Nike Promotion Essay Example for Free

Nike Promotion EssayAnother important factor in economy is the maturing market in acrobatic property. There is likewise a growing adverse demographic change in the marketplace brought about by the sweatshop expose that Nike has not overcome yet. Effects to Nikes growth ar as well as affected not only by domestic economy but also by the international economy. The continued weak Euro and Asian respite could potentially hurt Nikes international sales and growth. Nikes extreme sports product line is seen as inferior quality compared to competitors and is hurting sales and scrape externalize. CUSTOMERSIn 1998, Americans washed-out $38 billion to buy over 1. 1 billion pairs of shoes. Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association revealed that athletic footgear makes up almost 35% of all footwear purchases. The existing domestic effort focus is on casual and soft shoes. Demand is up for the br proclaim shoe casual footwear with a comfortable and rugged design. This is because of the increasing number of workplaces allowing casual dress codes. Multinational customers peak for a large part of Nikes sales. In 1995, Nikes international operations accounted for 36. 6 of its wide revenues. The smart set believes that demands from international markets will increase in future. Nike must cater to a large portion of the new generation that demands the latest trends and styles. Nike should take into account the changing US demographics due to the rising proportion of Hispanics, Asians, and African Americans. These groups have different preferences that Nike should be able to satisfy. Nike should identify the next generation of loyal customers and exit for their needs. COMPETITIONCompetition is very fierce due to the number of companies competing for sales. Lots of money goes to marketing and promotions using various channels to reach the teenaged demographic group of consumers who spend the most money on Nikes products. Growth is slowing down in the athletic fo otwear industry. But new markets are uphill with high growth rates. These markets include extreme sports market and the bodily merchandise market. Nikes global market share was an impressive 30. 4% in 1998. The closest competitor, Adidas, held 15. 5% of the market share while Reebok held 11. 2%.The remaining competitors, including Fila, Timberland, Asics, Converse, and New Balance, among others, each hold approximately 3-5% of the remaining market share. MARKETING ASPECTS OBJECTIVES Nikebiz. com stated that Nikes representation parameter is Through the adoption of business practices Nike is committed to securing intergenerational quality of life, restoring environment and increasing value for our customers, shareholders and business partners. Nike shows passion for their comp either, products, and athletes. They are determined to provide consumers with comfort and assurance.They also find ways to innovate and create. They adhere to their five brand principles namely inspire, inn ovate, focus, connect, and care. Another Nikes objective is to be the worlds leading sports and Fitness Company. Nikes mission statement is quasi(prenominal) to a vision statement and is potentially a weakness. The mission identifies the sports and fittingness industry business they are in, it does not specify as to what products and services they provide. The mission statement does not mention distribution channels and customers.However, it portrays managements beliefs and the desire to be number one and remain in the leading position in sports and fitness shoe and apparel industry. STRATEGIES Corporate Strategies. The past two decades saw a change in economy from standardized to flexible. Having a strict corporate organization used to be the rule, now it is common to have a flexible organization that uses subcontracting. The main reason Nike succeeded in competing in the footwear industry for a long time is because they remain flexible in an unpredictable market by subcontracti ng overseas in countries with low labor-cost.Another reason for Nikes specialism in competition is their product differentiation. Aside from athletic shoes, Nikes product line now offers a broad range of clothing, equipment and accessories. TACTICS Nikes distinctive tactics are found in the area of marketing, specifically in consumer brand awareness and brand power. Nikes catch phrases like, meet Do It, and symbols like the Nike Swoosh, are reminders of the Nike empire. This tactic is impressive because it could not be easily replicated and it offers value or benefit to consumers.Nike is becoming a part of American and world culture, the brand power becomes more problematic to replicate. The trademark and a slogan serves as the companys fingerprints. Nike is able to capitalize the unique identity due because of its financial authorisation. Nike reaches millions of consumers through large-scale marketing campaigns. The public benefits from the strength of Nikes image when they make a purchase. Consumers often associate Nike image with quality products. By associating star athletes and motivational slogans like, Just Do It, consumers identify their purchases with the prospect of achieving greatness.This image they create forms a tactic that competing companies can not easily duplicate by simply improving their products. PRODUCT Nike sells a huge variety of products, including shoes for running, basketball, cross training, Women and children. All of which are currently its top-selling product categories. Nike also sells shoes for outdoor activities such as tennis, golf, soccer, baseball, football, bicycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, aquatic activities, auto racing and other athletic and recreational uses.Nike began selling active sports apparel in 1979 as well as athletic bags and accessory items. The company sells a line of performance equipment down the stairs the Nike brand name, such as sport balls, timepieces, eyewear, skates, bats and oth er equipment. They also sell a line of dress and casual footwear and accessories for men, women and children under the brand name Cole Haan. The company markets headwear under the brand name Sports Specialties, through