Reading Educational Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Reading Educational Research - Essay Example According to Archer, Halsall and Hollingworth (2007, p 167), there are clear distinctions between the two gender identities: Femininities and Masculinities. It is in this regard that a qualitative methodology is applied to research and bring out these differences. More significantly, the implication of the differences in gender identities on the society and the behavior of the youth are described by the authors. It is argued by qualitative researchers that a methodological approach is an effective way of investigating and describing differences between people (Silverman, 2004, p. 59). It is in relation to this argument that Archer, Halsall and Hollingworth (2007, p 173) have focused in two major areas in their article. Firstly, the events in which young women participate in as compared to the male counterparts. Secondly the authors reflect on the social environment in general with an aim of demonstrating the views of the society on gender identities and gender roles. Archer, Halsall and Hollingworth (2007, p 170) employ theoretical perspectives and resources to interpret the data of the qualitative study. It is argued that a theoretical framework is used to add credibility to the discussion of research findings especially when a qualitative methodology is used to describe a social issue (Strauss & Corbin, 1998, p. 9). The theoretical framework employed by the authors in their discussion is that of feminism. The authors describe the various categorization of feminism such as hetero-normative sexuality, heterosexual femininities and hyper femininity. Through the theoretical framework and research findings, the authors present the reader with three main arguments as described in the following sentences. Firstly, the disengagement of working class girls from schooling is mediated by the manner in which they construct hetero-femininities. Secondly, Archer, Halsall and Hollingworth (2007, p 169) point out that the ethnic diversity among inner city girls construct the capital which they acquire as a way through which they would generate self worth, identity and value. Lastly, the authors explain the reasons why the young girls invest more on glamorous appearance. According to Skeggs (1997, p. 124), identities are constructed through cultural and social theory. Skeggs (1997) discusses gender, class and culture in relation to feminism and argues that theoretical view of these issues in an effective approach for deeper understanding. It is therefore evident that Skeggs (1997, p. 145) presents arguments that are congruent with the postulates of Archer, Halsall and Hollingworth (2007, p. p 176). This is exemplified by reflection that the modern society is characterized by changing power relations and gender roles. Skeggs (1997) further explains that gender and class should be fused so that the representation of power relations in the society can be understood fully. Nonetheless the information that is presented by Skeggs (1997, p. 170) is based on an ethnographic research. This author uses the works of Pierre Bourdieu and the feminist theory to describe the position that is occupied by the female gender within the modern society. The ethnography of gender and class helps in understanding the differences between the two gender identities within a school social environment. According to Archer, Halsall and Hollingworth (2007, p 178), the working class gir

The !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert Essay Example for Free

The !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert Essay The !Kung Bushmen of Botswana inhabit the semi-arid northwest region of the Kalahari Desert. Their average annual rainfall is poor, only six to nine inches a year. Field work for this article written by Richard B. Lee, was done in the Dobe area, which is a line of eight permanent waterholes. The Dobe area has a population of 466 Bushmen. This includes 379 permanent residents living in independent camps or associated with Bantu cattle posts, as well as 87 seasonal visitors. The Bushmen living in independent camps lack firearms, livestock, and agriculture. The !Kung are entirely dependent upon hunting and gathering for subsistence. Although Dobe-area !Kung have had some contact with outsiders since the 1880s, the majority of them continue to hunt and gather because there is no viable alternatives locally available to them. During the dry season (May-October) the entire population is clustered around the water wells. There are camps around each well, which is an open aggregate of cooperating persons which changes in size and composition from day to day. The members move out each day to hunt and gather, and return in the evening to pool the collected foods in such a way that every person present receives an equitable share. Vegetable foods comprise from 60 to 80 percent of the total diet by weight, and collecting involves two or three days of work per woman per week. The major contribution of the male bushmen to their diet is the hunting of medium and large game. Although mens and womens work input is roughly equivalent in terms of man/day of effort, the women provide two to three times as much food by weight as the men. For the greater part of the year, food is plentiful and easily collected. Although during the end of the dry season people have to hike farther for food, the food still remains constant. The most important food is the mongongo nut. This nut accounts for 50 percent of the vegetable diet by weight. Although tens of thousands of pounds of these nuts are eaten every year, thousands more are left on the ground to rot. Also, a diet based on mongongo nut is more beneficial health-wise as cereal crops such as maize or rice. In addition to the mongongo, the Bushmen have available eighty-four other species of fruits, berries, and melons, and another thirty species of roots and bulbs. There are 54 species of animals classified as edible by the Bushmen, but only 17 species were hunted on a regular basis. All of the !Kungs food supply can be obtained in a six-mile radius of camp, and usually takes a full day to travel the twelve mile round-trip. The !Kung Bushmen of the Dobe area live a long productive, and seemingly satisfying lives. Longevity compares favorably to any industrialized society. The old people are fed and cared for by their children and grandchildren. The old people are also actively involved indecision making and ritual curing. Young people are not expected to provide food regularly until they are married. Girls usually marry between the ages of fifteen and twenty, and boys about five years later. It is not unusual to find healthy, active teenagers visiting from camp to camp while their older relatives provide food for them. The people in the age group of twenty to sixty support the nonproductive and old. These productive members work about two and a half days a week, about twelve to nineteen hours a week to get food. A woman gathers enough food in one day to feed her family for three days, and spends the rest of the time relaxing and enjoying her leisure time. The men hunt for a week and then do nothing for two or three weeks and spend their leisure time visiting and dancing. In a camp with five or more hunters, two or three are actively hunting while others are inactive. The amount and the type of food the !Kung hunt and gather is sufficient enough calorie-wise to supply all the nutrients required for good health.

