Friday, January 31, 2020

Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom Essay Example for Free

Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom Essay The Board of Education and Administration of Holland Elementary School have agreed on a decision that will come into effect at the beginning of the Fall 2013 school year. As well as introducing many of our newly acquired teachers to the classrooms, we will also introduce a new artificial intelligence that our students have never experienced before. This will come in the form of robotic instructors who will assist our current teachers with their work and teach other lessons on their own. This may come as a shock to some, but I am extremely confident in this decision. Artificial intelligence coming to the classroom this year will have a positive impact on our school system with increased teaching strategy to achieve a higher level of learning. Robots with artificial intelligence teaching students in the classroom is something that may seem to some like a science fiction fantasy, but the reality of the matter is that robotic helpers, teachers, and playmates are part of a booming technology that has already started flourishing in other countries. Articles from the New York Times have informed us on the hundreds of robots South Korea has already hired to assist teachers, and teach certain subjects on their own (Benedict Carey and John Markoff Students, Meet Your New Teacher, Mr. Robot Para 10). The robots they use are usually computer screened faces with bodies that have arms and legs, allowing them to be entirely mobile on their own. The robots use motion tracking and speech recognition to act human like. This makes them able to engage people in conversation, play games, complete simple tasks, and teach simple skills to others (Carey and Markoff Para 8). Adam Sneed, a researcher for The Future Tense Program explains in his article Coming Soon to a Kindergarten Classroom: Robot Teachers how robots give realistic human-like responses to social cues given by people in their surroundings (Para 6). They also understand the concept of personal space, and when approaching people, they know to stop before anyone’s personal space is invaded (Carey and Markoff, Para 19). The robots are programmed to act as if they have feelings similar to those of children. If the robot is damaged purposely by the students, it will begin to cry. Children react to this by feeling very sorry and backing off right away. If the robot continues to cry, the students offer it peace as they would with another child. Experiments that have shown this in the past are a display of the strong bond students can make with the robots (Carey and Markoff Para 25). Robots with artificial intelligence can engage children through many ways that are subconscious to humans. They hold eye contact with the children and use physical rhythm to stay involved with them. For example, if a child is swaying from side to side, the robot will start to sway as well. The robots mirror the children as a game to connect with them, gain their friendship, and build a sense of trust. If a student lifts his or her arm, the robot will lift their arm as well. The robots will also play vise-versa, letting the children mimic their moves (Carey and Markoff Para 4). Robots also show a large understanding of tasks that are explained to them. In a study done at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a robot was told where certain objects belong in a classroom and then was instructed to put them all away. When the robot came across a toy that it was unsure about, it stared at the toy in hesitation to pick it up. The robot’s instructor asked if it had any questions, and the robot replied by asking where the toy belongs. When it was explained that the green toy belongs in the g reen bin, the robot nodded its head, put the toy in the bin, and said â€Å"makes sense† (Carey and Markoff Para 45-47). This is an example of how the robots that will be incorporated into our classrooms can expand their knowledge and learn from the students to help them improve their teaching. Artificial intelligence is such a large benefit to our students because of all the good teaching qualities the robots have been programmed with that not all human teachers possess. These qualities include encouraging, non-judgmental, infinitely patient, and comforting. Our robots would never get mad at a student for something, and they will never yell at a student or make his or her feel bad for thinking incorrectly. James Marshall Crotty, co-founder/peripatetic publisher of Monk Magazine has recorded in his article Why Kids Prefer Robots to Teachers and Parents that students feel more welcomed and accepted because of this, allowing them to feel more room for guilt-free error. This will eliminate the social boundaries that often keep students from being creative so they will be able to be themselves with much mo re confidence and learn in a more proficient mind set (Forbes Para 7). Robots are able to detect when children are not engaged in the learning, and they are also able to understand signals that children subconsciously put out when they are confused or have a question they are waiting to ask, in which case the robot would offer them the chance to ask their question (Carey and Markoff Para 52). These are all very important skills that are necessary for an instructor to have. The new robots will be an extraordinary help to our special education program which includes mostly students with Attention Deficit Disorder and Autism. Sneed explains how robots will help our students learn social and cognitive skills in a way that is less intimidating to them than through human contact. At times when children with Autism are shy and will not communicate with other people, the robots are able to bring them out of their shell and teach them social skills (Para 5). The robots also provide the students with certain therapies that help their disabilities such as repetitive tasks and imitation. The