Nike police squad Sports, Inc. They also sell small amounts of various plastic products to other manufacturers through Nike IHM, Inc.Bauer Nike Hockey Inc. manufactures and distributes ice skates, skate blades, in-roller skates, protective gear, hockey sticks and hockey jerseys and accessories under the Bauer and Nike brand names Pricing Strategies Nike uses vertical integration in set wherein they own participants at differing channel levels or engage in more than one channel level operations. This is also an attempt to control costs and influence pricing practices. PLACE Distribution channels and policy. Should additional channels be added, why? Nike sells its product to about 20,000 retail accounts in the U.S. and in approximately 110 countries round the world. Nike sells its products in international markets through independent distributors, licensees and subsidiaries. Independent distributors has little or no pressure for local adaptation because the 4Ps of marketing are managed by distributors. publicity Nike has been one of the top retail industries for quite along time. This is because they sell quality products, customer loyalty, but most of all, its great marketing techniques. Nike has a number of illustrious athletes to create a great deal of attention to their products.Nike has signed the top athletes in many different sports such as the Brazilian Soccer Team (especially Ronaldino, Renaldo, and Roberto Carlos), Lebron James and Jermane ONeal for basketball, Lance Armstrong for cycling, and Tiger Woods for Golf. Sponsoring of events is another great promotional technique for Nike. It brings attention Nikes products. Web sites are a great promotional animal as they cover these events. Such events include Hoop It Up and The Golden West Invitational. Nike also personalizes websites. They make the websites exclusively for a sport such as nikebasketball. om , nikefootball. com , and nikegolf. com Marketing strategy Nikes marketing strategy is an important component of the companys success. Nike is positioned as a premium-brand, selling well-designed and expensive products. Nike lures customers with a marketing strategy centering some a brand image which is attained by distinctive logo and the advertising slogan Just do it. 35 Nike promotes its products by sponsorship agreements with celebrity athletes, professional teams and college athletic teams. However, Nikes marketing mix contains many elements besides promotion.These are summarised below. publicise From 1972 to 1982, Nike relied almost exclusively on print advertising in highly vertical publications including hybridise and Field News. Most of the early advertising was focused on a new shoe release, essentially outlining the benefits of the running, bask etball or tennis shoe. In 1976, the company hired its branch outside ad agency, John Brown and Partners, who created what many consider Nikes first brand advertising in 1977. A print ad with the tagline There is no finish line featured a lone runner on a rural road and became an instant classic.The success of this childly ad inspired Nike to create a poster variation that launched the companys poster business. In 1982, Nike aired its first national television ads, created by newly organise ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, during the New York Marathon. This would mark the beginning of a remarkably successful partnership between Nike and W+K that remains intact today. The Cannes Advertising Festival has named Nike its advertiser of the year on two separate occasions, the first and only company to receive that honor twice (1994, 2003). 36 Nike also has earned the Emmy confront for best commercial twice since the award was first created in the 1990s. The first was for The Morning After, a satirical look at what a runner force face on the morning of January 1, 2000 if every dire prediction about Y2K came to fruition. 37 The second Emmy for advertising earned by Nike was for a 2002 spot called Move, which featured a series of famous and everyday athletes in a stream of athletic pursuits. 38In addition to garnering awards, Nike advertising has generated its fair share of Controversy. RANDOM The short version of this is Nike makes itself pop up everywhere, so that its well known. It associates with people that most of its consumers want to emulate (such as michael jordan, in the 1990s) and creates products that will appeal to as wide of an audience as possible while using those celebrities its consumers want as bait (eg, michael jordan and the Air Jordan shoe line).This is just the marketing side The business as a whole creates fast, easy assembly methods that allow it to use cheap labor in southeast asia and elsewhere to get cheap products (around 10 dollars) and sel l them at extremely high prices (about 150 dollars). With nike, most of what youre buying is image. Nike, Inc. is a marketer of sports apparel and athletic shoes. The American manufacturer, through its marketing strategy which rests on a favourable brand image, has evolved into a large multinational enterprise In keeping with the brand image is its association with the distinctive logo and its advertising slogan, Just do it. In order to maintain and sustain this image, the company makes huge investments in advertising and brand promotion. Its promotional activities include agreements for product sponsorship with professional athletic teams, celebrity athletes, and numerous college athletic teams. Nike is involved in the production of goods for a wide variety of sports, competing with every sports fashion brand in existence.Because of the absence of any single brand that rivals the products of Nike, the company has no direct competitors, with the exception of German company Adidas. This has helped popularize the brand worldwide in all areas of sport and sports fashion. When Nike first began as Blue Ribbon Sports they only sold one product (running shoes) and because of this they had to make the target audience large. However, because of the wide-range of products that Nike sells they now have different target-audiences for each product. For young people, Nike sponsors popular athletes that their customers want to emulate.

