Survivor :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Survivor Africa has been entertaining to watch and will be interesting to see how the different episodes relate to the topics discussed throughout the course. It will be interesting to see how the different group dynamics within each tribe collaborates. You have a plethora of different personality types within each tribe. There are young and old members, gender differences, workers and slackers, introverts and extroverts, and racial differences. However, the first and most appropriate example that comes to mind that is directly related to the show and the course is the Robbers Cave Study. The study was able to show that whenever you are competing for limited resources, conflict is inevitable.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first days most dramatic moments in the Boran tribe revolved around Diane and Clarence. I believe Diane started off on the wrong foot by taking control of the map and then leading the rest of the tribe in the wrong direction. She assumed a leadership role without earning it. When they finally arrived at their campsite they were lacking water, so they decide to open a can of cherries. They carefully passed the can around, with each member taking one. Well, each person except Clarence, who helped himself to two cherries. This was Clarence’s first mistake, this was not a brilliant move on Clarence’s part, especially after only the second day. As we learned in chapter four, first impressions are lasting, and people are slow to change their first impressions on the basis of new information. Later on that day, both teams had their first immunity-reward challenge that involved having a race. It was quite obvious that Diane did not do very well, she pret ty much passed out. Samburu ultimately won the challenge. When Boran returned to camp, Diane was still not feeling well, so Clarence decided to stay behind to help her while the other team members went to get water. While the other team members were away, Clarence decided to open a can of beans to feed to Diane thinking it might do her some good, What a guy! Well, Diane ate some and Clarence polished off the rest of them and then discarded the can. To make a long story short, this was Clarence’s second mistake. When the team returned, they realized what had occurred and all lashed out at him. Considering what just occurred, I must admit, Clarence handled himself extremely well.

Assessment for Learning Essay

â€Å"Assessment for learning is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there†. Assessment Reform Group, 2002 The teacher has ultimate responsibility for setting schemes of work for the class with clear objectives (Formative assessment) and writing end of term and end of year reports drawing together the information gained through assessment for learning. (Summative Assessment) The learning objectives are delivered to the class by the teacher and it is the TA’s responsibility to be aware of: †¢ the learning objectives, †¢ the personalised learning goals for individual learners. †¢ the success criteria for the learning activities †¢ the assessment opportunities and strategies relevant to their own role in the learning activities While taking the children through the scheme of work the TA will support the children by discussing their individual objectives this can also be done with groups of children who are working at the same level with the same learning outcomes. This is done to check that the children understand what is expected of them. This needs to be reviewed throughout the lesson. It is the TA’s job to pace the session to the learning style and ability of the children. At the end of the session the TA needs to give positive, factual feedback to the children and the teacher. This will include your observations on how the pupils responded and the strategies that were useful. The discussion between the teacher and the TA will enable further objectives to be set for the next lesson. Both the teacher and the TA are fully involved in the assessment of learner’ achievement with the TA fully supporting the teacher. 1. 2 Summarise the difference between formative and summative assessment. In 2004, at a conference of Assessors, Professor Paul Black pointed out â€Å"An assessment activity can help learning if it provides information to be used as feedback, by teachers, and by their students, in assessing themselves and each other, to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. â€Å" Formative and Summative Assessment are the two main forms of assessment used by the teaching profession. Formative assessment (Assessment for Learning) is the type of assessment that takes place day to day during lesson time. It is the reviewing of progress and understanding of the pupil, against the learning objectives set by the teacher. This can be done in a variety of ways such as observation, open questioning of pupils, checking understanding and allowing the children to be involved in the reviewing process during and at the end of a lesson. It allows learners to self-assess and self-evaluate their learning experience hopefully enabling them to become responsible learners who understand what they have to improve to allow them to meet their goals. Formative Assessment: †¢ occurs during the learning †¢ done with learners †¢ processed focused †¢ to improve learning †¢ is personally referenced Summative Assessment (Assessment of Learning) is the pulling together of the learning outcomes of tests at the end of a scheme of work, formative assessment and professional judgements to provide an end of term report showing what the pupils have achieved, it could also take the form of a Key stage SATs. It is outcome focused, occurs after the learning has been taught and is a way of measuring and proving learning. Summative Assessment: †¢ occurs after the learning †¢ done to learners †¢ outcome focused †¢ to prove learning. †¢ externally referneced While the two forms of assessment are entirely different the resulting information from both types can be used to help with setting learning objectives. The two types of assessment are not necessarily to be used separately they should complement each other, as the use of Afl can help pupils perform better on summative assessment tasks and summative assessment can reflect the impact of Afl. 1. 