As an early childhood educator, it is important to stay up-to-date with current and emerging issues in the field. It is also important to be well-informed as you shape your viewpoints on these issues.
(my topic)
Common Core State Standards
Research the topic to learn more about the issue. One resource you may find helpful to review is the National Association for the education of Young Children’s Early Childhood Education Topics
SAMPLE ANSWER
Common Core State Standards
The Common Core State Standards is a project that aims at developing and adopting common core standards in mathematics, English language and arts for K-12 students. The rationale behind the development of these standards is to ensure that parents and teachers are provided with a common basis to understand the issues that students are required to learn in school (NAEYC, n.d). The consistency of the standards play a significant role in providing students with proper benchmarks, regardless of their place of residence. Accordingly, the standards properly delineate the skills and knowledge that students in K-12 should possess. Currently, more than 45 states have incorporated the standards into the curriculum. Nevertheless, there has been significant debate with regards to the development and adoption of these Common Core State Standards. Some of the issues arising from the debate revolve around the contention that the process through which the new K-12 standards were created did not ensure adequate public dialogue, research, and input from the educators (Strauss, 2013).
Although NAEYC applauded this initiative, it has raised several concerns as well as recommendations on the best way to implement the standards. According to NAEYC, the standards should not be restricted to only mathematics, arts, and English languages, because this might lead to curriculum and instructional practice being narrowed down to the detriment of student learning and development. In particular, NAEYC recommended that the standards should also apply to students’ emotional and social development. Accordingly, NAEYC believes that the Common Core State Standards have a great role on contributing to their goal of ensuring that the development of children is effectively handled by giving them the highest quality of educational experiences in childhood. The main recommendation made by NAEYC in regards to the proper implementation of these standards include cooperation within the entire early childhood education community.
1) The answer must raise appropriate critical questions.
2) Do include all your references, as per the Harvard Referencing System,
3) Please don’t use Wikipedia web site.
4) I need examples from peer reviewed articles or researches.
5) Turnitin.com copy percentage must be 10% or less.
Note: To prepare for this essay please read the required articles that is attached or sent by email.
Appreciate each single moment you spend in writing my paper
Best regards
SAMPLE ANSWER
Budgets and variances
Part A: Flexed and actual budget
Original budget and actual budget
Actual
Static (Original Budget)
Units
810
800
£
£
Sales revenue
753,300
760,000
Less
Direct materials
(192,500)
(192,000)
Direct labour
(221,000)
(200,000)
Fixed overheads
(130,000)
(128,000)
Operating profit
209,800
240,000
Actual budget and flexed budget
Actual
Flexed
Units
810
810
£
£
Sales revenue
753,300
769,500
Less
Direct materials
(192,500)
(194,400)
Direct labour
(221,000)
(202,500)
Fixed overheads
(130,000)
(129,600)
Operating profit
209,800
243,000
Part B: Variances
Actual
Flexed
Variance
Favourable / unfavourable
Units
810
810
£
£
£
Sales revenue
753,300
810 x 930 = 753,300
769,500
810 x 950 = 769,500
-16,200
U
Less
Direct materials
(192,500)
810 x 237.65 = 192,500
(194,400)
810 x 240 = 194,400
-1,900
F
Direct labour
(221,000)
810 x 272.8 = 221,000
(202,500)
810 x 250 = 202,500
18,500
U
Fixed overheads
(130,000)
810 x 160.5 = 130,000
(129,600)
810 x 160 = 129,600
400
U
Operating profit
209,800
243,000
-33,200
U
Part C: Business Report
A flexible budget is used in making a comparison between the actual results and the original budget. Variances are computed in order to measure how the company performed during a certain period. It is worth mentioning that in a flexible budget, the fixed costs remain constant while the semi-variable and variable costs change consistent with a standard that is preset at the commencement of a given period (Stephenson & Porter 2011). Whenever a flexible budget is adjusted to actual activity level, it is called a flexed budget. This is the budget that the company would have prepared at the start of the accounting period, had the top managers of the company known the exact actual output (Marple, 2009).
Generally, computing variances could be helpful in understanding why the actual results were different from the expectations and it is important to create a flexible budget. Flexed budget adjusts the original/static budget for the actual production volume or sales (Mak & Roush 2014). In the Orchid Limited case, a company which manufactures furniture, the original/static budget presumed that a total of 800 units would be produced and sold in a given month. The flexed budget rearranges the original/static budget to reflect the new number, making all the appropriate adjustments to expenditures and sales basing upon the unanticipated change in volume. In order to prepare a flex budget, it is important to have the original/static budget, properly understand cost behaviour, and know the actual number of goods that were made and sold. Orchid Limited had a great accounting period as actual sales came to 810 units.
The budget of Orchids Ltd is flexed in order to find out the amount of overhead that this firm should have, supposing that 810 units are made. Some costs are variable given that they alter in response to the levels of activity, whereas some other costs remain the same and are fixed. For instance, direct materials and direct labour are variable costs whereas other costs remain the same and are fixed, for instance fixed overheads (Garret 2010). Direct materials and direct labour are variable costs since the more furniture Orchid Ltd makes, the more labour and materials it needs. Conversely, overhead costs such as fixed overheads are fixed because in spite of the number of furniture made, the costs would remain the same. In the original/static budget, making 800 furniture units would result in variable cost per unit of £240 for direct materials and £250 for direct labour. To calculate the value of the flexed budget, the variable cost per unit is multiplied by the actual production volume. For income items such as operating profit and revenue in the case of Orchid Ltd, the flexed budget variance is favourable whenever the actual figures exceed the flexed budget figures and vice versa. On the other hand, for cost items, excess of flexed budget figures over actual figures implies favourable variance and vice versa.
