Monday, December 30, 2019

Questions On Teaching And Learning - 1631 Words

Teaching metacognitively 1. Teaching for metacognition To find out what are my pupils’ metacognitive behaviours when solving problem, I had to introduce them to the concept of metacognition and to model what it means to be metacognitively aware when solving mathematical problems. In order to show how metacognition works in problem solving, I found thinking aloud protocols very useful. Aimed to uncover thought process, they are one of the primary building blocks to students’ success at all levels of learning. According to Rosenshine (1985), teachers who spend more time demonstrating and explaining procedures and skills are more effective than teachers who spend less time doing so. Consistent with Silver, Strong Perini (2007), good†¦show more content†¦This proved to be a win-win course of action since, besides modelling how to be metacognitively aware in problem solving, it gave me the opportunity to identify the difficulties my pupils usually encounter during the process of problem solving. I made clear that understanding the problem is crucial and I put this into practice by following suggestions made by Polya in his book How to solve it. According to Polya, â€Å"it is foolish to answer a question you do not understand† (Polya, 1990:6). But Polya recognises (and so do I) that such foolish and sad things often happen and the teacher should prevent this from happening. He strongly maintains that the student should not only understand the problem, which implies cognitive behaviour, but he should â€Å"desire its solution†, which implies metacognitive behaviour. Polya suggests that the student’s understanding can be checked if the student is asked to repeat the problem in his own words. Understanding the problem involves reading and here it was interesting to see not only how differently my pupils understood the problems, but to identify that some of them showed inaccuracies in reading by misreading words or reading without concentrating strongly on the meaning of the problem. As a primary teacher, I know that comprehension is the process through which understanding is derived via the construction of an internal representation of the text. Comprehending the information in a problem involves making sense of the structure

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Something about an Allegory - 1630 Words