The Pursuit of Happyness Essay Example for Free

The Pursuit of Happyness EssayAmerica is a land of great deliberate and opportunity, but with its many benefits, there be also flaws, such as a large homeless population. The Pursuit of Happyness is a movie based on a true story about a man named Chris Gardner, and his struggle to live a happy demeanor. Jonathan Kozols essay, The Homeless and Their Children is about Laura and her struggle to hold in a good life for herself and her family. Will Smith, as Chris Gardner, in The Pursuit of Happyness is very similar to Laura from The Homeless and Their Children because they both are unable to provide for themselves or for their families, and do non use up a stable place to live thus, supporting Kozols picture of homelessness. Both have different causes for macrocosm homeless, but cope similar effects. Chris Gardners story starts in 1981, in San Francisco. He is a very smart and hard worker who deeply cares about his wife, Linda, and son, Christopher. Gardner takes a outlook and invests his life savings into a device called a bone-density scanner. He goes slightly selling these from door to door. Soon the people stop buying it, due to it being expensive.This leaves Chris on his knees, with his wife leaving him and moving to New York, with very little money, and being kicked out of his apartment. His wife tries to take her son, but Gardner refuses. He then applies for a stockbroker position at Dean Witter, but in order to get that position he has to go through training for six months without pay. At the corresponding time, the government takes what little money he has left in his bank account for his taxes. This makes him unable to pay for the rent, leaving him and his son homeless. From this point on, Gardner goes through many hardships such as sleeping in a bathroom, searching for a job day by day, and finding a way to feed himself and his son. Chris does non give up at all, but rather works even harder for that one and only position, which is als o being pursued by nineteen early(a) people. In one scene, he tells his son Hey Dont ever let somebody tell you You cant do something. Not even me. All right? Chris finally gets the job, goes to his son, and embraces him.In The Homeless and Their Children, Jonathan Kozol visits the Martinique hotel and interviews one of the homeless families. He decides to call the mother Laura. She has four children and they face many difficulties. Her oldest son has been diagnosed with lead poison, and the youngest daughter with scabies. The hospital hold ins displace letters to her, but due to her illiteracy, she is not able to read them, thus preventing her from helping her children. She also has many problems with her home. Her rooms radiator is broken, and the bathroom plumbing has overflowed. Laura has four rooms in her apartment and each is more dangerous than the other one. The screws are loose in the crib the corners of the beds are sharp and unprotected. Just by being homeless, she h as enough problems, but also being illiterate only adds more.Her apartment also has big rats that come out at night and snatch sometimes. Laura has gotten into many arguments with the manager of the building and complained to him about fixing the problems Why you give my son lead poison and you didnt care?(Kozol, p.308) of her apartment, but he sound ignores her and says that she is causing trouble for him. On Christmas, her children complain that they did not get any presents, but Laura tells them you will get something soon. Laura faces many numbers of problems each day, but she does not give up. She says I figure Go to church. Pray God. Ask him to help. I go on, my knees, I ask Him from my heart. (Kozol, p. 309). Chris Gardner and Laura are similar in that they have both made wrong decisions in their lives. Gardener invested in the bone density machine, Laura, being young, got drunk with a boy, and that lead to her having a child. Laura did not believe in abortion so she kept t he child however she should not have had any more children since she was not capable of taking care of them by herself.Gardner on the other hand had to only worry about his one son and his son become a motivation for him to exceed in life and be a good father. Another similarity is that both individuals tried to make things better for there families. Laura did her best to read and since she could not read, she tried to date the pictures she saw in the newspapers, grocery store etc, to help better her life. Gardner was capable of reading but he had a changed in career even though he did not poses the right education for the job that he was going for, he taught himself many things and ended up getting the job. The cause of Gardners ending up homeless was a bad financial decision. The effect of his homelessness was that he was unable to find a suitable place to operate from.He had to bounce around from motels after motels and eventually homeless shelters, which made his life more diff icult. Laura ends up being homeless because she never got a chance to be educated, and then she got unite very early and had kids, and this became a burden for her. The cause and effect on the society are that people can appreciate the little things they take for granted just by imagining themselves in Lauras situation, and learn how harsh a life of a homeless someone is. The society can learn from this, and thus, get hold of to help people like Laura by volunteering. The effect of Gardners story is that his patience and perseverance became an inspiration to the society. The Pursuit of Happyness portrayal of a homeless person is very similar to Kozols portrayal of homelessness.They both are unable to support their families, Gardner cannot find a job, due to Lauras illiteracy she is unable to answer to the hospital or the welfare department. In this situation for both characters, many things can be done to improve their lives. First of Laura should have done something to keep he r childrens father around all the time. When a family supports each other, they are successful and are able to prosper through many hardships. In case of Mr. Gardner, he should have made his early decisions carefully and through consulting family members and other who might have knowledge in the product that he was investing in. These two stories are very similar but with very different endings. In the end, people should not blame problem on themselves or others, instead they should come unitedly and find a solution.

Theory of Conceptual Change

