Friday, December 27, 2019
Obesity Prevention Of Obesity - 2017 Words
Prevention of Obesity in the Children of Latino Parents in California Public Health Issue Obesity is one of the biggest problems in the U.S. that causes significant numbers of morbidity and mortality rates. These rates have been significantly increasing over the past few decades affecting both well developed, and moderately developed countries. The problem is not only present within adult population but is also a considerable issue among children in the US. The cause of obesity, is the difficulty to resist the extremely plentiful variety of foods and fast food restaurants in our world today (Freedman, 2011). Many health issues such as heart diseases, diabetes, cancers, chronic pulmonary diseases, and neurological disease are the direct result of constant and uncontrolled overeating. This issue of obesity can be prevented or treated by the behavioral modification, where children are controlled and taught healthy eating habits. This method is one of the least expensive with positive outcomes. PHNs must acquire a role of educator to teach children and the ir families the healthy eating habits, and weight management. There are about 25 million children that are overweight in the U.S. or at risk for becoming obese. Luzier and colleagues suggest that there is an increase in cases of obesity among families of low socioeconomic status. Among Mexican Americans, the statistics accounted for 44% of children with obesity and comparing that with Caucasian which were 29%. TheShow MoreRelatedObesity And The Prevention Of Obesity1496 Words à |à 6 PagesThe epidemic if obesity has increased dramatically among children. Studies show nearly forty percent of American school age children are obese (Berk, 2008). Obesity has become a big problem with children because the children are falling in the eating habits of their parents. Children have also started playing video games which doesnââ¬â¢t require any exercise. Children sit home all day and eat. The difference from then and now is that children didnââ¬â¢t have all those video games and they wanted to go outRead MoreChildhood Obesity Prevention1264 Words à |à 5 PagesChildhood Obesity Prevention Childhood obesity is a huge problem in our society, so here are two articles that researched one option to aid in the prevention of the epidemic: vegetarianism. The first article ââ¬Å"Vegetarian Diets and Childhood Obesity Preventionâ⬠by Joan Sabate` and Michelle Wien from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition May 2010 vol. 91 no. 5 1525S-1529S and the second article is ââ¬Å"Vegetarian Children: Appropriate and Inappropriate Dietsâ⬠by Cathy Jacobs, MS, RD,: and JohannaRead More Prevention of Obesity Essay1265 Words à |à 6 Pagesrelation to the prevention of obesity. An insight into the prevalence of obesity as well as the causes and its effects shall be evaluated. Public health strategies on the prevention of obesity and its effects in relation to Government strategies shall be addressed. A snapshot about the role of the nurse as an educator in relation to this public health issue as well as strategies formulated by Hillingdon PCT to prevent obesity and how it focuses on other diseases associated with obesity shall be discussedRead MoreObesity And Methods Of Prevention1631 Words à |à 7 PagesOmer Professor Pozos Biology 100 9 December 2014 Obesity and Methods of Prevention In the United States alone, there are more than 78.6 million obese adults. Obesity is a disease that is growing rapidly and has the ability to rip families apart due to the massive destruction it causes to oneââ¬â¢s health. Obesity is a very deadly disease and it needs to be stopped. But are there ways to prevent it and save many lives? In this essay, I will explain obesity from a biological perspective and state the differentRead MoreEducation, Prevention And Control Of Obesity944 Words à |à 4 Pagesvarious programs aimed at education, prevention and control of obesity. Below we will discuss some of the programs initiated by the federal and state government to fight this epidemic. The program Healthy people 2020 - a broad federal program with the goal of improving the health of all Americans. Under Healthy People 2020, several initiatives have been established with the help of other government offices to target different approaches in combating obesity. ââ¬Å"Aim for a Healthy Weightâ⬠for exampleRead MoreEssay On Prevention Of Overweight And Obesity729 Words à |à 3 PagesA systematic review by Wofford (2008) identified the current state of the evidence related to the prevention of overweight and obesity in children. The results indicate five areas of emphasis or threads in the literature: prevalence of the problem; prevention as the best option; preschool population as the target; crucial parental involvement; and numerous guidelines. So far, many behavioral/nutrition interventions in schools, communities or within the home have been considered. But the literatureRead MoreEthics And Prevention Of Childhood Obesity946 Words à |à 4 PagesPractice I ssue and Significance of Obesity management and prevention The practice issue in question is the management and prevention of childhood obesity. