Doctor Faustus` Death Essays - Works Based On The Faust Legend

Doctor Faustus` Death Faustus died a death that few could bear to imagine, much less experience. After knowing for many years when exactly he would die, he reached the stroke of the hour of his destiny in a cowardly, horrid demeanor. Finally, when the devils appeared at the stroke of midnight, tearing at his flesh as they draw him into his eternal torment, he screams for mercy without a soul, not even God Himself, to help him. However, what to consider Doctor John Faustus from Christopher Marlow's dramatic masterpiece The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus is a very debatable issue. For example, one can see that he threw his life away for the sake of knowledge, becoming obsessed with the knowledge that he could possess. In this case, he is unarguably a medieval tragic hero. However, when considering the fact that he died for the sake of gaining knowledge, pushing the limits of what is possible in spite of obvious limitations and, eventually, paying the ultimate penalty, he could be considered a Renaissance martyr. These two points of view have their obvious differences, and depending on from what time period one chooses to place this piece of literature varies the way that the play is viewed. However, the idea of considering him a martyr has many flaws, several of which are evident when considering who Faustus was before he turned to necromancy and what he did once he obtained the powers of the universe. Therefore, inevitably, the audience in this play should realize that Faustus was a great man who did many great things, but because of his hubris and his lack of vision, he died the most tragic of heroes. Christopher Marlowe was borne on February 6, 1564 (Discovering Christopher Marlowe 2), in Canterbury, England, and baptized at St. George's Church on the 26th of the same month, exactly two months before William Shakespeare was baptized at Stratford-upon-Avon (Henderson 275). He was the eldest son of John Marlowe of the Shoemaker's Guild and Katherine Arthur, a Dover girl of yeoman stock (Henderson 275). Upon graduating King's School, Canterbury, he received a six-year scholarship to Cambridge upon the condition that he studies for the church. He went to Cambridge, but had to be reviewed by the Privy Council before the university could award him his M.A. degree because of his supposed abandonment of going to church. He was awarded his degree in July of 1587 at the age of twenty-three after the Privy Council had convinced Cambridge authorities that he had "behaved himself orderly and discreetly whereby he had done Her Majesty good service" (Henderson 276). After this, he completed his education from Cambridge over a period of six years. During this time he wrote some plays, including Hero and Leander, along with translating others, such as Ovid's Amores and Book I of Lucan's Pharsalia (Henderson 276). During the next five years he lived in London where he wrote and produced some of his plays and traveled a great deal on government commissions, something that he had done while trying to earn his M.A. degree. In 1589, however, he was imprisoned for taking part in a street fight in which a man was killed; later he was discharged with a warning to keep the peace (Henderson 276). He failed to do so; three years later he was summoned to court for assaulting two Shoreditch constables, although there is no knowledge on whether or not he answered these charges (Henderson 276). Later Marlowe was suspected of being involved in the siege of Roven where troops were sent to contain some Protestants who were causing unrest in spite of the Catholic League. Then, after sharing a room with a fellow writer Thomas Kyd, he was accused by Kyd for having heretical papers which "denied the deity of Jesus Christ" (Discovering Christopher Marlowe 2). Finally, a certain Richard Baines accused him of being an atheist. Before he could answer any of these charges, however, he was violently stabbed above his right eye while in a fight Ingram Frizer (Discovering Christopher Marlowe 2). Doctor Faustus could be considered one of Marlowe's masterpieces of drama. It was his turn from politics, which he established himself in with his plays Edward II and Tamburlaine the Great, to principalities and power. In it he asks the reader to analyze what the limits are for human power and knowledge and ponder what would happen if one man tried to exceed those limits. The play opens up with Faustus, who is supposedly the most

USS Texas (BB-35) Battleship in World War II