Budget (Flexed)
Actual (Result)
Output
810 units
810 units
Sales variances
Variance 16,200
769,500
753,300
Direct material variances
Variance 1,900
194,400
192,500
Direct labour variances
Variance 18,500
202, 500
221,000
Fixed overhead variance
Variance 400
129,600
130,000
Budget (Original)
Actual (Result)
Output
800 units
810 units
Sales variances
Variance 6,700
760,000
753,300
Direct material variances
Variance 500
192,000
192,500
Direct labour variances
Variance 21,000
200, 000
221,000
Fixed overhead variance
Variance 2,000
128,000
130,000
Sales variances
Total variance between actual sales and original budget is £6,700 (Unfavorable). This is caused by:
Sales volume (activity) variance: in the original budget, 800 units had been planned. In the actual sales, 810 units were made. Sales volume variance is 10 units since 10 more units were sold, which favourable.
Sales price variance: in the original budget, the planned selling price was £950 per unit. In the actual sales, the selling price was 753,300 / 810 = £930. Therefore, the variance is because the sales price per unit of furniture was reduced by £20, which is unfavourable.
Direct material variances:
Usage/Price: in the flexed budget, direct material should have cost £194.400, but it did cost just £192,500. Therefore, the usage/price is £1,900, which is favourable. However, in the original/static budget, the planned cost of direct material was £192,500 but the actual cost was £192,500. As such, the usage/price is £500 which is unfavourable. The variance is because of an increase in market prices, poor buying, and purchase of higher quality materials which were more costly.
Direct labour variances:
Efficiency: in the flexed budget, direct labour should have cost £202, 500 but in the actual result it cost £221,000. Thus the efficiency/rate is £18,500 – unfavourable. In the original budget, the management planned £200,000 for direct labour but it cost £221,000, the efficiency/rate being £21,000 which is unfavourable. The cause for this could be the hiring of better employees, poor negotiation of employee salary, an increase in market labour rates, poor equipment which keep breaking down, lower quality materials that are not easy to utilize efficiently, or poorer training (Yahya-Zadeh 2012).
Fixed overhead variance:
Spending: since fixed costs are fixed, flexing is unnecessary to account for dissimilar activities. Nonetheless, the overspend of £2,000 is unfavourable and an adverse effect.
To improve its cost control, it is recommended that Orchid Ltd should maintain the price per unit of furniture to at least £950; it should not reduce the price per unit. Secondly, labour efficiency should be improved by procuring high-quality new technology machinery that do not keep breaking down; high-quality materials should be employed since they can be used efficiently; and the company should ensure tough negotiation in employee pay. To improve material usage variances, high-quality materials should be used and there has to be better management of materials. Sales price variances could be reduced through market price increase, and planned increase in prices (Stephenson & Porter 2011).
References
Garret, K 2010, ‘Spotlight on variance analysis’, Accountancy, 106, 1167, pp. 88-89, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 June 2015.
Mak, Y, & Roush, M 2014, ‘Flexible Budgeting and Variance Analysis in an Activity-Based Costing Environment’, Accounting Horizons, 8, 2, pp. 93-103, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 June 2015.
Marple, RP 2009, ‘Combining the forecast and flexible budgets’, Accounting Review, 21, 2, p. 140, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 June 2015.
Stephenson, T, & Porter, J 2011, ‘Comparing Budgets to Performance’, Strategic Finance, 93, 2, pp. 36-43, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 June 2015.
Yahya-Zadeh, M 2012, ‘Comprehensive variance analysis based on ex post optimal budget’, Academy Of Accounting & Financial Studies Journal, 16, pp. 65-85, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 June 2015.
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This essay is intended to get you thinking about the use of budgeting in an organisation. There are many different types of budgets. This week, you will consider different budgeting approaches such as flexible, zero-based and rolling budgets in organisations.
Consider the following questions:
•Consider the value of budgeting for an organisation.
•Consider the different budgeting approaches.
•Consider the behavioural aspects of budgeting.
•Consider different budgeting approaches in an organisation.
•Consider how the budgeting approaches may differ among various organisations, such as a Fortune 500 company, a small business or a non-profit.
•What are the characteristics of a budgeting system among the various organisations?
•What are some of the ethical issues related to budgeting and the successful implementation of a budget?
Address the following issues/questions:
‘I don’t need a budget; I run my own business so it’s all in my head. Bothering with a budget would just be a waste of time and money!’
Do you agree or disagree with this point of view? Discuss the value of budgeting for organisations of all sizes and types in terms of effective resource management. Explain what characteristics of a budgeting system are most likely to contribute towards its successful implementation and how a lack of these might result in ethical problems.
Also,
1)The answer must raise appropriate critical questions.
2) Do include all your references, as per the Harvard Referencing System,
3)Please don’t use Wikipedia web site.
4)I need examples from peer reviewed articles or researches.
5) Turnitin.com copy percentage must be 10% or less.
Note: To prepare for this essay please read the required articles that is attached or sent by email.
Appreciate each single moment you spend in writing my paper
Best regards
SAMPLE ANSWER
MFR.COLL.W5
Budgets are among the most important tools for business success and therefore I do not agree with the statement construing that there is no need for a business owner to have a budget. Even where the owner knows everything about his business, budgets promote proper planning and documentation of organizational income and expenditure. They ensure that the business expenditure is optimal through an analysis of all budget items and that the business is making the best possible profit out of the resources invested. Besides this, budgets create other forms of value for the business as discussed in this paper.
A budget is a planning tool and having one ensures that the business can effectively manage its income to cater for expenditure in order to realize desired profitability. Herrmann-Nehdi (2011, p. 97) notes that a budget gives an overview of the company’s income and expenditure and that through budget analysis, the business can choose priority areas to focus on to improve returns.