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to the 95th percentile (Lopez, 2016. p 243). This problem is highly influenced by factors such as lack of activity, high caloric intake more than what the body needs to function well. Childhood obesity is at alarming rate in the United States. It is one of the major publicRead MorePrevention Of Child Obesity And Children Essay3422 Words à |à 14 Pages Prevention of Child Obesity in Children Anthony Smith East Tennessee State University ââ¬Æ' Prevention of Child Obesity in Children Introduction Over the years, several issues have affected populations in the world. These issues have ranged from political, economic, social and most importantly, health matters. Factually, health matters have been at the cause of outcries around theRead MoreObesity And Pregnancy : Early Education And Prevention1290 Words à |à 6 PagesObesity and Pregnancy: Early education and prevention Alicia Gonzalez de Arreola ENG 122: English Composition Professor Amy Erickson August 25, 2014 ââ¬Æ' Obesity and Pregnancy: Early Education and Prevention Obesity has become an epidemic not only in the United States, it is worldwide (Sullivan, 2014). Obesity affects both mother and child leading to severe complications during and after birth, therefore measures should be taken to monitor and educate women and women who plan on becoming pregnant.Read MoreChildhood Obesity : Health Issues And Prevention921 Words à |à 4 PagesChildhood Obesity: Health Issues and Prevention Introduction Obesity as an epidemic has become increasingly troublesome as it has tripled its rate in the current generation of children and adolescents (CDC, 2015). It has been linked to various health related problems that decrease the quality of life and a serious threat to the longevity of the young generation (MDCH, 2009). Obese children can suffer with debilitating, if not fatal diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, not to mention its psychosocial
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Raising The Federal Minimum Wage - 1277 Words
The idea of raising the federal minimum wage that has developed nation wide attention, including protesting and arguments, has caused many discussions on why it could potentially help the economy grow and how it could result in the crash of the economy. Many people feel like raising the federal minimum wage is a must, while others think it will destroy the economy. There are many benefits that come with raising the federal minimum wage, but those benefits also come with many disadvantages. The first federal minimum wage mandated by the government was in 1938. When the first minimum wage became law in 1938, it was set at just 25 cents. Today, the federal minimum wage mandated by the government is set at $7.25 an hour. ââ¬Å"Many states have their own set minimum wages, which are currently above $7.25 per hour already. Currently, 29 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) have minimum wages above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. D.C. s new wage of $10.50 an hour makes it the first jurisdiction to cross the $10 threshold among the states,â⬠(Halvorson). The last time that the federal minimum wage mandated by the government was changed was over 8 years ago. ââ¬Å"The last time Congress voted to raise the minimum wage to its current rate of $7.25 an hour was on May 24, 2007. Since then, the cost of life s essentials has shot up. Groceries cost 20% more, a gallon of gas costs 25% more, and average tuition at a community college increased 44%. But the minimum wage remains atShow MoreRelatedRaising The Federal Minimum Wage889 Words à |à 4 Pages In my report, I will go into detail and show how raising the federal minimum wage would positively effect the economy. In doing so, I will be discussing how an increase in the federal minimum wage would make a vast improvement on the way many low income families live, and also how raising the federal minimum wage would boost the economy as it desperately needs. In raising the federal minimum wage, one might argue that it would cause a spike in the unemployment rate. The reasoning is that it wouldRead MoreRaising The Federal Minimum Wage799 Words à |à 4 Pages In the US, President Barack Obama urges Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour from $7.25. Although some Republicans oppose to this action, overwhelming majority of Americans see that is a good idea (The Guardian, 2014). Regarding to the issue of minimum wage, there have been lots of debates for a long time. Some economists such as Milton Friedman deeply believe that minimum wage kills jobs, but some like Alan Krueger and