is really the compassion and warmth of the women by which they get enamored in the end. The father in the poet is keen that his daughter should be like a humble tree giving succor and shade to the people when she grows up. She should live a life of constancy deeply rooted to her culture and traditions. Yeats wants his daughter to be like the ‘linnet’ whose songs infuse pure and unadulterated happiness in others. He hopes that she would be like the laurel tree, standing firm on her convictions. The poet realizes that his mind ,after being enticed by all the beauty that he had been attracted to, has ‘dried up’, become drained of all ideas and intelligence. He realizes that hatred is the worst of all evils. If an individual decides not to succumb to hatred, the no force, however violent and detrimental, can’ tear the linnet from the leaf’. He goes on to give a paradigm of ‘intellectual hatred’ in the form of Maude Gonne who due to her ‘opinionated mind’ had to give away everything. The truth rings in poet’s mind that by eliminating the malady of hatred, the soul not only recovers the ‘radical innocence’ but also embarks on a journey that is ‘self delighting, self-appeasing, self-affrighting’. It is only then would his daughter be able to face every storm or ‘scowl’ happily. Finally, Yeats hopes, as a father, that his daughter would be betrothed to a man who has forever steered away from ‘arrogance and hatred’. Their marriage should a custom for spreading peace and happiness like ‘the laurel tree’.

Medicine In Ancient Mesopotamia

Medicine In Ancient Mesopotamia MEDICINE IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA Sources Of Mesopotamian Medicine Just about all of the medical information we find about ancient Mesopotamia today comes from cuneiform tablets found in the region, and few are about their medical practices. Pictures or diagrams depicting their medical practices are almost non-existent. Many of the tablets that do mention medical practices have survived from the library of Asshurbanipal, the last great king of Assyria. The library of Asshurbanipal was housed in the king's palace at Nineveh, and when the palace was burned by invaders, the tablets were baked. This made them a lot like modern day pottery, therefore they were preserved very well.In the early 1920's, the 660 medical tablets from the library were published by Campbell Thompson. Many other medical texts have been published more recently. For example, Franz Kocher has published a series of volumes called Die Babylonishch-Assyrische Medizin. The first four volumes contain 420 tablets found from sites other than Asshurbanipal's library.Diseased large intestineThe other two volumes of Kocher's work fill in what Campbell Thompson was missing. Which were bits and fragments of prescriptions and procedures. Many of the medical texts found are prescriptions but some are called "treatises." These treatises were used for medical diagnosis and prognoses. The diagnostic treaties is organized in head to toe order with separate subsections covering convulsive disorders, gynecology and pediatrics. It has been found that descriptions of diseases contained in the diagnostic treatise demonstrate their keen ability to observe and their diagnoses were usually right. Mostly all expected diseases can be found and described in parts of the diagnostic treatise. Some treatments are the same as modern treatments for the same condition.Concepts Of Disease And Healing Mesopotamian diseases are often blamed on spirits, gods, ghosts, etc. Each spirit was held responsible for a specific illness...

Warriors Dont Cry book report essays

Warriors Dont Cry book report essays Historical Event Depicted -The integration that took place in Little Rock 1. Melba Pattillo- the author and narrator of the book; She was 15 when the integration took place 2. Lois Peyton(mother Lois )- Melbas mother, who was also a teacher ; She was very strong and supportive 3. India Peyton(Grandma India)- Melba's grandmother who lived with the family and gave her great wisdom. 5. Ernie- oldest of the 9 integrated; he was going into his senior year 6. Terry- another of the integrated, he was a junior 7. Jefferson- One of the "Little Rock Nine" 8. Elizabeth- another of the "Little Rock Nine", she was very quiet, but the experience helped her open up. 9. Thelma- One of the "Little Rock Nine", she had a heart problem and was one of Melba's close friends 10. Caroltta- another of the integrated 11. Minnijean- another of the "Little Rock Nine", also a close friend of Melba's 12. Gloria- took part in the integration 13. Vince- Melba's crush, who she gets to go out with occasionally 14. Link- A white boy, who helps Melba secretly, which many times saved her life because of the harsh things that took place inside the school. -After the Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were illegal in the Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka trial, Little Rock School Board decided to limit integration to Central High, but it wouldn't take place until September, 1957; Several black students in the school district decided to integrate. -In February 1956, the NAACP filed a lawsuit in the federal district court to make school integrate immediately, but lost: Yet by August Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP ended up getting permission to start. -The day before school opens, the governer Faubus calls the Arkansas National Guard to the High, and the day school opens the integrating students don't go, and that ...

