The Introduction Paragraph For College Essay

The Introduction Paragraph For College EssayThe introduction paragraph for college essay is a very important portion of your essay, as this part will make the difference between getting an A C. You have to make sure that the introduction paragraph is written in such a way as to completely grab the attention of the reader. In this article, I am going to show you exactly how to write an introduction paragraph for college essay.First, you need to start off by providing some information about yourself and what you are going to talk about in your introduction paragraph. So first of all, tell your reader about yourself. What are your passions? What do you like to do? If you like to go out, describe what kind of places you like to go to!Now you need to present your topic. You can use one of these common topics, which most colleges have used for years, or you can come up with your own.Be sure to follow proper grammar rules in your paragraph, and use appropriate sentence structure to make you r paragraph flow nicely. Try to keep it to seven or eight sentences, and try to keep it as short as possible. If your sentence gets too long, it will look as if you are not focusing on your point.After the key information, you need to introduce the author's name, and give some idea of who he/she is and how they became the author of the paper. You also need to give the point, and a few sentences of explanation. Make sure you include the exact date when you submitted the paper as well.Lastly, you need to start a paragraph called the conclusion, and then another one, called the summary paragraph. These two parts should not be confused with each other. Make sure you have a clear separationbetween them, and don't forget to end your essay in a creative and interesting way.There are some great ways to improve your essay, and this is one of them. Don't be afraid to test your abilities, and try something new. There are plenty of writers out there willing to work with you and give you a helpi ng hand.

A Difficult Essay Topic

A Difficult Essay TopicIf you are like many students, it can be very difficult to write a difficult essay topic. You need to look at the topics that you have researched and determine what the content is. Is it an essay that will advance your career or another topic?The most common problem with this is that students simply choose a topic that sounds interesting. In most cases, these topics have little bearing on their careers. The topic does not advance the discussion and often the topic turns into a footnote to a discussion about something else. Once you start in on the easy topics, you find that you have no further information about the topic.That is why it is important to know the content of the difficult essay topics. You want to make sure that you are covering the content that is important to the topic. Often times you will not get a chance to get the information that you need from the easy topics.So what are some difficult essay topics? There are lots of things that you can rese arch.One of the most difficult of all difficult essay topics is the statistics of American soldiers. What makes this difficult is that statistics are an important part of life in America. The problem is that statistics are hard to understand and those who are searching for statistics need to become familiar with other areas.There are also some other problems that you have to look at in order to find the content that you want. For example, if you are trying to find an easy topic, there are going to be many times when you have grammar and spelling issues. It is easy to have those issues because of the writing style you will be using.One of the hardest of all difficult essay topics is the topic that involves being away from home for a long period of time. This is another area where you can get very little help from others in finding the right topics.

The Intelligence Quotient Essay Example For Students

The Intelligence Quotient: Essay The Contribution of Psychology to Standardized Social Darwinism It is safe to predict that in the near future intelligence tests will bring tens of thousands of these high-grade defective under the surveillance and protection of society. This will ultimately result in curtailing the reproduction of feeble-mindedness and in the elimination of an enormous amount of crime, pauperism, and industrial inefficiency. It is hardly necessary to emphasize that the high-grade cases, of the type now so frequently overlooked, are precisely the ones whose guardianship it is most important of the State to assume. ~ Lewis. M. Terman (1916)The commercialization of intelligence may be one of the most controversial issues American education has faced in the twentieth century. Lewis M. Terman introduced the concept of classifying students through IQ tests to the public at a time when society was probably eager for any solution psychology could offer for their social and educational problems. Between the 1890s to the early 1920s, many novel problems were arising in Americas educational system. A substantial amount of these problems were most likely caused by mere overpopulation; urban school enrollment was increasing at an unprecedented rate as immigrants flocked to the United States, a marked shift of families from rural to urban areas was also adding to school overcrowding, and finally newly enacted and enforced compulsory education laws were causing children to actually be present in classrooms. In a society where efficiency was of top priority, school administrators began focusing on new goals. Attention to college preparation shifted considerably to life preparation; people were being educated on how be useful members of society, not for higher education. Yet, at the same time, administrators may not have been ready to give up the ideals of American education and therefore were searching for a way to preserve academic traditions. On top of this, the costs of educating so many children were astronomical; education needed to be factorized and streamlined. Thus, the arrival of the IQ test came at what was probably a critical turning point in education philosophy. However, many questions regarding the philosophy and implementation of the intelligence tests themselves still remain. First of all, when did psychology first begin to affect education? What was the original purpose of the tests and how has this principle evolved over time? What groups were behind the IQ tests and whom did they aim their standards at? What has public sentiment been toward the tests? Lastly, what ha ve been the lasting effects of the intelligence quotient?iEducation as a Science: Thorndikes Infusion of Psychology into Social Policy During the time of Edward L. Thorndike, psychology itself was still a fledgling science, striving to prove itself through experiments and empirical data on human behavior. As a former animal behaviorist, Thorndike carried this meticulous nature over to his work on individual characteristics of humans, namely intellect and learning. Like many psychologists of his day, Thorndike found a lack of positions available for traditional psychology students and was forced to turn to new fields, such as child study and teacher education programs. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Thorndike had fully committed himself to education and began collecting data on learning theory. One of Thorndikes more important revelations established his career; in 1901; using empirical evidence, he disproved one of the central theories of 19th century education by provin g that learning difficult subjects like Latin and Greek does not in fact exercise and increase the strength of the mind. Thorndike then expanded this theory to say that intellect was genetically influenced and could not be improved nor changed in any way.iiIn 1910, Thorndike himself argued for the necessity of psychology in educational theory. He stated in his book The Contribution of Psychology to Education that Psychology contributes to a better understanding of the aims of education by defining them, making them clearer; by limiting them, showing us what can be done and what can not; and by suggesting new features that should be made parts of them. He argued that psychology gave definition and meaning to peoples perceptions of culture, knowledge and skill, and also that learning and comprehension were futile if they were not passed onto the next generation. Therefore, psychology was salient to education in that it not only defined concepts, but it designated the best methods to p ass the knowledge on. He conceded that mere classroom experience could indeed tell the best methods of teaching, but affirmed that psychological research was necessary to explain why methods were successful. This methodological inquiry into the why behind learning is probably the most important contribution of science to education.iiiThorndike then went on to define his new science with Laws of Learning. As with other sciences, Thorndike was quick to point to problems that needed to be focused on and solved within the educational system; namely, the aims, the material or subjects, the means, the methods and finally the results of education. He held that the most important aims of educational psychology were to find the most efficient means to educate men. Finally, and perhaps one of Thorndikes more accurate observations of education, were his Laws of Exercise and Effect. The Law of Exercise stated the more frequently an action is connected with a response, the more likely the action would be learned. The Law of Effect basically stated that a positive response to an action would bring a person to repeat and therefore learn said action. These two laws helped to set the foundation for future learning theorists.ivToward the end of his career, Thorndike believed that science could solve all of the social ills. More importantly, he rejected G. Stanley Halls developmental theory and advocated genetic psychology. This inflexible system did not allow room for growth and Thorndike capitalized on this by proposing a moral scale to measure people by. This idea could have set the foundation for the future proponents of the IQ test; Thorndikes rigid scale of morality could have easily been transformed to the scale of intellect used to classify children throughout the 1920s.vLost in Translation:The Intelligence Quotient Crosses the AtlanticThorndikes popularization of psychology as a necessary contributor to educational theory greatly influenced American acceptance of IQ tes ting. With this foundation in place, Alfred Binets work in France may have seemed like the optimal solution to problems with overcrowding in schools. Possibly in response to Charles Darwins publication of On the Origin of Species, people became interested in the heritability of human intelligence. Thus, in 1904, Binet was called upon by the French government to develop a technique to identify children who were struggling in school, and maybe due to this influence, he chose to quantitatively measure intellect. Before this request, Binet had been focusing his research on the individual differences in children that contributed to their learning technique. The French government called upon Binet not to sort the children, but to measure their potential so it could be told if the education system was utilizing every childs potential. With this goal in mind, Binet published three versions of an intelligence scale before his death in 1911. He wanted to measure the intellect of the children to find flaws in the system, not in the child. 1908 was probably the most critical year in the development of the original IQ test; this year Binet assigned age levels to his tasks and thus established the concept of mental age. However, it was not until 1912 that German scientist W. Stern put forth the idea to divide the mental age by the chronological age, thus birthing the term Intelligence Quotient or IQ. This system of measurement was soon after taken to America and eventually added to the lexicon of educational theory. The quantification of intellect was never an aim of Binet; he wanted to use the scales to help improve education theories, not to limit and categorize children. Psychologist Stephen J. Gould comments, But of one thing Binet was sure: whatever the cause of poor performance in school, the aim of his scale was to identify in order to help and improve, not to label in order to limit. Some children might be innately incapable of normal achievement, but all could impr ove with special help.vi Binets original purpose of the IQ test could have been altered anywhere between the translations of H.H. Goddard to Lewis M. Termans adaptation and mass marketing of the test. H.H. Goddard published the first English translations of Binets work and forever immortalized the categories Binet chose. People were designated as below average, average or above average. The subcategories of below average, imbecile and idiot, have menaced the English language since their translation. However, the most important mistranslation of Binets work came with the category right below average. Binets French word meant weak, yet Goddard decided to use the new word moron to describe this category of people. This category was designated to contain the people who would never succeed, but who could survive in society. With this designation, Goddard forever stigmatized the word moron and also put forth his ideas on categorizing people. Along with Terman, Goddard thought that these m orons should be stopped from reproducing and tainting American society, and elementary school seemed the perfect place to designate them.viiFollowing Goddards advice, in May of 1917 Lewis Terman developed intelligence testing for the united states army, which over the next two year supposedly increased the efficiency of the armed forces through categorically assigning men to positions by their intellect. By 1919, Terman had helped transform these army tests into the National Intelligence Test for school children; within a year he had sold and distributed over 400,000 tests across America. Having adapted Binets work, he called the tests the Stanford-Binet. Perhaps Termans most significant alterations to Binets work were that he extended the test ages between 5 and 16, put forth the concept of using the IQ to separate children and maybe most critical to the development of IQ testing in America, he standardized the process so that the test could be given accurately in any location.viii Real Life Application:Quotients in the ClassroomIn keeping with the new scientific nature of educational theory, before its implementation in schools nation-wide, Binet experimented with his new IQ tests. However, despite his best efforts, this initial assessment may have been a biased sample, giving the test itself a dubious beginning. Termans subjects were all from the surrounding Stanford area, and he purposely chose this homogeneous area where he said the schools were such as almost any one would classify as middle-class. Few children attending them were either from very wealthy or very poor homesCare was taken to avoid racial differences due to lack of familiarity with the language. None of the children was foreign born and only a few ere of other than western European decent. This