David Card think, to some extend, it actually increasedRead MoreRaising The Federal Minimum Wage1225 Words à |à 5 Pages Study shows that wage increases do lower poverty, by 2.4% if wage at $8.00, consistent with other studies. (Washington Post/ Arin Dube) 1. Raising the federal minimum wage doesnââ¬â¢t cause substantial unemployment as most economists agree, including over 600 economists who wrote a letter to Congress urging a wage increase, and the Economic Policy Institute. A. Identify shortcomings of the opposition (fallacies they make, or weaknesses in the evidence they use) 1. Arin Dubeââ¬â¢s study would be great,Read MoreRaising The Federal Minimum Wage969 Words à |à 4 Pages At the heart of this plan was the idea that wages must be set and fair. ââ¬Å"No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.â⬠(Roosevelt) This plan became the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set the Federal Minimum wage. Minimum wage has increased, slowly, over the years, but has not kept up with its intended purpose. Raising the federal minimum wage to a fair living wage level will improve the lives of the working poorRead MoreThe Benefits of Raising the Federal Minimum Wage1334 Words à |à 6 PagesPicture this: You are a single parent of two, you work 40 hours a week plus occasional overtime at a minimum wage paying job, you struggle to put food on the table to feed your family, and then you receive a call from the bank saying that your home is being foreclosed. This is the situatio n faced by thousands of Americans every year due to low income and wealth inequality. The federal minimum wage (FMW) as of April 2014 is $7.25, which is not enough to keep a family of two above the poverty line.Read MoreEconomic Outcomes Of Raising The Federal Minimum Wage1489 Words à |à 6 Pagespercent of all wage and salary workers. Among those paid by the hour, 1.3 million earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. About 1.7 million had wages below the federal minimum. Together, these 3.0 million workers with wages at or below the federal minimum made up 3.9 percent of all hourly paid workersâ⬠(Ratio of Minimum Wage). The Federal minimum wage drives debate among people today, and with many wanting the federal government to raise the minimum wage to fifteen dollarsRead MoreMinimum Wage And Fight Income Equality On Numerous Occasions1470 Words à |à 6 PagesPresident Obama has expressed his desire to raise the minimum wage and fight income equal ity on numerous occasions. On January 20, 2015, president Obama made the following statement in his State of the Union Address: Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wagesâ⬠¦and to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: if you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to giveRead MoreMinimum Wage Laws For The United States Essay1742 Words à |à 7 PagesThe minimum wage is the mandated price floor paid on hourly or daily basis for the employees regulated by the government or the union. In ââ¬Å"Federal Minimum Wageâ⬠, New Zealand and Australia enacted the first minimum wage law during the late 19th century to prevent employersââ¬â¢ exploitation of workers. In 1912, Massachusetts passed the first minimum wage legislation in the US that was enforced for women and children, and fifteen more states followed in the next eleven years. Howe ver, the Supreme CourtRead MoreU.s. Federal Minimum Wage Essay951 Words à |à 4 PagesCongress passed the federal minimum wage law in 1938 as part of their Fair Labor Standards Act. Federal minimum wages were intended to ensure fair wages were paid to an alarming amount of women and youths employed and paid substandard wages. This also seems to be the case today, where countless Americans who work full time, cannot make ends meet by making minimum wage. Evidence shows that raising the minimum wage would drive consumer spending, thus producing faster macroeconomic growth. Wage stagnation isRead MoreU.s. Federal Minimum Wage Essay1162 Words à |à 5 PagesThe current U.S. Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25 per hour. In just two years from 2013, the demanded from advocates for raising minimum wage rose from $9 to $15. However, raising the minimum wage is more complex than simply raising the number of federal standard of pay for employees. Relative control groups and other market activiti es play a part in the outcome of the minimum wage. For example, one instance of market activity was observers said that raising the minimum wage did not hurt individuals;
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
A Comparison Between The Works Of Amedeo Modigliani And Jacques Villon Essay Example For Students