Bose Destep

This recession in the U. S. did not only affect the U. S. but made a global impact. During this recession many companies filed for bankruptcy and therefore had to lay off their employees. In other words, there was a major increase of unemployment rate. In the U. S. he unemployment rate jumped from 4. 6% in 2007 to 9. 0% in 2011. Besides the unemployment rate, the salary income is also an important demographic factor. The recession causes the salary income to shrink. All the above indicates that we’re going through hard times right now. This means that we, the people, are not easily going to give out money. Economic factors As stated above by the demographic factors, we are in a global recession. The extent of this global recession differs throughout the world. It’s logical that in these times there is an increase in the interest rates. This means that loan applications are being granted less often. Another economic factor that should be noted is the tax rates. These 2 before mentioned rates has a major influence on the spending characteristics of consumers. Social / cultural factors Branding plays an important role in the success of a business. During hard times, branding plays even a bigger role than before. The fact that consumers are more hesitant to spend their money means that they’re not only looking at the functions of products/services but it’s now more important than ever to have a sense of involvement/belonging with this brand. With this being said, people are looking for the â€Å"extra value† of a brand. Their asking themselves; â€Å"If I ought to buy this brand and the functions are there, what else does this mean for me? What is the extra value? †. Technological factors Technology plays a big role when manufacturing a product. Are there new aterials that can bring the manufacturing cost down? Are there new ways of increasing the clarity of the sound that is coming out the speaker? The progress of technology is always increasing and businesses can use these technologies to improve their products services. Wireless systems are a good example of the progress of technology. You can also think about applications, they’re continuously playing a more important role in the daily lives of us. Applications can be used for numerous things such as controlling a product or online banking. Ecological factors Environmental issues are being taken more seriously than before. We feel the need to contribute to the well being improving of the environment however we can. More businesses are â€Å"going green† meaning they’re taking environmental issues into consideration when manufacturing products or creating services. This is also playing a more important role each day. â€Å"Going green† can also act as an â€Å"extra value† that consumers are paying more attention to. Political factors Political factors are not applicable. Figures / charts for audio speakers market Bose Destep This recession in the U. S. did not only affect the U. S. but made a global impact. During this recession many companies filed for bankruptcy and therefore had to lay off their employees. In other words, there was a major increase of unemployment rate. In the U. S. he unemployment rate jumped from 4. 6% in 2007 to 9. 0% in 2011. Besides the unemployment rate, the salary income is also an important demographic factor. The recession causes the salary income to shrink. All the above indicates that we’re going through hard times right now. This means that we, the people, are not easily going to give out money. Economic factors As stated above by the demographic factors, we are in a global recession. The extent of this global recession differs throughout the world. It’s logical that in these times there is an increase in the interest rates. This means that loan applications are being granted less often. Another economic factor that should be noted is the tax rates. These 2 before mentioned rates has a major influence on the spending characteristics of consumers. Social / cultural factors Branding plays an important role in the success of a business. During hard times, branding plays even a bigger role than before. The fact that consumers are more hesitant to spend their money means that they’re not only looking at the functions of products/services but it’s now more important than ever to have a sense of involvement/belonging with this brand. With this being said, people are looking for the â€Å"extra value† of a brand. Their asking themselves; â€Å"If I ought to buy this brand and the functions are there, what else does this mean for me? What is the extra value? †. Technological factors Technology plays a big role when manufacturing a product. Are there new aterials that can bring the manufacturing cost down? Are there new ways of increasing the clarity of the sound that is coming out the speaker? The progress of technology is always increasing and businesses can use these technologies to improve their products services. Wireless systems are a good example of the progress of technology. You can also think about applications, they’re continuously playing a more important role in the daily lives of us. Applications can be used for numerous things such as controlling a product or online banking. Ecological factors Environmental issues are being taken more seriously than before. We feel the need to contribute to the well being improving of the environment however we can. More businesses are â€Å"going green† meaning they’re taking environmental issues into consideration when manufacturing products or creating services. This is also playing a more important role each day. â€Å"Going green† can also act as an â€Å"extra value† that consumers are paying more attention to. Political factors Political factors are not applicable. Figures / charts for audio speakers market

Compar three individuals in the McCarthy Hearing to three individuals Research Paper

Compar three individuals in the McCarthy Hearing to three individuals in The Crucible - Research Paper Example The Crucible explores the fight of one man with his ethics, and his ultimate refinement, drawing parallels with the McCarthy Hearing through characters like John Proctor  and Judge Danforth. Miller gives a warning at the beginning of this play that The Crucible is not history but it is dependent on the storys historical events. This play presents two periods of the American history. The main period of this play lies in the 17th century, particularly during Salem Witch trials according to Burnet (57). Running parallel to these ancient events in the history of the United States are those that occurred in Miller’s own time on which the author figuratively comments. The author used this play to condemn the 1950s’ McCarthyism and the RED SCARE. He states that history repeats itself and thus there is the need to recognize it and in this case he repeats himself. He claims that McCarthyism was beyond the contemporary day witch hunt. Miller cautiously uses the historical information to form the basis for the play. The play uses the language of modern the 17th century religious customs, which he often employs, expresses the carefulness of his historical examine into the traditions of this period. Miller was interested in political matters, including socialism which had developed after the WW II after Russia’s socialist government became an important world power. The McCarthy hearing subcommittee was renamed after Senator Joseph McCarthy. Senator McCarthy went into the limelight of national interest in February 1950 with a speech delivered at Wheeling, West Virginia as suggested by Collins (97). At this time, McCarthy was in the final days of his first term as a senator and was in need of an immense issue to strengthen his run for the second term. A week before he gave his speech, China had fallen to the communist side and the USSR had developed an atomic bomb which was aimed at

Academic writing and discourse functions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Academic writing and discourse functions - Essay Example A potential argument maker takes into account all possible causes and factors of objection the critiques may come up with, and replies them in the same document. This adds a lot to the writer’s strength of argument. Language used in building up an argument is significantly different from that employed in essays and research papers. Arguments are particularly, narratives of the writer. So the writer frequently makes use of â€Å"I† and â€Å"we†, use of which is discouraged in general essays and other forms of literature. Because of the freedom of using first form, argumentative essays provide the reader with a very sound understanding of the language. Needs of effective communication can be readily met in an argumentative paper (Alo, 2010, p. 55). Particularly, the second speakers of a particular language benefit a lot from the argumentative essays in that they get a chance to learn through reading the language just the way it is commonly spoken in the every day life by the first speakers. For example, argumentation frequently involves use of phrases like â€Å"I grant that†¦., still I maintain that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"not even†¦, what to talk of†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Suc h phrases not only convey the reader correct usage of phrases, but also deliver a sense of the language they form part of. Such phrases are a product of the psychology, beliefs and ideology of the native speakers of a language. That is the reason why, language is often considered as one of the best means of comprehending a nation’s culture. Academic language usually sounds very formal and organized as compared to the language we use in our daily life to communicate with one another. It lacks freedom of expression. Sentiments and proverbs are usually restrained by the level of formality expected from the writing. Although there is no point denying the fact that even argumentative language in academic writing is much formal than the