study elicited criticism from the incipiency of the testing movement and possibly gave future critics basis to invalidate the test altogether.ixHowever, in the early 1920s the test seemed to be widel y accepted by the public and implemented in public schools across the nation. Although American schools had been grouping children sine the early 19th century, the lines were never as clear nor as easy to assign as they became with the IQ tests. By mid-century, terms such as ability grouping, homogenous grouping, and tracking were common in the English language. However, the methods and intent of grouping seems to have changed greatly with the implementation of IQ tests. In his book, Schools as Sorters, Paul Chapman states three main reasons why the IQ tests were developed in America. The first is that psychology was trying to pinpoint the quality of intellect by developing a variety of tests to measure both specific and general abilities. Second, the psychological research was stimulated by the practical need of the schools to explain individual differences in student performance and to identify poor performers. Finally, reforms in the Progressive Era might have enabled psychologis ts to promote their new measures of intelligence as a means of improving schools. In the time of muckrakers and intense social unrest, society was probably looking for order and Termans IQ tests provided just that for their children.xA 1921 article published in The New York Times detailed the implementation of such a system of order in one school district. Louis A. Marks, Principal of Public School 64 in New York, recounts his efforts to more efficiently organize his school using psychological tests to group children into five categories; gifted, bright, average, dull normal and defective. The article states that the courses were planned according to the rate of progress as follows: Gifted pupils, 8 years in 6; bright, 8 years in 7; average, 8 years in 8 or 9; dull normal, 8 years in 10; defective, assigned to special courses. In this way, pupils were grouped and teachers could concentrate on the individual differences of the groups. Also, the school kept records of each pupil and i f it seemed he or she was falling behind her predicted success the individual was referred to a psychologist to identify the factors holding him or her back.Marks states that such a method will mean a policy of prevention rather than one of correction. Furthermore, the article says of Marks,Although, he concludes, the question of expense may seem to hinder the fulfillment of this plan, it is probably most economical in the end, because its success will mean the elimination of many wasteful and expensive elements in the present system. There will be for example: Little retardation of pupils, less need for correctional institutions, better chance for true education because of better understanding of the children, much happier teachers, supervisors and parents, social improvement because of the lessening of early antagonism to education and social authority, and a really effective attempt at vocational and educational guidance. .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b , .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b .postImageUrl , .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b , .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b:hover , .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b:visited , .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b:active { border:0!important; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b:active , .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uf5a03884c1053c786d7e3ce42aea449b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Elmer Kelton Essay We will write a custom essay on The Intelligence Quotient: specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In effect, this article seemed to state that by removing the deficient children from classes that the more gifted will succeed. Throughout this Progressive Era, Terman made his intentions for the students clear. In keeping with the ideas of Social Darwinism, he wanted experts in schools to make reforms to better society. Terman seemed to be trying to extrapolate the gifted children from classrooms so that they wouldnt be held back by the deficient.xiThe whole philosophy of tracking was contingent on one idea; that IQ could not only be accurately measured, but remained stable throughout a persons life. It seems that education was taking a large gamble, determining a childs future based on his or her performance on one test. Furthermore, the test itself contained variables, including but not limited to, the administrator and the questions themselves. The Mechanics of the Test:The Fallibility of the AdministrationIn 1918, Thorndike commented on the use of educational measurement, What we do, or course, is to make not such a complete measurement of the total fact, but to measure the amount of some feature, e.g., the general merit of the composition or the richness or its vocabulary, just as physical science does not measure the elephant, but his height, or his weight, or his health, or his strength of pull. Every measurement represents a highly partial and abstract treatment of the produceIt should be noted also that single measurements are still in a sense complex, being comparable to volume, wattage or the opsonic index, rather than to length, weight or temperature. A decade into the twentieth century, IQ tests had been widely accepted and used by the public, this section will divulge just what was contained in the tests as well as how they were administered.xiiTo find the nature of the test, Terman himself is probably the best source. In 1916, he published The Measurement of Intelligence, from which some central ideas of the test can be extrapolated. The Binet scale itself is made up of series of tests that are categorized by mental age, the test taker completes each task and is assigned a mental age, to be used in comparison with his or her actual chronological age. As Terman states, How much the child has learned is of significance only in so far as it throws light on his ability to learn more. The tests were aimed at different areas of learning, such as differences in memory, the ability to compare, the power of comprehension, time orientation, facility in the use of number concepts, power to combine ideas, knowledge of common objects, and m any other categories. This range of categories was probably meant to ensure that the child got multiple ways to prove his or her intelligence. Some sample problems that Binet outlined are as follows:xiii Age 3:1.Point to nose2.Repeats two digits3.Gives family nameAge 4:1.Gives his sex2.Compares two lines3.Names key, knife and pennyAge 5:1.Compares two weights2.Repeats a sentence of ten syllablesCounts four pennies Age 7:1.Describes a picture2.Executes three commission, given simultaneously3.Names four cardinal colorsAge 151.Finds three rhymes for a given word2.Repeats a sentence of twenty-six syllables3.Interprets a pictureAge Adult:1.Solves the paper-cutting test2.Gives differences between pairs of abstract terms3.Gives three differences between a president and a kingThe answers to the tests were then compared to other childrens to determine ones grouping. However, Terman adapted Binets questions in such a way that made them more bias toward native English speakers by focusing the test culturally and linguistically on abstract concepts. One example of such a question was:An Indian who had come to town for the first time in his life saw a white man riding a long the street. As the white man rode by, the Indian said The