Richard Martinez Studio

Short History of Education

adonn — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:56:18 +0000

The ‘history of education’ is about the development of systematic methods of teaching and learning. Presumably every generation, since the beginning of human existence, somehow passed on its stock of values, traditions, methods and skills to the next generation. The passing on of culture is also known as enculturation and the learning of social values and behaviors is socialization. The history of the curricula of such education reflects history itself, the history of knowledge, beliefs, skills and cultures of humanity.
As the customs and knowledge of ancient civilizations became more complex, many skills were passed down from a person skilled at the job – for example in animal husbandry, farming, fishing, food preparation, construction, military skills. Oral traditions were central in societies without written texts. Literacy in pre-industrial societies was associated with civil administration, law, long distance trade or commerce, and religion. A formal schooling in literacy was provided to a an elite group either at religious institutions or at the palaces of the rich and powerful.
Providing literacy to most children has been a development of the last 150 or 200 years, or even last 50 years in some Third World countries. Schools for the young have historically been supplemented with advanced training, especially in Europe and China, for priests, bureaucrats and businessmen. For most craftsmen schools were learned during an apprenticeship–as for example most lawyers and physicians before the mid-19th century.

How to Silence a Noisy Class

adonn — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:40:48 +0000

The first thing to remember is that you are the boss. Self belief is incredibly important in this job. You can’t expect pupils to respond positively to you unless you believe, really believe, that you fully deserve their respect and compliance. The thought that you are the leader in the classroom must be at the forefront of your mind.
Have definite rules on noise. Once you’ve decided on your rules (preferably with input from the pupils) you need to ensure the pupils are totally clear what those rules are. There must be no ambiguity and therefore no room for argument.
Control entry to the classroom. The ideal place to establish control over your pupils is outside the door – before you even let them in the room. You must start the lesson under your terms. And the lesson starts before they enter the room with you having them line up outside the door in an orderly manner.
Have ‘settling work’ ready for them when they enter the room. If you have a group who just won’t settle try presenting them with some of the following ‘settling work’ as soon as they enter the room. But make sure you add this little twist to ensure the pupils get stuck into it straight away.

Kids Learn When Mothers Listen

adonn — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:28:13 +0000

“We knew that children learn well with their moms or with a peer, but we did not know if that was because they were getting feedback and help,” Bethany Rittle-Johnson, the study’s lead author and assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development, said. “In this study, we just had the children’s mothers listen, without providing any assistance. We’ve found that by simply listening, a mother helps her child learn.”
Rittle-Johnson believes the new finding can help parents better assist their children with their schoolwork, even when they are not sure of the answer themselves. Although the researchers used children and their mothers in the study, they believe the same results will hold true whether the person is the child’s father, grandparent, or other familiar person.
“The basic idea is that it is really effective to try to get kids to explain things themselves instead of just telling them the answer,” she said. “Explaining their reasoning, to a parent or perhaps to other people they know, will help them understand the problem and apply what they have learned to other situations.”

The Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean

adonn — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:10:27 +0000

Scattered in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mozambique are the four small islands of the Comoros, whose name comes from the Arabic for “moon”. The name is strangely appropriate considering the islands have been so surprisingly isolated from the tourism boom that has enveloped the rest of the Indian Ocean nations.
Like neighboring Zanzibar, the archipelago lies at the crossroads of the Arab and African civilizations, and its Arabian heritage can be seen in the delicate arches of its whitewashed mosques. Like another neighbor, the Seychelles, it also boasts all the requisites of a fantasy island, tropical warmth, turquoise waters, palm trees. But nobody visits the Comoros – supposing they have even heard of the place.
The reason is the troubled Comoran history. Since independence from France in 1975, the Union of the Comoros has been anything but united. While one of the islets, Mahoré, voted to remain a French overseas territory, the three others have gone through a turmoil of no less than 20 coups d’états, several led by the infamous French mercenary Bob Denard, with the latest occurring as recently as 2008.

Essential Ways for Computational Skills

adonn — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:29:42 +0000

Maybe you aren’t satisfied with your computational skills. If you want to improve them, check the quality of your simple mental computations first. I keep in view simple mental addition and subtraction within the limits of 20, simple mental multiplication and division within the limits of 100. Everyone knows these operations must be carried out correctly and quickly. But how can we measure the correctness and quickness of their execution? For this purpose you can use simple tables which may be named stochastic.
There are two possibilities to get them: a Word file (TablesWord) and a computer program (PrintTables). The program allows to print both blank tables and checklists for them (the same tables but with the answers). The checklists will help you to find your errors. Furthermore you need a stopwatch to measure a running time.
Each table contains 64 uniform elementary operations on one of the arithmetical rules – addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. I name these tables stochastic because the sequences of addends, subtrahends etc. were chosen by chance. The accidental selection of required numbers simulates spontaneous appearance of corresponding operations in ordinary computations.