The Republican Party Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Republican Party - Research Paper Example The party dominated in almost every Northern state (Root & Hay 23). In the elections of 1860, the Republican Party emerged victoriously and dominated the course of politics until 1932, when the leader of the party was not capable of reversing the Great Depression. Republicans won the elections back from the Democrats in the 1960’s. From 1968-2004, the Republican Party emerged victorious in seven out of ten presidential elections. The Republicans supported the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which provided that; all individuals in the U.S. should be treated as citizens without creating discrimination on the basis of color, race or any condition existing before. The Old Republican Party Since its formation, in 1854, the Republican Party has supported and opposed various issues affecting the citizens and the economy of the United States. Traditionally, the party emerged to support issues such as laissez-faire capitalism, conservative social policies, and low tax policies. It was under the old Republican Party that the Civil Right Act of 1866 was passed. During the formation of the Republican Party in 1854, the chief agenda was to abolish the extension of slavery, which had increased during the time. The Republicans were against the Nebraska Act, which promoted slavery. ... The old Republicans supported the establishment and development of educational institutions; this is depicted by the support of the Land-Grant College Act, which led to the foundation of education centers throughout the country (Schwengel 90). This can also be seen with the establishment of Howard University, in 1867, by the Republicans. In addition, the old Republicans cared about the security of the citizens and established Buffalo soldiers. In addition, the Republicans opposed the legalization of the Ku Klux Klan, which was an outlawed group. The Modern Republican Party The Modern Republican Party, just like the old Republican Party, has faced several issues, some of which it has opposed and supported. The signing of the New Deal faced the Republicans’ opposition. The Republicans likened the New Deal to the promotion of socialism by the Democrats (Johnson & Smith 76). Later, the Republican Party split into two portions; with one division opposing the New Deal from its start to the end, and the other division partly supporting the New and promising to operate it efficiently. Although the modern Republicans split into two classes, which brought in a class of moderate Republicans, the Republican Party has continued to offer support for the establishment and development of tertiary education centers. They also advocate for the improvement of infrastructure and promote human security. During the Civil Rights Act of 1964, segregation was outlawed through a court order and Democrats took the opportunity to bring in a less educated electorate, which supported segregation (Westwood 38). This favored the Democratic Party at the expense of the Republican Party. The moderate Republicans supported the move while the liberal did not.  Ã‚  

M5A1-Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

M5A1-Conflict - Essay Example There conflict scenario entails several positives (for resolution) and negatives (for resolution) in favor of management group and in favor of the employee group. Some positives for resolution that are in favor of management include the high experience and training that is provided to the employees to build performance review systems and information systems. Accordingly, the low turnover, the visionary leadership of the three business partners and fair and comparable salaries will also help Metro services in resolving the conflict. In addition, 92 percent of employees assert that the owners have positive attitudes towards specialists and while 78 percent assert agree that Metro services offers opportunities to work in various companies. Some negatives for resolution that face the management include the inability to allow the specialists an opportunity in negotiating fees with the contracting companies, and lack of promotion opportunities in the company. In addition, the failure to ho ld employee/owner meeting for the past three years is a challenge for the management group in resolving the conflict. ... Accordingly, employees are allowed to demonstrated individual performance and 64 percent claim that the company offers job security. In addition, 80 percent of employees perceive the salary as fair and comparable and 74 percent assert that specialist positions allow them to utilize their knowledge and skills. Some negatives that may hinder employees in cooperating during the conflict resolution include lack of adequate opportunities for promotion, the confrontation with Mr. Baker that happened in 1999 and inability of the management to belief that there is a union movement by employees since it will be detrimental to all concerned. Some of the points of contention that relate to the positives and negatives include the possibility of implementing a bonus sharing system for the excess profits earned by the management. Some positive points of contention that may create conflictual conditions include the job security since some employees perceive six months full time position as temporal position that does not guarantee any job security. Another contention is the intention of employee to create a union since the management group does not believe whether such movements are necessary when the salaries and additional benefits like 401K securities are fair. The last contentious issue is the monitoring of contracting companies and requirement for a higher performance level than agree with contracting companies. The refusal of temporary specialists to participate in negating fees with contracting companies will also be contentious. Time phased strategy of addressing the conflict The management must analyze the employee survey and identify the source of conflict in the organization. The management must identify any barriers in

The Biblical Worldview of the 21st Century Case Study

The Biblical Worldview of the 21st Century - Case Study Example The appellant was arguing that there simply was not enough evidence to conclude that this was the case and wanted to have the court dismiss the case because of this. The Biblical Worldview and the Case The primary biblical issue that must be addressed within this case is the issue of morals and responsibility. The appellant argued that even though the man may have been intoxicated as a direct result of the drinks that the bartender served, the law generally upholds the notion that they should not be held responsible for the actions of an intoxicated person. This stands somewhat in contrast to the Biblical worldview of justice and truth. In the video provided, the judges even questioned the lawyers about the bartender’s ethical responsibility to stop an intoxicated person from getting behind the wheel of a car or at least declining to serve the person any more alcoholic beverages. It appears that the law has made it so that bartenders and the bars such as O’Malleyâ€℠¢s Tavern are very rarely held responsible for any reprehensible actions that their patrons might commit while under the influence. This issue of basic ethics and morals that the Bible teaches would be most applicable in this particular case, therefore. Is this a good method for resolving disputes? Why or why not? The Biblical Worldview would indicate that solving a case in this manner is not preferable. According to the article entitled â€Å"Love, Law, Grace, Mercy, Justice, and Equity,† â€Å"the Biblical laws give God-determined sanctions which are levels of punishment that are proportional to the crime committed†(â€Å"The Biblical Worldview†). Additionally, this article states that â€Å"man is unable to keep God’s law and is condemned by it†¦ nevertheless(it is) to be implemented as fully and completely as possible by individuals, families, voluntary associations, the Church, and state government†(â€Å"The Biblical Worldview†). The logic within this statement concludes that the American legal system is already abiding by a Biblical worldview, albeit indirectly. If the Biblical worldview was utilized within the court, there could be a disconnect between the punishment and the crime. The Biblical viewpoint does carry a lot of morality within it, but there is also a lot of vengeance and wrath for wrongdoings within its theology, primarily within the Old Testament. If this worldview were applied in modern times, it is likely that the legal world would look a lot more like Islam’s Sharia Law where a person will have a hand cut off for stealing.  