USS Texas (BB-35) Battleship in World War II USS Texas (BB-35) was an New York-class battleship that was commissioned into the U.S. Navy in 1914. After taking part in the American occupation of Veracruz later that year, Texas saw service in British waters during World War I. Modernized in the 1920s, the battleship was still in the fleet when the United States entered World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After performing convoy duty in the Atlantic, Texas took part in the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 and the landings in  southern France later that summer. The battleship was transferred to the Pacific in November 1944 and aided in the final campaigns against the Japanese, including the invasion of Okinawa. Retired after the war, it is presently a museum ship outside Houston, TX. Design Construction Tracing its origins to the 1908 Newport Conference, the  New York-class of battleships was the U.S. Navys fifth type of dreadnought after the South Carolina- (BB-26/27), Delaware- (BB-28/29), Florida- (BB-30/31), and Wyoming-classes (BB-32/33). Central among the conferences findings was the requirement for ever larger calibers of main guns as foreign navies had begun using 13.5 guns. Though discussions commenced regarding the armament of the Florida- and  Wyoming-class ships, their construction advanced using the standard 12 guns. Complicating the debate was the fact that no U.S. dreadnought had entered service and designs were based on theory, war games, and experience with pre-dreadnought ships. In 1909, the General Board pushed forward designs for a battleship mounting 14 guns. A year later, the Bureau of Ordnance successfully tested a new gun of this size and Congress authorized the building of two ships. Shortly before construction began, the U.S. Senate Naval Affairs Committee attempted to have the size of the ships reduced as part of an attempt to cut the budget. These efforts were thwarted by Secretary of the Navy George von Lengerke Meyer and both battleships moved forward as originally designed. Named USS  New York  (BB-34) and USS  Texas  (BB-35), the new ships mounted ten 14 guns in five twin turrets. These were situated with two forward and two aft in superfiring arrangements while the fifth turret was placed amidships. The secondary battery consisted of twenty-one 5 guns and four 21 torpedo tubes. The tubes were situated with two in the bow and two in the stern. No anti-aircraft guns were included in the initial design, but the rise of naval aviation saw the addition two 3 guns in 1916. USS Texas (BB-35) during sea trials, 1913.   U.S. Navy Propulsion for the  New York-class ships came from fourteen Babcock Wilcox coal-fired boilers powering dual-acting, vertical triple expansion steam engines. These turned two propellers and gave the vessels a speed of 21 knots.  The New York-class was the last class of battleships designed for the US Navy to utilize coal for fuel. Protection for the ships came from a 12 main armor belt with 6.5 covering the vessels casemates.   Construction of Texas was assigned to the Newport News Shipbuilding Company after the yard submitted a bid of $5,830,000 (exclusive of armament and armor). Work began on April 17, 1911, five months before New York was laid down in Brooklyn. Moving forward over the next thirteen months, the battleship entered the water on May 18, 1912, with Claudia Lyon, daughter of Colonel Cecil Lyon of Texas, serving as sponsor. Twenty-two months later, Texas entered service on March 12, 1914,  with Captain Albert W. Grant in command.  Commissioned a month earlier than New York, some initial confusion arose regarding the name of the class. USS Texas (BB-35) Nation:  United StatesType:  BattleshipShipyard:  Newport News ShipbuildingLaid Down:  April 17, 1911Launched:  May 18, 1912Commissioned:  March 12, 1914Fate:  Museum ship  Specifications (as built)Displacement:  27,000  tonsLength:  573  ft.Beam:  95.3  ft.Draft:  27  ft., 10.5 in.Propulsion:  14  Babcock and Wilcox  coal-fired boilers  with oil spray, triple expansion steam engines turning two propellersSpeed:  21  knotsComplement:  1,042  menArmament (as built)10  Ãƒâ€"  14-inch/45  caliber guns21 Ãâ€"  5/51 caliber guns4 Ãâ€" 21  torpedo tubes Early Service Departing Norfolk, Texas steamed for New York where its fire control equipment was installed. In May, the new battleship moved south to support operations during the American occupation of Veracruz. This occurred despite the fact that the battleship had not conducted a shakedown cruise and post-shakedown repair cycle. Remaining in Mexican waters for two months as part of Rear Admiral Frank F. Fletchers squadron, Texas briefly returned to New York in August before commencing routine operations with the Atlantic Fleet. In October, the battleship again arrived off the Mexican coast and briefly served as station ship at Tuxpan before proceeding to Galveston, TX where it received a set of silver from Texas Governor Oscar Colquitt. After a period in the yard at New York around the turn of the year, Texas rejoined the Atlantic Fleet. On May 25, the battleship, along with USS Louisiana (BB-19) and USS Michigan (BB-27), rendered aid to the stricken Holland-America liner Ryndam which had been rammed by another vessel. Through 1916, Texas moved through a routine training cycle before receiving two 3 anti-aircraft guns as well as directors and rangefinders for its main battery. World War I In the York River when the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Texas remained in the Chesapeake until August conducting exercises and working to train Naval Armed Guard gun crews for service about merchant vessels. After an overhaul at New York, the battleship moved up Long Island Sound and on the night of September 27 ran hard aground on Block Island. The accident was the result of Captain Victor Blue and his navigator turning too soon due to confusion regarding shore lights and the location of the channel through the mine field at the east end of Long Island Sound. USS Texas (BB-35) at Hampton Roads, VA, 1917.   