The well-known novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, describes a monster created by science. Dr. Jekyll concocts a potion in attempt to isolate the good and evil sides of human nature. When he drinks the concoction, he is transformed into a human with a beastly nature. He becomes all that we can imagine as evil and physically appears just as misshapen. In the narrative we find the ghastly appearance a symbol for something more. This creature referred to as Mr. Hyde acts in ways that others consider monstrous. Mr. Hyde tramples a little girl and beats an old man to death with a wooden cane. At the end of the story, our main character is hunted down and found on the floor of his lab having†¦show more content†¦This creature is horrible in its thoughts and actions; a connection that is plain from reading. Stevenson hopes that we will not allow ourselves to fall into this base form of living. The appearance and actions of Mr. Hyde could be symbols in Stevensons allegory. The message to be gathered from all this information is that we must closely regulate our thoughts and actions, or risk becoming that which we despise. In Stevensons novella we find direct elements which point towards the consequences of acting out animalistic urges. While a young woman is musing by her window, she recognizes Mr. Hyde and elderly gentleman stopping to talk in the pathway. The gentleman appeared to bow and graciously allow Hyde to pass, while the other pedestrian remained stoically fierce. Then, very suddenly, â€Å"Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway. At the horror of these sights and sounds, the maid fainted† (22). It is fairly simple to see the intense violence of the subject. Hyde comes across a man in his way, and beats him to death. What the story doesnt explain directly is the meaning behind this action. Why would the author put thisShow MoreRelatedThe Allegory Of The Cave1086 Words   |  5 Pagesallegorical significance(s) of the cave in Plato’s Republic. How is the cave an allegory of Plato’s philosophy? How is the allegory of the cave an allegory for enlightenment or philosophical education? How and why are most human beings like prisoners in a cave? Who are the puppeteers? What does the world outside the cave represent? What does the sun represent? Etc. What is Plato’s Theory of the Forms? What is a Form? How does the allegory of the cave express Plato’s Theory of the Forms? How is philosophy theRead MoreEnlightenment Vs. The Comfort Of Fantasy Essay1541 Words   |  7 Pagesexemplify the message that people did not want to be enlightened in the Allegory of the Cave, a section of his book Republic. Through the use of counterpoints, metaphors, symbols, and paradox, Plato was able to accomplish presenting a paradigm where humans find it difficult to accept the reality of enlightenment over the comfort of a simpler fantasy they have always known in the â€Å"Allegory of the Cave.† Throughout Plato s Allegory of the Cave the most effective rhetorical strategy put to use is counterpointsRead MoreAnalysis of the Allegory of the Cave1077 Words   |  5 PagesAnalysis of the Allegory of The Cave Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† presents a visualization of people who are slaves that have been chained in front of a fire their whole lives. These people observe the shadows of different things shown on the cave wall that is in front of them. The shadows are the only â€Å"reality† the slaves know. This is because they have never seen anything else to compare them to. Plato argues that there is a critical flaw in how people mistake their limited perceptions asRead MoreIn the country of men1056 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿In the Country of Men as a National Allegory Hisham Matar presents In the Country of Men as a national allegory. This is done through metaphors, personification, and characters’ relationships. His purposes for writing this novel were political. A national allegory is any attribution of human characteristics to other animals, non-living things, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations or governments1 of a nation or its people.2 Fredric Jameson, with ideas more suitableRead MoreThe Matrix and the Allegory of the Cave Essay948 Words   |  4 PagesTOK Essay The Allegory of the Cave and The Matrix 03 December 2010 Many people think that what we know is not really what is real. This idea is shown through the story of The Allegory of the Cave and the movie, The Matrix. Both the movie and the story are similar (it is said that The Matrix is based on The Allegory) and the main plots of the two can be compared. In The Allegory of the Cave, the people are chained up by their legs and necks in a cave from an early age, facing a wall. FromRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave890 Words   |  4 Pages The Allegory of the Cave In Plato’s voyage to determine what a philosopher king is, he presents us with the Allegory of the Cave. He explains how leaders should be educated, versus the society as a whole, and he leaves us with a significant message. Aside from The Allegory of the Cave being a primary puzzle piece of Plato’s ideal city, it can also be interpreted in many different ways. The predominant one being that human beings, especially the young, get easily manipulated by persuasive peopleRead MoreAnalysis Of Platos Allegory Of The Cave864 Words   |  4 Pagesthe surface of Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† it is just a simple piece, but the main purpose of the piece is to explain people living in a world of face value and having individuals break free from the main idea to create a new sense of what the world is truly about. In here, Plato uses the writing style of allegory to encompass the use of imagery and symbolism to explain his purpose. He also uses very clever dia logue with constant repetition to represent a bigger idea about the philosophy with chainedRead MoreAllegory and Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†1203 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Young Goodman Brown† is an excellent example of the use of allegories and symbolism as a form of satire on Puritan faith. According to Frank Preston Stearns, author of The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne, â€Å"Hawthorne may have intended this story as an exposure of the inconsistency, and consequent hypocrisy, of Puritanism† (Stearns 181). Throughout the story of â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† Hawthorne tries to infuse as many symbols and allegories as he can to enhance the overall meaning of his story.Read MoreSynthesis of Truman Show and Platos Allegory of the Cave1440 Words   |  6 PagesTruman Show and Platos Allegory of the Cave When The Truman Show was released in 1998, it was just another popular Hollywood flick, but its story is closely related to Platos Allegory of the Cave. The plot line for the movie follows this classic tale in many ways, some more obvious then others. As with most cinematic treachery, the movies similarities are no coincidence. The writers drew from Platos classic because it is such a universal story and is something that everyone can relate toRead More Essay on Symbols, Symbolism, and Allegory in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown726 Words   |  3 PagesSymbols, Symbolism, and Allegory in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Symbolism is a literary technique that is used to clarify the authors intent. Sometimes it is used to great effect, while other times it only seems to muddle the meaning of a passage. In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses objects and people as symbols to allegorically reveal his message to the reader. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses different people as symbols throughout Young Goodman Brown. The largest symbolic

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Festivals in India Free Essays

