Rene Descartes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Rene Descartes - Assignment Example The skeptical method as conceptualized by Descartes is a definite criteria or procedure through which truth can be found (Descartes 148). It abhors and condemns the tendency to merely believe things without any doubt faulting as a flawed method of digging into reality. Skeptical method involves unveiling the truth by first disbelieving and, thereafter, soberly researching and rationalizing them. The weight of thorough reasoning and evaluation on the skeptically pre-perceived objects and events determines the accuracy of the results. Descartes’ argument about truth finding through skeptical method is undoubtedly genuine and accurate as people who do not doubt end up believing without thorough consideration. Doubt breeds research and further evaluation. His definition of human beings as thinking beings is as well true since what differentiates humans from other animals is the thinking capacity (Descartes 154). If it is the physical body, even some animals would be much better than us. This is why if a person behaves in abnormal manner, this can be termed as inhuman as humans act on the basis of reasoning. The argument is, therefore,

Learning Skills Improvement Service Essay Example for Free

Learning Skills Improvement Service Essay In my position as a workshop trainer at Deerbolt young offenders’ institute, the education I deliver for The Manchester College as part of their Offender Learning is supported, monitored and shaped by various professional bodies. The purpose of these bodies or sector skills councils vary however they all have a common goal in ensuring and enriching the quality of education being delivered. LSIS or the learning and skills improvement service are such a body who umbrella over every organisation that delivers qualifications throughout the country, and they do exactly what they say on the tin. LSIS improve quality, participation and increase standards in education and training. A lot of their work involves developing resources, implementing schemes, sharing delivery aids that improve quality and achievement and tailoring support to learners needs. â€Å"Colleges and providers helped by LSIS improved by one inspection grade at their next inspection.† (LSIS [ND] [online]) LSIS don’t just support the educational improvements though; in 2010 they recognised The Manchester College as a Healthy FE college, healthy initiatives offered throughout the college like loyalty cards, gym memberships and better eating schemes aimed to improve the health of students and staff. Another group that oversee our work as teachers is the professional body the IFL or the Institute for Learning. Their role is to register everyone practicing as a teacher or trainer in FE on to their database. They promote themselves as supporting professional excellence; they aim to increase the status of teachers as professionals, requiring a membership fee and proof of qualifications which is supported by the employer. They also champion the importance of CPD and require members to provide evidence of this and their teaching hours each year. This is seen to keep standards of teaching high, and promote quality and teaching as a profession. Until very recently this is how the IFL worked but due to the loss in government funding and teachers reluctantly to pay their own subscription the number of people renewing their subscription to the IFL fell by over half to just 85,000 signalling a loss of confidence in the body and an end to its presences. For many teachers and trainers in FE it was seen as a welcomed downfall as many believed the IFL did nothing for them, however now this professional body has collapsed there is no one regulating the qualifications or standard required to teach in FE which may lead to competiveness for jobs and or poor standards of teaching and training. These developments seemingly leave only Ofsted in place to assess the quality and standards of colleges and the individual teachers. â€Å"Ofsted would be made responsible for ensuring that FE teachers were appropriately qualified through inspections† (TES [30/03/2012] [Online]) However I see a huge flaw in this method of assessing quality and knowledge, not every Ofsted inspector can have the depth in knowledge of every subject of every teacher he or she is going to observe. For example if I am teaching bricklaying and I’m teaching unacceptable practices how is that inspector meant to know I am teaching the wrong methods? Surely the only way to overcome this problem is to have employed properly qualified teachers and trainers and not just people with some subject knowledge. Now that the IFL