A budget to a large extent informs decision making in organizations. Herrmann-Nehdi (2011, p. 104) argues that it is easier to make a decision based on a budget because the budget consists details of all the financial resources of the organization and how they will be spent. Accordingly, the management is always aware of what the business is capable of at any particular time in terms of finances. In addition, the management can easily revise the budget to accommodate new developments by determining various courses of action meant to free some financial resources; such as cost cutting, outsourcing and utilizing credit facilities among others. This can only be accomplished if there was initially a budget detailing the cost of various activities.
Budgets are useful in designing business focus by identifying products that are profitable for the business and comparing them against unprofitable ones. This way, the business can choose the product that provides maximum benefits and whose budget is sustainable.
Budgets play the role of keeping expenditure within the limits specified by the business. This means that the likelihood of overspending or allocating excessive resources to a product are eliminated; thus saving business owners a significant amount of cash (Hollensen, 2011, p. 87). Without a budget, there are high chances of unplanned expenditure which often impact the organization’s profitability potential.
Effective budget implementation is to a large extent enhanced by various characteristics of a budgeting system. The budgeting process is however impacted by ethical issues as established in the section below.
Budgets create some form of certainty for the business; which helps managers to predict and control future operations. Hollensen (2011, p. 90) notes that since budgets are prepared at the beginning of the financial period, they guide the organization and employees on what to expect during the year. Ethical issues emerge from poor budget management which may lead to significant errors, which often mislead employees and may be detrimental to the organization. This is especially so when companies engage management consultants who may not take the budget making seriously. Some are even known for duplicating previous budgets they have developed for other companies and giving them to others without considering the strategic objectives of the organization.
A budget is meant to create a sense of ownership in the business process by allowing employees to share the management’s goals. This way, employees can effectively implement the budget to promote the organization’s overall objectives. Ethical issues often arise when budgets appear restricting or when the management imposes a budget that is overbearing on the implementers (Lafley and Roger, 2013, p. 63). This will not only lead to poor execution but the employees may also feel like the management has no concern for their welfare. This is especially so in the modern work place where the organization is expected to promote employee welfare as part of their ethical obligations (Hollensen, 2011, p. 9).
Budgets should always represent what is anticipated to happen in the correct manner in order to ensure that the implementers do not find themselves in a compromising position when budget estimates do not align with the estimates. Carreras, Mujtaba and Cavico (2011, P. 8) notes that an inaccurate budget can lead to ethical issues as they encourage managers to fabricate budgets to align it with the forecasts; leading to budgetary slack. An example would be a situation in which managers budget higher expenditure and lower revenues. This results in unfair rewarding of the managers for apparently exceeding their targets, which is considered inappropriate for any business (Santosuosso, 2013, p. 4). This therefore calls for accuracy as a budgeting system characteristic in order to promote effective implementation.
Finally, a budget should flexible in order to accommodate business uncertainties and therefore allow an organization to go ahead with plans that are considered strategically important. Where budgets are not flexible, ethical issues are likely to emerge as executors use the rigidity of the budget as an excuse not to execute strategy (Carreras, Mujtaba and Cavico, 2011, p. 9-10). This not only impacts the organization but it could also lead to poor business reputation and loss of confidence of customers.
References
Carreras, A., Mujtaba, B. G., & Cavico, F. J. (2011). Don’t Blame The Budget Process: An Exploration Of Efficiency, Effectiveness, And Ethics. Business and Management Review Vol. 1(3), 05 – 13. Retrieved from http://www.businessjournalz.org/articlepdf/BMR_1304.pdf
Herrmann-Nehdi, A. (2011). Creativity and strategic thinking: The coming competencies. Lake Lure, NC: Herrmann International, Hollensen, S 2011, Global Marketing. A Decision-Oriented Approach, 5th Edition, FT Prentice Hall, London.
Lafley, A.G. & Roger M. (2013). Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works. Harvard Business
The matrix has eigenvalues1=3 and 2=−2. Let’s find the eigenvectors corresponding to 1=3. Let v=v2v1. Then(A−3I)v=0 gives us
2−3−1−4−1−3v1v2=00 from which we obtain the duplicate equations
−v1−4v2−v1−4v2=0
If we let v2=t, thenv1=−4t. All eigenvectors corresponding to1=3are multiples of1−4 and thus the eigenspace corresponding to1=3is given by the span of1−4. That is,1−4is a basis of the eigenspace corresponding to 1=3.
Repeating this process with 2=−2, we find that
4v1−4V2−v1+v2=0
If we let v2=t then v1=t as well. Thus, an eigenvector corresponding to2=−2 is 11 and the eigenspace corresponding to 2=−2 is given by the span of11. 11is a basis for the eigenspace corresponding to 2=−2.
Problem 3
Problem 5
Problem 14
Problem 22
Problem 25
Matrices A2 and A3 cannot be diagonized because for a square matrix A, wherever A is similar to diagonal matrix then the matrix is diagonizable.
Problem 15-24: Eigenvalues & Eigenvectors Matrices
Problem 15
Since all entries are ≥ 0 and each column sums to 1, this A is a Markov matrix. Thus we know that λ1 = 1 is an eigenvalue. Since tr(A) = λ1 + λ2 = 3/2, we conclude λ2 = 1/2 is another eigenvalue. We diagonalize it using the matrix S of eigenvectors:
= → =
This last matrix product equals
Problem 19
False
True
True
False
References
Bhatti, M. A. (2012). Practical Optimization Methods with Mathematica Applications. New York, NY: Springer.