robots are able to keep any student on task just as efficiently, if not more than human teachers, which is something that will benefit everyone (Carey and Markoff Para 20). Robots are especially good at teaching subjects such as foreign language. In a study performed at the University of Southern California, a robot was used to teach the Finnish language to a group of preschool students. It would pick up objects and say what they were in Finnish, and use productive teaching strategies such as games and repetition to help the children retain the information. When the study was finished, all of the words taught by the robot were significantly imbedded into the children’s memories, while the words they learned from multimedia tapes or other sources were not embedded well at all. This is due to the cognitive engagement, patience, and encouragement the robots provide for the preschoolers. Many different experiments such as this one show that robots’ teaching strategies impact students at about the same level as human teaching strategies (Carey and Markoff Para 21-24). Experiments are performed all over the world by many different specialists who study robotics, and anyone can see, their data concludes that artificial intelligence has a positive influence on the learning levels in a classroom. Specialists have also taken into account the feelings of children who have had the opportunity for artificial intelligence to become a part of their lives. Studies reported by Crotty show that a majority of students are pleased to have a robot to study and play with (Para 2). Robots are able to make games out of children’s homework, and the knowledge they gain from their assignments is portrayed as fun, giving them incentive to get their work done as well as possible. This is very helpful, especially for children who are discouraged in school and have low self-efficacy (Crotty Para 4). The robots are viewed by the children as friends and as very helpful companions. A quote from an article by Rendeiro Fonesca in United Academics Magazine brings us into the life of a boy who had artificial intelligence assisting him at home as well as in school: When I get home, my robot helps me with my homework. My mother and father came in and said no video games now, homework first, but when they saw that I was already finished and had done everything correctly, they were glad that I had made friends with the robot. It could do everything—play soccer, build Legos, read, do math, write, and all the movements a person can make. Since my parents really are always at work a lot, they can’t always help me or play with me or cook something. Now the robot helps them with that.† —Boy, 9, Germany. (Fonseca Robots in the Classroom Para 4) According to this article, children see their robots as reassuring, helpful, encouraging, and as a very big influence to help them with their learning. They often feel more comfortable being their true selves around the robots than they do with a teacher they are unfamiliar with, which helps to be creative in their work when the robots are around (Fonseca Para 10). They also encourage children to be proud of themselves, which gives them incentive to show their parents and human teachers how well they are doing with the instruction given by the robots (Crotty Para 6). While we understand that robots teaching children in the classroom is viewed as unnatural by many, we ask for your cooperation to please understand the significant advancement in technology that has occurred in the past ten years. In Crotty’s article, he also explains how technology is viewed through the eyes of children as something very human. It is a major part of our culture, and young students don’t know of any life deprived of the conveniences technology has given us (Para 4). Robots seem strange and unfamiliar to us, but every new technology appears this way when it is first introduced. The introduction of artificial intelligence to the Frenchtown Elementary School District will lower our budget by decreasing the amount we will be paying in teacher salary. It will bring new learning opportunities to our children, open up a new kind of culture into our lives, and provide excellent assistance to our special education teachers, as well as general classroom lessons. With this addition to our curriculum, the administration hopes to achieve higher state testing scores, and higher overall levels of learning and motivation. Works Cited Carey, Benedict, and John Markoff. Students, Meet Your New Teacher, Mr. Robot. The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 July 2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2012 Crotty, James Marshall. Why Kids Prefer Robots To Teachers And Parents. Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 03 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. Fonseca Rendeiro, Mark. Robots in the Classroom. United Academics: Connect Science and Society. UA Magazine, 22 Jan. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. Sneed, Adam. Coming Soon to a Kindergarten Classroom: Robot Teachers. Slate. The Slate Group, 6 Aug. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Masculinity in Shakespeares Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Masculinity in Macbeth Shakespeare   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     The great masterpiece Macbeth, which is written by William Shakespeare, deals with many different hidden themes. One of the best-hidden themes in Macbeth is manhood. Shakespeare's descriptions of his characters give real descripitions of living beings, not actors upon a stage. His manuscript is able to show the masculinity of men as well of women.   Masculinity is not just for men; some women are just like men in their quest for ambition.