U.S. Navy Pulled free three days later, Texas returned to New York for repairs. As a result, it was unable to sail in November with Rear Admiral Hugh Rodmans Battleship Division 9 which departed to reinforce Admiral Sir David Beattys British Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. Despite the accident, Blue retained command of Texas and, due to connections to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, avoided a court-martial over the incident. Finally crossing the Atlantic in January 1918, Texas reinforced Rodmans force which was operating as the 6th Battle Squadron. While abroad, the battleship largely aided in protecting convoys in the North Sea.  On April 24, 1918, Texas sortied when the German High Seas Fleet was spotted moving towards Norway. Though the enemy was sighted, they could not be brought to battle. With the end of the conflict in November, Texas joined the fleet in escorting the High Seas Fleet into internment at Scapa Flow. The following month, the American battleship steamed south to escort President Woodrow Wilson, aboard the liner SS George Washington, into Brest, France as he traveled to the peace conference at Versailles. Interwar Years  Ã‚  Ã‚   Returning to home waters, Texas resumed peacetime operations with the Atlantic Fleet. On March 10, 1919, Lieutenant Edward McDonnell became the first man to fly an aircraft off an American battleship when he launched his Sopwith Camel from one of Texas turrets. Later that year, the battleships commander, Captain Nathan C. Twining, employed aircraft to spot for the vessels main battery.  Findings from these efforts supported the theory that air spotting was far superior to shipboard spotting and led to floatplanes being placed aboard American battleships and cruisers. In May, Texas acted a plane guard for a group of US Navy Curtiss NC aircraft that were attempting a trans-Atlantic flight. That July, Texas transferred to the Pacific to begin a five-year assignment with the Pacific Fleet.  Returning to the Atlantic in 1924, the battleship entered Norfolk Navy Yard the following year for a major modernization. This saw the replacement of the ships cage masts with tripod masts, installation of new oil-fired Bureau Express boilers, additions to the anti-aircraft armament, and placing of new fire control equipment. USS Texas (BB-35) undergoing modernization at Norfolk Navy Yard, 1926. National Archives and Records Administration Completed in November 1926, Texas was named flagship of the U.S. Fleet and commenced operations along the East Coast. In 1928, the battleship transported President Calvin Coolidge to Panama for the Pan-American Conference and then proceeded into the Pacific for maneuvers off Hawaii.  Following an overhaul at New York in 1929, Texas spent the next seven years moving through routine deployments in the Atlantic and Pacific.   Made flagship of the Training Detachment in 1937, it held this role for a year until becoming flagship of the Atlantic Squadron. During this period, much Texas operations centered on training activities including serving as a platform for midshipmen cruises for the U.S. Naval Academy. In December 1938, the battleship entered the yard for installation of the experimental RCA CXZ radar system. With the beginning of World War II in Europe, Texas received an assignment to the Neutrality Patrol to aid in safeguarding the western sea lanes from German submarines.  It then began escorting convoys of Lend-Lease material to the Allied nations. Made flagship of Admiral Ernest J. Kings Atlantic Fleet in February 1941, Texas saw its radar systems upgraded to the new RCA CXAM-1 system later that year.  Ã‚   World War II At Casco Bay, ME on December 7 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor,  Texas  remained in the North Atlantic until March when it entered the yard. While there, its secondary armament was reduced while additional anti-aircraft guns were installed.  Returning to active duty, the battleship resumed convoy escort duty until the fall of 1942. On November 8, Texas  arrived off Port Lyautey, Morocco where it provided fire support for Allied forces during the Operation Torch landings. It remained in action until November 11 and then returned to the United States.  Reassigned to convoy duty,  Texas  continued in this role until April 1944.   Remaining in British waters, Texas  commenced training to support the planned invasion of Normandy.  Sailing on June 3, the battleship pummeled targets around Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc three days later.  