The Process Of Space Travel Philosophy Essay

The Process Of Space Travel Philosophy Essay Firstly I think space travel is worth the time and money because with space travel we can learn more about space and whats up there. Also with more knowledge of space we can use it to our advantage. Space travel could be dangerous but it is worth knowing some knowledge about it to know if something dangerous like a comet is coming. It could also help for us to know more about the moon and the stars. Secondly here are some things we could do in space thats if were able to go back up there are learn more about the planets and what each one holds. All of the planets are in many different shapes and sizes. Like Mars for instance scientists say that it is the closest planet similar to earth. It has water just like earth does but doesnt have enough oxygen on it for people to live on. But scientists also say that if they could get plant life on Mars that eventually people would be able to live on Mars. For now since people cant live on mars they put robots on the planet to gain information about the planet. Unlike humans robots can stay on the planet for a lot longer and get hard to reach areas on the planet that humans cant reach. One thing that a human could do on the planet that wouldnt require robots help would be collecting data. A human could collect samples of the planet as well getting the water percentage of the planet. Thirdly before I start talking about the costs of space travel I will talk about some of the things you do while going into a space shuttle. When you walk in the shuttle you have to take off your shoes and you are given a special pair of isolation chamber slippers. After the shoes you are given a light blue vinyl imprinted with the Japan Aerospace exploration logo on it (JAXA). Next is the isolation chamber, a freestanding structure inside building C-5 at JAXAs headquarters in Tsukuba Science City. If you make it to this chamber you are a top ten finalist for two openings in the Japanese astronaut corps. The people in this room are monitored by the JAXA members as well as psychiatrists to see their behaviors in the room. These are some of the things done when in a space shuttle. If the astronauts were able to use the water on mars they could probably stay up in space a lot longer without going back to earth for supplies. How exactly expensive is space travel? Well space travel can cost up to half a billion dollars per space launch. Even with that cost per launch it is still worth it to go to space to find all the undiscovered things up there. Like I said before with the water if they could find a way to stay in space longer it would cut a lot of the costs because you wouldnt have to make as many trips back and forth. Space travel is important because it can let us know if anything deadly is coming. Or it could help us learn more of when the sun is going to burn out. If the sun burns out us humans will only be able to live for a couple of days before freezing to death. As I said before NASA also wants to be able to put people in space because of over population. Just think in space there is no limit of capacity it can hold, so therefore you could fit everyone up there without a problem. Some scientists were wondering that if you went up in space could it actually blow your mind? Well reports from the 1957 issue of Aviation Medicine 35 percent of 137 pilots interviewed said they had a strange feeling on the way up. Some of the astronauts said they felt closer to god or they had broken bonds with the terrestrial sphere. This blowing of the mind theory is also known as the breaking away theory. David Simons from NASA compared the breaking away phenomenon to the deadly raptures of the deep. The rapture of the deep is a medical condition where a diver feels calm and at peace when 100 feet below water. This term is also known as nitrogen narcosis. Simons also said that one day this could be an astronaut going into space with this happening. Some astronauts said that even looking down at the earth spinning fast and the shuttle moving from earth so fast gives them space euphoria, which has the same meaning as the blowing of the mind theory. Some of the psychologists were nervous about the first two space walkers because they got nervous leaving the space shuttle and this made them want to go back to the space shuttle. But in most cases the astronauts were not nervous when they went out of the space shuttle without any problems. Crash simulation is a world made up of metal and men. The place that the simulator is located is at Ohios transportation research center. In the research center there is a crash sled with a track going down the middle of it. The room has a bunch of engineers in it with safety goggles on. In the room there are a bunch of orange and yellow hazard lights along with the cadaver. The cadavers are dressed just like a living person would dress but only there dead. In a couple of hours the cadaver will be hit with a piston that will be shot with pressurized air at the seat he is sitting at. The seat is designed to create any type of crash scenario that you need to be performed. If you need to do a scenario where a car travels 65 mph into a wall you can do that. Or you can even do a scenario where the cars are crashing into each other. In a space shuttle it is a little different than normal car crash testing because almost all space landings are kind of like crash test when it has to do with space. Next is the Gemini VII launched on December 4, 1965 it was a trip to the moon. The only thing different was that this time it was a round trip to the moon a mission that takes two weeks. This would be tough for the astronauts because they have never spent that much time in zero gravity, the old time was only 8 days compared to this ones 12. Just to see if they could stay up in space that long they had a rehearsal where the astronauts would stay on earth but would be in a space shuttle for two weeks to see if the astronauts would be able to handle it. If they could handle it then they would be sent up into space for the two weeks to the study the moon. The Nazis built the worlds first rocket; it was designed to deliver without leaving their home. The rocket that the Nazis built was called the V-2. The Nazis put their first strike with it on London. But anyways Dr. James henry asked David Simons a scientist if people would ever go into space and that thats when Simons said yes and then Henry asked about a monkey going into space and Simon said well when do we start. The only problem was that hey were worried that terrible things would happen to the monkey if he was launched into space. So they said the only way to know for sure was to send a simulated pilot up there so he could launch the animal in the nose of the fast V-2 rocket. But In 1948 Albert a nine-pound monkey was the first living creature to be launched into space. In Conclusion I have told you why space travel is important and if its worth it, I have also talked about mars and many other space experiments. Going into space is a very important thing because it helps us know more about what exactly space is and how it was formed. Without space travel we wouldnt have learned about gravity, the moon, or even the planets. So you see we do need space travel and we need to continue going up into space to learn new things and discover new things. Space travel might also be expensive but in the long run the money is worth it. As I said before the earth is becoming over populated and eventually we might not have any room left. So if we could put humans in space there would be no limit on how many people it could fit. Im also going to say that without space travel we might not be where were at today. These are just some of the many things on why space travel is important and why need it for a better future. Personal Review I thought packing for mars was a pretty interesting book. I thought it was going to be another boring space book but it turned out that the book wasnt so bad. I thought it was pretty neat how they have to package the food in special sealed bags so that when it gets to space it doesnt go all over the place. One thing that I didnt like about the book was that it didnt talk about going to mars all that much. One thing that was interesting but gross was the vomiting in the space helmets. Roach talked about how threatening it could be if a person were to throw up in their space helmet and I thought that was just gross. As I said before the book turned out not to be too bad.