white man is lazy; he walks sitting down. What was the white man riding on that caused the Indian to say, He walks sitting down. (Gould 206)To such a question, the only accepted answer was bicycle; the test did not leave room for interpretation. Furthermore, this Stanford-Binet test served as a starting point for many tests that followed it. The thinking was probably that if the Stanford-Binet measured intelligence accurately, than any test following its model would do the same; however, many of Binets original measures and goals were inevitably distorted. In this way, children had their futures subjectively determined in elementary school.xiv Moreover, a relatively significant flaw developed in the way the tests were administered. Thorndike not es that originally, the test was meant to be used scientifically by highly specialized experts, and yet it now hangs on the wall of thousands of classrooms as a means for pupils to measure themselves. Although one aim of the tests was to remove the subjective prejudices some teachers might have had against pupils, the tests were entrusted to the teachers themselves to administer and evaluate. Thorndike holds that the administrators, principals and teachers had been so sincere in their want to have tests which they could administer themselves, that psychologists were giving in to their requests. Tests were developed mostly to link intellect with achievement in school. Furthermore, he admits that the want to test vast numbers of pupils necessitated the creation of tests that could be administered by persons utterly devoid of judgment concerning the products in question. While it may be arguable that the original Stanford-Binet test had some merit, the subsequent mutations of it did ch ildren a great disservice.xvThe College Man:Predictions of the IQ TestThe 1920s can be considered the zenith of the IQ testing movement. This decade was marked by the philosophy that children should not only be separated by their IQs but that their intellect could predict the rest of their life. An avid believer in the strict heredity of intellect, Terman wanted to eventually separate children into professions at young ages, use the tests to choose who should be leaders and which people should not even be allowed to reproduce. In establishing this meritocracy, it was believed that paying extra attention to the deficient children was wasteful. In 1916, when commenting on a child with an IQ measured at 75, Terman said X is feeble-minded, he will never complete the grammar school; he will never be an efficient worker or a responsible citizen.xviInfluenced by such attitudes, the public began using the test as a standard for higher education as well. In an article published in 1919, Walt er T. Marvin defines a typical college man. He says that ninety-eight percent of men are not suited for higher education and that while some may claim reasons like poverty, lack of schooling or lack of interest in intellectual affairs for this, the prime reason was lack of intelligence. He used the empirical evidence that men of higher IQ fulfilled higher positions in life more frequently than those of a lower standing. Finally, he concluded his article with a very telling statement:From a mans score in the test, knowing nothing else about him, we can predict, with considerable probability, what his scholastic attainments have been or will be, or, what is even more important, what his scholastic attainments can be. Through the next ten years, the public did not seem to see any problem with categorizing and limiting people in such a way. Psychologists seemed to have found their niche in education and few seemed to have success disproving the power of the test.xviiChanging Public Sentiment:Dissent in the Latter Part of the 20th CenturyStaring with the Great Depression of the 1930s, public sentiment in general seemed to turn against the government, standardization and science in general. This attitude carried over to IQ testing, and people began to question the heritability of intellect. Perhaps the most telling evidence for this shift in attitude is Termans 1939 revision of his own ideas. He made a few concessions in what appeared to be an attempt preserve the use of the IQ test; mainly he moved the far boundary of mental age from sixteen to eighteen. He also admitted that perhaps not all factors contributing to the test and to intelligence were hereditary and stated that there may be no way to t ell how much environment influenced ones IQ. This publication was just the beginning of decades of controversy over the use of IQ testing.xviiiIt seems that the most controversy over the validity of the IQ tests manifested itself in the 1940s and 1950s. During this decade, newspaper articles were printed vehemently defending each side, which could show that public sentiment was strong in both directions. One such example of fierce controversy was an article in the New York Times written by Benjamin Fine in 1949 entitled, More and More, the IQ Idea is Questioned. Fines article stated that Such is the hold that intelligence measurement has on American schools that this revolt represents one of the most significant developments in education. He held that IQ testing did not take into account pertinent factors such as personality, character, social attitudes, physical development and common sense. Fine pointed to the fact that although a child may be intellectually capable, that in no wa y makes him or her emotionally ready to be placed into groups and tracked through school. He noted that the test had become a panacea for the problems of the education system; however, he agreed that in certain cases it could be useful. He urged teachers to buy the test for the pupils, administer them, but to use them only subjectively and not to attach any real significance to the numbers. Fine brought up the seemingly overlooked point of the effect that segregating children had on their emotional wellbeing, a fact that even the psychologists ignored. He wrote, For a time children of like IQs were placed in the same classes, on the theory of homogeneous grouping. In extreme cases children were segregated even within the classroom, those with the highest IQs occupying the front row and those with the lowest sitting in the rear in the dumbbell row.What this meant to the sensitive feelings of millions of doomed children is not hard to imagine. Fine proposed the solution of putting all the children back in the classroom together, and cited the fact that doing so would not hinder the learning of the brighter children. Finally, Fines used the point that children of certain backgrounds and ethnicities frequently did better on the tests than pupils with fewer advantages. This point was backed by Dr. Mark Roser who set up a clinic for children with lower IQs and using proper teaching methods was able to raise their scores by an average of twenty points. Fine brings up many interesting points in this article, namely those of the bias of the test and the flexibility of intellect. Yet, within a month, the same newspaper published an article directly opposing the work of Fine. Dr. N.E. Cutts, a professor of psychology at Yale University, and Dr. Nicholas Mosely, an educational consultant, wrote an answer to Fines argument saying that he assumed that the teachers used prejudice against the lower IQ students. They held that the IQ tests did far more to correct prejudice tha n to cause it, citing cases where teachers had assumed lack of ability in children that the IQ tests measured as bright. They argued that the IQ test acted as a challenge for any teacher to try and teach despite disability. Fine immediately