Theory of abstract castrateIntroductionWhat is abstract diversity?Conceptual commute is a accomplish that transforms or replaces an existing opinionion with a newfound liking. It could be an idea, a belief or a way of thinking 1. The defect or restructuring of acquaintance and beliefs are what distinguishes abstract variegate acquire from other types of erudition. In abstract counter alter training, an existing whim king be basic tout ensembley smorgasbordd, replaced or assimilate by the new knowledge. The careen forms a notionual fabric that is helpful to solve future problems and explain the knowledge 2.The conjecture of judgmentual change was developed by a group of science precept researchers and philosophers in Cornell University in the early 80s 2. The theory was establish on both Piagets persuasion of disequilibration and accommodation and Thomas Kuhns description of scientific revolution 1.Conceptual Change from the epistemic emplacementThe term epistemological belief is defined as philosophical nature of knowledge and the suffice of knowing 3. The influence of epistemological beliefs in classroom instruction in diverse land and the way learner descry or manage their knowledge, is an interesting point of research 4, 5, 6. Epistemological beliefs research proves that the fairty of students beliefs regarding the nature of attainment and knowledge are strongly leave aloneed from their less-sophisticated learning strategies, their disdain level of cognitive functioning and flexibility of their cognition process 7.The best known conceptual change stumper in science education is base on students epistemologies which is derived and refined by Posner, Strike, Hewson and Gertzog in 1982 2 and applied to classroom instruction. Posner et.al. 2 suggests that classical conceptual change is similar to the Kuhns 1 nonion of a paradigm shift and Piagets notion of assimilation, accommodation and dis remainder. Classical conceptu al change shows that dissatisfaction or cognitive conflict of the students occur when their belief and conception in the existing conception framework miss to meet the new conception. Therefore, the students essential find intelligent, plausible and fruitful concepts to explain new concepts that may replace or assimilate with the old conceptions. The duration of successful conception in the students is too difficult to detect.The learning models use of constructs such as conceptual ecology, assimilation and accommodation suggests a constructivist notion based on Piagets research. Wandersee, Mintzes and Novak reported in 1994 8 that these methods are more effective than traditional methods. However, it is rather difficult to compare the effectiveness of conceptual change approaches and other approaches. Different approaches to the dogma and learning process confound disagreeent aims hence evaluation should be set to meet specific goals. The aim in conceptual change depends on the way the approaches are used in classroom practice and whether the potential to achieve goals. tally to Posner et al. and Hewson 2, it is the student who determines conceptual status and conceptual changes that associates with the constructivist learning theory and the highly personal nature of conceptions, viewed as mental models.The ability to select intelligible, plausible and fruitful seeations or conceptions for a specific consideration is a neb of expertise 9. However, researchers need to be aware that apparent conceptual changes may in fact be place setting-driven choices. The use of conceptual profiles proposed by Mortimer 10 in learning settings help to differentiate conceptual changes from contextual choices. Finally, the relation between epistemological beliefs and conceptual change learning needs to be highlighted for further research.Conceptual Change from the ontological perspectiveStudents knowledge is represented by some researchers as an ontology, that is, a s a representation of what is apparent for them based on what they know. A model called phenomenological primitives (p-prim) by DiSessa 11 interprets how students think close to particular situations. virtually believe that p-prim are additional aspects burning(prenominal) to conceptual change. It is necessary to find effective representations of such randomness to be successful in inducing conceptual change.Some researches focus on conceptual change processes in terms of mental models. The pre-existing knowledge of children about how the world works involves the spontaneous changes and instruction-based changes at the mental model level 12. Similarly, 13 argues that even very youthfulness children develop their own theories and speculate about phenomena. They believe based on the instruction, observations and love from their daily life due to their ontological and epistemological commitments with the lack of scientific theories. A childs perception is constrained by their ch ildlike framework of presuppositions 14. chi 15 argues that conceptual change requires an ontological shift. The conceptual change process is hard because the lack of appropriate strategy to assign concept to a different ontological category. Mindful students can assign the concept into the correct category by revising their ontological commitments, categories, and presuppositions.Posner et al.,2 primarily use epistemology to polish on conceptual changes and withal research on the way that students view reality. Other researchers use specific ontological terms to explain changes to the way students conceptualize science entities 16, 17, 14. Carey 18 reasons that sound knowledge restructuring during childhood shows that some of the childrens concepts cannot be compared with adults. Vosniadou 14 called for similarly radical changes in restructuring and also explains that revisions to central framework theories involve ontological and epistemological changes. There are m some(preno minal) other concepts in which the scientists process views are incompar fitting with students material conceptions. The desired changes to ontology are not often achieved in groom science. Despite this pessimistic view, change of school students material is possible. However, scientific concepts are highly complicated and the view of optimizing school science is different with scientific view. unvarying with ontological position is the research of Chiu, Chou and Liu 19 who adopted Chis 15 ontological categories of scientific concepts to investigate how students perceive the concept of chemical equilibrium. Because science concepts are not presented by teachers or in textbooks with any ontological differentiation, the desired changes to student ontology are not usually achieved in school science. Chiu et al. 19 argues that Posners 2 theory does not accurately represent the nature of scientific concepts which makes learning the concept difficult.Duit Sinatra 9, 20 utilization of C his 15 theory has constraint based features which implys randomness, simultaneous action, and uniform activities. These features prevent students from deeply understanding the nature of this concept. Students in the cognitive apprentice group were more able to develop the microscopic concepts compared to the non-cognitive apprentice group. They were able to comprehend that the added compounds are eliminated by the reaction that they themselves caused as wellhead as the macroscopic phenomenon of equilibrium evidenced in the reaction. The research also showed that matter concepts were relatively easily understood in a scientific context but students had more difficulty understanding dynamic and random activities of particles in an equilibrium state.Conceptual change from the affective perspectiveThere are expressage attention involving interest and motivation in conceptual change of the affective domain. This needs to be developed in science pedagogy because they play an important role in supporting conceptual change on the level of scientific knowledge. The classical conceptual change approach involves the affective by implicitly pointing to student dissatisfaction with prior knowledge. To support these issues, Pintrich et al. 21 articulated that a hot conceptual change is as evident as cold cognition. He emphasized that students self-efficacy and subdue beliefs, the classroom loving context along with his goals, intentions, purposes, panoramas and needs are as important cognitive strategies in concept learning. Students theories, beliefs and models are influenced by personal, motivational, social, historical factors and situational beliefs. Their undercoat knowledge is often the constraint of knowledge restructuring. Individual goals, purposes and intentions promote conceptual change in students. Educators who disregard the social and motivational factors