Edwards, C. H., & David E. Penney, D. E. (2009). Differential Equations: Computing and Modeling. Upper Saddle River, CA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Shores, T. S. (2007). Applied linear algebra and matrix analysis. New York, NY: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
Strang, G. (2003). Introduction to linear algebra. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley-Cambridge Press
Strang, G. (2006). Linear algebra and its applications. Belmont, CA: Thomson, Brooks/Cole Publishers.
Strang, G. (2009). Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors. Boston, MA: Lord Foundation of Massachusetts.
Now, imagine that you have recently had several parents in your classroom ask you about why their child is playing in the classroom.You have decided to write a letter to the parents to help them understand why play has been incorporated into your classroom and how it is benefiting the development of their children. Please post your letter as your initial response to this discussion.Your letter should include the following:
A description of why play is an important part of a developmentally appropriate curriculum. Be sure to support your statements with at least one scholarly source.
An explanation of how play can help to support a child’s physical, cognitive, and affective development.
An example of one play-based activity that demonstrates to parents how play supports their child’s development. For instance, you could explain how playing a game of hopscotch can help a child with their gross motor skills (physical development) and counting (cognitive development). Please make sure that your play-based activity is an original idea or that if you use an idea from an outside source it is properly formatted according to APA as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Also, this should be a brief description of an activity. It is not a lesson plan.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Learning Centers and Play
A developmentally appropriate curriculum must incorporate play due to various reasons. Scholarly texts indicate that play is a very vital way for a child to comprehend and memorize a concept, skill and task that is required for purposes of setting a firm foundation for success in later school and life. Play involves many aspects such as the ability to exercise free choice, self-motivation, adherence to rules of play, the roles played by the children participating in the play, and the environment in which the play is happening (Johnson, Christie & Yawkey, 1999). Accordingly, children play not because of such rewards as food, money, or praise, but because they like to play (Wardle, 1987).
Play can help in supporting the physical, cognitive, and affective development of a child. Physical play assists a child’s development in gross and fine muscle strength as well as integration of brain, nerves and muscles. According to Shore (1997), there is a remarkable connection between brain development and stimulating activity. Children can also develop affectively through social play which helps them to learn how to interact with others and other aspects such as sharing, cooperation, reciprocity, and give and take. Different interactions in the various stages of development also help children to learn to apply moral reason in their daily endeavors. Cognitive development is achieved through a child’s ability to manipulate the environment and innovate new things. This kind of play takes place in terms of the child counting objects, constructing cities and towers with blocks, drawing, and playing in the sand. Constructive play provides a child with opportunities to experiment with things around them. After such kind of play, a child develops a sense of accomplishment and becomes motivated to take control over the environment.
References
Johnson, J.E., Christie, J.F., & Yawkey, T.D. (1999). Play and early childhood development.(2nd ed.). New York: Longman.
Shore, R., (1997).Rethinking the brain. New insights into early development. New York: Families and Work Institute.
As the authors of our text note:
Since its founding in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has been an influence on early education in the United States, but never so strongly as it has been since it began writing position statements in the 1980s. (Estes & Krogh, 2012, p. 98)
One of the position statements that NAEYC created focuses on developmentally appropriate practice (DAP). Understanding what DAP is and how it will influence your work with children is critical to being a quality early childhood educator.
To deepen your understanding of developmentally appropriate practice, spend some time exploring NAEYC’s website. Pay particular attention to the section of the website dedicated to DAP. While exploring the site, you can learn more about what DAP is, read NAEYC’s position statement on DAP, and learn how DAP can be implemented with different ages of children. When you are finished exploring the site, complete the following:
In your own words, explain what the term developmentally appropriate practice means to you.
Describe at least two personal connections you made with the DAP information you discovered on the NAEYC site.
Summarize three main things you learned from exploring the site. How will they impact your career in early childhood education?
SAMPLE ANSWER
Developmentally Appropriate Practice
The term developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) involves the teaching of children in line with factors that directly and indirectly affect their development and learning. The aim of DAP is to ensure that children achieve optimal development and learning. DAP is guided by three major principles (NAEYC website). The first principle is with regards to understanding the aspects of a child’s early learning and development at every stage and age. This knowledge plays a vital role in making decisions on the experiences that are more suitable for the learning and development of the child. The second principle involves the knowledge of the appropriateness of the learning approaches applied to every child. The third principle is the understanding of the cultural appropriateness of the learning and developmental practices applied on every child. These principles ensure that the curriculum and teaching practices encourage individual learning and development and group work. The teachers are able to appreciate every individual child’s strengths and weaknesses in order to get the best out of all the children.
There are two personal connections that I can relate with in the DAP information. The first connection is with regards to the child’s development and learning at an individual level. At the individual level, I remember how my teacher specialized on my drawing skills and helped me come out as the best artist in my class. At the group level, working in a group helped me learn new aspects from other members of the group as I shared what I thought they lacked.
Accordingly, three main things that I have learned from the NAEYC site in line with DAP include: the creation of a caring environment for learners, the development of a suitable curriculum for the learners, and the evaluation of the learning and development of the children. These three things will impact my career in early childhood education on the ground that I need to appreciate every child’s capacity at an individual level and at a group level.
Becoming a professional in the field of early childhood education requires you to become familiar with the various developmental theories as well as research that studies the effectiveness of various learning approaches. Throughout the last two weeks, you have learned about these different theories and approaches to learning. After engaging in discussions with your classmates, you now have ideas about which theories and approaches you would like to use in your work with children. Using the steps below, you will sort through these theories and approaches to shape who you are as a teacher and what you believe about how children learn best. This assignment will also help you prepare for your final assignment.
Prior to beginning work on this assignment, access the APA template for assistance with the writing process, formatting, documentation, and citations in your written work.