Providing intense naval gunfire support to Allied troops hitting the beaches,  Texas fired on enemy positions throughout the day. The battleship remained off the Norman coast until June 18 with its only departure a short run to Plymouth to rearm. USS Texas (BB-35) at sea, December 1942. National Archives and Records Administration Later that month, on June 25,  Texas, USS  Arkansas  (BB-33), and USS  Nevada  (BB-36) attacked German positions around Cherbourg. In exchanging fire with enemy batteries,  Texas sustained a shell hit which caused eleven casualties. Following repairs, at Plymouth the battleship began training for the invasion of southern France. After shifting to the Mediterranean in July,  Texas  approached the French coast on August 15. Providing fire support for the Operation Dragoon landings, the battleship struck targets until Allied troops advanced beyond range of its guns. Withdrawing on August 17,  Texas  sailed for Palermo before later departing for New York. Arriving in mid-September, the battleship entered the yard for a brief overhaul.  Ordered to the Pacific,  Texas sailed in November and touched in California before reaching Pearl Harbor the following month.  Pressing on to Ulithi, the battleship joined Allied forces and took part in the Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945. Leaving Iwo Jima on March 7,  Texas  returned to Ulithi to prepare for the invasion of Okinawa. Attacking Okinawa on March 26, the battleship pounded targets for six days before the landings on April 1.  Once the troops were ashore,  Texas stayed in the area until mid-May providing fire support. Final Actions Retiring to the Philippines,  Texas  was there when the war ended  on August 15.  Returning to Okinawa, it remained there into September before embarking American troops for home as part of Operation Magic Carpet. Continuing in this mission through December,  Texas then sailed for Norfolk to prepare for deactivation. Taken to Baltimore, the battleship entered reserve status on June 18, 1946. The following year, the Texas Legislature created the Battleship Texas  Commission with the goal of preserving the ship as a museum. Raising the necessary funds, the Commission had  Texas  towed to the Houston Ship Channel near the San Jacinto Monument. Made flagship of the Texas Navy, the battleship remains open as a museum ship.  Texas was formally decommissioned on April 21, 1948.

ANALYTICAL PAPER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

ANALYTICAL PAPER - Essay Example Introduction The outcomes of a collaborative set about to the advancement of nursing properties of the form and talks about designs for considering the influence of advising perform, care and remedy of patients. Over the past 10 years in the wellbeing part is distinguished by clinic restructuring, amalgamations of before unaligned bureaus and their affiliated heritage and more local entities. Meanwhile, the decrease due to allowance constraints throughout the 1990's assisted many of work and long hours of nurses described adversities in accomplishing their expert obligations (Aiken Smith and Lake 2004 771–87). Recognizing the significance of perform environments, in agreement with the beliefs of care held in the nursing occupation, numerous associations have evolved expert forms of perform to direct care services for the empowerment of nursing employees and advance the value of persevering care (Rondeau Wagar 2006 244–50). Support Literature Achieving value wellbeing ca re needs that we clear anticipations for expert perform of nursing. The effectiveness of nurses in accomplishing outcomes for which they are to blame is inextricably connected with the span to which they can workout command over the consignment of look after which they are to blame (Behrend Finch Emerick and Scoble 2006 20-24). Models of expert perform as an entire to rendezvous the desires of nursing autonomy and responsibility, and are absolutely crucial for the empowerment of nurses and associations to conceive productive employed assemblies. The set of standards and anticipated outcomes to which all nurses can subscribe and that leverages perform demeanor is vital to conceiving a heritage of excellence (Stone Pastor and Harrison 2006 4–11). Achieving excellence in nursing perform was a long-run target of Calgary Health Region Professional Practice Framework. Development Framework It is wanted that the development of an explicit form to direct perform finally assist nurses to seem pleased of their occupation and the worth of the tremendous assistance they make to nursing and scheme health care. One of the first main concerns of the vice leader and CNO of the Calgary Health Region has been evolving the notion of nursing in the region. Due to the development of this dream, it became clear that the objective of nursing is furthermore important. In the method, it is clear there was a requirement to set up the delineation of expert perform and guidelines, or structure that nurses could use on an every day cornerstone to accomplish the dream and objective of nursing in the region (Ferguson-Pare Closson and Tully. 