A Comparison Between The Works Of Amedeo Modigliani And Jacques Villon Essay Italian-born Cubist painter, Amedeo Modigliani 1884-1920 and the French, Jacques Villon 1875-1963, both painted vibrant and expressive portraits during the early twentieth-century. In this case, the chosen portraits are Modiglianis Portrait of Mrs. Hastings, 1915 and Villons Mme. Fulgence, 1936. Both of these compositions are portraits. Nothing is of more importance than the sitter herself. The female sitter in Modiglianis piece, sits in an almost dizzying pose with a twist in her elongated neck a Modigliani trademark, a stylized and mask-like head and a columnar neck. All of which give the sitter a blank and ashen expression. She looks at the viewer, head-on with a most piercing air in her eyes. In Villons case, his female sitter has been created solely with the use of layered colours and a very random synthetist outline technique a similar technique the post-impressionist painter Gaugin used. Modigliani outlines his figure moreso in black than Villon. Mme. Fulgences age is understood by the strong dynamic colour quality that has been used to break her face apart. In a way, these colourful divisions act as wrinkles. For instance, the chunk of layered pink on her lip creates a scowl and the heavily applied white on her nose helps it to seem upright; a snobbish upturn. Colours such as the orange, have been used to highlight her left cheek and only visible ear. With these effects, the viewer sees Mme. Fulgence as a very proper andposh if you will woman. Bitterness is only a common linkage with the other attributes. Modiglianis Hastings on the other hand seems to be an intense woman of a compassionate nature. Both of these pieces have relied heavily on the expressive and wild use of colour to create emotional expressions and unerring form. Both of these portraits are created using oil paintsModiglianis on cardboard and Villons on canvas. The most important element that draws their work away from the mainstream is their heavy application of paint. Although they both apply their colour liberally, Modiglianis strokes are thick, jagged, and for the most part random. His brushstrokes are also particularly long, whereas Villons are short and brief. Modigliani uses monochromatic hues of red to create the prominent colour of the piece and like Villon, he has used a very vague background to express the importance of his sitter. Colour is of equal importance in both pieces as it draws the viewer in and allows the viewers eyes to be brought around the piece. Modigliani has split his background from top to bottom, using red and strokes of burnt sienna at first, then an auburn and deeper red for the bottom. This definite split in the background creates a base so that the chair on which the sitter is seated does not get lost and mistaken for part of the background. The weighty application in both portraits creates a brilliant textural finish. The expressive nature that is brought out in the quick brushstrokesà is equally defined in the actual texture of the painting plain. In Modiglianis background, the strokes are long and applied at a rapid pace. Whereas in Villons background, his strokes are shorter and seem to have more of a planned location just as Seurat applies his paint. Villon has placed his subject in front of the background in an almost symmetrical manner. This poses the idea that the two really do not have an intense relationship whatsoever. The Madame is not quite centred to look at the viewer dead-on as Modiglianis is, her body is shifted slightly to the left. Modiglianis sitter, on the other hand has been placed carefully on her foreground, off to the left. This brings in ample space for the chair. Having his subject seated, Modigliani says more about the subjects surroundings. .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 , .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 .postImageUrl , .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 , .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5:hover , .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5:visited , .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5:active { border:0!important; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5:active , .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5 .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u418441b8078953def8c9fdc50af220a5:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Business Comparison Of Mail Communications New Technologies Have Alway EssayVillon has merely placed Mme. Fulgence in front of a green background, with only the highlights of her age to carry one through the piece. As stated before, the negative space that is prevalent in both pieces is highly effective as it does not take away from the issue at hand: the seated. Both artists have used the application of their colours to their advantage in creating emotion merely through its use. Whether the colours are blended like Modigliani or choppy and difficult to ingest for the colours are used at their most vibrant tone as Villons are, both artists used an extreme colour palette to bring forth the ideal emotions and/or physical standing of their models.
