Analysis of the Case Oticon Using the Culture Metaphor Essay Sample

1. IntroductionThe metaphors of organisations and direction have been discussed by Gareth Morgan in his book â€Å"Images of Organizations† ( Morgan. 2006 ) . Morgan exposed eight metaphorical images of organisations including machine. being. encephalon. civilization. political system. psychic prison. flux and transmutation. and instrument of domination. Each one of these metaphors creates insight. but besides obscures some corners. They have both pros and cons. They enable seeing. but besides non seeing. No 1 of them is said to be right and right. 2. BackgroundOticon is a Danish company. located in Copenhagen. They used to be one of the best in market for planetary hearing assistance industry. The development and promotion of the other rivals. such as Siemens and Starkey. set Oticon in a critical slippery place in the market. particularly the planetary 1. where Oticon export the bulk of its merchandises to. To rectify the state of affairs. the board brought in Lars Kolind. who had great history of scienceoriented solutions despite his youngness ( 30 old ages old ) . Kolind analyzed the strengths and failings of Oticon and compared it with the rivals. He found out that no strengths Oticon had to vie with. On the other manus. Kolind found out that the inflexibleness and low reactivity the rivals had could be a drawback in comparing with Oticon. Therefore. he decided to put a new program to turn the organisation into larning antiphonal organisation. He sought bettering this advantage to capture larger market portion. particularly globally. and derive higher net income borders. In this study. the instance is analyzed utilizing the civilization metaphor. In other words. it discusses what we could see and reflect when projecting the plane Kolind set and applied on the other rules and attacks of the civilization metaphor. 3. TheoryWhen we talk about civilization we are normally mentioning to the spiel of development reflected in a society’s system of cognition. political orientation. values. Torahs. and daily rite ( Morgan. 1997 ) . Political scientist Robert Presthus has suggested that we now live in an â€Å"organizational society† . This sort of societies has typical facets lay by and large in groups of people build their lives around distinguishable constructs of work and leisure. follow stiff modus operandis five or six yearss a hebdomad. live in one topographic point and work in another. wear uniforms. defer to authorization. and pass so much clip in a individual topographic point executing a individual set of activities ( Presthus. 1978 ) . Organizations could follow different behaviors due their cultural contexts. In other words. some societal behavior could be accepted within a certain cultural context. but possibly unsuitable for other contexts. For case. the Nipponese organisational behavior may non differ from the western organisational one significantly. But Nipponese civilization was more fertile to make much work while maintaining the positive spirit ( Maruyama. 1982 ) . Organizational civilization is the corporate behavior of worlds who are portion of an organisation and the significances that the people attach to their actions ( Smircich. 1983 ) . Corporate civilization is the entire amount of the values. imposts. traditions. and significances that make a company unique. Corporate civilization is frequently called â€Å"the character of an organization† . since it embodies the vision of the company’s laminitiss. The values of a corporate civilization influence the ethical criterions within a corporation. every bit good as managerial behavior ( Montana. 2008 ) . Cultural regulation following could be described as the attachment to societal norms and imposts. while cultural passage emphasises that we must root out apprehension of organisation in the procedures that produce systems of shared significance ( Morgan. 2006 ) . 4. Analysis4. 1. Oticon as Cultural PhenomenonMany European states. every bit good as Denmark. started to turn into organisational states after the industrial revolution during the eighteenth century ( Johansen 2002 ) . Oticon was founded in 1904 by Hans Demant. which means that Oticon. every bit good as other Danish organisations. had been regarded as cultural phenomena that clip. From the instance. there are many contemplations that confirm the similarities between Danish organisational civilization and other European civilizations. That may include working hours. quality criterions. organisational constructions. and other facets of any organisational civilization. 4. 2. Oticon and Cultural ContextAfter come ining Kolind to the organisation. there were many indexs that could pull to which context Oticon had been working in. Kolind proposed a new program with many critical alterations that could travel the company toward decentralised manner. That was accepted by the squad direction. but non heartily welcomed and seen as a new hazardous manner. This indicates that the organisational context in Denmark were by and large hierarchal. Kolind seemed as if he had been influenced by the Nipponese developing manner that clip. He had studied the cultural context in Oticon. and tried to research where some positive facets of the Nipponese manner could be built in. 4. 3. Corporate Culture and Subculture in OticonBefore Kolind’s age. the corporate civilization of Oticon could be characterized by aristocratism. where Demant household had entirely been owned the company for decennaries. But after the company had lost its place in the planetary market. Kolind has been brought in to recover Oticon’s place. while preserve its corporate values and civilization. The board showed Kolind powerful support for his new proposal. which reflects a gradual alteration in corporate civilization. Kolind would hold neer stepped frontward without such support that kept even the direction squad off from kicking him. despite their steady reluctance to the new proposal. Furthermore. what could be seen as a important alteration in corporate civilization is the manner Kolind resorted to for financing the new program. He asked the bank to get 17 % of the company. and some of his co-workers to get 3-4 % . He besides offered the employees portions at a good monetary value under certain standard. That reflects a important alteration in corporate civilization. Kolind has created a great trade when he hired the enthusiastic employee. Helle. to be portion of what he called the inside design squad. This squad had the duty of sentiment leaders. There were six sentiment leaders ; none of them had been busying managerial place. Kolind called the squad with that name so that non to endanger anyone in the direction squad. This reflects how Kolind was well-conscious of dominant civilization. This squad has grown bit by bit and was a karyon that multiplies within the organisation. It is a great back uping power that Kolind planted to cut down the immune potencies of the direction squad. 