2002 66-68). Mission and dream prepared the base on which development inside the expert perform was founded. The first significant step is to articulate, concise, significant expert care practices "Consultations with the nurses in the district, supplied that the matter of the next delineation was developed. One of the major jobs of the employed as sembly supplied for development inside the expert perform that all nurses to become involved its development. Thus, the collaborative set about was utilized to assemble input from nurses. Number of aim assemblies were undertook, which were suggested at distinct times on distinct days of the week and at diverse positions in the region. After facts

Overworked Hospital Staff Versus Patient Safety Essay

Overworked Hospital Staff Versus Patient Safety - Essay Example What has changed is that there are tremendous cases of clinical failures that put patients' life at risk. But what could be the cause of this problem One major cause is due to overworked medical staffs. The quality of service for patients is the major importance in the he alth care industry. It is important to consider how working conditions affect medical staffs and the result is risks of errors. How work hours and work staffing affect the quality of care It is believed that overworked staff is the leading cause of medical errors in hospitals, while most staffs worked from eight to 12- hour shifts, some work for longer hours. According to an article of AMA "Hospital mistakes which sometimes end in death are the result of overworked medical staff. It was important to support the medical and nursing staffs who are striving for excellence and quality." Even an experienced health care staff may face significant effects on the safety and quality of care they provide to patients. Including also the effect of factors such as fatigue, shift work, and sleep deprivation. "The quality of patient care may be affected by a failure of will wherein the provider knows what care should be provided, but the will to provide care is hampered by fatigue and sleep deprivation." (Robins, 1995). ... "The likelihood of making an error increased with longer work hours and was three times higher when nurses worked shifts lasting 12.5 hours or more." (Hobson, 2004). The average working hours for a week has an average of no more than 80 hours. But according to a 1998 survey in New York State demonstrated that staffs performed 85 hours a week to more than 95 hours. Possible error cases were observed during these long working hours. For instance, due to overwork of medical staffs they experienced fatigue and sleep deprivation during their duties, cases of giving wrong medication and improper attention to patients are commonly published. That caused a patient from Lucena turned to coma and after a week died. Not giving enough attention to patients and staffs could lead of improper safety and could possibly risk each others lives. Some hospitals admit that they are understaffed that cause them to force to extend hours working. Low medical staffs can also affect the quality of service they produce. In addition to Hobson, "The widespread nursing shortage makes it difficult to avoid hospitals with overworked nursing staffs. And it isn't too reassuring that more than half the errors involved medication administration. However, there is growing awareness of the problem. The Institute of Medicine recently recommended that voluntary overtime be limited." The shortage of nurses became graver in significance at a time when the need for the development of new plans for utilization and new content of instruction was so apparent. According to Wiebe, "California struggles from medical staffs' shortage. Many parts of the country complain that hospitals are

Generational Shifts in the Workplace Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Generational Shifts in the Workplace - Article Example Moreover, as people from the different generations spend more time with one another, they are in a position to remove their differences and build good rapport which is conducive for more work and lesser fuss. Managers should tend to make employees from different generations benefit from one another’s expertise. For example, old employees have more experience and are aware of the traps. They know how to deal with intricate situations and companies benefit from their strategic planning. Likewise, young employees are more skilled in technology, unlike the old employees. They have great knowledge of computer and can operate difficult software with extreme comfort. In order to progress in the contemporary age with so many competitors in the market, companies are in need of both the strategic planning of the elderly and the technological expertise of the young employees. Nevertheless, it is essential to inculcate the skills of decision making in young employees and make the old empl oyees competent enough in the use of technology.