Step 1: Reflect back on your initial response in the “Aspects of Theories” discussion from Week Two and the “Learning Approaches” discussion from this week.
• Using the theories and approaches that were discussed, fill in the table below by ranking each according to how you connected with them (“most connected” at the top and “least connected” at the bottom). Be sure to delete the example row provided.
Theorists/Theories – Most connected to least connected Learning Approaches – Most connected to least connected
Ex: 1. Piaget – Theory of Cognitive Development Ex: 1. High Scope
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
6. 6.
7. 7.
8. 8.
•
Step 2: Using the table as a guide, research your top two theories and top two learning approaches. You will create a PowerPoint presentation that contains your responses to the points below as they are applied to each of your top two theories and top two learning approaches.
• Summarize the underlying principles or ideas for this theory/approach.
• Explain why this theory/approach is important to understand and how it will benefit your work with children.
• Discuss how this theory/approach will help you to be an effective teacher.
• Explain why this theory/approach is ranked at the top of your list.
• Summarize the similarities you see between the theory and model of those you ranked first. For example, if Piaget’s theory of cognitive development was your top theory and the Reggio Emilia approach was your top learning approach, share how these two ideas support one another.
Step 3: you can submit your assignment as a Power Point that contains your table from Step 1 and your responses to the questions from Step 2. Whichever option you choose, you will also need to follow APA format and include title and reference pages. In addition, the information in your assignment needs to be supported by the textbook and at least two additional scholarly sources. PowerPoint and list them on the reference pages/slides.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Learning Approaches, Theory, and Practice
Theorists/Theories – Most connected to least connected
Learning approaches – most connected to least connected
1. Skinner: Operant Conditioning Theory
Acquisition of rules
2. Vygotsky: Sociocultural Theory of Development
Concept learning
3. Erikson: Theory of Psychosocial Development
Stimulus/response learning
4. Bandura: Social Learning Theory
Signal learning/recognition
5. Piaget: Theory of Cognitive Development
Motor chain learning
6. Gardner: Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Multiple discrimination
7. Kohlberg: Theory of Moral Development
Problem solving
8. Feud: Psychosexual Theory of Development
Verbal chain sequence
Operant conditioning theory
The underlying idea for this theory is that external learning experiences greatly influence the behavior of a person. According to behaviorists, learning occurs through the change in behavior. Positive behavior, skill or knowledge can be achieved through reinforcement. Some examples of reinforcement for learners include the giving of stickers for good work or praising the learners in a selective manner (Krogh & Estes, 2012).
Understanding this theory is important because it helps a teacher to appreciate and utilize any form of reinforcement as well as punishment to control the behavior of students. According, I will become an effective teacher if I utilize this theory because I will learn how to get the best out of my students. This theory is ranked at the top of my list because I believe that behavior plays the most significant role in determining the outcome of a learning experience.
Socio-cultural theory of development
The basic idea presented by this theory is that an individual’s development is highly shaped by the social and cultural interactions around him/her. Thus, a learner can obtain knowledge from a teacher, another learner, or a family member. Ideally, Vygotsky’s theory exhibits some similarities with Piaget’s theory in the sense that teachers are considered to play an important role in supporting the opportunities for learners to gain knowledge with some independence (Krogh & Estes, 2012).
It is important to understand this theory because it helps a teacher to appreciate the socio-cultural aspects that influence learning (Pritchard, 2013). Accordingly, this theory will help me to be a good teacher by helping me utilize group work and partnerships with family for purposes of ensuring that students develop in the best way possible. I have ranked the socio-cultural theory as the second-most important on my list because I believe it is useful in the established of home-school partnerships. This theory is similar to the behaviorist theory in the sense that society greatly influences a child’s learning and development.
References
Krogh, S. L. & Estes, L. (2012). Pathways to Teaching Young Children: an Introduction to Early Childhood Education.
As we have learned this week, there are many different aspects to development that we need to know when working with children from birth to age 8. We must ensure that our classrooms help to stimulate the physical, cognitive, and affective development for all students. For this assignment, you will bring together your knowledge of theories, developmental domains, and learning environments to design a learning environment. The steps for the assignment are:
Step 1: Create your learning environment
Access the APA template for assistance with the writing process, formatting, documentation, and citations in your written work.
Choose an age group (birth to age 2, ages 2 to 5, or ages 6 to 8) to design a learning environment for. ( I pick 8 years old)
Go to the Classroom Architect website or to the Gliffy website. You will use this website to design the layout for the learning environment. When designing your layout, consider how the design you have created will support the developmental needs of your students based on the age group you chose.
After creating your learning environment, take a screenshot of your design. Then, copy and paste your screenshot into a Word document. If you need help taking a screenshot, please view this tutorial.
Step 2: Written support for your learning environment design
Introduction (one paragraph)
Describe the learning environment that you have designed including the setting of your learning environment (school, home daycare, center, etc.) along with the age of children with whom you will be working.
Physical Domain
Explain how your learning environment design supports the physical development of the children with whom you are working.
Include at least two specific examples from your design.
Cognitive Domain
Explain how your learning environment design supports the cognitive development of the children with whom you are working.
Include at least two specific examples from your design.
Affective Domain
Explain how your learning environment design supports the affective development of the children with whom you are working.
Include at least two specific examples from your design.
Developmental Theories
Discuss which of the developmental theories discussed this week are represented in the learning environment you created.
Include at least two specific examples from your design.
Conclusion (one paragraph)
Summarize the main points of your learning environment design and how it will support the developmental needs of your students.
Step 3: Assignment Submission
Submit your assignment as a two page Word document, not including the title and reference page.