Art has been around for what seems to be forever, yet no one has truly found an answer to the question, what is art? For some, definitions such as, art is â€Å"which implies knowledge of materials and their skillful handling. †(Ocvirk, 5), may be fulfilling, but in my opinion art has a much deeper meaning to it. If a person understands the work of art then, in a way one understands the artist himself. We will write a custom essay sample on Festivals in India or any similar topic only for you Order Now During the trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Giovanni Paolo Panini’s Interior of Saint Peter’s, caught my eye from the start; therefore I have decided to write my paper on it. Giovanni Paolo Panini was born in 1692, in Piacenza. He first started off his training from a stage designer, after that he moved to Rome where he specialized in decorations and began to study drawing. Panini started to receive recognition after joining the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon and the Accademia di San Luca. Soon enough Panini was painting frescoes for essential people, for an example painting for the Pope was one of Panini’s projects. The Interior of Saint Peter’s was only one of many paintings Panini had done. Giovanni Paolo Panini painted the Interior of Saint Peter’s with oil; the picture plane, which is a flat surface where the artist implements his image on, is a plain canvas. The dimensions of the canvas is (74 x 99. 7 cm), Panini used a canvas which had more height than width due to the fact that the Interior of Saint Peter’s contained high domed ceilings, he uses this canvas to his advantage in portraying the domed ceiling along with the arched columns. The smart choice in the dimensions of the canvas comes to no surprise due to the fact that Panini specialized in architectural paintings. He angles the perception of the painting to show the enormous size of the building. It is easy to see the distance between where the viewpoint of the painting is to the far end of the structure. You can also tell that the building was massive by observing the people Panini painted into the picture. If you notice everyone is painted as if they were nothing but ants from this distance in the building. This truly brings out the size of the building and allows the viewer to acknowledge that indeed this is a big structure. From this point of view the painting seems to be in the two dimensional world. The color in the painting allows the viewer to see the vast decorations on the columns, ceiling, and you clearly see the structure in the back of the painting, yet it is not as clear as the closer objects, which shows us this â€Å"realâ€Å"image of the viewpoint. Panini uses colors to distinguish between where one decoration ends and another begins. For example, look at the decorations on the columns, you can clearly see where they begin and end, such detail of the color has been put into this piece of art and that detail allows the viewer to understand the beauty of the scene. You can see on the left side of the painting that the light is shining in from the windows and into the scene; this allows the viewer to understand that if they were there most of the inside would be in shade. There is also a man wearing red in the middle of the scene who seems to be kneeling and praying. The red colored clothes of this man stick out perfectly compared to the surroundings, making it clear that we should not overlook this man; maybe Panini had a meaning to why this man was kneeling and why he wanted the viewer to notice it. Panini also uses volume to show the height and width of the columns. From where the scene is being viewed from the columns are shown from two sides. One side of the column, the side with three figure looking designs on it, seems to be facing towards what might be the entrance and the other side is facing the main hall, where the man in the red is kneeling. This view gives the columns somewhat depth and solidifies them, because you can almost perfectly get the idea of how huge and enormous the columns are. The balance in the painting seems to be perfect when it comes to the equality of weight and accomplishing unity. However, Panini has somewhat given certain things more attention than others in the painting. There is still unity the painting comes together well, yet there are still things like the man in the red kneeling or the woman in the pink in the right hand side. Objects like that seem to have more attention grabbing characteristics than others. Panini has put most of the crowd towards the right next to the columns and left more empty space in the middle which makes certain objects, like the man kneeling, stick out more. As before you can clearly that there is plethora of space in between the people in the hall. It is easy to perceive in how much space there actually is in between everyone due to the fact that proportionally the painting makes sense. The people in the hall are the perfect size, the structure is a perfect size, everything sings in harmony which allows the viewer to perceive space in a rational manner, so the space between two people in the hall would seem more real than if the painting was not proportionally correct. Panini’s style seems to be simple if you look at the manner of what he paints. He was known for specializing in architectural views; Panini painted many pictures of Saint Peter’s. Yet, his style seems to be somewhat more in depth than just architectural views, Panini seems to sneak in a few things that may or may not have meaning to them. For example, at the top right of the painting in between the arch of the first column there seems to be a figure of a person as if he were sneaking around. Also lets not forget the figure kneeling in the middle of the hall, it was not coincidence that this person sticks out more than the rest of the people, there is probably a meaning behind this that only Panini could explain, or maybe he left it to the viewer to come up with a meaning for themselves. Panini shows the detail of the decorations in a realistic manner, in a way that a viewer can see the details yet at the same time if the object or decorations are far from the point of view they blur a little, giving it a more rational tone. This rational tone can be considered atmospheric perspective, which means the painter is trying to show a realistic view by allowing far away objects to blur a little and for closer objects to be strong and contrast. Panini did a great showing atmospheric perspective because if you look at the flags on the ceiling, you can clearly see the closest one to the viewer which is the one on the top right, and the top left one is slanted but still more clear than the one behind it, same goes for the top right one it is much more clear if you compare it to the flag behind it which is farther from the viewer. Panini uses this on the columns and its decorations as well, the farthest column’s decorations are almost impossible to see where as the closest column’s decorations are the clearest. Giovanni Paolo Panini’s, Interior of Saint Peter’s is a great example of perfect artwork. Panini uses the elements of composition and the principles of organization to create beautiful art. Though beauty is subjective, it is hard to say that this painting is nothing less than that. Reference http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4323032 How to cite Festivals in India, Essay examples