Cognitive Development and Language Development

Cognitive Development and Language Development What roles do nature and nurture play in children’s language development? Within this essay I am going to be looking at whether I think, nature or nurture has the greatest impact on human development, referring to cognitive development and language development. By looking at what different theorists from the human development field have discovered, I will come to the conclusion whether nature or nurture wins this debate. I will start off by explaining some of the key terms that I will be using, making it easier for myself to reference back to when needed. I will then move onto my first area of human development, which is cognitive development, and discuss the nature/nativist theories and the nurture/empiricist theories. By talking about a few different key issues, I will then focus on one main theorist for each. Then, moving on to the second area of human development; language development, I will do the same thing again. By starting off looking at the different nativist theories, and then focusing on one main theorist, and then looking into the empiricist theories, and focusing on one main theorist. After having looked at all the different views I will be able to conclude on whether I think nature or nurture has the greatest impact on human development. Some of the key terms which will assist me in this essay are: Cognition is basically the mental activities that are associated with thinking, knowing and remembering; any ideas and thoughts that a person has, or memories that are stored are all different types of cognitive processes. Reading and learning is also a type of cognition. Development can either be qualitative or quantitative. It can be qualitative in the sense that you cant measure the change, but the change is still noticeable. You can develop quantitatively by an increase in height or weight etc. Patterns of change over time which begin at conception and continue throughout the life span (Keenan, 2006). Cognitive Developmental Theory, which consists of many different theories, but I will start off by referring to Piagets Cognitive Development Theory. In Piagets theory of cognitive development, is a stage theory which consists of different stages of development. Within each stage of development, children are put before challenging situations which they must then deal with and overcome through their own abilities. After completing the challenge the child is then able to move on to the next stage of cognitive development. Learningis when there is a change in behaviour or knowledge which has developed from previous experiences or training. The learning process could be innate, meaning that we are born with the knowledge, or it has been obtained through daily life. Hence, any knowledge or behaviour that we are now in hold of that we were not born with, was somehow learned. This has been studied by psychologists in many ways, Pavlov with his associative learning; he examined the salivation of dogs in response to meat powder; to Skinner with his reinforcement theory, that a learner will only repeat the desired behaviour if the behaviour is followed by positive reinforcement; rats press a lever in the quest of gaining some kind of reward. Language is something that we use in everyday lives. Theoretically, language is a formal system of communication which involves a combination of words and/or symbols, whether written or spoken. It is not necessary for another organism to comprehend the language, for it to actually be a language just that it meets the description given. Language Development is a process which starts early in human life, that begins when a person starts to acquire language by learning as it is spoken or by mimicking the person. By four months of age, babies are able to read lips and distinguish between different speech sounds. Language usually starts off as meaningless words by simply recalling what others are saying, but as a child grows, the words begin to acquire meaning creating connections between words being formed. As a person gets older, new meanings and new associations are created and vocabulary increases as more words are learned. Nature is the genetics you receive, its something you have ever since you were born, e.g. eye colour. It is something that cannot be influenced by others. Nurture is the effect that the people in your life have on you, and the environment you are in. It is things that have influenced you whilst growing up, e.g. the media or values taught by your parents. Nature-Nurture is known to be one of the longest running debates; whether its or genes (nature) or our experiences (nurture) that make us who we are? E.g. If a person commits a violent crime, did they do so because of their genetic makeup (they are genetically pre-wired to be violent) or because of their experiences (e.g., growing up in an impoverished area, not getting a good education, no parental guidance or some other experience)? This is the nature-nurture debate. Child development is a discipline which aims to identify, to describe and to predict patterns in childrens growth where growth includes intellectual (or cognitive), linguistic, physical, social, behavioural and emotional development. (Smidt, 2006), (ARU, 2009) The key theories that are mainly acknowledged within cognitive development include The Stage Theory, carried out by Piaget (nativist), and Scaffolding by Bruner (empiricist). Piaget (1896-1980) researched into childrens learning and believed that they go through stages and learn in sequences when growing up. He thought that children were active learners and that they used their past experiences as their knowledge for the world and how to deal with previously experienced situations. Piagets theory was first published in 1952, which came from his observation of children, including his own, whom he observed in a natural environment. He imagined that a childs knowledge was composed of schemas; knowledge which is used to organise previous experiences, which is referred back to when trying to understand new ones. Piagets theory states that cognitive development occurs in four stages, in which when they begin to take place, they follow the same order; you are only able to move onto the next stage once the previous stage has been completed. The four stages are: Researchers have found