4. 4. How Could Oticon Change Culture?In our sentiment. the first alteration Oticon did was altering people. This started by engaging Lars Kolind. who disturbed the flow radically. He might be one individual. but really of import 1. In point of fact. Oticon became wholly different after brining in Kolind. It was in world a historical limestone for Oticon. What Kolind has done to use strategic alterations in Oticon’s civilization could be highlighted by some particular and progressive stairss. Logically. he had to understand the procedures within Oticon really good. Then. he diagnosed the strategic alteration demands to look into the extent of alteration and identify barriers. That led him to see alterations in manners of direction. organisational modus operandis. symbolic activities. and political activities ( Mintzberg A ; Quinn. 1996 ) . That all contributed finally in the passage of a shared worlds. Changing topographic points is one of the tactics Kolind has applied. Alte rnatively of detached classical offices. Kolind turned the company into a really large unfastened office for everybody. The employees were free to take their topographic points. By using that. Kolind could alter the traditional frame of working topographic points within the organisation. and likely in Denmark. Furthermore. Kolind needed to alter a set of people’s beliefs and attitudes to accept and follow his program. He could pull off to make that as discussed before by making the interior design squad. converting the board to accept some strategic alterations. and enforcing fait accompli on the squad manage. Kolind tried to make the nucleus thought based of what we can name â€Å"Let?s work together† . This thought helped to develop a corporate civilization that spreads values and rules in all portion of the organisation. Kolind has besides dedicated scientific cognition refering with function theoretical accounts to alter Oticon’s world. Spaghetti theoretical account is a clear grounds for that. He destroyed the departmentalization by affecting different employees in many different undertakings. to execute different functions in each undertaking. There were 100 undertakings. every undertaking was owned by person on the direction squad. But ownership at that place was like being president of the board. The occupation of undertaking proprietor was to back up and unfastened doors. while the undertaking director ran the show. These were non common alterations for any employee to accommodate with. But by developing them to play different functions within their squads. Kolind ad ded a new standard to the hereafter employees. who are willing to work at Oticon. Kolind blew up the departmental construction and reconstruct a new construction. Kolind has besides presented indirect technological alterations to the construction alterations. Kolind enhanced the rule of uninterrupted betterment. and that could be really clear from the manner he dealt with undertaking E36. The universe witnessed so the first to the full automatic hearing assistance named MultiFocus and ranked by the company as the most advanced hearing assistance that had of all time been made. The merchandise was a device offered a echt advanced to the user with much more comfy sound delivered by a to the full automatic system. In order to be a client service oriented company. Oticon’s scheme had been based on holding its ain distributers in order to be in direct contact with their clients so that to supply them with original cognition measure and quality. Kolind besides encouraged all employees to hold their ain computing machines by offering really low monetary values for them. Besides. he imposed the addition of unwritten and e-based communicating alternatively of paper communicating. That was really helpful for employees to unify within the organisation and understand the new manner rapidly. For case. if any employee inquires about a affair. s/he would happen it really simp le to inquire anyone around. which means a more productive flow of work. Finally. and as discussed earlier. the corporate image of Oticon has been wholly changed in Kolind’s age. He could add a positive societal value by increasing the public portion in the company significantly. 4. 5. Strengths of the Culture MetaphorUndoubtedly. the civilization metaphor has several strengths. among these strengths is that it directs attending to the symbolic significance of about every facet of organisational life ( Morgan et al. 1983 ) . That can be seen in Oticon’s instance when there was a focal point on each elaborate facet that makes the working flow of the organisation apprehensible through the constructions. regulations. modus operandis. and hierarchies what are necessary for its day-to-day based functionality. Changing corporate civilization is non ever easy due the opposition against alteration. because in most instances organisations are really structured hierarchically and power oriented ( Morgan et al. 1983 ) . In Oticon the direction squad were highly negative. Kolind was clear when idea that section should work in more incorporate manner. by making a multifunctional organisation. where everyone does more than one thing. Therefore. the construct of a caput section didn’t make sense any longer. As a consequence. Kolind did his best to present the thought that the times have changed. and the traditional manner directors had used to work with became disused. The 3rd strength of the civilization metaphor is that it supports the relation between the organisation and its environment ( Morgan. 2006 ) . Reflecting this on Oticon. we have noticed that Kolind has based his determination doing scheme by taking advantages over other competitor’s failings due to their heavy reaction and departmentalized constructions. Furthermore. the manner to understand the organisational alteration can be besides strength. Besides altering engineerings. constructions. and employees motive ; alteration should besides cover the images and values that frame this alteration ( Morgan. 2006 ) . Even though there was kind of opposition for the alteration within Oticon. Kolind has managed to setup a clump of values to modulate the new manner of how to accomplish ends and marks. No affair which method to follow. it had to be characterized by values such as equity and transparence. 