responded that tests still prejudiced teachers because they were the people responsible for the administration and evaluation of the test. His counter argument was that the tests just furthered teacher bias. In public forums, the arguments for and against the IQ tests were zealously defended; however, one marked improvement was that both sides did agree that the tests were somewhat subjective and bias and therefore in need of revision.xixFrom the 1960s to today, psychologists and educators have finally begun conducting tests to study the role of testing in American education. One critical test took place in the 1960s when Nancy Bayley, a psychologist at the University of California, began to measure changes in test scores over long intervals and found that the results showed much variation. Bayley systematically retested pupils over the course of twenty-five years and found that even far into adulthood, the human intellect continued to grow and change. Through these observations, she not only proved that IQ was not absolutely fixed and heritable, but also said that, The job of the teacher is to try to trigger the next stage of development by providing the appropriate motivation. This was a critical change in the perspective of education since the beginning of the testing movement; that it wasnt the students who were lacking but perhaps the education system itself. Such ideas were in keeping with the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Some major complaints that arose during the following decades were that the tests were culturally biased against minorities, that psychologists could not accurately define IQ and therefore could not objectively measure it, that the tests were nothing more than a test of a persons ability to do well on other tests, and finally that IQ is nothing more than a measure of specific knowledge and acquired skills. Even today, most criticism of the IQ tests questions whether the human intellect can be objectively measured.xxStandardized testing is by no means a novel idea; in fact Horace Mann used such tests in 1845 as means to report on the success of Massachusetts school systems. He even predicted that such tests would be a popular tool in American education to evaluate teachers; however, this aim was twisted by the IQ tests which were used only to evaluate students. Even Binet, when creating the original IQ test, wanted to prove to teachers that they could maximize a students potential and set goals for the schools to live up to. However, in the time when the tests were popularized in America, society needed a quick fix to the ills of the education system; it was easier to blame the children themselves than to ameliorate the entire education system. Today the IQ tests are not used as measures to classify children, however they have by no means become archaic. Ironically, their use seems to have come full circle; the tests are now used to ensure that students are being taught to maximize their potential; if a problem student is identified, he or she is given individual attention as opposed to being deemed deficient. IQ tests no longer focus on the Darwin ideas of separating weaker human beings to improve society, now they aim to individuate students and eliminate weaker education policies.xxii Chapman, Paul Davis. Schools as Sorters: Lewis M. Terman, Applied Psychology, and the Intelligence Testing Movement, 1890-1930. New York: New York University Press, 1988. Pp. 39ii Beatty, Barbara. From Laws of Learning to a Science of Values: Efficiency and Morality in Thorndikes Educational Psychology. American Psychologist. Vol. 53, 1998. Pp. 1145-1147. .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 , .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 .postImageUrl , .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 , .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086:hover , .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086:visited , .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086:active { border:0!important; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086:active , .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086 .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u432c150f1e84aa61aabc37c0112f7086:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Great Gatsby And The American Dreams Essayiii Thorndike, Edward L., The Contribution of Psychology to Education, Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. I, pp. 5-8, in Cohen, Sol ed., Education in the United States: A Documentary History, Vol. 4. New York: Random House, 1974. Pp. 2240-2243. iv Thorndike, Edward L., Edward L. Thorndikes Laws of Learning from Thorndike, Edward L., Education: A First Book. New York, 1912. Pp. 7, 60, 71, 90-92, 95-99, in Cohen, Sol ed., Education in the United States: A Documentary History, Vol. 4. New York: Random House, 1974. Pp. 2243-2247; Beatty. Pg. 1148. v Beatty. Pp. 1150-51. vi Gould, Stephen J. The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W.W. Norton Company, 1996. Pp. 179-182; Chapman. 19. vii Gould. Pp. 188-89. viii Chapman. Pp. 1. ix Chapman. Pp. 29. x Chapman. Pp. 1-2, 17-18. xi Psychology to Aid in Grouping Pupils. New York Times (1857-Current File). Jun 5, 1921. Proquest Historical Newspapers, The New York Times. Pg. 32.; Chapman, 22. xii Thorndike, Edward L., Edward L. Thorndike on Educational Measurement from Thorndike, Edward L., The Nature, Purposes, and General Methods of Measurement of Educational Products as quoted in National Society for the Study of Education, Seventeenth Yearbook, Part II. The Measurement of Educational Products. 1918. Pp. 7, 16, 18-20, 24, in Cohen, Sol ed., Education in the United States: A Documentary History, Vol. 4. New York: Random House, 1974. Pp. 2248. xiii Terman, Lewis, Lewis Terman on The Theory and Practice of Intelligence Testing as quoted in Terman, Lewis M., The Measurement of Intelligence. Boston, 1916. Pp. 19-21, 36-40, 65-68, 72-73, 114-16, 140-41. in Cohen, Sol ed., Education in the United States: A Documentary History, Vol. 4. New York: Random House, 1974. Pp. 2250. xivTerman, Lewis, Lewis Terman on The Theory and Practice of Intelligence Testing as quoted in Terman, Lewis M., The Measurement of Intelligence. Boston, 1916. Pp. 19-21, 36-40, 65-68, 72-73, 114-16, 140-41. in Cohen, Sol ed., Education in the United States: A Documentary History, Vol. 4. New York: Random House, 1974. Pp. 2250-51; Gould. Pp.206-7. xv Thorndike, Edward L., Edward L. Thorndike on Educational Measurement from Thorndike, Edward L., The Nature, Purposes, and General Methods of Measurement of Educational Products as quoted in National Society for the Study of Education, Seventeenth Yearbook, Part II. The Measurement of Educational Products. 1918. Pp. 7, 16, 18-20, 24, in Cohen, Sol ed., Education in the United States: A Documentary History, Vol. 4. New York: Random House, 1974. Pp. 2249xvi Gould. Pp. 186, 209. xvii Marvin, Walter T., Intelligence Tests. New York Times (1857-Current Fil). May 11, 1919. Proquest Historical Newspapers, The New York Times. Pg. 36. xviii Gould. Pp. 221-222. xix Fine, Benjamin. More and More, the IQ Idea is Questioned. New York Times (1857-Current File). Sep. 18, 1949. Proquest Historical Newspapers, The New York Times. Pg. SM7.; Cutts, N.E., Ph.D., and Moseley, Nicholas, Ph.D., The IQ Idea Is Upheld. New York Times (1857-Current File). Oct. 23, 1949. Proquest Historical Newspapers, The New York Times. Pg. SM6xx Yarmolinsky, Adam, Quizzing the I.Q. Test. New York Timed (1857-Current File). Jan 29, 1949. Proquest Historical Newspapers, The New York Times. Pg. SM11.; Chapman. Pg. 2. xxi Chapman. Pp. 33-38.