Controversy Analysis and Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Controversy Analysis and Rhetorical Analysis - Essay Example Thus, Geber states that â€Å"While the pioneers of these movements, though passionate for changes in what seemed like a redundant and hypocritical society, worked hard to bring about radical changes in cultures and religions the world over, proponents of the legalization feel that they are indeed the messiah to the Arizona population†. In this statement, figurative language is used as it combines both assonance and alliteration to express the thoughts of theses first campaigners of the legalization of Marijuana.  So, who quantifies or qualifies legalization or prohibition? The controversy is pretentious and shows a society that is not yet ready for a change. Thus, Geber states that â€Å"While the pioneers of these movements, though passionate for changes in what seemed like a redundant and hypocritical society, worked hard to bring about radical changes in cultures and religions the world over, proponents of the legalization feel that they are indeed the messiah to the Ar izona population†. In this statement, figurative language is used as it combines both assonance and alliteration to express the thoughts of theses first campaigners of the legalization of Marijuana.   Some people are of a different opinion. â€Å"For what seems to be strong political reasons, this will indeed not seem like a smart decision as it will pass for reckless policy bred out of ignorance and the indifference to the detrimental and profound effects it has on the youth and the general public safety†.

The Biblical Worldview of the 21st Century Case Study

The Biblical Worldview of the 21st Century - Case Study Example The appellant was arguing that there simply was not enough evidence to conclude that this was the case and wanted to have the court dismiss the case because of this. The Biblical Worldview and the Case The primary biblical issue that must be addressed within this case is the issue of morals and responsibility. The appellant argued that even though the man may have been intoxicated as a direct result of the drinks that the bartender served, the law generally upholds the notion that they should not be held responsible for the actions of an intoxicated person. This stands somewhat in contrast to the Biblical worldview of justice and truth. In the video provided, the judges even questioned the lawyers about the bartender’s ethical responsibility to stop an intoxicated person from getting behind the wheel of a car or at least declining to serve the person any more alcoholic beverages. It appears that the law has made it so that bartenders and the bars such as O’Malleyâ€℠¢s Tavern are very rarely held responsible for any reprehensible actions that their patrons might commit while under the influence. This issue of basic ethics and morals that the Bible teaches would be most applicable in this particular case, therefore. Is this a good method for resolving disputes? Why or why not? The Biblical Worldview would indicate that solving a case in this manner is not preferable. According to the article entitled â€Å"Love, Law, Grace, Mercy, Justice, and Equity,† â€Å"the Biblical laws give God-determined sanctions which are levels of punishment that are proportional to the crime committed†(â€Å"The Biblical Worldview†). Additionally, this article states that â€Å"man is unable to keep God’s law and is condemned by it†¦ nevertheless(it is) to be implemented as fully and completely as possible by individuals, families, voluntary associations, the Church, and state government†(â€Å"The Biblical Worldview†). The logic within this statement concludes that the American legal system is already abiding by a Biblical worldview, albeit indirectly. If the Biblical worldview was utilized within the court, there could be a disconnect between the punishment and the crime. The Biblical viewpoint does carry a lot of morality within it, but there is also a lot of vengeance and wrath for wrongdoings within its theology, primarily within the Old Testament. If this worldview were applied in modern times, it is likely that the legal world would look a lot more like Islam’s Sharia Law where a person will have a hand cut off for stealing.  