5. CONCLUSIONSThe civilization metaphor provides a radical manner of believing about organisations. In order to make a new organisational construction. the biggest challenge would be cultural alteration. When Oticon faced troubles. there was a demand to respond to accommodate with the planetary environment. The first measure taken by the board was to alter the world of the company being ruled by a household. engaging a new leader from outside ( Kolind ) . Even though it was non a existent cultural alteration. but what corporate civilization wanted him to make. Kolind accelerated the debut of several cultural alterations in the organisation. He introduced a new civilization of thought ( believing the unthinkable ) based on his analysis consequences. He managed to make a new construction of the organisation and developed a new roadmap based on the company future visions and ends. Besides. Kolind introduced new stockholders to the company capital. switching Oticon toward public corporat ion. He besides moved the direction and determination devising manner of Oticon from being centralized to be more decentralised. he besides managed to make a shared systems of significance that are accepted. acted and approachable at all degrees of the organisation. since this metaphor is meant to be built around people instead than techniques. However. the failure on such undertakings can endanger any effort to present a cultural alteration. 6. Reference Johansen. Hans Chr. ( 2002 ) . Danish Population History. 1600-1939. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark. Presthus. R. ( 1978 ) . The Organizational Society. New York: St. Martin’s. Maruyama. M. ( 1982 ) . â€Å"Mindscapes. Management. Business Policy. and Public Policy. † Academy of Management Review. Mintzberg. B. and Quinn. B. ( 1996 ) . † Leadership is intertwined with civilization formation. † The Strategy Process. Prentice-Hall. Montana. P. and Charnov. B. ( 2008 ) Management ( 4th ed. ) . Barrons Educational Series. Hauppauge: NY. Morgan. G. P. Frost. and L. Pondy. ( 1983 ) . â€Å"Organizational Symbolism. † Greenwich. Connecticut: JAI Press. Morgan. G. ( 2006 ) . Image of organisation. Schulich School of concern. Toronto. Smircich. L. ( 1983 ) . â€Å"Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis. † Administrative Science Quarterly. Wiener. N. ( 1967 ) The human usage of human existences. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Direct Manipulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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The Federal Government Should Provide Financial support for stem cell Research Paper

The Federal Government Should Provide Financial support for stem cell - Research Paper Example That is, they are progenitor cells that can become any part of the body, they self-rebuild. Such cells are referred to as the human stem cells. In the human body, they are only found in the brain, bone marrow, skin and liver. They can repair moderate damage (Forman, 2007, pgs. 1-6). Another kind of stem cell, however, is more versatile and is referred to, as the embryonic stem cells. They come from embryos or unborn humans in the very earliest stages of life. To be used in stem cell research, they must be less than one-week-old (Forman, 2007, pg. 8). It is these cells, which can develop into every cell in the body. They are the source of debate over stem cell research and the role that the federal government should play in the funding of such research. This paper will highlight the benefits that the citizens of the United States will gain from all forms of stem cell research, which are funded by the federal government. It will also outline the gains that would be reaped if the federa l government failed to fund such research and the funds are channeled to other sectors of the economy whose results are more assured. Stem Cell Research Stem cell research involves the study of both embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. ... 202-203). Stem cell research has known an enormous development and cellular transplantation and holds a great promise for regenerative medicine. Scientists present stem cell research as the key to several potential applications in research, drug discovery and trans-plantation medicine (Lynch, 2011, pg. 20). Arguments For and Against Federal Government Funding to Stem Cell Research Participants in the public debate surrounding human embryonic stem cell research and the administration’s funding policy have addressed themselves to many complicated and difficult ethical matters. As many people as are for government funding are also against government funding towards stem cell research, particularly, embryonic stem cell research. Arguments against Government Funding The predominant reason why the federal government should not fund the stem cell research program revolves around issues moral and ethics. They should not fund stem cell research because the use of embryonic stem cells w ill result to the embryo being destroyed. An embryo is a human life on equal standing with any other human life and it is wrong to destroy human life for any reason, even if it is with the goal of saving another (Forman, 2007, pgs. 27-28). The federal government funding of such research will be paramount to aiding in committing murder albeit not murder as is recognized by the law. It would be wrong to use tax dollars to encourage the destruction of human embryos. Not everyone is a fan of federal government funding for stem cell research. Some people argue that with individual states are taking much of the financial burden, the federal government should stay out of the more controversial aspects of stem cell science, such as work involving human embryos. They point out that in vitro

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But most contemporary researchers assume that there are three types of memory; a sensory memory structure or register, a short term store, and a long term store. There is also support for a two structure model. This is regarded as a two storage system and this is where the emphasis lies. Support for a storage system was highlighted from (Mulner, 1959) research. Her research supports the hypothesis that if the hippocampus was removed it would be difficult for new learning to take place. Eichenbaum, (2000) states that the Hippocampus is seen as critically involved in the rapid encoding of events as associations among stimulus elements and context, in the encoding of episodes as events, and in linking episodes by common features into relational networks that support flexible inferential memory expression. Mulner, (1959) further posited that although items of learning could be held in short term memory, there is no evidence that they were transferred to Long term memory. Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) supported (Mulner 1959) findings. Zechmeister and Nyberg (1982) posited that information enters the memory system through a sensory register that records information impinging on the sense organs. The concept of working memory has been introduced as a part of the short term memory (Bradderly and Hitch, 1974; Hastie and Carlston ( 1980). Short term memory takes information as concepts from the sensory register and maintains activated knowledge drawn from long term memory. Long term memory is comprised of semantic long term memory and episodic long term memory. Semantic long term memory stores structural information. This is information that is not dependent upon a particular time or place. Episodic long term memory stores contextually dependent information. That is information about specific events or episodes. Klatzsky (1980) purports that Episodic Long term memory is constantly changing. This is so because as (Conway, Cohen, and Stanhope, 1991; Semb, Ellis, and Aroujo, 1993) stated, although some of what is learned is lost, the amount is not significantly great. Bahrick, (1984); Bahrick, Bahrick, and Wittingler (1975), Bahrick and Hall (1991); Conway, Cohen, and Stanhope (199 1) reported retention intervals as long as fifty years. From their research they discovered that persons retained a substantial amount of the Spanish, Algebra, and psychology that they were taught in school. Research carried out by Cane and Willey (1939) and Hovland (1940) supported the hypothesis that persons who are given multiple opportunities for learning had better retention. But if one is merely interested in assessing what students have learned over a period of time, the focus will be merely on assessing remembering. However, meaningful learning supersedes mere remembering. Bransford, Brown and Cocking (1999); Lambert and Mc Combs (1998) stated that meaningful learning is recognized as an important educational goal. For meaningful learning to take place instruction must go beyond the simple presentation of factual knowledge and that assessment task should require students not just to recall or recognize but they should be able to construct meaning from what is learned. Hence, students should be able to understand what is learned, apply knowledge, analyze, evaluate and use knowledge to create. If the objective of the teacher is to assess the degree to which students have learned some subject matter content and retained it over some period of time, the focus would be on just one class of cognitive process, namely, those associated with remembering. Mayer (2001) posited that two of the most important educational goals are to promote retention and to promote transfer (which, when it occurs, indicates meaningful learning). Retention is the ability to remember material at some later date in much the same way it was presented during the instruction. Transfer is the ability to use what is learned to solve new problems, answer new questions, or facilitate learning new subject matter (Mayer and Wittrock 1996). In other words retention requires students to remember what is learned, where as transfer requires not only retention but also the application of knowledge to old and new situations (Bradford, Brown, and Cockling, 1999; Detterman and Sternberg, 1993; Heskell, 2001; Mayer, 1995; McKeogh, Lambert, and Marini, 1995; Phye, 1997). Remembering is therefore the sole ingredient of retention. On the other hand transfer involves remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. If the retention of information is the focus then the main focus of the cognitive process is remembering. However, if the focus is transfer it shifts to the other five cognitive processes; understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Mayer, (2001) stated that students understand when they can associate old knowledge with new ones. In other words if students are able to make connections as they formulate new concepts ideas, and create new schematic formulations, they have demonstrated that they have learned. At the application stage (Mayer, 2001) students are able to use what is learned to execute procedures. In other words they are able to carry out tasks based on that knowledge. For example if instruction is based on how to bake a cake, the student should be able to bake the cake. Therefore the bass for application are remembering and understanding. As (Mayer, 2001) continues to review Blooms Taxonomy, he states that to analyze involves breaking ideas, concepts, and schemas into their component parts and demonstrate how the parts are related to each other and to the whole structure. The bases for analysis are; remembering, understanding and applying. In order to evaluate students must be able to remember, understand, apply, and analyze. Evaluation is the ability to make judgment that is based on a given criteria. Mayer (2001) states that the standards may either be quantitative of qualitative. Evaluation is further described as judgment about internal consistency and critique which is external consistency. At this level of transfer students should be able to detect inconsistencies between an operation and some external criteria. The final stage is that at which students are able to synthesize aspects of what is learned to produce a whole, a concept or a schema or something that is tangible such as a machine or a work of art. It is that which enables one to develop hypotheses with a view to solving problems. Therefore in order to create, one must be able to remember, understand, apply, analyze, and evaluate. Chandler and Sewell (1991); Mayer (2001, 2005); Mayer and Moreno (2003); Sweller (1999, 2005) posited that meaningful learning requires learners to engage in appropriate cognitive processing during learning. These cognitive processes include attending to relevant information, mentally organizing the selected information into a coherent structure, and integrating the incoming information with existing knowledge. This is regarded as the triarchic theory of cognitive load and it postulates three kinds of cognitive processing during learning. The first is extraneous processing in which the learner engages in cognitive processing that is not related to the instructional goal or in some instances there are no instructional goals. It is just learning for learning sake. The other is essential or intrinsic processing in which the learner mentally represents the material and which is determined by the inherent complexity of the material. The third is the generative or germaine processing of material such as organizing and integrating the selected material with the desire to understand the lesson. Generative processing is similar to transfer of learning that produces the ability to create. According to (Mayer ,2005; Mayer and Moreso, 2003; Sweller, 2005) line texts can be converted into a graphic organizer through selected relevant text and organized into a coherent structure. When the scaffolding of graphic organizers is provided, learners are less likely to waste precious cognitive capacity on extraneous processing which thereby reduces cognitive load and frees up capacity for essential and generative processing. De Jong (2005); Kirsner, Sweller, and Clark (2006); Klahr and Nigane, (2004); Lillard, 2005); Mayer, (2003, 2004) forwarded that activity theory is based on the idea that deep learning occurs when students are encouraged to engage in productive learning activities. Constructing a graphic organizer can be considered a productive learning activity because the learner must engage in an activity that is related to the instructional objective