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Piagets stages of cognitive development free essay sample
Piaget is a Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. Piaget believed that children play an active role in the growth of intelligence. He regarded children as philosophers who perceive the world as he or she experiences it (ICELS). Therefore in Piagetââ¬â¢s most prominent work, his theory on the four stages of cognitive development, much of his inspiration came from observations of children. The theory of cognitive development focuses on mental processes such as perceiving, remembering, believing, and reasoning. Through his work, Piaget showed that children think in considerably different ways than adults do and as such he saw cognitive development as a progressive reorganization of mental processes resulting from maturation and experience (1973). To explain this theory, Piaget used the concept of stages to describe his development as a sequence of the four following stages: sensory ââ¬â motor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations. There are three elements however to understanding his theory of cognitive development. We will write a custom essay sample on Piagets stages of cognitive development or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They are schema, the fours process that enable transition from on stage to another, and finally the four stages themselves. He began his studies by making naturalistic observations. Piaget made careful, detailed observations of children, typically his own children or their friends, from these he wrote diary descriptions charting their development. He also conducted clinical interviews and observations of older children who were able to understand questions and hold conversations (McLeod 2009). Based off these observation Piaget laid the ground work for his theories on cognitive development starting with the schema. A schema is the basic building block of intelligent behavior, a form of organizing information that a person uses to interpret the things he or she sees, hears, smell, and touches (Singer Revenson, 1997). A schema can be thought of as a unit of knowledge, relating to one aspect of the world including objects, actions, and abstract (theoretical) concepts (ICELS). They are used to understand and to respond to situations and are stored and applied when needed. A child is considered to be in a state of equilibrium or in a state of cognitive balance when she or he is capable of explaining what he or she is perceiving (schema) at the time (ICELS). The processes that form the building blocks of a schema are assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation and accommodation are two of the four processes that enable the transition from one cognitive stage to another. Assimilation is the process of interpreting experiences in terms of schema whereas accommodation is the process of adjusting schema based on new information or new experiences. For example, a child may see a robin flying and thus conclude that all birds fly (assimilation), however upon learning a chicken cannot fly said child would have to adjust their existing schema of birds to accommodate chickens (accommodation). The other two of the four processes that enable the transition from one cognitive stage to another are equilibrium and disequilibrium. Equilibration is said to be the force which moves development along. Equilibrium occurs when a childs schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, a state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (Piaget 1973, p. 36). Thus the accommodation comes into play in order to restore a state of equilibrium. Together, assimilation and accommodation are processes of adjustment to changes in the environment and are defined as adaptation, the continuous process of using the environment to learn (ICELS). And, according to Piaget, adaptation is the most important principle of human functioning. With these basic elements of cognitive learning established Piaget then began to establish his four stages of cognitive development. The first being the sensory ââ¬â motor stage. This stage is considered to extend from birth to approximately age two. During this stage senses, reflexes, and motor abilities develop rapidly. During the early stages, infants are only aware of what is immediately in front of them. They focus on what they see, what they are doing, and physical interactions with their immediate environment. Toward the end of the sensory-motor stage, the ability to form primitive mental images develops as the infant acquires object permanence (ICELS). Object permanence is the understanding that objects have a continued existence when they disappear from view. Until then, an infant doesnââ¬â¢t realize that objects can exist apart from him or herself. Thus in this stage behavior is organized around its sensory or motor effects culminates in attaining the concept of object permanence. The next stage is the preoperational stage. This stage extend from ages 2 to 7 and during this stage the child is not yet able to think logically. With the acquisition of language, the child is able to represent the world through mental images and symbols, but in this stage, these symbols depend on his own perception and his intuition (Piaget 1973, p. 36). Preoperational children are completely egocentric. Although they begin to take greater interest in objects and people around them, they see these things from only their point of view. This also has been said to be the stage of curiosity. Preoperational children are always questioning and investigating new things and since they know the world only from their very limited point of view they make up explanations for things they cannot explain (ICELS). The preoperational stage is therefore characterized by egocentric thought and the inability for children to adopted alternative viewpoints. According to Piaget this is the stage at which childrenââ¬â¢sââ¬â¢ thoughts differ the most from adults. The third stage is the concrete operational stage. This stage extends from ages 7 to 11 and it is during this stage that a child is able to perform mental operations. Piaget defines a mental operation as an interiorized action, an action performed in the