in learning and tenet activities will cause limitation in the students change in knowledge 20.Em otions and motivation are crucial to the possibility of change 23. Although such models can reengineer humane conceptual change in some instances, they fail to recognize emotional attachment to an idea.Conceptual change from the intentional perspectiveIntentional learning 22, 23 as a purposeful goal-directed type of learning process is internally initiated instead of environmentally initiated. Therefore it is totally controlled in the conscience of the student. The intentional student knows and believes in internal initiation and goal oriented actions in the process of absorbing knowledge. Intentional learning interrelates to educational psychology with the constructs of higher level of learning and reasoning, self-regulation, engagement, and critical thinking. The students must be purposeful to monitor and regulate their learning in a metacognitive manner. The lack of intentional learning in conceptual change may result in students assimilating new knowledge into existing ones wit hout conceptual change.Gale Sinatra 24 argues that students conception have a bun in the oven evolved from being a passive receiver of reading to an active constructor of knowledge. From then on, students progress from being an active constructor to an intentional student as well. Intentional learning is an achievement and not an self-regulating consequence of human intelligence that develops spontaneously with age. It is not even promoted in schools. Bereiter and Scardamalia 25 argue that students meet the short-term goals of school tasks with their own strategies instead of taking the reason to intentionally learn. Although the learning process can be intentional, students do not take initiative to learn. Thus, intentional learning is considered as a non-automatic typical but something that develops with age.Students metaconceptual awareness can be improved by allowing them to visualize and express their ideas and beliefs verbally in group discussions. Collaborative learning, class discussions, observations, experiments and design of model, symbolic representation are significant for the growth of metaconceptual awareness and intentional learning. As a conclusion, intentional, motivated students are in control of their learning process 25.Conceptual change from the social cultural perspectiveThe overall finishing and social conceptions also influences the conceptual change process. Solomon 26 states that socio cultural factors are significant in the learning process in achieving certain tasks. Solomon goes on to de lap upe that if a students idea no longer exists, it will gradually be excluded from common interaction that might affect conceptual change process in students. The main outcome is to reform the social culture and to achieve understanding. As a whole, social culture is a huge influence in harboring conceptual change in students.Hatano and Inagaki 27, who studied socio cultural environments that induced instructional change in schools, fou nd out that social interaction and classroom group activities results in considerable progress in knowledge restructuring. However, more research is needed to investigate different methods in which conceptual change can be effectively applied by combining cognitive and socio cultural factors 27.Conceptual change from the multidimensional perspectiveThe learning and teaching development is in need of pluralistic frameworks 28 to appropriately include the numerous perspectives from different views of learning. In science and scientific education, conceptual change in the multidimensional perspective appear to be promising to improve understanding of science teaching and learning 9. In a nutshell, conceptual changes must consider epistemological, ontological and affective perspective ought to sufficiently manipulate the complex teaching and learning processes 29. Future researches will merge ideas of conceptual change and theories on the significance of affective factors.In contrast, Venville and Treagust 30 used four different perspectives which employs Posner, et al.s 2 conceptual change model, Vosniadous 14 framework theory and mental model perspective, Chi et al.s 16 ontological categories and Pintrich et al.s 31 motivation perspective, to research on diverse learning situations in which analogies were used. Venville and Treagust 30 state that each of them contributed to different theoretical perspectives and has different roles played in the classroom situations.The importance of conceptual change in science educationIn the conceptual change model, students use their existing knowledge, which is their conceptual ecology, to determine whether the different conditions are met. The new conception must be intelligible (the meaning is understood), plausible (the concept is true), and fruitful (the concept is useful). If the new conception fulfils all three conditions, conceptual change occurs and learning proceeds without difficulty 32.It is safe to assume that students do not come into science instruction class without any prior knowledge of the subject. 9. As a matter of fact, students already have rich and robust misconceptions, or naive conceptions that contrasted with the scientific world. Their misconception and the accompanying common virtuoso form the basis of the conceptual framework which the students depose on to interpret and make sense of new instructions. The student conceptions, despite being a stubborn source to influence by instruction, are also the foundation of scientific conceptions.In traditional teaching method, procedural competence is emphasized 33 more than conceptual understanding. Teaching methods are geared towards delivering facts that are passively absorbed by students in class. Students do not challenge their existing beliefs without the stimuli of new conception, but instead accept the knowledge as it is. Therefore, conceptual change in education, which encourages problem solving and open discussion is cond ucive in constructing an accurate and lasting conceptual framework in students which will be useful for future knowledge acquisition.Challenges in Conceptual Change ResearchDespite decades of research and discussion in the field of science and education, answers to questions such as what barely misconceptions are, what constitutes conceptual change and why is it so difficult remained unclear. These questions are the challenges that most conceptual change researchers face in their work.In install to promote deeper understanding, all naive knowledge needs to be repaired. However, naive knowledge is very resistant to change. According to Chi 34, because conceptual change is defined as the process of removing misconception, the definition is an infinite loop unless what constitute a misconception is established.While some naive conceptions or misconceptions are very difficult to change, other preconceptions are easier to change. Some of the reasons why misconceptions are hard to repai r is due to the fact that they involve difficult to understand principles and concepts. Aside from that 34, because misconceptions are embedded in naive theories, and naive theories are difficult to separate with correct theories, the conceptual shift across both category is a difficult process.Lacks of awareness among students in their learning process often result in the inability to realize that their understanding is flawed. Students may not be aware of their own misconception and is unaware of their incorrect understanding. Similarly, in the context of miscategorization of concept, students may not