selecting relevant ideas from the text and organizing them in a coherent structure. Activity theory purports that learner generated graphic organizers do. However three experimental researches carried out by Stull and Mayer (2007) proved the opposite. Below is the full text of experiment 1. The summaries of the other two experiments along with the summary of experiment 1 are included in the appendix. Experiment 1 (Highest Complexity) The purpose of Experiment 1 was to test whether students better understand a scientific passage when they are asked to generate graphic organizers (following pretraining in how to generate hierarchies, lists, flowcharts, and matrices) in spaces in the margin or when the passage contains author-provided graphic organizers. In Experiment 1, participants read a 1,133-word passage about a topic in biology that was augmented by 27 author-provided graphic organizers (author-provided group), participants constructed their own graphic organizers from scratch (learner-generated group), or participants did not receive or construct graphic organizers (control group). Our primary focus is on comparing the author-provided group and the learner-generated group on measures of understanding. Method Participants and design. The participants were 156 college students recruited from the psychology participant pool at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The study was based on a between-subjects design, with three levels of graphic organizer use (author provided, learner generated, and control) as the single factor. Fifty-one students served in the author-provided group, 51 students served in the learner-generated group, and 54 students served in the control group. The mean age was 19.4 years (SD =1.5), the percentage of men was 29.5%, and the mean SAT score was 1184.5 (SD =161.4). Materials. The paper materials consisted of a participant questionnaire, two pretraining documents (author-provided and learner generated versions), three reading passages (i.e., author-provided, learner-generated, and control versions), six short-answer test sheets (one retention and five transfer questions), and eight sentence-completion (all retention questions) test sheets, each printed on an 8.5 x 11 in. (21.25 x 27.5 cm) sheet of paper. The participant questionnaire solicited basic demographic information, including the participants age, sex, and SAT scores. The full version of the pretraining document was developed for the author-provided and learner-generated group, and the control version of the pretraining document was developed for the control group. The full version of the pretraining document consisted of a two-page document printed on facing pages. The left page described and illustrated four types of graphic organizer (concept list, concept hierarchy, concept flowchart, and compare-and-contrast matrix). The right page contained a four-paragraph reading passage laid out in a two-column design. The left column contained the biology text, and the right column contained each of the four types of graphic organizer, horizontally aligned with the matching type description on the left page. The reading material was extracted from a popular college-level general biology textbook, then edited slightly to meet the desired page format as well as to remove external references, but without altering the book like style or the authors voice in the source material. The passage described three biologically important polysaccharide molecules-starch, glycogen, and cellulose. The control version of the pretraining document contained the identical biology text from the left column of the right page but not the left page describing and illustrating the graphic organizers or the integrated graphic organizers from the right column of th e right page. These modifications were made without alteration to the text layout, so the right column was empty. The control version of the reading passage consisted of six pages containing 1,133 words organized into 12 paragraphs, with three figures containing four black-and-white photographs. The three figures with four photographs were required to augment the written descriptions and to maintain the book like character of the material. The page layout matched the two-column design used in the pretraining document. The material was extracted from the same textbook used for the pretraining to maintain a consistent voice and character between the readings. The material described eight reproductive barriers between species (temporal, habitat, gametic, behavioral, mechanical, hybrid inviability, hybrid sterility, and hybrid breakdown) and was divided into two barrier groups (prezygotic and postzygotic). The author-provided version used the identical text, figures, and illustrations but included 27 graphic organizers, each placed in the margin near the corresponding text. One concept hierarchy graphic organizer augmented the introductory paragraph. Each of the eight reproductive barriers was described by a single paragraph and augmented with three graphic organizers (one hierarchy, one list, and one flowchart). A hierarchy graphic organizer and a matrix augmented the conclusion. The learner-generated version was identical to the author-provided version except that all graphic organizers were removed, which left space for learners to construct their own graphic organizers. The version used by the control group was identical to that used by the learner-generated group. Example pages of the three versions are shown in Figure 1. The six short-answer test sheets and the eight sentence -completion sheets each had a question printed at the top of the page, and at the bottom of each sheet were printed the following instructions: Please keep working until you are asked to stop. Do not go back to any previous questions. The eight sentence completion questions (eight retention questions) are presented at the top of the Appendix, and the six short-answer test questions (one retention and five transfer questions) are presented at the bottom of the Appendix. Procedure. Participants were tested in groups of 1 to 5 and randomly assigned to one of the three graphic organizer treatment groups. Each participant was seated in an individual cubicle. First, participants were asked to read and sign an informed consent form, followed by a participant questionnaire to be completed at their own rate. Then they were given oral instructions to carefully read the pretraining document (with control participants receiving the control version and all other participants receiving the full version). In the author-provided group, participants were instructed to compare the descriptions and illustrations of the four types of graphic organizer with the illustrated example on the facing page. In the learner-generated group, participants were instructed to compare the descriptions and illustrations of the four types of graphic organizers with the illustrated example but also