Friday, December 6, 2019

Strategic Management Theory and Application

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Management for Theory and Application. Answer: Introduction: The three major challenges that came into picture post-merger along with the manner in which these were resolved are briefly discussed below (Rainer, Princes Watson, 2013) Flight information system integration Both the airlines were using different flight information system and it was essential that integration process should be carried out in a manner which minimises corruption and loss of any existing data. Out of the different systems prevalent, Unimatic system used by United Airlines was chosen as the more suitable system which could sustain the load of the merged airline. In order to ensure data combination smoothly, contingency plans were put into place and also integration was done at night when the flight traffic was minimal. Passenger information system integration The databases corresponding to the two airlines were different and needed integration. The underlying task was complicated by the fact that it also included the website and the consumer loyalty programs for the airlines which also required integration into a single entity. In this regard, the Continental Airlines prevalent passenger information handling system known as Shares was given preference and integration was done followed by adequate testing. Besides, adequate support and training was provided to the veteran employees of United Airlines who faced difficulty in working with Shares. Speedup-Slowdown algorithm reconciliation The algorithm that were deployed by both airlines in order to make decisions with regards to slowing down or speeding up of the aircraft coupled with changes in route were different. The two different algorithms did not reach to a common conclusion and hence the integration team had to design a new algorithm to be followed by the merged entity which aimed to imbibe the innate strengths of both algorithms while avoiding their limitations. The annual cost savings to arise from the merger between United Airlines and Continental Airlines was expected to be $ 1 billion to $ 1.2 billion annually. Due to the soft savings, it would be possible to this to consumers in the form of lower fares (Mouawad Merced, 2010). As a result, this may be related to the cost leadership generic strategy for the merged entity would be able to provide the services at a lower cost as compared to the competitors and hence would have a competitive advantage. Considering the vast span of destinations covered and the market share, it is apparent that this reduction of fares would be broad based and not limited to a particular segment (Haberberg Rieple, 2008). The company has had several operational and maintenance issues recently. The maintenance issues have caused delays in flights and also cancellations at times. Besides, the airline is also facing issues related to a unhappy workforce coupled with punctuality problems. The result of these problems is that the consumers are not satisfied and the airline has not been able to achieve the estimated cost savings which was proposed at the time of the merger. The issue becomes worse due to lack of appropriate backup systems to promptly deal with the technical glitches and maintenance lapses. However, amidst this sea of concerns, there was positive news recently as the net profit of the reached a record figure of $ 1.1 billion (Carey Nicas, 2015). The must know targets for United Continental in relation to the future efficiency gains are highlighted below (Cederholm, 2014). A savings in fuel consumption to the extent of $ 1 billion to be achieved by the year 2017. This is to be accomplished in the following manner as captured below. Maintenance savings to the tune of $ 100 million to be achieved through the reduction of maintenance CASM and also by the induction of new fleet to replace the old fleet thus requiring less maintenance. Labour productivity needs to be enhanced through appropriate process improvement and innovations using technology thus leading to estimated savings of $ 500 million by 2017. The distribution channels need to be optimised coupled with savings in sourcing cost in order to reap a cumulative cost savings of $ 250 million by 2017. The five forces model for the airline industry is discussed below (HBR, 2008). Rivalry amongst the existing players is intense as the consumers tend to be highly price sensitive and as a result there is constant tussle amongst the players to offer the most lucrative prices which adversely impacts profitability of existing players. Threat of substitutes is high as the consumers could choose amongst alternative modes of communication particularly trains which are increasingly becoming faster. Additionally, water transport may also be preferred particularly for goods and hence if the price is increased, then the consumers may look for cheaper substitutes. Bargaining power of suppliers tends to be high as there are only limited manufacturers of airplanes and their engines. Besides, the supply of gates at the airport is also limited and hence it is difficult for the airlines to drive a hard bargain with the suppliers, which leads to a higher cost structure. Threat of new entrants in the airline industry is high as new players with limited scale of operations can enter by leasing the airplanes and requisite equipment. As a result, new players are entering the airline industry which tends to increase the overall competition and provide the consumer with additional choices. Bargaining power of buyers is also high as there is availability of substitutes in terms of other modes of travel and also they can choose from a number of airlines that are offering the service. It is apparent from the above Porter force analysis that for airline industry, all the five forces are reasonably high and hence the ability of the airlines to increase prices is limited. Further, considering the high price sensitivity and limited differentiation scope, it makes sense to focus on cost leadership as the appropriate generic strategy for competitive advantage. The airline merger discussed here is also driven by the same generic strategy as it is expected to result in synergy and cost savings which would help the airline to lower prices and thus enhance both profitability and market share (Haberberg Rieple, 2008). References Carey, S Nicas, J 2015, United Continental Is Still Shaky Five Years After Merger, Wall Street Journal, 8 July, viewed 17 December 2016 https://www.wsj.com/articles/united-flights-grounded-due-to-computer-issue-1436361911 Cederholm, T 2014, United Continental Holdings: A must-know company overview, Market Realist, 27 June, viewed 17 December 2016 https://marketrealist.com/2014/06/united-continental-holdings-must-know-company-overview/ Haberberg, A Rieple, A 2008, Strategic Management: Theory and Application, 2nd edn., New York: Oxford University Press HBR 2008, The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy, YouTube, 30 June, viewed 17 December 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYF2_FBCvXw Mouawad, J Merced MJ 2010, United and Continental Said to Agree to Merge, New York Times, 2 May, viewed 17 December 2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/business/03merger.html Rainer, RK, Princes, B Watson, H 2013, Management information systems: Moving business forward, 2nd ed. Australia: John Wiley Sons Ltd, p 70-71.