is a voluntary body the employers themselves have discretion over this matter. Construction Skills is another organisation that oversee and support the vocational training we deliver in offender learning. They are a massive organisation and have a lot of different strands from providing qualifications, courses and assessment and training support through CSkills as an awarding organisation. They also developing courses and provide support and training to local businesses through being an industry training board. In 2003 Construction Skills were awarded Sector Skills Council status, this allowed them to deliver valued support across the industry. Their main aims are to help reduce a shortage in specialise skills and help to bring a diverse workforce into the industry. They are also involved in improving business performance and developing professional standards for construction occupations both trade and professional. The other area that they cover is probably most relevant to my work as a vocational trainer; they have a large input on the improvement of education for apprenticeships and higher and further education. They achieve this by awarding grants for training, providing businesses with advice on getting the best from their work force offering card schemes, recognised qualifications and helping to link college learning with on the job experience. Professionalism As teachers, trainers, tutors or whatever you what to call us in FE we all have more than one hat we wear that makes us a professional. The IFL although seemingly no more used to keep everybody who worked as a ‘teacher’ under the status of a professional. They did this by having in place the requirement to achieve QTLS or ATLS within five years of working within the education sector. QTLS stand for qualified teacher learning and skills and ATLS associate teacher learning and skills. Everybody working as a teacher was required to register as one or the other of these statuses depending on your level of teaching qualification, the full Cert Ed being a level 5, I myself would have had to apply for QTLS status. However the following quote suggests that very little teachers working in the sector today have taken out the required status of QTLS/ATLS. â€Å"Only a small number of lecturers have become ‘fully qualified’ under the current arrangements: between 2,900 (GHK, August 2011) and some 6,000 (IfL submission, 2012). Whilst this number may rise as the five-year watershed approaches, some 85 per cent of FE lecturers have not embarked on the final supervised practice phase, following the diploma. We do not believe that so slight a result after such a long delay makes this qualification credible as a licence to practise which, properly speaking, should be earned before starting work, as it would be in other professions.† (Bis [03/2012] [Online]) By making this a requirement the IFL aimed at ensuring each individual teacher had the ability to work at the standards expected of a licenced practitioner. To meet this requirement you were expected to submit evidence of your teaching practice, subject and background knowledge, your continued professional development and your own reflective practice. I feel this was affair approach to the matter They may say the â€Å"licence to practice should be earned before starting work† but the profession of teaching is like no other. Its not really something you can learn out of a book you have to get out there and do it then reflect on it, prepare and do it again. My personal two hats consist of my subject specialism, Carpentry and Joinery level 3 qualification, and hopefully in a couple of months my Cert Ed teaching qualification. Other training and development also comes into it, like holding a CSCS card, which is the Construction Skills Certificate Scheme. Another initiative that Construction Skills mentioned earlier are responsible for putting in place. It means you must hold a valid card to work on any building site in the country. To get a card you must pass a construction health and safety test, the cards also state on the back your profession and level of qualification. This is another method of keeping this industry safe, to required standards and professional. â€Å"Professional formation allows teachers to describe how these standards are evidenced in their teaching practice, along with aspects of subject currency, teaching and learning, reflective practice and planning for continuing professional development.