Karst Topography and Sinkholes

Karst Topography and Sinkholes Limestone, with its high calcium carbonate content, is easily dissolved in the acids produced by organic materials. About 10% of the earths land (and 15% of the United States) surface consists of soluble limestone, which can be easily dissolved by the weak solution of carbonic acid found in underground water. How Karst Topography Forms When limestone interacts with underground water, the water dissolves the limestone to form karst topography - an amalgamation of caves, underground channels, and a rough and bumpy ground surface. Karst topography is named for the Kras plateau region of eastern Italy and western Slovenia (Kras is Karst in German for barren land). The underground water of karst topography carves our impressive channels and caves that are susceptible to collapse from the surface. When enough limestone is eroded from underground, a sinkhole (also called a doline) may develop. Sinkholes are depressions that form when a portion of the lithosphere below is eroded away. Sinkholes Can Vary in Size Sinkholes can range in size from a few feet or meters to over 100 meters (300 feet) deep. Theyve been known to swallow cars, homes, businesses, and other structures. Sinkholes are common in Florida where theyre often caused by the loss of groundwater from pumping. A sinkhole can even collapse through the roof of an underground cavern and form whats known as a collapse sinkhole, which can become a portal into a deep underground cavern. While there are caverns located around the world, not all have been explored. Many still elude spelunkers as there is no opening to the cave from the earths surface. Karst Caves Inside karst caves, one might find a wide range of speleothems - structures created by the deposition of slowly dripping calcium carbonate solutions. Dripstones provide the point where slowly dripping water turns into stalactites (those structures which hang from the ceilings of caverns), over thousands of years which drip onto the ground, slowly forming stalagmites. When stalactites and stalagmites meet, they forum cohesive columns of rock. Tourists flock to caverns where beautiful displays of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and other stunning images of karst topography can be seen. Karst topography forms the worlds longest cave system - the Mammoth Cave system of Kentucky is over 350 miles (560 km) long. Karst topography can also be found extensively in the Shan Plateau of China, Nullarbor Region of Australia, the Atlas Mountains of northern Africa, the Appalachian Mountains of the U.S., Belo Horizonte of Brazil, and the Carpathian Basin of Southern Europe.

Business munication of Exchanging Information

It is evident that munication is a process of exchanging information accurately and is a connecting aspect for deepen the connections to others and improve teamwork (Griffin, 2013). In recent times, it is seen that Chinese people are taking interest to travel to Australia for visiting the tourist places to explore the beauty and culture of this nation. However, the difference in their culture and language results in a munication gap that needs to be reduced for effective munication (Orey, 2014). Thus, the following report will provide an illustration regarding improving munication skills within the organization. The two of the most effective areas of the training programs that will be considered are developing good interpersonal skills among the staffs and international tourists especially Chinese and developing the culture of the entire organization so that tourists can rely on the pany for getting accurate information. Furthermore, some r mendations will also be presented for the f uture progress of these programs so that more people from China can visit Australia for acquiring knowledge and beauty of the nation. International people especially Chinese often face difficulties in munication with Australian people and thus they did not get proper information and details regarding tourist’s places, hotels and routes for these destinations (Eisler & Frederiksen, 2012). Thus, it is crucial to develop a good interpersonal skill among the staffs with international tourists. This process prises of improvement of nonverbal munication, improvement of interactions with international tourists and managing people's impressions on the staffs (Robles, 2012). Thus, it can be said that not only appropriate non-verbal munication is crucial but effective listening and based on that offering effective feedback is also important that has to be developed for improved munication skills within the organization. O'Neil (2014) stated that firstly it is important to improve the non-verbal munication and understands all its activities like facial expressions, use of touch and voice for munication. It is thus, further stated by Griffin (2013) that Visual cues are more important to deliver and interpret that of the audio cues. Thus, staffs of Coit's Outback Adventures must have to attain a positive gesture and a smiling attitude while attending any international tourists. However, Cheruvelil et al. (2014) highlight that these non-verbal cues can be attained if the staffs understand the importance of nonverbal munication. The staffs have to prehend the nonverbal munications that they receive from the tourists and then clear all their queries for providing them all the necessary details on Australia’s tourist’s destination along with the hotels and route details. Furthermore, learning of fortable body language is also necessary for effective interpersonal skills. Griffin (2013) denote d that a friendly gesture makes people share their confusion and queries to other. Thus, it will be beneficial for Coit's Outback Adventures’ staffs to learn fortable body language for clearing all the queries of tourist. This program for body language prises of actively listening by nodding, relaxed and formal gesture, eye-to-eye interaction; gender differences influence nonverbal munication, less interruption while tourists are explaining their queries and regulation of emotional cues. Keyton et al. (2013) moreover portray persuasiveness regarding the suggestion the staffs are giving to their clients, learning to incorporate a we ing body language in their behavior and being strategically assertive should be goals for improving the interactions. Staffs of Coit's Outback Adventures should also learn a simple and direct language to municate with the international staffs. The contribution of information that others did not know and provide relevant and true information to clients also makes a goof munication (DuBrin, 2014). Additionally, staffs must also learn to follow social expectations about being polite and should avoid bragging or being self-centered as it will diminish the number of clients in future.   