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the play Macbeth, it seems that Lady Macbeth is a man trapped in a woman's body. She is filled with greed, envy, and hate, and she will use any person or any thing until she gets what she wants or accomplishes her evil goals. In the play she hides her true feelings and pretends to be a normal lady. However, her evil nature shines through her false face. This just proves that Lady Macbeth is like a rose. A rose is pretty and smells great but if one is not careful the thorns will prick the fingers.   Lady Macbeth appears to lose her sanity the night of Duncun's murder and cannot relate to her feelings or guilty conscience. She admits that "she could kill her only child just as easy (I vii 72-74)". This really means that Lady Macbeth is colder than ice and seems that she lost all preception of right and wrong.   Then she tell her husband " a little water clears of the deed" (II ii 66)". Lady Macbeth thought the killing would, be easy to accomplish, but in fact it was not as easy as she said or thought.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      In the play, to die without any fear seems to be the highest accomplishment of one's life. It seems that not fearing death is more important than inventing a great invention that could change the world. When young Siward dies, his father is more worried about how he was killed. Siward wants to know where the wounds on his son were. When Ross tells Siward that his son had marks on the front of his body, his father is proud and brags about his death, "Why then, God's solider be he ( V viii l 46)". Siward father seems to have no grief over his son's death by what he was saying.  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ambition seems to be in all men, and all men strive to fill their need for it.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Margaret Sanger

Margaret Higgins Sanger ( 1879- 1966), was an American Pioneer in the birth control movement, was born in corning, New York., on September 14, 1879, the sixth of eleven children. Educated at Claverack College and Hudson River Institute, she hoped to become a physician but was obliged to compromise on nursing. She married William Sanger in 1990, and although they were divorced in 1913, she retained his name for professional purposes even after her marriage to J. N. H. slee the following year.As a nurse in New York City, Mrs. Sanger became aware of the poverty and death resulting from over- large families and abortions.   Prevented by the Comstock Law of 1873 from providing a formation on contraception, 1912 she wrote two series of articles â€Å"What Every Mother should know† and â€Å"What Every Girl should know†. In 1914 she founded the National Birth Control League and established a monthly magazine, The Woman Rebel. The next year she circulated through the mail a p amphlet, Family Limitations, for which she was indicated; but the case was dropped.In 1916 Mrs. Sanger opened the first birth-control clinic in America, in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. She was again indicted and served 30 days in prison. In the same year she established the Birth Control Review, which she continued to publish until 1928.Seeking to persuade both the medical profession and the public of the importance of her cause, Mrs. Sanger traveled throughout the country and the world on lecture. She organized the first national and international birth control conferences. In 1923, she established the Clinical Research Bureau, staffed with physicians, social workers and technicians. In a police raid on the clinic in 1926, doctors’ records were seized.As a result of this violation of the principle of medical privacy, the profession rallied to defend its right to dispense the information where it was considered advisable, and the clinic resumed its work. In 1932, with the sponsorship of many Protestant Churches organizations, Mrs. Sanger initiated the national Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control. Four years later, a U.S District Court upheld the right of physicians to became obsolete. In 1937 the American Medical Association publicly endorsed birth control.The National Birth Control League and the clinics were combined in 1942 in the Planned Parenthood Association of America, with Mrs. Sanger as honorary chairman. For the purpose of checking the world population explosion, this was later expanded into the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Among her works are The Case for Birth Control in1917; The Pivot of Civilization in 1922; My Fight for Birth Control in 1931; and Margaret Sanger, an Autobiography in 1938.Margaret Sanger is considered as one of the Nursing Leader along with her are Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, Lillian Wald, Lavinia Dock and Mary Breckinridge. Sanger made a notable contribution both to nursing h istory and also in the women’s history. She was a politically astute pioneer. Her skills at influencing others and bringing about change remain models for political nurse activists today.As a public health nurse in New York, she was much exposed to the country’s social problems such as abortion. She made a lasting impact on women’s health care. Her imprisonment in the opening of her first birth control information in America did not stop her from doing service with her fellow men. She is considered founder of Planned Parenthood. Her experience with the large number of unwanted pregnancies among the working poor was instrumental in addressing this problem.Margaret Sanger died in Tuscon, Arizona on September 6, 1966 due to Tuberculosis and Cervical Cancer. What she had undergone during her pregnancies where in she had some miscarriages also led her to the idea of Life and Health protection. She is considered as one of the most important person in this century due to her great contributions and mind opening ideas about contraception and life preservation. She really defended the rights of women and the protection of their health by making the Planned Parenthood and the establishment of birth control practice.Poverty did not stop Margaret Sanger from being a successful nurse. She wanted to be a doctor but just settled in nursing. As she opened her first