mind which permits the child to think about physical actions that he or she previously performed (Piaget 1973, p. 36). At this time children demonstrate logical, concrete reasoning and their thinking becomes less egocentric as they are increasingly aware of external events. The primary characteristic of concrete operational thought is its reversibility; the child can mentally reverse the direction of his or her thought (Piaget 1973, p. 36). For example a child knows something they can add they can also subtract. Conservation is also a major acquisition of the concrete operational stage. Piaget defines conservation as the ability to see that objects or quantities remain the same despite a change in their physical appearance. Children are thus able to learn to conserve such quantities as number, mass, area, weight, and volume (Piaget 1973, p. 36). The characteristics of the concrete stage are thus conservation, mental operations, and the ability for children to adopt alternative viewpoints. The final stage is the formal operational stage, it extends from ages 11 to 16. Unlike the concrete operational stage the formal stage does not deal with thinking in the present but rather deals with the ability to think about the future, abstract thought, and the hypothetical. Piagetââ¬â¢s final stage coincides with the beginning of adolescence, and marks the start of abstract thought and deductive reasoning. Thought is more flexible, rational, and systematic. The individual can now conceive all the possible ways they can solve a problem, and can approach a problem from several points of view (Piaget 1973, p. 360). Although Piaget believed in lifelong intellectual development, he insisted that the formal operational stage is the final stage of cognitive development, and that continued intellectual development in adults depends on the accumulation of knowledge (ICELS). Thus this staged is marked by the childââ¬â¢s ability to harmoniously reason abstractly and logically as well as not be limited to concrete thinking. The influence of Piagetââ¬â¢s ideas in developmental psychology has been enormous. He changed how people viewed the childââ¬â¢s world and their methods of studying children. Piagets ideas have generated a huge amount of research which has increased our understanding of cognitive development. His ideas have even been of practical use in understanding and communicating with children, particularly in the field of education. Piaget did not directly relate his theory to education, however many researchers have explained how features of Piagets theory can be applied to teaching and learning. One example of Piagetââ¬â¢s cognitive development theory influencing education can be seen in the concept of discovery learning; the idea that children learn best through doing and actively exploring. This concept sparked a huge reform in many primary schoolsââ¬â¢ curriculums. These reforms held recurring themes of individual learning, flexibility in the curriculum, the centrality of play in childrens learning, the use of the environment, learning by discovery and the importance of the evaluation of childrens progress (McLeod 2009). In addition since Piagets theory is based upon biological maturation, children should not be taught certain concepts until they have reached the appropriate stage cognitive development. Overall five overreaching concepts have been newly been applied to primary education based off Piagetââ¬â¢s theories: Focus on the process of learning rather than the end product of it, using active methods that require rediscovering or reconstructing truths, using collaborative as well as individual activities (so children can learn from each other), devising situations that present useful problems and create disequilibrium in the child, and evaluate the level of the childs development so suitable tasks can be set (McLeod 2009). Although Piagetââ¬â¢s findings did make many groundbreaking and seemingly beneficial contributions to education there are some skeptics as to whether or not his theories are on cognitive development are on point. For example Vygotsky and Bruner would rather not talk about stages at all, preferring to see development as continuous. Vygotsky, a Soviet Belarusian psychologist and founder of a theory of human cultural and biosocial development or cultural-historical psychology. Vygotskys theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of making meaning. Unlike Piaget he believed social learning precedes development (McLeod 2007). Bruner, a psychologist who has made significant contributions to human cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology, would similarly argue against Piagetââ¬â¢s theory of ââ¬Å"readiness. â⬠Burner places importance on outcomes of learning, include not just the concepts, categories, and problem-solving procedures invented previously by the culture, but also the ability to invent these things for oneself (McLeod 2008). Therefore he argued that schools waste time trying to match the complexity of subject material to a childs cognitive stage of development. In addition the concept of schema is incompatible with the theories of Bruner and Vygotsky. Behaviorism would also refute Piagetââ¬â¢s schema theory because is cannot be directly observed as it is an internal process (McLeod 1009). Therefore, they would claim it cannot be objectively measured. Finally as several studies have shown Piaget underestimated the abilities of children because his tests were sometimes confusing or difficult to understand (McLeod 2009). Also since the children he used for his studies were mainly his own his sample is biased, and consequently the results of these studies cannot be generalized to children from different cultures. Piagetââ¬â¢s theories on cognitive development have been groundbreaking and extremely beneficial to the world of developmental psychology. However there are some notable discrepancies with his studies such and limited and biased sampling. There are also distinguished rebuttals and argumentations for opposing theories. However Piagetââ¬â¢s work remains the stepping stone for studies of cognitive development and remain an extremely crucial part of developmental psychology as a whole.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)