The Effect Music Has on the Brain Essay Example for Free

The Effect Music Has on the Brain Essay Music has been around for centuries and centuries. We have heard that different types of music can be helpful and harmful. There are so many genres of music out there and it continues to grow. This research will look at studies done on music and how it effects and influences us and the Human Behavior. The Effect music has on the brain There have been many studies done on music and how or if it affects your brain, whether positively or negatively. There is no direct answer to this but we will take a look at why that is and the variety of reasons. years ago, when I became pregnant I tried something that is fairly common amongst new moms that I had heard about. I put on classical music and placed earphones on my belly. Like most moms I did not research the benefits or if what the rumors said were true. The idea behind this method was â€Å"If you play music while you’re pregnant so the baby can hear it, your baby will be smart†. Janet DiPietro a psychologist for the University of California at Irvine says â€Å"There are no studies done on the effects of stimulation before birth on intelligence, creativity, or later development†. However a study has been done on older children in who have had music lessons. Scientists at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, whose research was published in the journal Nature in 1998, say kids who have at least six years of music lessons before the age of 12 learn more words than those who go without. (Robledo). The Psychology of Music â€Å"Studies indicate that music can have profound physical and psychological effects not only on people but also on animals and plants†. (Copley, 2008 sec. 1). In 1997 a high school student by the name of David Merrill conducted a study for his school science project using mice, a maze, and music. There were two types of music used for this study the first being classical music, the second being hard rock. David wanted to see how music would affect the ability to learn new things. David let each mouse run through the maze and timed them using a stop watch to record their initial running times. On average the mice needed a good 10 minutes to find their way through the maze. He separated the mice into groups; the first group of mice was exposed to music of Mozart for ten hours every day for three weeks. The second group of mice listened to the heavy metal music from the group Anthrax for ten minutes as well. The volume was set at seventy decibels, which is about the same level as a vacuum cleaner or a television set from one meter away. The last group of 24 mice served as a control group and was not exposed to any music. What happened was extremely shocking. At the end of each week, David let all the mice run through the maze three times in a row while timing them. Group 3 of the non-musical mice only needed half the time. They completed the maze in five minutes. The Mozart mice completed the maze in one in a half minute!! The Hard Rock Mice stumbled around as if they were drunk, bumping into walls and took a whopping THIRTY minutes to complete the maze. What is even more interesting was this experiment ha to be done twice because the Hard Rock mice in the first experiment showed aggressive behavior and ended up killing each other off. A similar study has been conducted using plants as well. A scientist by the name of Dorothy Retallak conducted a study on plants and the effects different genres of music has on them. She used a group of petunias and separated them into two groups. The first group had a speaker on one side playing classical music for 3 hours of the day, the second group played rock for 3 hours of the day. She found that the petunias that listened to rock music refused to flourish and the petunias who listened to classical music developed beautifully. But that’s not all. In the second week of the experiment the petunias exposed to classical music leaned towards the speaker where the classical music was playing, and the Rocker Petunias did the exact opposite. They actually leaned away from the music and grew unevenly. Within the month the rocker petunias died. We’ve read about the effects that different music can have on animals and plants†¦ but what about the smartest creatures on the planet, I’m referring to you and me, Humans. Music Lyrics Influence on Human Behavior When I was younger I would hear about the older generation talk about â€Å"our music† today and how it has changed. They frowned upon the lyrics and the fast rapping, saggy pant wearing rappers. As a follower of hip hop I felt, they just didn’t understand. It’s not about the lyrics or what they’re saying, I defended; I just like the beat to dance to. But for some reason when I listened to RB like Jodeci, Aaliyah, R. Kelly, etc. , I knew it word for word and wanted to find what they were singing about, â€Å"Your love is one in a million† (Aaliyah, 1996). Personally when I’m having a horrible day I would put on music to make me feel better, something uplifting like gospel, or RB. But when I go out to have a good time and I know I’m about to dance I put on something a little more fast paced and up tempo such as hip hop and rap to get me ready for a night out on the town. The Association for Psychology Science (APS) says that intelligence boys between the ages of 6-15 who took music lessons scored higher on tests of verbal memory than a control group of students without musical training. Also Music is used as a therapy particularly with children who are diagnosed with autism. These children have a hard time interacting with peers and teachers and become annoyed very easily in noisy and changeable environments. Studies show that children with Autism respond very well to music therapy, it helps keep them calm when under duress and helps these individuals socialize effectively. Music Therapy uses musical interaction to help individuals with their cognitive and emotional challenges to improve their ability to function. By interacting with adults and children on the autism spectrum, musical therapists can build skills, lower anxiety, and even develop new communication skills. (Rudy, 2012) I grew up in hip hop and rap and can sing every word to any rap song that comes out on the radio lyric by lyric. But has it had an effect on me? I have been guilty of referring to myself as a â€Å"bad Bitch† which is defined as a hip hop term referring to â€Å"a self-respected, strong female who has everything together. That consists of body, mind, finances, and swagger. Also, a female who does gets hers by any means necessary†. And this is something I picked up from the hip hop generation in 2012. But if I picked this up as an adult what are younger more influential children picking up from this type of music that music that they may hear their older siblings or parents listening to? As a young female hearing the words you may not understand them at the time but once you have a song stuck in your head repetitively you begin to break down some of the phrases. I listen to Lil Wayne who has some of the catchiest beats and punch lines in hip hop. But I don’t hear the clever analogies until the third or fourth time I hear the song. Violent Music Lyrics â€Å"We’re not against Rap, We’re not against rappers, but we are against those thugs† (Lyrics to Bone Thugs and Harmony 1994 hit single Thuggish Ruggish Bone). American Psychological Association reports â€Å"Violent music lyrics increase aggressive thoughts and feelings†. Aggressive thoughts can influence perceptions of ongoing social interactions, coloring them with an aggressive tint. Such aggression-biased interpretations can, in turn, instigate a more aggressive response -verbal or physical than would have been emitted in a nonbiased state, thus provoking an aggressive escalatory spiral of antisocial exchanges. (Anderson, 2003, sec. 5) New hugely popular 17 year old Rapper Chief Keef from Chicago, Illinois raps about Guns, Killing, Gangs and violence. He has a criminal record, is currently on probation for a gun charge and has a huge following in his hometown. The violence rate in Chicago also happens to be the highest it’s ever been. In the first 127 days of 2012, 169 people were murdered in Chicago. â€Å"In Chicago, more than 530 people under the age of 21 have been killed since 2008 and many more have been shot or have otherwise suffered violence—often at the hands of their peers and particularly in the city’s African-American and Latino communities. Nearly 80 percent of youth homicides occurred in 22 black or Latino communities on the city’s South, Southwest and West sides—even though just one-third of the city’s population resided in those communities. The rate of youth homicide in West Englewood on the city’s South Side, for instance, was nearly five times higher than the citywide mark† (The Chicago Tribune reports). You cannot look at these facts and simply think it is a coincidence, if you do so I believe you may be deeply in denial. What I call the 90’s and Millennium babies, aren’t like the 80’s babies of my generation where we could listen to music as feel good music. In this later youth society I feel they cannot differentiate entertainment and real life. They want to live out what they hear and see on music videos and hear on the radio. In Chicago that life is shooting and killing your enemies, keeping it real with a non- remorseful attitude, and welcoming street life. The audience of the music from chief keef ranges from as young as 14 – 21 years of age. The questions of â€Å"where are their parents† always comes up in situations like this, and rightfully so. But that is a whole different article. In conclusion Music can be helpful, therapeutic, sensual and downright good for the soul. But there has and always will be music that reflects what we perceive as violent and or negative. Music is Just like food, what we put into our bodies is what we get out of it. If all you put into your body is poison, you then become poisoned. Vice Versa if you nurture and take of your body with positive nutrients you flourish like the flowers on classical music. You can drink here and there but when you become an alcoholic the damage can be fatal. Mix up your selection its ok to get a little loose with the beat and the rhythm but when you become what you hear. You are what you eat. Music can have an effect on your brain. Weather positive or negative depends on your choice of music, your mental state, and how you perceive the world and the things in it.