The Newest Antibody Treatment

adonn — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:45:34 +0000

Low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) is the “bad” cholesterol, and despite many drugs including statins available to doctors, patients often have trouble reducing their blood level of LCL-C.
Sanofi and Regeneron presented data at The American College of Cardiology Meeting on 26th March 2012, showing an impressive reduction using their new antibody treatment known as SAR236553/REGN727. The human antibody is administered subcutaneously and targets PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9).

Patients were treated over a period of 8 to 12 weeks and showed between 40 to 70+% reduction in LDL-C where their levels had previously remained stubbornly high using statins.

Disadvantages of Cruise Ship Travel

adonn — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:36:17 +0000

Although travelling by the ship is one of the most enjoyable ways of moving to other places, we cannot deny the fact that cruise ship travel is not really for everybody.

Before going on a cruise, take time to consider whether or not this is the best method of travel for you. Be sure to research information about the specific companies you are considering as well as read reviews from other customers. Also consider talking to those you know who have traveled on cruises before and see if it sounds like something you would enjoy. It is important to get more information than just a recommendation from someone.
Some do not enjoy cruises simply because of the nature of traveling on a boat. Those who are prone to motion sickness may not enjoy being on a boat because of the high likelihood of experiencing seasickness. Severity differs for everybody, and sea sickness usually is not serious, but it can still be an unpleasant experience and can ruin a vacation. Consider whether or not this is something that concerns you.

Acute Lung Injury Survivors and Neuropsychological Impairment

adonn — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:29:36 +0000

A new study, published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, shows that cognitive and psychiatric impairments are common amongst long-term survivors of acute lung injury (ALI), and these impairments can be evaluated by using a telephone-based test battery.
Leading researcher, Dr. Mark E. Mikkelsen, MD, MSCE, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, explained:
“Neuropsychological impairment is increasingly being recognized as an important outcome among survivors of critical illness, but neuropsychological function in long-term ALI survivors has not been assessed in a multi-center trial, and evidence on the etiology of these impairments in ALI survivors is limited.

To overcome the constraints of in-person assessment, we developed a telephone battery of standardized neuropsychological tests that could be administered by a non-expert and used it to assess a subset of 122 ALI survivors from the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Clinical Trials Network Fluid and Catheter Treatment Trial.”

My Sony Ericsson Black Diamond

adonn — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 09:28:18 +0000

Singaporean industrial designer Jaren Goh’s mocked up an extremely stylish concept for a Sony Ericsson cameraphone he’s calling Black Diamond. The polycarbonate mirror finish skin, metal detailing and form factor are all rather sleek, but the coolest feature has got to be the OLED borderless screen. This high end 4 megapixel phone is Cased in a layer of polycarbonate with mirror finish cladding.The OLED technology makes for vivid illumination under the polycarbonate skin and gives it a borderless screen effect.The ultra thin profile,clean lines,and ultra-glossy finish are all qualities sure to attract Sony Ericsson fans and gadget freaks alike.

This cellphone was released by VIPN or Voice Internet Phone Network with only five pieces of the design, making it a true limited edition luxury phone.It was designed by Jaren Goh and is made of titane with polycarbonate with a glossy mirror-finish, and is bedecked with diamonds.
The Sony Ericsson Black Diamond is a Quad-band phone with a 2-inch touch-sensitive screen. It comes with an Intel processor with a speed of 400 MHz, and runs on Windows Mobile 5.The phone is capable of WiFi connectivity and comes with a 4 megapixel camera.

How Does 3D TV Work

adonn — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:42:09 +0000

Tv technology is steadily evolving and improving 3d tv, and within the next few years it will be the new standard for television. We naturally see things in stereo with our eyes, with each eye viewing our surroundings from a different angle. These different angles of an image are seen by our left and right eyes and combine in our head to give us a 3d image.
To create 3d images from a flat tv screen, where the image has no angles to view, tv technology artificially creates different angles for our right and left eyes to perceive, which then mimics how we create depth in our perception.
Tv technology creates 3d tv by filming images taken from different angles or by creating computer models (animation) that generate different viewing angles. These different angles are then manipulated to be seen by either the right or left eye. Originally 3D films manipulated these different viewing angles by color.
These images would then combine in our head to give us a 3d perception of the image.
Although this method creates the illusion of depth, it doesn’t truly imitate how we naturally see different angles.