† (IFL [11/2008] [Online]) Professional formation isn’t just about your status or qualifications though. It’s a lot about your actions too. As professionals we are expected to present, conduct and discipline ourselves in a particular manor. However with this status we also have the benefits of being rewarded recognition for our work, enhancing collaborations, sharing good practices and having support and respect from our colleagues, colleges and partnering bodies. The importance of engaging in CPPD CPPD or Continuing Personal and Professional Development is something as professionals we should all be doing on a regular basis. It was a requirement of the IFL to record our CPPD hours each year and although a lot of teachers possibly never took this serious it is a good method of keeping in touch with current affairs and adapting to changing trends. The key thing to remember is that this is not just about completing a list of activities undertaken during the year that add up to 6 or 12 or 30 hours. The time spent can be meaningless unless it makes a difference. (IFL [08/2009] [online]) Education is one such sector that never stands still, the requirement to change and reform is evident and we do this to keep things interesting, relevant and to continually push up standards. From a personal point of view, if I’m teaching my subject specialism I want to be a fountain of knowledge in it, I think it’s important to have good subject knowledge and as I have been out of the trade a couple of years now this is something I aim the address on completion of the Cert Ed. I will look at gaining further qualifications in my subject, or maybe completing an assessor’s award. I have even considered going back to construction site work to gain further experience and update my knowledge. Ideally being out in the field working on actual jobs with students would be the perfect scenario for continually developing myself and I feel this would also benefit the learners immensely. As for CPPD in my teaching, I aim to complete all training events offered, for example we had smart board training at work the other day. I also aim to relish being thrown in at the deep end which regularly happens as a cover tutor. I’m lucky in the way my support role at the prison lets me observe a lot of different teachers each week and taking on their good practices and addressing learners needs is excellent CPPD for me. The importance of reflective practice Reflecting on our work as teachers is the best way to develop, its important to have regular teaching practice. We learn valuable things when were in lessons, under pressure and on the spot, however the real learning comes afterwards when we reflect and analyse the session. This is our time to put things right in our heads and prepare ourselves for the same scenarios the next time. It would be extremely difficult to pre-empt every situation that could occur and almost impossible to prepare for each. â€Å"teachers who explore their own teaching through critical reflection develop changes in attitudes and awareness which they believe can benefit their professional growth as teachers, as well as improve the kind of support they provide their students.† (tttjournal [ND] [Online]) Not only should we be reflecting from our own experiences but it’s also extremely valuable to reflect on observations, hearing opinions from another person’s point of view can really pin point things that may have been frustrating us for weeks. Critical reflective practice is more complex than just reflecting. It’s about planning how you will evaluate a lesson or even a CPPD event; it is good practice to critically review these situations through different people’s points of view. Your colleagues, students, boss, or even a person in the field actually doing what you’re teaching or being taught. With this in mind reflection is one of our most important tools. Bibliography Bis [03/2012] Professionalism in further education [Online] http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/further-education-skills/docs/p/12-670-professionalism-in-further-education-interim [Accessed 27/05/2012] IFL [08/2009] Guidelines for your continuing professional development (CPD) [online] http://www.ifl.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/5501/J11734-IfL-CPD-Guidelines-08.09-web-v3.pdf [Accessed 12/06/2012] IFL [11/2008] Professional Formation [Online] http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/IfL-professional-formation-overview.pdf [Accessed 12/06/2012] LSIS [ND] Our Impact in the Sector [Online] http://www.lsis.org.uk/AboutLSIS/LSIS-impact/Pages/default.aspx [Accessed 20/06/12] TES [30/03/2012] FE professionalism gets radical shake-up [Online] http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6202944 [Accessed 15/04/2012] Tttjournal [ND] Towards Reflective Teaching [Online] http://www.tttjournal.co.uk/uploads/file/back_articles/towards_reflective_teaching.pdf [Accessed 03/06/12]