Developing Scientific Thinking in Education

Developing Scientific Thinking in Education Developing Scientific Thinking Abstract The essay title was chosen since developing scientific thinking is a key area of teaching in the primary classroom. The skills which are to be developed through scientific thinking are transferrable to many other areas of the curriculum, and many of the skills are central to real life experiences. The essay will discuss why the skills taught in SC1 are of importance. The aspects of SC1 which were taught were forming of hypothesis and relating conclusions to the hypothesis, selection of appropriate equipment, methods and measurements, fair testing and also analysing ways in which the investigation could be improved. The outcomes of these lessons were positive, with the children showing their ability to interact and produce their own questions which could be investigated. They selected appropriate equipment and methods with teacher guidance, and were able to formulate a hypothesis to test. The children were able to contribute ideas as to how to make the test fair, and were able to comm unicate their results in a scientific way, through graphs. The children were also able to recognise factors which affected the outcome of their experiment and suggest further improvements which could be made. In conclusion, the lesson showed that the methods used were a viable way of teaching SC1. It did however highlight several issues which would need to be accounted for in the future, such as group size; a larger group would require greater organisation, and would possibly require a different emphasis during the lessons to account for different knowledge levels and learning styles. Introduction The main justification for the inclusion of investigations within the national curriculum is to develop the set of skills and processes within the children, with conceptual understanding of science being the secondary outcome to be achieved (Watson et al., 2000). The overall aim is for pupils to be developed into critical thinkers, through the development of various investigative skills. All pupils begin school with some limited skills already developed, but these are built upon throughout Key Stage 1 and 2 so that by the beginning of Key Stage 3 (DfES, 2007) all pupils ideally possess a diverse set of skills which will prepare them for the various subjects to be studied at this level, and will also assist them in many real life experiences, particularly as they reach a stage in their life at which they must be able to use skills to form their own opinions and decisions for the first time in their lives. The science curriculum is broken down into four components, and while the last t hree sections, SC2, 3 and 4, are heavily based on knowledge, SC1 is the component which deals with the development of scientific skills, and is central to each of the other components also. Scientific Enquiry in the National Curriculum Organisation of SC1: Enquiry The SC1 portion of the science curriculum is mostly concerned with teaching pupils the mental processes and practical skills which are needed to think and work in a scientific way (Newton and Newton, 1998): Ideas and evidence Planning Carrying out Interpreting and evaluating Recording and presenting data Some of these skills are already possessed at a basic level when a child begins Key Stage 1, and will be developed throughout Key Stage 1 and 2 (DfES, 2007). Other areas of science curriculum There are three other areas of the science curriculum which are taught in parallel to SC1. SC2 is concerned with life processes and living things. This area of the curriculum teaches the pupil to be able to recognise, observe and describe a range of features of the human body, animals and plants. This area is also concerned with life processes, which pupils learn to recognise, describe and explain. SC3 is the area of the curriculum in which materials and their properties are studied. In this component children are taught to be able to classify materials through various properties. SC4 is the area of the curriculum which is concerned with physical processes, such as electricity and forces, in which children should be able to form comparisons, and learn to offer explanations as to why certain phenomena occur (National Curriculum in Action, n.d.). It can be seen from the content of SC2-4 that the ideas and knowledge which is developed in SC1 is fundamental to the remaining three components of the curriculum. The ideas which SC1 teaches are required in order for the development of the other areas to occur. For example, in SC1 the ability to interpret and evaluate is developed, and this is a transferable skill which can be used in each of the other three strands. The ability to evaluate and interpret data is essential for pupils to be able to spot patterns between the life processes of living things and to use these to make evidence based predictions about the way that life processes work in other creatures which have not been specifically studied. This is only an example of one of the many ways in which there is an interdependent relationship between the four strands of primary science education; there are many other ways in which the development of skills in SC1 impacts on the ability of the pupil to develop in other areas of the curriculum. Importance of SC1 SC1 is concerned with three main areas, which are experimentation, exploration and investigation (Newton and Newton, 1998, p. 77). These ideas are all closely related, and when used together form an effective method for introducing new ideas or concepts, or developing the level of understanding in current knowledge. It has been found in previous studies that while numerous activities are offered in the classroom in which children are able to develop skills involving observations, planning and measurement, there are less opportunities available in which children get the chance to put forward ideas, hypothesise and interpret an investigation (Newton and Newton, 1998, p. 77). Goldsworthy (n.d.) also showed that there is a distinct unbalance in the skills which teachers at Key Stage 2 concentrate on in the classroom; it was shown that half of the teaching sampled concentrated on the ‘fair test’. While this is important, there are other skills which are more easily transferred to other areas that appear to be neglected in the classroom at the present time. For example pattern seeking and exploring were found to be dealt with rarely, and using and applying models not at all. This research assumes that the reason for this is due to previous teacher training, as some years ago the emphasis was very much on the fair test; however there have been many teachers come through training in recent years that would have had more up to date training, which should see this in remission, which has not happened. This suggests that there must be other factors which are affecting the areas which are taught in the classroom. For example it could be that the concepts which are most explored in the primary classroom are more abundant in other areas of the curriculum, or it could simply be that the teachers are more comfortable with certain aspects of the curriculum, so these are the areas which are concentrated on in lessons. It could also be that a lack of knowledge on behalf of some teachers leads to confusion between the fundamental concepts involved, such as thinking that experimentation and investigation is the same thing, which could lead to there being vital areas of development which are ignored. It could also be due to time pressures, since processes leading to investigations are often lengthy (Garson, 1988, p. 62). During science activities, discussion plays a critical role, since it is through discussion between pupil and teacher that questions are raised which can be