aware if systematic interpretations can be generated using their miscategorized concept.Role of Computer in conceptual change researchIn the coming of computing device architecture, computers evolved into a versatile tool capable of performing many tasks otherwise impossible for human being. Computers are not only useful as a tool in presentation and production, but recent studies aimed at using computers as learning enhancement tool successfully developed computer as a cognitive tool to facilitate the teaching and learning process. Consequently, this give rise to studies and development of using modern computer technologies to foster conceptual development and conceptual change assistance tools in classrooms 35.We would like to focus on two major roles of computer as cognitive tools in enhancing conceptual change education and discuss in detail in the laterComputer simulationsAgent technologyIntelligent System as Assessment regularityThese cognitive tools were designed to provide effective and intelligible tools to provoke reasoning and comprehension skills. Together with the encourage of educators, these cognitive tools act as a accelerator to promote and enhance learning experience and students conceptual change.Theories and models of conceptual changeAccording to Piaget 36, the students knowledge changing process is identified by assimilations and acco mmodations and incorporates with equilibrium to foster conceptual change. Assimilation is the recognition process of fitting an event into an existing conception 37. Accommodation, on the other hand, enables new conception to replace the previous conception by changing fundamental belief about how the world works.For accommodation to occur, we believe that a student must be involved in a state of cognitive equilibrium by becoming motivated. When the students expectations are not met, equilibrium occurs. If the words, ideas and experiences presented can be assimilated by the student, then there is no equilibrium and subsequently no conceptual change. Conceptual change does not depend on contradiction, but on equilibrium.In Kuhns 1 opinion, scientific revolution is consistent and follows a pattern. The basic way of perceiving, thinking, valuing and doing things is considered as a state of crisis due to its failure to solve or explain significant problems 1 within the scientific commun ity. This situation, which is termed as a dominant scientific paradigm, gave conception to an alternative paradigm with the potential to solve the initial problem. The two conditions, between solving and not solving the scientific problem, change magnitude a third probability situation in between, which is what known as paradigm shift, giving the world a whole new framework of thinking.Starting with a group of science education researchers and philosophers in Cornell University in the early 80s 2 , contemporary research and development of conceptual change theory was based on both Piagets notion of disequilibration and accommodation and Thomas Kuhns description of scientific revolution 1. In an attempt to clarify the concept of conceptual change, many researchers have proposed different opinions of the theory.Bereiter and Scardamalia 25 postulated the ideas of the intentional learner and Pintrich, Marx Boyle 31 emphasized that conceptual change is more than conceptual. The emphasi s for change is within the learners control and the notion of intentional conceptual change is in certain aspect similar to that of mindfulness 38. It is assumed that learners are in full awareness and the state of change in mind is voluntarily, with the aid of motivation, cognition and learning.Hewsons 39 approach towards conceptual change is in favour of the constructivists idea 40. The constructivism philosophy is founded on the basis that we construct our own understanding of the surroundings by using our existing knowledge. Since the construction process is influenced by social experiences, individually constructed knowledge is usually not idiosyncratic nor personal and Hewson 39 believed that individually constructed knowledge is quick-scented 41. However, the existing knowledge and socially certain beliefs act as a hindrance to the interpretation of new experiences and influences the perception of new knowledge in any situation. Therefore, depending on individual knowledge foundation and beliefs, and the influences of social interaction, two individuals exposed to the same events may perceive and interpret them in very different ways.According to Vosniadou 42, the process of conceptual change in learning is a constructivist approach with the assumption that knowledge is gained in domain specific and theory-like structures. Knowledge acquisition is characterized by theory changes 42 and is continuous and progressive.According to Chi and Roscoe 43, conceptual change is the process of repairing misconceptions. According to Hatano and Inagaki 44, naive conception is formed in order to make sense and predict unfamiliar entities of the surrounding. Usually, very young children formulate their own explanations and predictions of the world around them. The formed naive conception is continually repaired and replaced by new, plausible ideas. Chi and Roscoe 43 also viewed these misconceptions as incorrect categorization of concepts, and therefore conceptual cha nge is the reassignment of concept to correctly categorize the concepts.According to diSessa 44 conceptual change is the reorganization of the various kinds of knowledge into a complication system in the learners mind. According to this view, conceptual change is the process of cognitive reorganization of fragmented naive knowledge.In contrast, Ivarsson, Schoultz and Saljo, 45 regards that naive conception does not serve any purpose in conceptual change, since conceptual change is the appropriation of intellectual tools. In this context, conceptual change is the result of change in the usage of these intellectual tools, and occurs at the societal level.Conceptual Change ModelsThe earliest model of conceptual change, termed as the classical conceptual change model is postulated by Posner et al. 2. The classical conceptual change model was modeled from the epistemological perspective, and according to this model, there are four conditions before conceptual change could occur. The cond itions are dissatisfaction with existing conception, intelligibility, plausibility and fruitfulness of the new concept. The four conditions will be explored in detail in the next few paragraphs.In order for conceptual change to occur, there must be dissatisfaction with existing conceptions. Scientists and students will only make major changes in their concepts if they believe that less radical changes does not work. Thus, before an accommodation occur, that particular individual must have in mind unsolved puzzles or anomalies, and is dissatisfied with the ability of his current concept expertness to solve these problems.The new concept must be intelligible. This means, the new experience encountered by the student must be sufficient in order for a new concept to be structured from it. It is worth noting that researchers often emphasize on the importance of analogies and metaphors in aiding initial meaning and intelligibility to the new concepts 46, 47.The new concept must also sou nd plausible in order to be acceptable. The new concept must at least seem to be able to solve problems generated by the prior concept otherwise the new concept will not seem like a plausible choice. In fact, plausibility is resulted by the consistency of the concepts with other new knowledge. For example, a new idea in astronomy may less likely be accepted if it is incompatible with the current knowledge of the subject matter. Prior to the 20th century, fleshly scientist were reluctant to accept the geologists claim for the age of the world, since theory regarding the sum to provide energy for the purpose of time was not founded yet.Lastly, the possibility of a new concept to provide further fruitful research program is also important. A new concept should have the potential to provide extensive and new areas for inquiry. Researchers and students alike, estimates the fruitfulness of an alternative conception by evaluating whether the concept opens to something interesting, worth while to explore.However, classical conceptual change was criticized for its excessively rational approach. Vosniadous 48 framework theory approach attempts to meet the criticisms against the conceptual change theory. In framework theory approach, misconceptions are not considered as unitary nor wrong(p) conception. The knowledge system consists of various different elements in a complex organization. 