The Boy Who Loves Green Straws

The Boy Who Loves Green Straws Leo Rosa, the boy who loves green straws, was diagnosed as autistic in 2002 when he was two years old. His father, Craig, produces science videos for a TV station in San Francisco, and his mother, Shannon, is a blogger, and software consultant. He has two sisters, Zelly and Gisela. For the first few months after he was born, Leo Rosa seemed like a normal developing baby. It wasnt until his first birthday that the Rosas noticed anything unusual about him: he was taking his favorite toys and sliding them from one place to another, over and over again. Leo had always been a picky eater. His diet consisted almost exclusively of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bananas, guacamole, Goldfish crackers, and popcorn snacks. He began suffering from frequent episodes of diarrhea and vomiting. Shannon took Leo to an allergy specialist to test him for allergies. All the tests came back negative. When Leo was two years old, a pediatrician friend noticed that Leo was not responding when called by his name. But when they checked Leos hearing, his hearing was fine. The director at a regional center told Craig and Shannon that Leo might be autistic. Shannon felt devastated. She spent hours searching for information to help her son. Two books in particular made an impression on her: Catherine Maurice: Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Familys Triumph over Autism; and Karyn Seroussi: Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder: A mothers Story of Research and Recovery. Catherine Maurices book focused on applied behavior analysis (ABA), a behavior modification technique based on the animal-training theory of B.F. Skinner. Karyn Seroussis book tells the story of a mother using a technique called biomedical intervention pioneered by Navy psychology Bernard Rimland. The foundation of this approach is the so-called GFCF diet, a strict diet free of gluten and casein, two proteins found in wheat and dairy products. The theory was that vaccines, like the DPT and the MMR leave some children unable to digest these proteins, leaving the walls of their intestine permeable (leaky gut syndrome). The undigested proteins are then carried by the bloodstream to the brain where they wreak havoc with normal development. Along with the GFCF diet, Seroussi used an aggressive program of high-dose vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and supplements developed by Rimlands Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) network. After reading Seroussis book, Shannon took Leo to see a DAN! Doctor in nearby Los Altos. Samples of Leos blood, hair, stool, and urine were dispatched to the DAN!network for analysis. The allergist who had tested Leo months earlier hadnt turned up any red flags, but the test results from the DAN!network showed that Leo was extremely reactive to peanuts, and soy, and highly allergic to gluten and rye. Leos heavy-metal profile was also problematic, according to the doctor, and they should consider chelation to kick-start their sons recovery process. While they prepared Leo for chelation, the doctor suggested, they could undertake treatments to help correct his systemic imbalance. One such therapy is called BioSET, and the doctor knew of a skilled BioSET practitioner who had an office just down the block and said he would provide the Rosas with a referral. During one of Leos BioSET treatments, Shannon discovered that the therapist and the doctor were a couple. But the doctor hadnt said a word about their relationship when he made his referral, and neither had the therapist. A few months later, the Rosas returned to the doctors office for another round of lab results and consultation. There were some bad news. The heavy-metal profile showed that Leos body was now excreting low levels of mercury. This development made Leo an urgent candidate for chelation. Craig had been trying to get to the root of his research on chelation. The vaccination issue was particularly confusing for Craig because hed been reading a new batch of studies challenging the validity of Wakefields paper of mercury/autism hypothesis. He had told his father, Marty, that they were considering intravenous chelation on the advice of their doctor. Marty replied with a lengthy letter in which he expressed his concerns. He would not put their hope on chelation and food supplements. As a health care professional, he said, he was unnerved by the sheer number of disclaimers in the DAN! Report. Marty felt that the risk was too high to Leo. On the next visit to Los Altos, the doctor brought up chelation again. But this time Craig challenged him. He asked the doctor whether there were any scenario that he would not recommend chelation, and the doctors answer was no. At that point, Craig and Shannon walked out of the doctors office and never went back again. *** Leo was nowhere close to recovery, but he was thriving in his own ways. He connected with his ABA therapist. For 24 hours a week, she worked with him on mastering simple tasks that would enable him to care for himself and express his desires and preferences more effectively. Then Shannon read a book that inspired her to think differently about Leo. Making Peace with Autism was Susan Senators story of raising her autistic son. The book promoted no theories of autism causation and promised no astonishing recovery. After reading the book, Shannon stop treating her son like a science experiment and started improvising creative ways of making connections with Leo and meeting his needs.