The term organization culture refers to the aspect of shared assumptions, values and beliefs that make people of the organization attain organizational goals (Alvesson, 2012). Orey (2014) furthermore depicts that munication in this context plays a crucial role in team management and their collaboratively work for attaining those goals/objectives for the organization. In this area of the training programs, the staffs of Coit's Outback Adventures can learn how to manage the tourist's impression on the staffs and the nation. The staffs can learn to find mon ground. Taken for instance, to find an efficient tourism package based on mon ground between the staff and tourist, staff can suggest the best service available n their affordable budget. In this way the conflicts can be avoided. Shahzad et al. (2012) furthermore define that the staffs should learn the culture for actively listen to the tourist and not to assume things on behalf of the client's. However, staffs have the liberty to sh are their ideas and concepts or an alternative acceptable on which the clients/tourist can agree. Moreover, the staffs should not find any faults in the client's view or the working procedure fellow workers. Instead of this, they should suggest them with alternative ideas by explaining its benefits. Nica (2013) stated that in this way the culture of the organization could be well represented by the international clients. Acceptance of challenges also drives the organizational culture as solving these challenges will provide them a petitive advantage. Staffs of Coit's Outback Adventures must learn all the tourist schemes and packages they have so that effective package can be offered as per as the flexibility of the budget. Lastly, superiors must be accessible to all the organizational functionalities and operation and offer services and suggestion to staffs and clients while they are clearing their queries (Alvesson, 2012). Moreover, in the training programs also these managing authorities should present and evaluate their performance so that best candidates can be offered with p roper recognition and challenging job responsibilities and roles for their motivation (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). This also improves the organization culture through formal munication. Allow tourists to share their queries Make staffs behave according to the culture of the tourists Make staffs to help tourists according to their preferences Allow tourists to share their queries Learning to be strategically assertive Allow tourists to share their queries Allow tourists to share their queries Allow the tourists to get appropriate information Allow tourists to share their queries Developing effective organizational culture Allow tourists to share their queries Maintain the organizational culture by retaining their employee as well as staffs Thus, it can be concluded that Coit's Outback Adventures should mainly focus on Developing good interpersonal skills and effective organizational culture for improving the munication skills among the clients and staffs. The training program majorly highlights the aspects of improvements in nonverbal munication while understanding their importance in assisting international tourists. Learning fortable body language, recognizing cultural norms and influence of gender differences in nonverbal munication and regulation of emotional cues are the chief concern of this training activity. Improvements in interactions can also be achieved by learning from being persuasive, strategically assertive and appropriate body postures so that tourist and clients can clear their queries and get effective suggestions. Lastly, with this training program, the staffs also e to learn about the conflict management that can be achieved by giving the tourist a chance to speak and behave friendly with them. Las tly, accessibility of managing authorities for helping staffs during the training programs and on-job performance along with the provision of the liberty to speak and actively listen the queries of tourists represents the organization culture of Coit's Outback Adventures. This section highlights some of the future development consequences that can be implemented to strengthen the training programs so that staffs can assist the tourist effectively and suggesting them with best possible options. In this way, both employee retention and customer retention can be ensured. Recognition in training- Managing authorities can provide recognition to the staffs, which perform extraordinary so that they can get the motivation to give their best to the organization. Providing them other job and challenging responsibility can also enhance their petencies. Thus, to achieve recognition every staff will intend to show their best and learn all the munication skill to perform extraordinary. Diversification- As Coit's Outback Adventures is providing tourism suggestions to international tourists, recruitment of people belonging from different culture and nation will be beneficial for the organization. In this way, staffs can get aware of the knowledge regarding their nation and cultural values. This will not only help them in training but understand the preferences of the tourists from their culture. In this way, effective suggestions can be provided to the tourist irrespective of their cultural and traditional differences. Incorporation of e-learning training programs- In this technological world, people spent more time with electronic gadgets. Thus, incorporation of video conferencing allows the staffs to know the experiences and business proceedings in tourism from experts and tourism professionals of leading organization. Alvesson, M. (2012).  Understanding organizational culture. Sage. Cheruvelil, K. S., Soranno, P. A., Weathers, K. C., Hanson, P. C., Goring, S. J., Filstrup, C. T., & Read, E. K. (2014). Creating and maintaining high?performing collaborative research teams: the importance of diversity and interpersonal skills.  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment,  12(1), 31-38. DuBrin, A. J. (2014).  Human relations: Interpersonal job-oriented skills. Pearson Higher Ed. Eisler, R. M., & Frederiksen, L. W. (2012).  Perfecting social skills: A guide to interpersonal behavior development  (Vol. 56). Springer Science & Business Media. Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014).  Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. Griffin, R. W. (2013).  Fundamentals of management. Cengage Learning. Keyton, J., Caputo, J. M., Ford, E. A., Fu, R., Leibowitz, S. A., Liu, T., ... & Wu, C. (2013). Investigating verbal workplace munication behaviors.  The Journal of Business munication (1973),  50(2), 152-169. Nica, E. (2013). Organizational culture in the public sector.  Economics, Management, and Financial Markets,  8(2), 179-184. O'Neil, H. F. (2014).  Workforce readiness: petencies and assessment. Psychology Press. Orey, M. (2014). munication skills training. American Society for Training and Development. Robles, M. M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace.  Business munication Quarterly,  75(4), 453-465. Shahzad, F., Luqman, R. A., Khan, A. R., & Shabbir, L. (2012). Impact of organizational culture on organizational performance: an overview.  Interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business,  3(9), 975-985.