investigated and explored; discussion also leads to effective development of communication techniques. Experience is also needed for the pupils to draw upon in order to identify questions (Newton and Newton, 1998, p. 79), therefore providing varied practical activities for pupils is also essential to development in science (Newton and Newton, 1998, p. 78). Independent investigations are centred on the pupil being in control of the investigation, by setting their own questions in response to given information, and deciding the best approach to tackle the questions raised (Newton and Newton, 1998, p. 79). This skill is useful in may areas of the curriculum, since it instils the skills necessary for the pupil to conduct their own research into any area which they study, for example if the child were set a literacy task in which they had to find examples of a specific type of poem, they would use the same set of investigative skills as in science; they would assess the knowledge that they already have, identify the question to be answered, and then choose the most appropriate option to tackle the task at hand. These skills are invaluable in life, particularly in adulthood, since it is by these same investigation methods which we make many decisions, such as the decision as to which electricity supplier is the cheapest, or where you would b e able to buy a new tyre for your car. The skills which SC1 aims to develop are fundamental skills, exploration skills, direct experiment skills, and independent investigation skills. Fundamental skills which may be developed through science are the manipulation of materials, measuring skills and recording skills. These skills are fundamental not only to creating a sound scientific method of investigation and reporting for the pupils, but also to other areas of the curriculum. For instance the manipulation and measurement of materials is a skill which is particularly useful in technology lessons, such as cooking and craft; recording skills are important in any area in which information needs to be communicated effectively from the pupil to another person. It can also be seen that these skills are fundamental in life itself; measurement is a transferable skill which enables you to effectively plan and measure the time which you spend doing various tasks in life; recording skills allow a person to communicate information to anyone, not only their teacher; manipulation of materials can be an everyday occurrence, such as knowing how to make a cake. When children begin school they can already use their five senses, and can therefore observe and communicate the things which occur around them. However this is usually on a very shallow level, and exploration skills need to be developed in order to enhance these observations, and enable the child to form explanations. These skills can be put to use in many areas of the school curriculum, for example in history, where rather than simply observe events that have happened in the past, exploration skills enable the pupil to delve further into the reasons behind the occurrences. This skill is particularly useful as a life skill, since without the ability to relate reason to an occurrence, it is not possible to alter events which might occur. For example it may be observed that it is slippery when out walking in the snow, which any child would be able to recognise. However with the ability to explore why this may be, and form an explanation as to the reason, it is then possible to explore ways in which the problem may be overcome. How SC1 was used in teaching Central to my approach on teaching of science enquiry is Vygotsky’s idea of ‘zone of proximal development’ that learning should be child-centred and based on activities that encourage the development of reflection through which they gain abstract understanding. Active learning rather than passive learning, collaborative learning rather than individualised learning and the integration of contextual process skills. I have observed lessons where it seemed that the learning objectives that the teacher had for the lesson were concerned with its factual content rather than with a concern to support children’s learning by involving them in the course of learning. As discussed in the beginning of this essay, while this may lead to the acquisition of knowledge through passive learning, it is unlikely that the children are able to develop the key skills outlined in SC1 through these methods. When planning my science work with the children I considered the scientific enquiry skills to be explored in terms of those that I felt were important to develop and relevant to the topic. My learning outcomes included the following: Finding questions that could be investigated scientifically and Choosing how to achieve answers Able to explain a fair test based on predictions I felt that these learning outcomes would lead to the development of analytical skills, since they centred on the pupils exploring their own ideas, and while they were based somewhat on the fair test, this was not the sole purpose of the lesson, simply a method by which children could be shown analytical skills. I began the lesson by talking to the group about the aspect of scientific enquires and on what scientific skills they will be focusing during the lesson (see appendix 1). We talked about the steps they can make when carrying out a scientific investigation. I asked two children to stand together and the rest of the group in pairs to brainstorm any differences in the children that they observed, a process that required a dialogic discussion. After a couple of minutes I bought the group together, listened to their observations and recorded them on the interactive white board. A short extract below illustrate some of the discussion: Andrew: Simon is taller than Leo. Lianne: I bet Simon can run faster than Leo. CT: Why do you think that? What are you basing your statement on? (Pause, no response) Can you explain why you think that? Lianne: Because he has longer legs means he can cover more ground CT: Does anyone else agree with Lianne’s ideas? Andrew: No, I think it depends on how much energy you have. CT: How could we find out whose idea (hypotheses) is true? Andreas: Simon also has longer arms than Leo. Andreas: I think he can throw a ball higher, because he has got a stronger arm. CT: Why do you think someone with longer arms should have stronger arms than someone with shorter arms? Andreas: Well, because he has more muscles. CT: What could we do to find this out? Through further questioning they were able to turn their ideas into questions that could be investigated (Carrà © and Ovens, 1994, p. 6). Here are a few of their suggestions. â€Å"Whether people with longer arms can throw balls higher?† â€Å"Whether people with longer legs can jump higher?† â€Å"Whether people with longer legs can run faster?† On the interactive white board I wrote two questions, â€Å"What will I need to test my question?† and â€Å"Can we investigate with the resources available?