Gene Therapy: History and Advancements

Gene Therapy: History and Advancements Gene therapy is an advanced and evolving technology that is being researched and developed extensively. It is an experimental technique that simply, introduces a gene into cells, in the place of a defective or missing gene to correct a genetic disorder. Gene therapy is very interesting and it is very important for scientists to grow the knowledge of gene therapy which can be expanded and applied to help correct different genetic disorders. In 1966, a paper was published by Edward Tatum, proposing the effectiveness of viruses to be used in gene therapy. A couple of years after the paper was published, a demonstration proved Edwards concept true. The term gene therapy arose during the 1960s and 1970s. The first successful patient to be treated with gene therapy was in 1990, a four-year-old girl who had ADA (Adenosine deaminase deficiency), a disease that severally affects the immune system and its ability to fight infections. The therapy consisted of her white blood cells being taken from her and being inserted with the correct genes for making ADA, which was then reinjected into her. Along with her, another nine-year-old was infused with their own corrected cells over a two-year period. Gene therapy has multiple uses, the main being used to fix defective genes or to replace missing genes. Researchers and scientists have been working on gene therapy for decades and the future is very encouraging. Gene therapy can be used to correct a mutated gene. Gene therapy has successfully cured multiple diseases such as immune deficiencies like Severe Combines Immune Deficiency, Adenosine deaminase deficiency, different types of inherited blindness, haemophilia, blood diseases, fat metabolism disorder and gene therapy treatments are under development for cancer. A promising discovery of an effective treatment for melanoma has provided hope for many cancer sufferers. Although gene therapy holds a promise for treating a range of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, haemophilia, cystic fibrosis, it is only available as part of a clinical trial. Gene therapy is the future of curing diseases. Through the process of gene therapy, genes are able to be introduced into existing cells to cure a wide range of diseases. Some examples of gene therapy successes include: Parkinsons disease is a disease that targets the brain, causing the patient to lose cells. As the disease advances, the sufferers lose the ability to control their movements. After a small group of patients were treated by the introduction of new normal cells, they all had improved muscle control. Beta-Thalassemia is a disease where patients dont have enough red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. Sufferers depend on constant blood transfusions for survival. In 2007, a patient with a severe blood disease received gene therapy to treat the blood stem cells. After the treatment, the patient was able to raise the level of healthy red blood cells. The patient is now living without blood transfusions. Immune deficiencies are among the first genetic disorders to be treated successfully by gene therapy. An example would be Severe Combined Immune Deficiency. SCID was one of the first to be treated by gene therapy. The cure for SCID has been modified since it was first discovered because the old cure could potentially trigger leukemia. The cure now uses safer vectors which are much less likely to cause cancer. Still in research, gene therapy is far from being perfected. Gene therapy has many risks because of this. Some risks may include inflammation because of how your immune system responded to the working gene copy, the working gene might be slotted in the wrong spot, the working gene might produce too much of the missing protein or enzyme it was targeted to do, causing complicated health problems and other genes may be delivered to the cell instead of the correct gene and the deactivated virus that was intended to target a cell might target another cell. Because gene therapy changes how your body functions, some people may be against that idea because they believe that it is ethically wrong to do. For example, some people might believe that God made us how we are and it is not up to us to change our genes and how they function to fix our imperfections. Gene therapy is still in development and conducting gene therapy clinical trials with genetically modified organisms presents potential safety and infection issues. All human clinical trials that are undertaken in Australia must be conducted under either the Clinical Trial Notification (CTN) or Clinical Trial Exemption schemes (CTX). In addition to the compliance to the CTN or CTX, any human clinical trials involving gene therapy must also require approval by the Gene Technology regulator under the Gene Technology Act of 2000. The intention of the Gene technology act is to protect the health and safety of people, and to protect the environment, by identifying risks posed by or as a result of gene technology. I believe that gene therapy is a big advancement in science. Gene therapy has the potential to revolutionize the way we can cure diseases. Gene therapy, if perfected, has an enormous potential to do good such as curing genetic disorders, but things such as genetic engineering are being researched more. There are already some foods such as rice, that has been genetically altered to have more minerals and vitamins, including vitamin A. This sort of genetic modification isnt bad because it can help increase vitamin levels in some populations of the world that do not have access to more nutritious foods. The concerning side to genetic engineering would be that scientists could find ways to manipulate anything wee need such as our height, build, gender, eye sight ability, potentially developing super-humans.