that the advanced memory skills in children, mainly in the Formal Operational Stage, are due to memorisation techniques, such as repeating things in hope of memorising them, or categorising them, making it easier to pick out the information in future. Vygotsky (1978) states: Every function in the childs cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals. His theories were a mix of both nativist and empiricist views. One of Vygotskys central ideas was the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is the difference between the level of potential development and the actual development in a child. He emphasised how social interaction was vital for develo pment from the beginning of their lives. He declared that before becoming internal, a function must go through a social stage when developing. Therefore, it is initially social, and then becomes an internal function which is known as internalisation (Vygotsky, 1962). The empiricist views would include Vygotskys theory on the role of culture and social interaction. He stated that socio-cultural environment was important for cognitive development. Being able to experience different contexts creates different forms of development; cognitive processes such as thoughts and your imagination develop through social interaction. The matter of social interaction relates back to ZPD, as communicating with other people develops your knowledge further. Bruner (1915- ) developed further on Vygotskys early work, and came up with Scaffolding, which was outlining how an adult assists a child in learning. Adults can aid children to move from where they are, to where they want to go. This is only possible if the child is interested in the situation initially, then they are able to be supported by the adult to further their learning. This is demonstrated in 5 stages, shown in the table below: (ARU, 2009) When an adult is assisting a child they are using previous experiences as their knowledge to do so. This is known as the Socio-Cognitive Stage Theory, in which recall is processed in 3 ways. The Enactive Mode, is when things are represented by doing them, the process used to get to the end product. The Iconic Mode is when children are encouraged to record their experiences, therefore making them more memorable. Lastly, the Symbolic Mode, which is where children use symbols and codes to represent and specify the meaning of what they are trying to represent. E.g. writing the number 5 instead of writing five; its a symbol representing the number. Skinner (1905-1990) is another example, who has practiced the importance of empirical learning in development. According to him, learning is characterised by the way a person processes their behaviour, which is then shaped into an experience. He doesnt completely eliminate the role of innate factors, but does argue that the external environment has a higher influence on development. Skinner suggested that if a person is positively reinforced (rewarded) for carrying out a certain action, they are more likely to repeat it again and recall it as a good experience. If a child was to be negatively reinforced (punished) they are highly likely not to repeat the behaviour again as they dont want to be punished, therefore remembering it as a bad experience. I believe that a person has to experience an event physically for them to be able to remember it better and recall it. Therefore, the environment plays a crucial role in cognitive development as it gives you knowledge of whether something is right or wrong, and then this experience is moved into the innate as a memory. Like Skinner suggested, before carrying out an action the child will remember the last time they carried it out, how they had approached the task set ahead of them then, what they have learnt since then, and how they can improve on it now with their recent learning; hence the social interaction has led the child to think back using their innate memory. Cognitive development requires both nativist and empiricist approaches to help a child develop their learning. The key theories that are mainly acknowledged within language development include Chomskys Language Acquisition Device, Skinners Reinforcement and Banduras Social Learning Theory (SLT). The nativist theory deals with language being an innate feature of a child. Chomsky (1928- ) promotes this theory and came up with his own Language Acquisition Device (LAD). He declared that the ability to learn language is inborn, suggesting that nature is more important than nurture. His work contributed to the thought that childrens language development is more complex than what is declared by behaviourists, who believe that children can learn language by being rewarded for imitating. However, Chomskys theory does not take into account the influence that cognition and language have on each others development. Nativists believe that if children surrounded by poverty, and brought up in a poverty constricted environment, children are still learning to speak due to their language acquisition device. Th is leads them to believe that the study of learning focuses on events that can be observed and measured. Empiricist views of Skinner and Watson, shows that they believed that children come into this world as a blank slate. Therefore, meaning that when a child is born, they have no knowledge at all, and are incapable of doing or knowing anything. They believe that this theory applies to all species. Behaviourist views like this suggest that the role of the environment is vital, and that the process of learning is only successful if there has been a change in behaviour. Moving onto Banduras (1924- ) Social Learning Theory, which suggests people learn from one another by observing their actions and imitating them. This theory is known to be a link between nativist and empiricist views as nativist learning is needed when trying to memorise what you are seeing and embarking on motivation. Most human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a gui de for action (Bandura). The conditions which are necessary for this model to take place include, Attention, there are various points which will either increase or decrease the amount of attention you are paying to a situation. This could relate back to Skinner and his Reinforcement theory. Retention, being the second condition, is remembering what you were paying attention