† The pupils had a discussion as to what equipment they would use first. One question was modified to whether people with longer arms threw the furthest, since health and safety issues had to be accounted for. Prior to this lesson, the children had taken part in a PE lesson where they were introduced to foam javelin, and they decided they wanted to use these javelins instead of tennis balls to test their predictions. I wrapped up the discussion by reviewing the question with the group to check that it was well defined and focused, telling them they should think mainly about their predictions and where it fits into the cycle of their investigation and what other skills were connected to the process. The group worked collaboratively and divided the responsibilities among themselves. â€Å"Science is thus a sociable activity by nature of the inherent need to communicate between scientist†¦From all background, cultures, countries and language to communicate† (Feasy, 1999) In a subsequent lesson, the children followed their plan and recorded their results on a chart showing person in one column and length of throw in the second column. The group used their results chart to draw a graph to look for a pattern and discovered that their original hypothesis had not been correct. They drew their conclusion that the people with the longer arm did not necessarily throw the furthest. During the plenary I talked to the group about their investigation and asked them whether they were pleased with their results and the way they had collaborated. The children decided that the hardest part of the investigation was the controlling the variable; they recognized that in this instance there were environmental factors such s the wind which affected their experiment; they thought they should have tested the wind direction and speed to ensure it was accurate. They also thought that it was largely due to the technique employed to throw the javelin and how they were feeling on the day to how far you threw the javelin. From their data they agreed that although there was a pattern of those with the longest arms throwing the furthest this was not a concrete fact: â€Å"Miss, Simon threw further than you and you have longer arms than him†. The children were asked to suggest improvements which could have been made to the investigation to make it better, and they suggested on e improvement could be to perform their investigation indoors. I felt the interaction that went on whilst carrying out scientific investigations was beneficial to the children’s learning and enabled them to find out what they do and do not know. (See appendix 2) â€Å"Within†¦discussion students can be encouraged towards critical reflection, examining practice by articulating it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Loveless and Dore, 2002, p. 148). The children reported orally rather than writing a formal report about their investigation which gave them ownership of their work and it also gave me a chance to carry out some post assessment on their scientific knowledge. Socio-cultural theorist Vygotsky (1978) emphasised the importance of language use and social interaction within communities for the development of educated ways, of making sense of the world, such as those associated with science. Evaluation of lesson In the instance discussed here the children involved were part of a high achieving group; if the same work were to be undertaken with a whole class diverse backgrounds and learning styles would need to be accounted for, which means that there would need to have been greater organization, and possibly longer allowed for the lessons to account for a longer learning process to take place. Motives for learning must be kept from going passive they must be based as much as possible upon the arousal of interest in what there is to be learned, and they must be kept broad and diverse in expression. (Bruner, P. 80) I have taught quite a few hands-on activities in both my placements schools and I find the children are interested and motivated in doing these activities. I feel they enjoyed the open-endedness of their task and the idea that they can do investigations themselves. This was reflected in the reaction of the children to the lesson discussed above: â€Å"The more you work on our investigation, the more you find out. It made me realize how I have to sometimes change my opinion†. I feel the children did have an understanding of how to find questions which could be investigated, and also had knowledge of how to develop a hypotheses and present a fair test. Duggan and Gott (2002) indicate that those who can apply their learning in a novel situation are likely to be more creative. â€Å"Creativity in science needs to be fostered with more emphasis placed on developing understanding†. I also felt that in the lesson there were added benefits to the hands on approach in behaviour management, since none of the children presented problems with behaviour during the sessions. This is possibly because they were all actively involved in the process, which allowed no time for lack of interest by ant child. Implications for future teaching of science enquiry The results of the session were very positive overall. The way in which the children reacted showed that they already had some previous knowledge of the skills which were approached, and this must be taken account of in future lesson planning. For instance if teaching a group which has less previous knowledge more time would need to be devoted to discussing the issues such as the fair test idea in the first session. Children may also need more time to develop their own ideas if this is something they have little previous experience of doing in the science situation. Another issue which must also be accounted for in the future is the size of the group which is being taught. For instance in this example the small group size not only meant that the children were all of the same ability, but also enabled interaction between the entire group easily. If there were a whole class involved in the activity, certain aspects, such as the brainstorming may be less successful, since it would be mu ch harder to engage every member of a large group. This suggests that activities such as this would be better performed in small groups; for instance if the class were to be broken into smaller groups, each could be given ownership of a particular area to discuss. Conclusion The way in which the science curriculum is divided into four components does not mean that each of these components should be taught in isolation. The first of these components is arguably the most important, since it is the one which is based on the idea of teaching skills rather than knowledge, and this unit is fundamental to teaching each of the other three. The fact that Science Enquiry is aimed at developing investigative and exploration skills suggests that practical sessions are fundamental to the lessons. From my own experience I have found that children react very well to practical sessions, and show capability of developing their skills through interaction. The success of these sessions also suggests that the format would be very useful in other areas of the curriculum, such as topic work, where they could be used to demonstrate to pupils that the skills which they are learning are applicable to many other areas outside of science. It also encourages greater development of skills that will be essential to pupils in many real life experiences. References Carrà ©, C. and Ovens, C. (1994) Science 7-11: Developing Primary Teaching Skills. New York: Routledge. DfES (2007) Science at Key Stages 1 and 2. [Online] Available from: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk:80/schemes2/science/teaching?view=get. [Accessed 2nd May 2007]. Duggan, S. and Gott, R. (2002) What sort of science education do we really need?, International Journal of Science Education, 24 (7), pp. 661-679. Feasy (1999) Primary Science Literature, Hatfield: ASE Garson, Y (1988) Science in the Primary School, London: Routledge. Goldsworthy, A. (n.d.) Acquiring Scientific Skills. THIS IS IN THE NOTES, I DO NOT KNOW WHAT BOOK. Loveless, A. and Dore, B. (2002) ICT in the Primary School, Buckingham: Open University Press. National Curriculum in Action (n.d.) QCA [Online]. Available from: http://www.ncaction.org.uk/subjects/science/index.htm. [Accessed 3rd May 2007]. Newton, D.P and Newton, L.D. (1998) Coordinating Science Across the Primary School. London: Falmer Press. Watson, R., Goldsworthy, A. and Wood-Robinson, V. (2000) SC1: Beyond the Fair Test, in Issues in Science Teaching, London: Routledge Falmer, pp. 70-74.