Jim Jarmusch’s Unique Western Film, Deadman :: Movie Film Essays

Jim Jarmusch’s Unique Western Film, Deadman In Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man, he pays homage to the classic style of western films while taking his own eccentric take that puts the film in a league of its own. With a combination of elements related to the western genre and a genre Jarmusch creates all on his own, the viewer can begin to explore and appreciate the unique film, Dead Man. Although the scenery of isolated towns, mystic rivers, and endless forests is consistent with the western genre, the philosophical tone of the movie is not. The philosophy of a true western film deals a character fighting with guns to maintain honor (and of course order and justice). He kills because he has to and that is the end of it. In Dead Man, William Blake appears to be doing the same thing. He begins to use his gun for survival, but it is different. The gun actually stands for something in the film. Blake becomes a poet by the use of his gun, which mirrors the legendary American poet whose name he shares. The guns show how disgusting it is in American society to kill and Jarmusch doesn’t glamorize it in the way that Hollywood blockbusters about violence do. Further exploring the similarities on the surface, a true western always has the same type of characters and props. Blake is shown in the same outfit throughout the film much like the one outfit that a westerner wears. Blake encounters a whore in the town who is not opposed to the usage of guns, which also goes along with a whore’s values in a true western film. The town of Machine is desolate, dirty, and ruled by guns. In western movies there is always a dirty town with the same characteristics. All of those similarities are not used in the same way, however; they are used as tools to give this surface western a deeper meaning that no true western film ever explored. The themes are pessimistic as they deal with death and afterlife, rather than hope and rebirth. The killings in the movie mock the way people are killed in westerns. Blake doesn’t kill to protect his honor; he kills to survive and in turn mocks the system. Another thing that Jarmusch is mocking by using the western genre as a medium is the treatment of Native Americans. Nobody talks about how he was rejected by whites, and then rejected by his own people by growing up in the white society.

Ophelias Weakness Essay -- essays research papers

In classic works of literature, all characters have certain flaws, and Shakespeare’s tragedies’ characters in particular have faults that ultimately lead to their ruination. In Hamlet, Ophelia’s flaws eventually kill her. In the beginning of the play, it is clear through her thoughts and actions that that Ophelia is an obedient person. But upon closer inspection, the audience can see that she is not merely an obedient, but completely dependent and weak character. In fact, her needy nature is unmistakable from the beginning. OPH: â€Å"I do not know, my lord, what I should think.† POL: â€Å"Marry, I will teach you. Think yourself a baby†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Act I, Scene III, lines 105-106) Her cruel clashings with Hamlet, which go against her feelings for him, demonstrate her absolute obedience to her father. For example, from the start Ophelia told her father that she is fond of Hamlet: â€Å"My lord, he hath importuned me with love / In honorable fashion.† (Act I, Scene IV, lines 111-112) In relating this to Polonius, she implies that Hamlet is a decent and honorable man, and that she does have feelings for him. Ophelia’s later actions sacrifice these personal feelings by order of he r father, proving her total submission to his authority. Ophelia specifically agrees with her father not to see Hamlet again: â€Å"I shall obey, my lord†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Act I, Scene IV, line 136) This shows that Polonius has complete control over his daughter, with her desire to please her father as the direct cause. Ophelia has an innate desi...

Racquetball :: essays research papers

Racquetball is played by two or four players. When played by two, it is called singles and when played by four, doubles. A non-tournament variation of the game that is played by three players is called cut-throat. Racquetball is a competitive game in which a strung racquet is used to serve and return the ball. The objective is to win each rally by serving or returning the ball so the opponent is unable to keep the ball in play. A rally is over when a player (or team in doubles) is unable to hit the ball before it touches the floor twice, is unable to return the ball in such a manner that it touches the front wall before it touches the floor, or when a hinder is called. Points are scored only by the serving side when it serves an irretrievable serve (an ace) or wins a rally. Losing the serve is called a sideout in singles. In doubles, when the first server loses the serve it is called a handout and when the second server loses the serve it is a sideout. A match is won by the first side winning two games. The first two games of a match are played to 15 points. If each side wins one game, a tiebreaker game is played to 11 points. The specifications for the standard four-wall racquetball court follow. (a) Dimensions. The dimensions shall be 20 feet wide, 40 feet long and 20 feet high, with a back wall at least 12 feet high. All surfaces shall be in play, with the exception of any gallery opening, surfaces designated as out-of-play for a valid reason (such as being of a very different material or not in alignment with the backwall), and designated court hinders. (b) Markings. Racquetball courts shall be marked with lines 1 1/2 inches wide as follows: 1. Short Line. The back edge of the short line is midway between, and is parallel with, the front and back walls. 2. Service Line. The front edge of the service line is parallel with, and five feet in front of, the back edge of the short line. 3. Service Zone. The service zone is the 5' x 20' area bounded by the bottom edges of the side walls and by the outer edges of the short line and the service line. 4. Service Boxes. The service boxes, used in doubles play, are located at each end of the service zone and are designated by lines parallel with the side walls.