clinic, her purposed persons were the poor and rich individuals in America. The Victorians and other physicians refuted and rebutted Sanger’s ideas. Due to this event, she left the league and started to have teachings in the different social class in America about planning and the importance of the health of the women in bearing children. Through this, Sanger had educated a great number of individuals whom she has helped with her client teachings.It is because of Margaret Sanger that birth control are widely distributed and are of easy reach to those individuals who needed it the most. W hat she established did great impacts on the U.S society that until is being followed and widely used also worldwide. If it is not for Sanger, we would not be made educate on the proper planning of having kids and to avoid abortion because life is precious and is a gift. Her established plans and projects helped in starting or developing Planned Parenthood and National Organizations for Women which the only aim is to protect the women from any forms of health illness.Also, through Sanger; many denominations perceive birth control in a different perspective. Although there are still some Religion that is really against it, the good things is that it is only a minority. Many of the different denominations worldwide are following her ideas about planning to have children. Sanger fought for the rights of the women being easily exploited by the men because of uneducation about their health and what are the things they are ought to do. She was very much sensitive to the needs of the women , maybe due to what she experienced and what she saw from her beloved mother.She viewed Sexuality as a form frailty. She also perceived firmly that Masturbation was perilous because for her this habit is one thing that once you started will never be out from your system, you will always find time to do it and seek its happening. Sanger also believed that if you masturbate a lot, there is a tendency that you have a poor possibility to do sexual intercourse in a natural way. She also perceives that Masturbation is not just doing it physically but by also letting the mind work. A teenager, a young man or woman imagines sexually explicit things in her mind and when this is always being done this comes out naturally.She also is an advocate of Eugenics, the process of selective breeding to improve heredity. She believed that all should be respected and heard regarding ones views and perception. She was imprisoned several times due to her ideas about parenthood planning but still she conti nued until she became successful in her field of expertise. She now is symbolic person who contributed much to the world’s awareness and especially in the awareness of the American Society.Although instigated by organizations that are for or pro for life, she continued to do her part to help the women. Many leaders admired her and one of them was Martin Luther. Indeed Sanger left a legacy that all of the people when they will come to know and understand, will really admire her for her strength and her courage to fight for the rights of the women amidst the persecutors around her. She was such a woman sympathizer, a woman who was toughen by time and experiences would also want to help other women to be healthy , be protected from diseases, and have the right to promote and plan a family.Until her death, she believed that abortion is really a wrong choice. Abortion is the expulsion of a fetus inside a womb and not considering the period abortion is performed, it is still a sin because a there is already a life existing inside the womb of the woman; may it be just 1 week or 2 weeks. For Sanger, Contraception is the best way to plan and establish a family of ones own. Contraception is not that dangerous as with abortion, Contraception is very much secured from any forms of danger and most of all, it does not cost you to sin just to be freed from the situation you are in. it gives you a clear conscience and guilt about the preservation and protection of human life especially in planning a family.References:Halsey, William. Margaret Sanger. 1988. Johnston, Bernard. Margaret Higgins Sanger. 1986. Kozier, et al. Fundamentals of Nursing. Pages 7- 8. Prentice Hall, 2004. â€Å"Margaret Sanger†. Collier’s Encyclopedia. Volume 18. U.S.A 1962. â€Å"Sanger, Margaret†. Compton’s Encyclopedia. Volume 20. Tribune Publishing Company, 1995.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

John Altoon s Jazz Players From 1950 - 1396 Words

John Altoon’s Jazz Players from 1950 is an oil on Masonite painting located in the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, California. Altoon’s piece conveys a sense of art deco style with his use of bold contour line outlining geometric shapes along with his use of strong saturated colors. Altoon’s Jazz Players reflects Modernism by exemplifying cubism as well as Harlem Renaissance art through the use of angular, geometric shapes and the depiction of the â€Å"New Negro.† John Altoon was born in 1925 in Los Angeles and died in 1969 at the of age 43 due to a massive heart attack (Orange County Museum of Art Website). Altoon’s other works were known for being involved in L.A. avant-garde during the 1950’s and 1960’s. After studying at the Chouinard Art Institute and the Otis College of Art and Design he established his own style that somewhat reflected Abstract Expressionism (Orange County Museum of Art Website). Altoon uses geome tric shapes, angles, and lines in Jazz Players, which echoes Picasso’s modern cubist principles. His entire piece is composed of geometric shapes including triangles and rectangles. These principles make the piece more flat and two-dimensional. Altoon’s piece prominently demonstrates shallow space due to the subject matter consuming the entire work. His depiction of space therefore elicits a sense of flatness embodied in his work. The use of shapes throughout the piece abstracts the form and creates a distortion of the jazz player’s bodies and