48 Taking into consideration the evolutionary factors as well as learners interaction with their physical and social environment and their availability of cultural tools, the formation of the learners initial theory is distinctive from the misconceptions produced after systematic instructions. The constructivist approach of framework theory approach assumes that new conception is built on existing knowledge structures 48. The constructivist perspective provides a comprehensive framework for meaningful and detailed prediction of the process of knowledge acquisition.Lets take in at co nceptual change from the point of view of the educators. It is the responsibility of the educators to teach students in the way that students conception difference could be facilitated. In fact, latest education related studies tried to include the students conceptions in the process of learning, in which a concept called conceptual change teaching is formed 32. In this concept, several stages of conceptual teaching are identified. These stages includes firstly, the diagnostic or elicitation stage, where the educators uses diagnostic techniques to find out the students existing conceptual ideas and the reasoning behind the idea secondly, the status change stage, in which educators uses designated methods to aid students lower the level of the existing incorrect knowledge and increase the level of the correct ideas and lastly, the evidence of the outcome, whether the outcome of the learning process is partly based on the consideration of the prior existing knowledge.During the diffe rent stages aforementioned, there are different contributing factors, or variable that affects the teaching of conceptual change. These variables include metacognition, classroom climate, role of teacher and the role of learner.Metacognition refers awareness of thought processes, and is related to cognitive functions such as perception and attention 49. Educators should encourage students to look at the ideas in a third persons perspective, stepping back to evaluate both the new and old ideas, and express their opinions.Classroom climate refers to the atmosphere where the learning process is conducted, and the family relationship between the educators and the students. There must be a mutual respect of ideas in order to foster a positive climate for learning.As a teacher, or educator, the role of teacher is to ensure that the students are provided ample opportunities for self expression without being judged. An educators role is to deliver knowledge and the educator themselves must be aware that the knowledge that transpires in the lessons ought to be shared and discussed, rather than dispelling ideas that are different from their own.As a student, or learner, the role of learner is to be amenable of their own learning, to take interest in ideas different from their own and to synthesis new ideas from different sources, rather than expecting to memorize knowledge delivered by the educator.These variables to facilitate teaching have been successfully implemented in different levels of education and subjects 50, 51.Lets look at the alternative conception. In the alternative conception survey, there are many misconceptions that affect conceptual change, but the variables are inferential and hard to distinguish, especially for perceptions that are reported by subjects themselves 52. Three of the most popular evidences stemmed from experience and perceptions, a wide variety of cultural values and ideas, and language factors.According to Hawkins and Pea 53, young childrens scientific knowledge structure is constructed on a domain by domain basis before they receive formal education. Therefore, children are active constructors of their own knowledge framework. By interacting with the physical world and cultural environment, young children actively ask questions and give reasons about things in their point of view to gain more predictive control over their surroundings. The child learns about expectation of his own actions by the action of others, as well as the reaction of the physical world, and construct non-scientific framework of their encounters, which form the basis of their interpretation of natural and social events. Growing up children in all societies discover a many phenomena that facilitates learning, but not all discoveries are automatically interpreted, explicated and causally related in their mind. Prior to formal education or instruction, the childrens understanding is sufficient in interpreting and guiding them in their dail y life 54 but this pre-conception of idea may drastically hinder formal scientific learning in classroom.The origin of conception is also heavily influence by the culture where the students grow up in. The social scene is highly critical in influencing the perception of a particular task in the learning environment 55. Radical viewpoint differences from the accepted notions within the social scene will not survive for long as they will generally be excluded from social intercourse. Many young children do not have the ability to withstand the pressure, and the desire to be accepted will cause many ideas to be abandoned. Therefore, the strong influences of the overall culture on students perception and understanding cannot be ignored by the educators. Quoting the example of Lopez 56, the Itzaj (a people native to the Americas) and the North American college students are observed in the folkbiological taxonomies. It is observed that the Itzaj subjects have a unique way of categorizing bats. While the American group categorized bats with insectivores and rodents (scientifically correct to a certain degree), the Itzaj left them ungrouped and in a general category, or they classified the bats as birds. While formal interview revealed that the Itzaj agree that the bats is more like shrews and small rodents, they refuse to classify bat as mammals because they knew bats are birds. The influences of their culture caused the Itzaj subjects to ignore the relationship of bats to mammals. On the other hand, scientific understanding influences in the culture of the American college students, however, enable the North American college students to have misconceptions such as the Itzaj.The language, being the medium on interaction, is an influential variable in conception. Word meanings and usage may differ from individuals, and the correct term used by educators might be different from what the students perceive in their naive knowledge. Especially in scientific learning, conc epts and definitions ma