told that they would be asked to construct their own graphic organizers. The training la sted approximately 5 min and was intended to familiarize learners with each of four types of graphic organizers-list, hierarchy, flowchart, and matrix-by providing definitions and examples. In the control group, participants were only asked to read the passage but were not provided with or informed about graphic organizers. Participants were asked to stop reading at the end of 5 min, which proved to be more than adequate for the task. Next, participants were given further oral instructions that described the reading assignment, which they could complete at their own pace. These instructions asked the participants to read the material carefully and to be aware that questions about the reading would follow. In the learner-generated group, participants were told that they could construct their own graphic organizers in the margins of the page as they read the material and were informed that this might help them understand the material. Participants in the author-provided group and the control group were not instructed to generate graphic organizers during reading and did not generate any graphic organizers. The time to complete the reading was recorded for each individual. When all participants were finished reading the material, the stack of six short-answer test sheets was passed out. Participants were given oral instructions to work only on the top sheet, to keep working until they were asked to stop, and not to turn to the next sheet until asked to do so. Participants were carefully monitored for compliance. At the end of 3 min, participants were asked to immediately stop working on the current question, turn that sheet face down onto a finished stack, and begin the next sheet. After the last short-answer question, participants were given oral instructions that described the sentence-completion questions, which followed the same procedure as the short-answer questions except that participants were given 1 min to answer each question. The short-answer and sent ence-completion questions were presented in the order listed in the Appendix. After the last sentence-completion question, all material was collected, and the participants were debriefed and excused. Results and Discussion Scoring. We computed the retention score for each participant by tallying the score for the first short-answer question (worth a maximum of 4 points) and the score for each of the eight sentence completion questions (worth a maximum of 16 points). On the short-answer retention question, participants received 1 point for mentioning each of four concepts: (a) prezygotic barrier with (b) before fertilization and (c) postzygotic barrier with (d) after fertilization. On each sentence-completion question (worth a maximum of 2 points each), the participant received 1 point for writing the correctly spelled term for the appropriate reproductive barrier and 1 point for the correct prefix for the barrier subgroup- prezygotic or postzygotic. The correct answers to the eight sentence-completion questions listed in the Appendix are (a) temporal and pre, (b) habitat and pre, (c) gametic and pre, (d) behavioral and pre, (e) mechanical and pre, (f) hybrid viability and post, (g) hybrid sterility and post, and (h) hybrid breakdown and post. Partial terms (e.g., hybrid or sterility instead of hybrid sterility), parallel concepts (e.g., time instead of temporal or geographic instead of habitat), and incorrect spellings (e.g., pro instead of pre) were not acceptable answers. Partial credit was awarded if participants provided only one of the two correct terms. Each participant could earn a maximum of 16 points on the eight sentence-completion questions and 4 points on the short-answer retention question, for a total possible of 20 points on the retention score. We computed the transfer score for each participant by tallying the individual scores on each of the five short-answer transfer questions-short-answer questions 2 through 6 are listed in the Appendix. We scored each question by counting the unique concepts presented in the reading that were used appropriately by the participant to address each question. Acceptable concepts included the 10 specific reproductive barrier concepts: (a) prezygotic, (b) postzygotic, (c) temporal, (d) habitat, (e) gametic, (f) behavioral,(g) mechanical, (h) hybrid inviability, (i) hybrid sterility, and (j)hybrid breakdown. In addition, two general concepts were also counted: (a) crossing organisms to test whether reproduction was possible or recognizing that two species might have crossed to form a hybrid, and (b) mentioning that reproductive barriers maybe relevant to the explanation. Participants were allowed to describe the concepts with partial terms and parallel concepts, and misspelled terms were not counted as wrong. One point was awarded for each of the 12 concepts, for a maximum of 12 points per question. A second person scored all material. The interrater reliability measure was significantly correlated between these two scores (r =.826, p < .001). Discrepancies in the scores between these two scorers were individually evaluated in a blind, third review, which was used to determine the final score. Data analysis. Data were analyzed with one-way analyses of variance comparing the performance of the three treatment groups on each of the dependent measures-transfer score, retention score, and study time. Our major focus was on comparing the author-provided and learner-generated groups, so for each dependent measure we conducted planned contrasts on the mean scores of these groups and computed the corresponding effect size on the basis of Cohens d (Cohen, 1988).2 Table 2 lists the mean and standard deviation of each of the three treatment groups on each of the three dependent measures. Do readers who generate their own graphic organizers while reading a scientific passage learn better than readers who are given author-provided graphic organizers? The top left portion of Table 2 summarizes the mean transfer scores of the three groups in Experiment 1. There was not a significant effect of treatment on transfer scores, F(2, 153) = 1.32, MSE = 10.15, and the author- provided group did not differ significantly from the learner -generated group, t(153) = 1.30, d = 0.24. There is no evidence that constructing graphic organizers or even studying author- provided graphic organizers results in deeper learning. The top middle portion of Table 2 summarizes the mean retention scores of the three groups in Experiment 1. There was not a significant effect of treatment on retention scores, F(2, 153) = 0.210, MSE = 21.38, and the author-provided group did not differ significantly from the learner-generated group, t(153) =0.56, d = 0.11. There is no evidence that constructing graphic organizers or even studying author-provided graphic organizers results in better memory for the presented