Your document should include a screenshot of your classroom along with the written support for your classroom design (answering all questions from Step 2 above).
Along with the textbook, you will need to include at least two additional scholarly sources.
Be sure to mention your sources in the paper as well as including them on a reference page.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Learning environments and development domains
Introduction
The age of the children with whom I would be working is 8. The setting is an elementary school. The designed learning environment comprises wide spaces, 3 computers, 2 classroom rugs, 1 kidney table, 3 student tables, 1 teacher desk and 1 television. There are also 5 shelves, 4 storage areas, 1 fridge, 1 sink, 3 beanbag chairs, and 28 chairs.
Physical domain
The designed learning environment supports the physical development of 8-year-olds in that two areas where the children can engage in play are included in the design. Two specific examples from the design that support the physical development of 8-year-old children are the large open spaces and classroom rugs. Eight-year-old children require active play for their healthy physical development. Active play helps the kids to maintain or build energy, muscular strength, or joint flexibility (Sanchez, 2012). The children can play in the open spaces or in the classroom rugs and the play would contribute to their gross and fine motor development as well as body awareness since they utilize their bodies actively. In small motor development, the natural progression is basically from scribbles to shapes and forms to representational images. It is notable that playing with writing tools will help these kids in refining their fine motor skills. Gross motor development for instance, skipping and hopping develops in the same way (Sanchez, 2012). Playing using their bodies will also enable the 8-year-olds to feel physically secure, self-assured, and confident.
Cognitive domain
The learning environment is designed to enhance the cognitive development of the 8-year old children. There is a square rug and a circle rug. The children can use these two rags to play which supports their cognitive development. In essence, the teacher can develop the cognitive abilities of the children by providing different kinds of play during their school day in the classroom. For instance, children can play board games on the square rug and on the circle rug aimed at enhancing their cognitive development. Games such as hangman, tic-tac-toe and checkers are particularly useful and can be played very well in the classroom rugs.
Affective domain
Besides growing physically and cognitively, 8-year-olds also grow emotionally. Affective development essentially relates to the emergence of emotional capability of experiencing, recognizing, and expressing various emotions and adequately responding to the emotional cues in other people (Sanchez, 2012). The learning environment is designed to enhance the affective development of the 8-year-old kids and two specific examples are the television and expansive play area/open space. They can watch television programs such as Dora cartoon and learn to identify emotions, understand why emotions occur, and the way in which emotions could be managed appropriately. By playing together in the wide spaces, they would become more aware of their feelings. In addition, they would be better able to recognize the feelings of other children and understand them.
Developmental theory
The development theory represented in the learning environment is Piaget theory of cognitive child development. Jean Piaget pointed out that kids are usually born with an extremely fundamental mental structure upon which all later knowledge as well as learning is based. Piaget pointed out that cognitive development is a progressive reorganization of mental processes due to biological maturation as well as environmental experience (McLeod, 2009). The phases of development according to Piaget include: sensorimotor zero-two years; pre-operational two years to seven years; concrete operational seven years to eleven years; and lastly formal operational eleven years and above (McLeod, 2009). The 8-year-olds are in Piaget’s concrete operational phase; at this phase, they begin to solve problems in a manner that is more logical. For the child to build proper mental constructs from her environment, she has to work with actual or concrete objects, should have time for investigating and testing her ideas in her own ways, and should talk about her ideas with other people, include peers (Sanchez, 2012). Two examples from my design that are represented in learning environment which support child learning and development at this phase are objects inside the shelves and objects in the storage compartments.
Conclusion
To sum up, a learning environment has been designed intended for 8-year-old elementary school children. The kids can play in the wide spaces or in the classroom rugs and the play would contribute to their gross and fine motor development. They can play board games on the square rug and on the circle rug and enhance their cognitive development. They can watch television programs such as Dora cartoon and learn to identify emotions and understand why emotions occur. This learning design supports Jean Piaget’s theory.
Health Level Seven International (HL7) is a not-for-profit, standards-developing organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery, and evaluation of health services.
After reading “Strategic Initiatives” (see Module 4 assigned readings), refer to the journals listed:
Search the GCU Library and the websites of professional health care informatics organizations, such as the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Useful periodicals include:
•Health Data Management
•Health Management Technology
•Healthcare Informatics
•Healthcare IT News
Locate a case study that discusses how a health care organization solved a communication problem with a hardware solution while maintaining existing software.
Prepare a professional report (1,250-1,500 words) as if you are the informatics director of a 300-bed facility and the chief operating officer (COO) has given you the following directives:
1.Improve communication and coordination between admitting, laboratory, pharmacy, and clinicians to increase throughput; assume that each department has its own system currently in place.
2.Propose a solution that maintains existing software in each department and is supported by the HL7 initiatives.
In addition, define your focus and select a hardware solution; it may consist of a phased approach or an approach that directs attention only to one of the groups, or it may involve all of the aforementioned departments.
Provide a solution; emphasize interoperability.
Discuss how HL7 will improve communication and coordination between the departments.
Address the challenges of incorporating interoperability mandates from the Office of the National Coordinator.
Consider the challenges of an environment that is best of breed and the desire to move to a standard EHR across a health care enterprise.
Your solution may not implement new EHR software, but must provide a hardware solution to increase throughput.
Be creative with the context and formatting.
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion of the assignment.
You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Refer to the directions in the Student Success Center. Only Word documents can be submitted to Turnitin.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Improve communication and coordination
This Healthcare facility is experiencing operational stress due to reduced financial stability. The profit margins are low and the bed capacity records are at their highest. The management demands that there is need to raise the bed capacity to meet the healthcare demands. The most effective approach would not be an addition of new physical building but rather increase of their service capacity to enable serving more patients through an effective management system that increases the throughput (NCBI, 2013). This calls for a technology that will improve communication between the healthcare professionals as well as their coordination by offering real-time patient particulars such as laboratory updates, physician’s information, as well as information from the pharmacists. The system should facilitate the flow of information in the inpatient setting and the emergency department. This sort of technology is not common in most healthcare environment, especially in the surgical environment (Peter et al., 2012).