3 Explain the characteristics of Assessment For Learning. Assessment for learning encourages the learner to take responsibility for their own learning and achievements. This is done by providing them with the following information: Learning intentions A learning intention is simply a description of what you want your pupils to know, understand or be able to do by the end of a lesson. It tells pupils what the focus for learning is going to be. They can also be call â€Å"Learning Objectives†, â€Å"Learning Goals† or† Learning Aims† Making sure that he pupils are aware of their learning intentions before the lesson begins in language that the pupils will identify with, focuses their attention to the learning and how to achieve their intention rather than the activity they are undertaking. This can help keep the pupil focused on task for longer by increasing their motivation. The pupils should be reminded of the learning intentions throughout the lesson. Success Criteria This shows the learners what they need to achieve to meet the ‘Learning Intentions’ Success Criteria: †¢ are linked to the learning intention; †¢ are specific to an activity; †¢ are discussed and agreed with pupils prior to undertaking the activity; †¢ provide a scaffold and focus for pupils while engaged in the activity; and †¢ are used as the basis for feedback and peer-/self-assessment. Formative feedback About the quality of their work and what they can do to make it better; Giving pupils’ feedback and allowing them to feedback to the teacher how they feel their learning went. . Ambergate school regularly asked the children how they think they have done by giving a â€Å"thumbs up†, â€Å"thumbs down† or â€Å"thumbs sideways† to indicate how the children feel about what they have been taught. Sometimes the children will be asked what they know of the subject about to be taught and to mark themselves out of ten in their books. At the end of the lesson they then give themselves another mark out of ten and compare how they have fared. Effective Questioning To create a classroom climate where pupils come up with their own ideas, think aloud and explore their understanding. Questioning should take the form of open-ended questions to encourage the children putting their own ideas forward without being led by an adult. The adult can then ask the children’s peers what they think of another child’s idea to generate feedback. Generally in the lessons in Ambergate school the children are reminded when working to ask, who, what, when, why and how to ensure they get sufficient feedback to enable them with the tasks set. Peer and Self-Assessment and Evaluation. Peer and Self-Assessment enables learners to recognise success in their own and others’ work and to focus on how they are learning as well as what they are learning. Ambergate school regularly asked the children how they think they have done by giving a â€Å"thumbs up†, â€Å"thumbs down† or â€Å"thumbs sideways† to indicate how the children feel about what they have been taught. Sometimes the children will be asked what they know of the subject about to be taught and to mark themselves out of ten in their books. At the end of the lesson they then give themselves another mark out of ten and compare how they have fared. To summarise Assessment for learning meets individuals needs and maximises their full potential through continual monitoring. All staff are allowed to contribute to future planning by feeding their findings back to the teacher. 1. 4 Explain the importance and benefit of assessment for learning. Continuous assessment improves performance and behaviour, allows pupils to work more independently and it also improves motivation and risk taking. By increasing two way communications Assessment for Learning helps to strengthen the teacher pupil relations. From the teachers point of view AFl improves planning and delivery of the lessons while creating an opportunity to check the quality of the lessons and amend activities to ensure they meet the learning needs. For the child it tells them where they are with their learning in each subject, gives them ideas on how to further achieve to ultimately get success in the given goal. Assessment approaches need to promote learner engagement and ensure appropriate support so that all learners can achieve their aspirational goals and maximise their potential. It has been proven that children who do not feel part of the learner process quickly lose interest. Therefore, responses should be based on thoughtful questions, careful listening and reflective responses and effective feedback strategies. 1. 5 Explain how assessment can contribute to planning for future learning carried out by †¢ The Teacher Assessment for Learning helps the teacher to make well-founded judgements about pupil’s attainment while placing responsibility for managing learning on the child, with the goal of pupils being more actively involved with the learning process. As indicated above, the process involves explaining learning outcomes to pupils, providing them with feedback on their progress and enabling them to develop their self-assessment skills so that they are able to reflect on, and recognise, their own achievements. Knowing precisely what the pupil understands & then moving them on leads to effective learning. †¢ The Learners The process will keep the pupil informed of on-going process, giving them an insight into how they learn and which areas they need to improve to achieve the objectives set. This helps to increase their confidence, motivation and independence and also how to recognise when they need to ask for help. †¢ The Learning Support Practitioner. Assessment for learning will provide you with information of how each child learns and the knowledge they already have, which will help in how you further question the pupil. This can be tailored to suit the individual pupils pace and ability to learn. In a recent Maths lesson on Division techniques, on periodically checking the children’s understanding it became clear that they knew how to divide using the Chunking Method but the answers that some of the children were getting were incorrect. This caused the TA to check their work and come to the conclusion that the children’s knowledge in subtraction of 3 figure numbers was letting them down. On feeding back to the teacher she said she had noticed the same problem with the group of children that she was supporting. With this feedback, the TA and the Teacher implemented a refresher lesson on subtraction in the next Maths lesson to fill the gap in the children’s knowledge and allow the children to move forward with their knowledge and ultimate success with Division Techniques. Bibliography www. education. gov. uk Assessment for Learning for KS1 and KS2 Northern Ireland Supporting Teaching and Learning L3 – Louise Burnham.