material. The top right portion of Table 2 summarizes the mean study times of the three groups in Experiment 1. There was a significant difference among the groups in mean study time, F(2, 153) = 82.86, MSE = 9.99, p < .001, and the author-provided group required significantly less study time than did the learner- generated group, t(153) =8.97, p < .001, d = 1.51. Although constructing graphic organizers did not result in better retention or transfer performance, it did require considerably more study time. Although the main focus of this research was on comparing the test performance of the author-provided and learner-generated groups, the types and number of graphic organizers produced by the learner-generated group were also examined. The author-provided group received 27 graphic organizers containing 506 words, whereas the learner-generate group produced a mean of 5.1 graphic organizers containing a mean of 84.2 words. The mean number of graphic organizers produced fell from 2.0 on page 1 to 0.5 on page 5; the mean number of words produced fell from 34.8 on page 1 to 10.0 on page 5. Although the number of graphic organizers produced in the learner-generated group was lower than that given to the author-provided group, all but 2 of the 51 participants in the learner-generated group attempted to construct graphic organizers. Exclusion of these 2 participants from the analysis did not alter the statistical results. These results are contrary to the prediction that graphic organizers facilitate learning. Furthermore, there is no evidence that generating graphic organizers resulted in better learning than simply viewing them on the page, although there is evidence that more study time was required when students generated their own graphic organizers. The open-ended nature of the learner-generated treatment might have been too demanding and confusing for the learners. Although a majority of participants in the learner-generated group attempted to construct graphic organizers, these graphic organizers varied greatly in form and quality. Participants might have been overwhelmed by the requirement to both select and implement appropriate graphic organizers, both of which might have contributed to extraneous cognitive load. For participants in the author-provided group, the margins of the pages were densely crowded with graphic organizers, which were potentially confusing to interpret as participants attempted to compare the concepts in the text with the appropriate graphic organizer. This might also have contributed to additional extraneous cognitive load. To address these issues, we reduced the complexity of the treatment in Experiments 2 and 3 by offering fewer graphic organizers to both groups and partially completed graphic organizer templates to the learner-generated group. Knowledge of how memory works is important to teachers and Cognitive Psychologists as they seek to discover ways and means to enhance learning. But it is possible that the brain can become so inundated with ideas that much of what comes to it simply decay. Bahrick, (1979) stated that much of what is learned in classrooms is lost soon after final examination. Higbee (1977) posited that people forget what they learned in school (usually within a short time after an examination). Never-Benjamin (1990) forwarded that if this is the case it is very serious. Neisser (1982) expressed that there is a difficulty in finding studies that support retention of academic instruction. But Nesser (1982) might not have been searching wide enough. In fact the literature that is available is replete with the suggestion that much work has been carried out. Wert, (19370 suggested that studies in the area of zoology, biology, and psychology, found retention from a few months to three years. It has also been put forward that (keller, 1968) personalized system of instruction and (Blooms, 1968)learning for mastery often include a measure of retention. Studies by (Gaskey and Gates, 1985; kulik, Kulik, and Bangert- Drowns, 1990) posited that students in all conditions retained much of what was taught. Conway, Cohen, and Stanhope, (1991); Semb, Ellis, and Aranjo (1993) stated that although forgetting does occur, the amount loss is not as great as expected by popular belief. Farrs ( 1987) opinion is that the most important variable in long term memory retention is the degree of original learning. Evidence from laboratory studies shows that increasing the number of learning trials enhances retention. Research has also proven that retention often depends on the instructional strategy that is used. A comparison of studies by ( Austin and gilbert, 1973 ; Breland and Smith 1974, Cooper and Greiner, 1971; Corey and Mc Michael, 1974; Glasnapp et al. 1978, Lu, M., 1976; Lu, P. 1976; Schwartz, 1981; Semb et al., 1993; Sharples et al., 1976) advanced that course objectives, content , length, and tests were the same for all the groups in the stu dies. The only difference was the instructional delivery strategy and mastery criteria. All the studies show that mastery conditions produce superior academic performance at the end of the course. Mckenzie and White (1982) observed high levels of retention for students actively involved in learning. In their study three groups of students learned geographical facts and skills. One group was given a learning program which includes pictures, slides, worded examples, sample test items, indications of relevance of information to subsequent application, and transfer of verbal proportions to maps, diagrams and slides. The remaining two groups were given learning program and field excursion. Treatment groups were formed from eight and ninth grade classes from two different schools. The classes were not ability tracked, and class assignments to treatment groups were random. Students in the excursion classes were assigned to either a traditional excursion or a processing excursion. For the traditional excursion students were given an explanatory field guide designed to reinforce the learning program content. The teacher pointed out the geographic areas of interest, and the student veri fied the information by referring to the guide. Students did not do any recording neither di

Victorian Beliefs :: Free Essays Online