to. This can be remembered in different ways such as, images, symbols, coding, or just rehearsing. Reproduction, is being able to reproduce the image, which then leads to Motivation, which occurs when you have a good reason to imitate the previous sequence. Other reasons for this motivation may be incentives, or the speculation enforced by the reinforcement theory. Skinner suggested that the associations between a stimuli and the response could explain the behaviour and interaction of a being. He tried to apply his Operant Conditioning to the way language is learnt. The probability of a verbal response was contin gent on four things: reinforcement, stimulus control, deprivation, and aversive stimulation. The interaction of these things in a childs environment would lead to particular associations, the basis of all language (Skinner 1957). I believe that nurture, is a more effective form of language development. This is because language is a gradual process; you need to go through various stages of development until you are at a level of individual learning. By watching what an adult is doing, at a young age you observe them and imitate them. Its like watching a carer and a baby having a conversation; CARER: Hello, what are you doing? BABY: (babbles) When talking to the baby, theyll try and converse back, and as they grow older they learn words and their meanings and are able to create sentences. This all comes from some form of social interaction. The nature side of things is important in this matter too as; once a child has learnt a word, it needs to be stored and recalled again when needed to. Therefore, both nature and nurture work together in an effort to create language development. To conclude overall, I believe that both nature and nurture play a vital role in the development of cognitive and language development. The nurture may come first at times to experience the situation or process, which you then will remember and will store it, and then when needed to use again the experience becomes innate and is remembered through the cognition of your brain, becoming your nature. There are many studies that have been carried out to prove that nurture is more vital in the development of these processes, but from my point of view, I dont think there is as much information available on the nature side of things as there is on nurture. There are well known nature theorists out known, taking Piaget for example, but nature theories need to be backed up more strongly with more research being carried out. Reinforcement plays a big role in no matter what you do, if you are negatively reinforced towards a situation, you are likely to not want to go through it again and put th at experience at the back of your mind; but still have it in your memory for you to be reminded to not recreate the scenario. The nature-nurture debate has been studied over for many years, and will probably continue to be for many more years to come; but this is strong debate which I believe works together as a pair, and the one needs the other for it to be able to function appropriately. REFERENCES: http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php www.learning-theories.com/classical-conditioning-pavlov.html http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/2_learntch/theories.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_development (2009). Theory of Cognitive Development. Available: http://www.answers.com/topic/cognitive-development. Last accessed 13 December 2009. (2008). Stage Theory of Cognitive Development (Piaget). Available: http://www.learning-theories.com/piagets-stage-theory-of-cognitive-development.html. Last accessed 13 December 2009. (2004). Cognitive Development In Children. Available: http://allpsych.com/psychology101/development.html. Last accessed 13 December 2009. Verenikina,A. Understanding Scaffolding and the ZPD in Educational Research. Available: http://www.aare.edu.au/03pap/ver03682.pdf. Last accessed 13 December 2009. Wertsch, J.V. (1985). Cultural, Communication, and Cognition: Vygotskian Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. The Nativist Theory. Available: http://language11.tripod.com/id9.html. Last accessed 13 December 2009. (2009). Developing language for life. Available: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/talktoyourbaby/theories.html. Last accessed 13 December 2009. (2009). Nature Versus Nurture. Available: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1913/Developmental-Theory.html. Last accessed 13 December 2009. Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. New York: General Learning Press. (2008). Social Learning Theory (Bandura). Available: http://www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html. Last accessed 13 December 2009. Oates,J Grayson,A. 2004. Cognitive and language development in children. Open University : Blackwell BF Skinner, Behavioralism, Language Behavior. Available: http://www3.niu.edu/acad/psych/Millis/History/2003/cogrev_skinner.htm. Last accessed 14 December 2009.

Assistive Technology Essay -- Teaching Education

Assistive Technology IDEA defines an assistive technology device as: â€Å"...any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.† This is a broad definition and includes a range of devices from low technology to high technology, including computers as well as software. Under IDEA the legal definition of assistive technology services is: â€Å"...any service that directly assists an individual with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device. Specifically, assistive technology services include: the evaluation of the needs of an individual with a disability; the purchasing of assistive technology devices; selecting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, or replacing of assistive technology services; using therapies, interventions, or services with assistive technology devices; training or technical assistance for an individual with disabilities, and/or the family of an individual with disabilities; and training or technical assistance for those who provide services to, employ, or those who are involved in the major life functions of individuals with disabilities. Assistive Technology is a type of technology that allows for more independent, productive and enjoyable living. These technologies can be simple or complex. Something as simple as Velcro can al...