Public Schools - Sex Education in the Classroom Essay -- Argumentativ

Sex Education in the Classroom      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Teenage unplanned pregnancies continue to increase and the Aids epidemic is still wiping out entire populations rapidly worldwide. Here in the United States we hear little about the ongoing battle that is being fought between parents, educators and government officials, with the outcome having a significant impact on our children's lives. Programs that teach sex education in the classroom and promote distribution of condoms are constantly under siege by radical groups who believe very strongly in their religious teachings and choose to ignore the truth. The sex education programs are having an immediate impact on the choices the teenagers are making who attend them. To date any abstinence only approach has not had the decline in teenage pregnancies or the slowed transmission of sexually transmitted diseases as the do the programs that offer a wide variety of information pertaining to sex and follow through with access to birth control. Why not give our children t he very best information and products and allow them to make an informed logical conclusion, without all the propaganda and lies that only hinder our children's decisions. Condom distribution in schools does not promote sex; it simply prevents unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.    Realistically more teenagers are experimenting with sex than ever before in our nations history. With over 29 million young people between the ages of 13 and 19, approximately 12 million have had sexual intercourse. Out of those sexually active, more than 1.1 million become pregnant, three-fourths of these pregnancies were unintended, and more than 434,000 end in an abortion. "Common sense would tell us that the earlier a te... ...n to be safe and informed on all aspects of life, no matter how much it interferes with our view of how things should be? We still have to take into account the reality of the situation. Teenagers are sexually active and need to be protected by any means necessary.    Works Citied Avert. 24 May 2000. 25 May 2000. http://www.avert.org/sexedu.htm. Harris, Hamil R. "Schools Give Condoms to 1,600 in First Year." Washington Post 06 Jun. 1993. PDC1 Lachance, Laurie L. Kid Source Online. 20 Apr. 2000. 24 May 2000. http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/teen.pregnancy.html#education. "Sex-education programs that work-and some that don't." Parade Magazine 12 Feb. 1995: 18-20. United States. Center for Disease Control. Adolescent Health Monograph Data Sources. 1994. 24 May 2000. http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/ahson /datasour.htm.   