The HL7 standards aim at establishing set of values and specifications that facilitate free exchange of healthcare information. This will reduce healthcare services incompatibility due to reduced interoperability. For this reason, the proposed healthcare applications should support effective communication of information between the various environments, and should be available in common programming languages. Additionally, the program should have all the elements of each medical field and segments that can be customized (CDC, 2012).
In this context, the researcher is required to eliminate the information gaps in the healthcare system, which often results to expensive healthcare costs such as diagnostic error or medication error. For this reason, the proposed software should be in a position to tackle the challenges by improving interoperability without slowing down the care delivery process or putting patients at risk. Real-Time location system software enables increase interoperability in the healthcare industry by supporting the alignment of the physician through exchange of relevant healthcare information, which facilitates the management of care transitions. Consequently, responsible care is delivered at lower cost. The system involves physical keying of patient particulars, and the patient is provided with a tag that when used in the healthcare system, it reflect the patient particulars with ease. This way, nurse in charge would know the exact dosage for a particular patient, the physician would easily identify referral cases, and pharmacists would learn the patient particulars with ease (Vast & Gamm, 2010).
To increase throughput, the solution is to ensure that the proposed solution is readily available, and is compatible with the preexisting systems; ensuring that relevant data is captured, and is transmitted in a standardized way, such that the quality of information is not lost during the sharing of information. The part of the process will include ensuring that there is a standard code for all of the departments so that information shared is matched. This will ensure that each department gets a system that contains data in the format needed. The system supports teamwork, staff coordination and promotes patient engagement (CDC, 2012).
The benefits associated with the implementation of this technology includes increased throughput and is evidenced by healthcare variables such decreased length of stay, improved billing system (charge capture, reduced ambulance diversions as well as increased patient quality of life and satisfaction. Additionally, the standard implementation is rather straightforward and considerably customizable to meet the healthcare facility demands (Vast & Gamm, 2010).
Challenges of incorporating interoperability
The main challenge of integrating interoperability is the inadequate sustainable models, which can be used to guide the changes, and to assure that the data sources and storage are secure, offer technical support and a system is cost effective. There are increased risks of questions and distrust over who is responsible in controlling of information collected. Additionally, there are concerns on the standardization process. This implies that there are reduced agreements on which set of standards should be used, and in some cases, the standards used are too general and are susceptible to multiple interpretations. This could result to serious errors (King Et al., 2013).
Technology incompatibility is another issue. Although technological systems have similar objectives, some systems have differing ontologies as well as terminologies about the same healthcare or medication concept. This makes it difficult for interoperability (Vast & Gamm, 2010).
Overcoming the challenges
The main approach to overcome these key challenges is the standardized integration of applications and pricing by the manufactures. This will lower the installation, operation, as well as maintenance cost. The healthcare system should explore on ways to improve a culture that adopts changes. Additionally, legal barriers and hospital policies should be annulled. This includes working in partnership with the healthcare providers to debunk the misconceptions that prevails. The healthcare facility should establish a standard coding system and medication symbol and format, which largely influences the rate of interoperability. More efficient as well as effective software should be established to ensure that their i.e. effective communication and coordination between the stakeholders (NCBI, 2013).
Peter, B. Et al. (2012). Mining electronic health records: towards better research applications and clinical care. Nature reviews 13; p395 -407
Vest, JR., & Gamm, LD. (2010). Health information exchange: persistent challenges and new strategies. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2010 May-Jun; 17(3): 288–294 doi: 10.1136/jamia.2010.003673
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All key elements of the assignment covered in a substantive way.
• 1,050 to 1,400 word paper.
• A variety of assessment or evaluation practices (i.e.: commercially produced unit tests, teacher-created tests, rubrics, and portfolios) being used in the classroom to assess learning.
• Discuss at length three of those examples that represent effective and ineffective practices.
• Provide a supported analysis of these methods.
• Provide supported suggestions for making changes to the above three models.
The content of the paper is comprehensive, accurate, and/or persuasive.
The paper develops a central theme or idea, and links current assessment practices to relevant experience and educational practice.
Major points stated clearly; supported by specific details, examples, or analysis; and organized logically.
• Three examples of effective and ineffective assessment practices.
• Analysis of and suggestions for each of the methods chosen.
• At least three scholarly journal articles used to support the analysis of the practices.
The introduction and conclusion provide sufficient background on the topic, logical, flows from the body of the paper, and covers the major points.
Paragraph transitions are present and logical and maintain the flow throughout the paper.
The tone is appropriate to the content and assignment.
Sentences are well-constructed, with consistently strong, varied sentences. Sentence transitions are present and maintain the flow of thought.
The paper and presentation, including the title page, reference page, tables, and appendices, follow APA guidelines for format.
Citations of original works within the body of the paper and presentation follow APA guidelines.
The paper and presentation follow rules of grammar usage, spelling, and punctuation
SAMPLE ANSWER
Introduction
Research indicates that the process of learning to teach is similar to children/ student growth, i.e. it is developmental. There have been various theories that have proposed on the professional development process. The proposed theories are sometimes fixed, sequential, or flexible. Irrespective of theory applied, it is important to establish learning processes that encourage increased systematic inquiry as well as reflective assessment strategies. Reflective assessment strategies are important because they are used to evaluate a student’s level of understanding, improve learning, and identify learning challenges. Effective assessment strategies are those, which involve purposeful planning (Salvia, Ysseldyke, & Salvia, 2013).