Victorian Beliefs If I am asked whether I would choose to be descended from the poor animal of low intelligence and stooping gait who grins and chatters as we pass, or from a man endowed with great ability and a splendid position who should use these gifts to discredit and crush humble seekers after truth, I hesitate what answer to make. Thomas Henry Huxley, 1860 (Cruse 94) As related by Amy Cruse in The Victorians and Their Reading, these words by Thomas Henry Huxley served as a witty retort to the degrading comments of Darwin's foes. When examined closely, however, Huxley's statement can be recognized as a question of paramount importance-- a question that defines the core of the Victorian world. Neatly engraved between the lines of Huxley's reply lies the issue of belief. Huxley's belief in the pursuit of "truth" is evident, as is his belief regarding those who would hinder such a "humble" pursuit. Less evident, but nonetheless present, are the echoes of other important Victorian principles. As exemplified by Huxley's mention of apes, Darwin's belief in The Origin of Species was a vitally important aspect of Victorian thought. Traditional concerns, most notably religious conservatism, were inextricably linked to the revolutionary ideals of Victorian science. Interestingly, the dueling beliefs in science and religion were not necessarily diametrically opposed. Instead, both the pursuits of science and religion challenged Victorians to examine their beliefs regarding the natural world, God, and the meaning of their own humanity. â€Å"I see no good reason why the views given in this volume should shock the religious feelings of [anyone],† claimed Charles Darwin in reference to The Origin of Species(Hart 1). Despite Darwin’s protestations of theological benignity, however, many Victorians were indeed shocked by the idea of evolution. Cardinal Manning, speaking for the Roman Catholic populous of England, for instance, â€Å"denounced†¦[Darwin’s theory of evolution as] a brutal philosophy—to wit, there is no God, and the ape is our Adam†(Cruse 95). Similarly, Bishop Wilberforce, at an 1860 meeting of the British Association, ridiculed T. H. Huxley about his ancestry (94). In open contempt of The Origin of Species, Wilberforce asked Huxley, â€Å"whether it [was] through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed descent from ‘a venerable ape’?†(94). The ideas contained within the covers of The Origin of Species clearly challenged the beliefs of many Victorian Christians. Contrary to the protestations of Cardinal Manning and Bishop Wilberforce, however, Darwin viewed the theory of evolution as theologically sound.

Woman Education in India

Pre-IndependenceThe history of female education in India has its roots in the British Regime. Women's employment and education was acknowledged in 1854 by the East India Company's Programme: Wood's Dispatch. Slowly, after that, there was progress in female education, but it initially tended to be focused on the primary school level and was related to the richer sections of society. The overall literacy rate for women increased from 0.2% in 1882 to 6% in 1947.[56]In 1878, the University of Calcutta became one of the first universities to admit female graduates to its degree programmes, before any of the British universities had later done the same. This point was raised during the Ilbert Bill controversy in 1883, when it was being considered whether Indian judges should be given the right to judge British offenders. The role of women featured prominently in the controversy, where English women who opposed the bill argued that Bengali women, whom they stereotyped as â€Å"ignorantâ₠¬  and neglected by their men and that Indian men should therefore not be given the right to judge cases involving English women.Bengali women who supported the bill responded by claiming that they were more educated than the English women opposed to the bill and pointed out that more Indian women had degrees than British women did at the time.[57]Post-IndependenceAfter India attained independence in 1947, the University Education Commission was created to recommend suggestions to improve the quality of education. However, their report spoke against female education, referring to it as: â€Å"Women's present education is entirely irrelevant to the life they have to lead. It is not only a waste but often a definite disability.†[58]However, the fact that the female literacy rate was at 8.9% post-Independence could not be ignored. Thus, in 1958, a national committee on women's education was appointed by the government, and most of its recommendations were accepted. The crux of its recommendations were to bring female education on the same footing as offered for boys.[59]Soon afterward, committees were created that talked about equality between men and women in the field of education. For example, one committee on differentiation of curricula for boys and girls (1959) recommended equality and a common curricula at various stages of their learning. Further efforts were made to expand the education system, and the Education Commission was set up in 1964, which largely talked about female education, which recommended a national policy to be developed by the government. This occurred in 1968, providing increased emphasis on female education.

Critical Care Nurses (Aacn) Mission Statement Essay

The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) mission statement focuses on the patient and family members who are in need of acute or critical care and the nurses who care for these patients while relying on AACN for expert knowledge and influence driving excellence of care (http://www.aacn.org). AACN is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. It represents over 500,000 nurses in 49 U.S. states and 3 foreign countries and has more than 240 chapters. There are nine different member categories Active, Emeritus, Lifetime, International, Honorary, Student, Affiliate, Corporate, and Retired/Permanently Disabled with members belonging to only one category at a time and one membership at a time. Standards set by AACN include Practice Alerts such as Prevention of Aspiration, Family Visitation, Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections, among others that address nursing and multidisciplinary practices important in acute and critical environments and are supported by evidence to promote a safe and optimal environment of care. Standards of Care, for nurses in acute and critical care utilize the framework of the nursing process along with the Scope of Practice to determine the role and boundaries of practice for acute and critical care. Specialty Certification such as the Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN), Adult Progressive Care (PCCN), Adult Cardiac Surgery Subspecialty (CSC), and Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNPC) are some of the certifications that can be obtained through AACN which validate knowledge, skills, and abilities against national standards. Educational programs for professional development and advancement can be obtained through AACN using resources such as web based learning, conferences, or chapter events. AACN is a leader in setting standards for current practice and education and is used by hospitals and learning institutions. Health policy is influenced by AACN with position statements to support legislation, working with coalitions to bring national attention to issues, and participation in national forums that shape health policy, care environments and delivery. AACN awards grants, supports research, and publishes a number of peer-reviewed journals.