Cost and Benefit Essay

A cost benefit analysis is done to determine how well, or how poorly, a planned action will turn out. Although a cost benefit analysis can be used for almost anything, it is most commonly done on financial questions. Since the cost benefit analysis relies on the addition of positive factors and the subtraction of negative ones to determine a net result, it is also known as running the numbers. A cost benefit analysis finds, quantifies, and adds all the positive factors. These are the benefits. Then it identifies, quantifies, and subtracts all the negatives, the costs. The difference between the two indicates whether the planned action is advisable. The real trick to doing a cost benefit analysis well is making sure you include all the costs and all the benefits and properly quantify them. Should we hire an additional sales person or assign overtime? Is it a good idea to purchase the new stamping machine? Will we be better off putting our free cash flow into securities rather than investing in additional capital equipment? Each of these questions can be answered by doing a proper cost benefit analysis. http://management.about.com/cs/money/a/CostBenefit.htm Cost-Benefit Analysis Jules Dupuit, a French engineer, first introduced the concept of Cost-Benefit Analysis in the 1930s. It became popular in the 1950s as a simple way of weighing up project costs and benefits, to determine whether to go ahead with a project. As its name suggests, Cost-Benefit Analysis involves adding up the benefits of a course of action, and then comparing these with the costs associated with it. The results of a cost-benefit analysis are often expressed as a payback period – this is the time it takes for benefits to repay costs. Many people who use Cost-Benefit Analysis look for payback in less than a specific period – for example, three years. You can use Cost-Benefit Analysis in a wide variety of situations. For example, when you are: .Deciding whether to hire new team members. .Evaluating a new project or change initiative. .Determining the feasibility of a capital purchase. However, bear in mind that Cost-Benefit Analysis is best for making quick and simple financial decisions. More robust approaches are commonly used for more complex, business-critical or high cost decisions. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_08.htm BCA attempts to capture all benefits and costs accruing to society from a project or course of action, regardless of which particular party realizes the benefits or costs, or the form these benefits and costs take. Used properly, BCA reveals the economically efficient investment alternative, i.e., the one that maximizes the net benefits to the public from an allocation of resources. BCA is not the same thing as financial analysis. Financial analysis is concerned with how to fund a project over its lifespan and measures the adequacy of current and future funds and revenues to cover the cost of building, operating, and maintaining the project. While financial analysis is an important part of project management, the economic merit of the project as measured by BCA is generally not affected by how the project is financed. Useful Applications of Benefit-Cost Analysis Benefit-cost analysis (BCA) considers the changes in benefits and costs that would be caused by a potential improvement to the status quo facility. In highway decision-making, BCA may be used to help determine the following: * Whether or not a project should be undertaken at all (i.e., whether the project’s life-cycle benefits will exceed its costs). * When a project should be undertaken. BCA may reveal that the project does not pass economic muster now, but would be worth pursuing 10 years from now due to projected regional traffic growth. If so, it would be prudent to take steps now to preserve the future project’s right-of-way. Which among many competing alternatives and projects should be funded given a limited budget. BCA can be used to select from among design alternatives that yield different benefits (e.g., reconstruct a roadway with additional lanes versus no additional lanes); unrelated highway projects (a widened road versus an interchange on another road); and unrelated transportation projects in different transportation modes. The Benefit-Cost Analysis Process In BCA, the analyst applies a discount rate to the benefits and costs incurred in each year of the project’s life cycle. This exercise yields one or more alternative measures of a project’s economic merit. The BCA process begins with the establishment of objectives for an improvement to a highway facility, such as reducing traffic congestion or improving safety. A clear statement of the objective(s) is essential to reduce the number of alternatives considered. The next step is to identify constraints (policy, legal, natural, or other) on potential agency options and specify assumptions about the future, such as expected regional traffic growth and vehicle mixes over the projected lifespan of the improvement. Having identified objectives and assumptions, the analyst (or analytical team) then develops a full set of reasonable improvement alternatives to meet the objectives. This process begins with the development of a â€Å"do minimal† option, known as the base case. The base case represents the continued operation of the current facility under good management practices but without major investments. Under these â€Å"do minimal† conditions, the condition and performance of the base case would be expected to decline over time. Reasonable improvement alternatives to the base case can include a range of options, from major rehabilitation of the existing facility to full-depth reconstruction to replacement by a higher volume facility. Such alternatives will often involve construction, but alternatives that improve highway operations (such as the use of intelligent transportation systems) or manage travel demand (such as incentives for off-peak travel) are suitable for consideration. Major Steps in the Benefit-Cost Analysis Process 1. Establish objectives 2. Identify constraints and specify assumptions 3. Define base case and identify alternatives 4. Set analysis period 5. Define level of effort for screening alternatives 6. Analyze traffic effects 7. Estimate benefits and costs relative to base case 8. Evaluate risk 9. Compare net benefits and rank alternatives 10. Make recommendations http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/asstmgmt/primer05.cfm The Public Spending Code D. Standard Analytical Procedures Guide to economic appraisal: Carrying out a cost benefit analysis http://publicspendingcode.per.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/D03-Guide-to-economic-appraisal-CBA-16-July.pdf