Assessment practices: effective and non effective
One example of assessment is the portfolios. In this type of assessment requires student to assemble the specific topic information in a systematic approach to ensure the whole picture of their growth and achievement is reflected. This is because it normally contains speech in the form of term paper, thereby ensuring that work is produced in realistic in context. This method is effective because the student is able to document their ability for critical thinking because they actually include actual samples, which require creative thinking and problem solving ability. This takes the tutor on the processes or stages the student is going through when assigning tasks. The potential issues arise because it is possible for teachers to be convinced by fuzzy tasks, which normally would require extraneous performance. Additionally, there is potential danger if teachers are allowed to use this type of assessment because it might not fit into course needs/demands (Salvia, Ysseldyke, & Salvia, 2013).
Teacher-based assessment embraces a broad spectrum of activities and is effective for teachers to evaluate their strengths as well as weaknesses. This is because it enables the instructors chose the best or the appropriate format to evaluate the achievement of their targets. In this case, the test items often match the student objectives ensuring that there is adequate content validity. The main issue with this task is the problem of authenticity. In some cases the students could feel that the assessment does not mirror the skills, and could become anxious, especially if they compare their performances with their peers (Kitiashvili, 2014).
Rubrics assessment practices have been widely used to assess educational values. It enables the enactment of learning goals and objectives. It is a way of improving on student weaknesses. It enables reflective thinking because it establishes a multidimensional performance with time. This approach does not only assess student knowledge and abilities but also improves attitudes and values. This assessment helps the teacher to improve explicitly shared purposes. The power of the assessment is not episodic but rather cumulative (Kitiashvili, 2014).
It enables the student to identify relevant strategies that will facilitate credible and suggestive decisions that are applicable. According to this assessment, the important issue is not to collect date and return results, but a process that helps the student to analyze and interpret data, which will allow the students to improve. Through this process, educators are in a position to produce responsible students in the society. This is because responsibility goes beyond reporting of results but also involves attempts to improve the challenges that prevail (Salvia, Ysseldyke, & Salvia, 2013).
Some of the bad assessment practices are those, which assume that a student knows the information being evaluated. Summative assessments assume that the student requires no influence or no change. Such type of assessment has a backwash effect on learning. This is because it makes students memorize rather than understanding the facts. Additionally, norm referenced assessments are associated as league tables which indicates the best and the brightest student. This undermines the education standards as it distracts the student’s attention on what ought to be done. This method of comparing students with peers makes the teacher fail to have insight on values and standards of the institution. These methods of assessment have been prohibited in most of the public universities in Europe. This is because it corrupts the mind of the graduate as well as university’s systems. The society needs graduate with higher levels of skills and who are able to work autonomously. In this context, the best type of assessment is the criterion and standards referenced is the most proposed form because it addresses the dynamic demands of the population without deciding that one student deserves a certain percentage than others (Astin & Antonio, 2012).
Some assessment does not treat students equally. Additionally, there are assumptions that students will cheat the exams. Even so, exams have been found as the only way to avoid impersonation and plagiarism. This has resulted to emphasis on memorization which ill befits the modern student. The best approach is to used the open book tests which will ensure that the student is assed based on their understandings rather than prioritizing memorization. Arguably, when student cheat, they do so because they have an incentive that encourages their acts and that they are not likely to be discovered. Additionally, if the assessments are not tailored to assess the student’s interests and those tasks are made and recycled such that it is easy for a student to copy. Anonymity results to breeding of an examination cheating population. Therefore, it is important for the faculties to emphasize assessment activities, which are fresh (Baird, 2014).
Therefore, an effective assessment practice is one, which will influence the teaching as well as the studying pattern. This implies that each student assessment should have an agenda. The main carrier of an effective assessment is the tutor’s experiences and the associated distress. No matter the academic success, most people have had unpleasant experiences. Most of the examiners have fear associated with humiliation experienced in the past. For this reason, most of the examiners have made assessment charged with some degree of emotion, which does not act in the interests of the students. This has led to a pattern of setting assessment, i.e. if it was humiliating, the assessment must also be humiliating; or if it was easy for the tutor, then it should be simplified for the students (Sotelo-Dynega & Dixon, 2014).
Conclusion
None of the measures is superior to the other. Assessment practice must be designed in a way that it prevents unnecessary tension. The assessment should be thorough enough to help the student remained charged enough and not inflaming the academic situation. This implies that teachers should be mindful by briefing the requirements of the assessment. The teachers must remain explicit on how the assessment will be marked; and in ensuring that the students work is judged according to the student’s presentation and that marking is not influenced by ethnic or socioeconomic status. The assessment practice should signal the student on the most valuable or important thing in their profession, and the desired outcomes.
References
Astin, A., & Antonio, AL. (2012). Assessment for excellence: the philosophy and practice of assessment and evaluation in higher education. Maryland. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Baird, J. (2014). Teachers’ views on assessment practices. Assessment In Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 21(4), 361-364. doi:10.1080/0969594x.2014.960689
Kitiashvili, A. (2014). Teachers’ attitudes toward assessment of student learning and teacher assessment practices in general educational institutions: The case of Georgia. Improving Schools, 17(2), 163-175. doi:10.1177/1365480214534543
Salvia, J., Ysseldyke, J., & Salvia, J. (2013). Assessment in special and inclusive education. Boston: Cengage Learning.
Sotelo-Dynega, M., & Dixon, S. (2014). Cognitive assessment practices: a survey of school psychologists. Psychol. Schs., n/a-n/a. https://www.doi:10.1002/pits.21802
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