Teacher collaboration and student achievemant Research Paper

Teacher collaboration and student achievemant - Research Paper Example The respondents were asked to rate their response using Likert Scale as follows: strongly agree (1), agree (2), disagree (3), and strongly disagree (4). The following variables were used to identify the responses of teachers, to the questions posed above: (1) Informal Conversation; (2) One-on-One Assistance; (3) Routine Sharing of Materials, Methods, Ideas; (4) Routine Team Analyzing Data; and (5) Joint work. Analysis of Data and Interpretation Table 1 The Total Number of Respondents (Teachers) Per Grade Level and Department (Subjects) Grade Level Math Science Social studies Language Arts Total Number of Teachers 6 4 2 2 4 12 7 3 2 2 4 11 8 3 2 2 4 11 From the table, it is deduced that there are more teachers in the Grade 6 level with 35% or 12 out of 34 respondents in that grade level. Overall, there are a total of 34 teachers who responded on the survey aiming to investigate the impacts of teacher collaboration vis-a-vis non-collaboration on student academic achievement. Table 2 Re sults indicating Respondents View on the Variables of Informal Conversation, One-on-One Assistance, Routine Sharing, Routine Team and Joint Work Per Subject Math Science Social Studies Lg. ... 6 disagree Joint Work 10 agree 6 agree 3 agree 3 strongly disagree 6 agree 6 disagree The respondents’ view of the five variables indicated in the table would determine their perceived importance to thereby manifest the extent of teacher collaboration, by favoring its relevance or not. Those who strongly agreed perceived these variables as of utmost importance, in contrast to those who disagreed. From the table above, the results are summarized below: Informal Conversation: Out of 34 respondents, 6 or 18% strongly agreed; 65% agreed, while also 18% disagreed. It can be deduced that majority are in favor of informal conversation increasing teacher collaboration. One-on-One Assistance: From the total respondents, majority or 53% disagreed versus 47% who agreed that one-on-one assistance is a variable that increased teacher collaboration. Routine Sharing of Materials, Methods, Ideas: A total of 88%, or 30 teachers agreed that routine sharing of materials, methods and ideas are ef fective means to increase teacher collaboration. Only 4 respondents or 12% disagreed. Routine Team Analyzing Data: From among those who responded, 74% or 25 teachers acknowledged that routine team analyzing data is contributory to teacher collaboration. Joint work: Finally, a parallel percentage of respondents viewed joint effort as crucial to teacher collaboration where 74% agreed (6 of whom strongly agreed) and the rest of the 26% disagreed. On a per subject basis, the following results are hereby presented: Math: The total number of respondents who agreed that all the variables are crucial to manifest teacher collaboration for the subject of Math is 46 out of 48 (where only 2 disagreed). The results indicate the acknowledgement of Math teachers requiring collaborative efforts manifested

Poverty in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Poverty in America - Essay Example In addition to the system, racial discrimination has always played a major role in determining individuals allowed to hold a certain value of property. This has affected the economic state of certain races, as they are unable to have equal opportunities as other fellow citizens. However, it is worth mentioning that this has recently taken a different shift, as all races are now being embraced by the state. The ethical issue involved is that the system favors the economically strong personalities in the US community, yet the country strives for evenness among citizens (Davis, 1991). It is extremely unethical for the system to support the wealthy, yet the ones (poor) who need the support most are denied. If such a situation continues, the country would face serious consequences. The country may end up being divided into two, the poor and the wealthy (Gordon, 1965). This may eventually cause unrests and maybe war in the quest to achieve fairness. The most workable solution to the situation faced by the US is by adopting a different type of economical and social system (Iceland, 2006). The country should adopt a system that would treat both the poor and wealthy as equal. Moral principles encourage the treatment of every individual as equal. However, this is the opposite in the economic system adopted by the US (Iceland, 2012). The country’s economic system tends to lean in favor of the rich thus making the poorer and thus an unequal member of the society. 1. The existence of poverty in the US clearly depicts how the country’s socioeconomic system is unjust. The capitalistic system has made the richer acquire more wealth and left the poor languish more in a dire situation (Kowalski, 2003). Moreover, the unjust social situation of discriminating races has also tremendously contributed to the poverty situation experienced in the US. 2. It is undoubtedly evident that various reasons contribute to the poor economic state of some citizens in the United States.