How will your personal faith and beliefs contribute to Liberty’s mission to develop Christ- centered leaders? Essay

My personal faith and beliefs will contribute to Liberty’s mission to develop Christ- centered leaders in a number of ways. I am very passionate about worship and discipleship. I see my purpose in life as a chance to change lives through worship and discipleship, and to obey the calling that God has on my life. I believe it is my duty as a child of God to be the hands and feet of Christ no matter where that may lead me. I am passionate about worship because worship is a devotion, it is my heart cry, worship is the place where I really found God and fell in love with Him. It is where I feel closest to Him, I can express myself freely to God and He understands everything my heart tries to say. Worship for me is a battle. It is praying with a tune, it is standing in the gap for someone and calling them, out of darkness, into the light. It is pouring everything you have at the altar and surrendering to the Father, it is allowing the Father to draw near and consume your very being. Worship is pure, worship is love. Discipleship is extremely important to me because I want to be someone who embraces and assists in spreading God’s teaching to others, to help empower people to know, deeply and wholeheartedly, their God given gifts; to help them know that God has created them in His image that He has a plan for their life. I will combine with Liberty’s mission and my personal faith and beliefs to contribute a well thought out plan to enable each student to reach their goal in serving Christ and worshipping. My mission is the same as Liberty’s mission to help develop christ- centered leaders, through my worship, discipleship, and the full armor of God.

Geography Assessment Task 1 2015 Essay

Geography Assessment Task 1 2015 Essay Geography Assessment Task 1 2015 Essay Biophysical Interactions-Deforestation in the Biosphere [Case study on Deforestation: The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra] Map of Sumatra Listed as the sixth largest island in the world, Sumatra is home to a vast variety of flora and fauna that exemplify ecological uniqueness thus inscribed the UNESCO World Heritage List due to its biodiversity therefore, at high risk of extinction and is expected to disappear in twenty five years’ time. The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra comprises of three national parks: Gunung Leuser National Park, Kerinci Selblat National Park, and the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. These parks are stretched along the Bukit Barisan Mountain Range towards the western side of Sumatra. Deforestation is a major issue that recently has been acknowledged by authority recently, with new laws and regulations in place to protect forests around the world. This issue has highly affected the biosphere of the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra and its cause has been the human activity over the past hundred years or so. Once a rainforest has been deforested, it becomes difficult to re- establish or regenerate. Gunung Leuser National Park Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park Kerinci Selblat National Park Having an impressively diverse biota in the world, with at least ten thousand inhabitants that are endemic, individuals in Sumatra over time have taken this for granted establishing an inevitable situation in our generation where flora such as medicinal plant species and animals such as local elephants and tigers, pushing these endangered flora and fauna to extinction. In the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra, lives 50% of Sumatra’s fauna including the world’s tallest flower the Amorphophallus titanum(figure1) and the world’s largest flower Rafflesia Arnoldii (figure 2) , also fauna that only exists in Sumatra, the Sumatran Tiger(figure 3) and the Sumatran Orang-utan(figure 4). Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Containing the 'last and largest sources commercially valuable hardwoods in Asia', the area is threatened by illegal logging, agriculture and settlements, the poaching of large animals and the proposal of new roads along the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra. It is estimated that ‘the highest rate of deforestation of any major tropical region, could lose up to three quarters of its original rainforests by 2100 and up to 24% of its biodiversity’. At this point of time, the prediction seems sceptical to most individuals but day by day, every portion of the rainforest is one step closer to extinction (evident in figure 5 and 6). This is due to the increasing population of humans resulting in a higher demand for resources from water to the flora and fauna species itself. Therefore, the deforestation through both illegal and legal human activities has caused the rainforest to gradually degrade. Figure 5 Figure 6 Being a tropical island, Sumatra has a tropical wet climate making it moderately humid. The annual temperature in Sumatra is 26.2Â °C whilst its annual precipitation is 2125 mm. Figure 6 and 7 indicates the average temperate monthly and annually, showing the range of temperature from the hottest day to the coldest day of each month and year. Figure 6 Figure 7 On average, there are 166 days a year with