E-commerce travel industry

E-commerce travel industryIntroductionAccording to Keith Blois, (2003), in recent years, increasing numbers of businesses obtain been using the make in their marketing efforts. The Internet is unique beca implement it is both a market and a medium. This means that it piece of tail efficiently assume a multi-channel role by serving as a computer-mediated market in which buyers and sellers access each other, and as a medium to conduct and execute business functions such as marketing, sales, and distri more thanoverion. Many e-commerce principles were pioneered by the travel industry. These include the first business-to-business electronic knowledge exchange and industry-wide electronic marketplace. This environment provided unprecedented opportunity for operations re seem (OR) theoretical accounting. operate companies continue to derive billions of dollars annuall(a)y from these and derivative models. The availableness of reli fitted, low-cost communications via the Internet is not only providing new modeling challenges within the travel industry, just now it is also providing similar opportunities in other industries 1. Tourism industry is one of the most competitive industries within the economic environment. Within industrys boundaries actors have more or less recently and with significantly different patterns of action undertaken efforts to achieve an integration of the internet platform and its applications. In this section, we explore the effects of electronic commerce and its electric potential for competitive advantage for airline industry by using Michael Porters seminar work on industry analysis as a mannikin. Web come out Comparisonwww.travel companiesocity.comThe moment I visit the rifle city site -the first page gives me the impression that my country, Sultanate of Oman is not there in listed? And I dont standardised it that my country is not listed here. miserable in to the website with this sad sense of smelling in mind that my count ry is not listed we go ahead to log in to one of the global sites as they say, the closest country, and the company wants to say too many things in one go to the customers and this is something that is difficult to digest for the first time visitors. The first-timer is very confused to be able to relate to all the features in the website. Though the regional flavor and link through the local site helps it is difficult to do a very luxuriously level of localization of the content to cater to all the segments of the marketwww.southwest.comThe look and feel of this website is a lot cleaner than other travel companies website for instance in Travel city.The most important feature that this website it that most of the commonly used menus argon neatly tucked inside the main menus and just on the run of the mouse they unfold in to the options. This is a very good feature that helps maintain the clean looks and still does not compromise on the functionalitywww.Adrenalin.comThis Polaris convention company that is selling the HR software is using the website more for servicing functionalities The overall framework Generating demand Ordering Fulfillment Processing payments Service and support Security CommunityRegardless of which business model travel companies adopt, to be successful, travel companies need to understand how the Web and e-commerce affects their business 2. Travel companies need to turn out an overall strategy covering strategic management, IT infrastructure, design, content, e-commerce systems, marketing and customer service. Travel companies also need to be creative and entrepreneurial. As every entrepreneur knows however, you exit only be truly successful if you provide genuine value to your customers and solve a problem for them. As it is evident from the above list that its informal to navigate through the website by following the links. Its user friendly and the home page of the airlines gives a glance of the services provided by them and t he beautiful destinations and the activities which can be performed. It also gives the information about the hotels and resorts in each destination. All the document or equipments requirement for all the situations is also mentioned in the website e.g. when traveling with pet, traveling with children, baggage rules etc. Over all it gives every possible information to the passengers they might need to consecrate their travel plan and during their stay at various destinations.Sources of warring Advantage Travel companies do conform to those which Porter describes Cost Leadership, Differentiation and Focus. The proposition is that travel companies that can successfully work in one of these areas will be able to establish and sustain a competitive advantage. Cost LeadershipTravel companies can generate significant cost savings by sending tickets, newsletters, quotes, and other documents via Internet, rather than by post or facsimile. Travel companies can use Web site to publish in a efficient way public domain documents such as annual reports, product brochures, positions vacant, contact details and other important Travel companies information. Travel companies can keep open on the cost of running bricks and mortar outlets and can reach global markets without having to develop a physical global distribution network. Most importantly, Travel companies can save on customer service costs by enabling customers to serve themselves. One of the American Travel companies CEO said that the Web site is playing a major role in mitigating the rise in unit costs affected by high fuel prices. Its 10 times cheaper to deliver to customers through the online service than through a travel companys agent and costs 5 times less than using travel companiess own reservation staff. The withstanding cost per passenger online is well under $1, and is scaling down even further. He said Internet use by passengers was helping the holder keep fares at low discount levels 4. Massive investment in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) information systems is expected to translate into important cost savings in procurement, sales, billing and other support activities. The travel companiess fully automatic ordering system, for example, should reduce order processing costs by 90%. 5. Differentiation E-ticketing the upshot of a booking code at the conclusion online transition that replaces the traditional travel companies ticket. E-ticketing seems to be a win-win solution for the travel companies business. It offers the travel companies the chance to make considerable savings in both trade terms as well as in invoicing and internal accountancy procedures. Moreover, it helps to fight the downward profit spiral that has affected the industry for years. Secondly, it is very attractive to customers, who may benefit from a service offer both technologically advanced and of high unalienable value. Focus The travel industry gives us a perfect exa mple of successful Focus strategies that is the so-called Integrated Operators of the travel business. FedEx, the integrated cargo carrier, was the pioneer. Having demonstrable a very efficient and fully computerized system for tracking individual parcels anywhere on its network it took the next logical step. In 1994, through its website, it allowed its customers to book and pay for its services without restriction via the Internet 6. The e-Commerce infrastructure developed by travel companies allows collection and central storage of sales and marketing data. Travel companies use this data to drive decision support tools for planning and marketing. The job Theories and conceptsThe old pillars and new meaningsThe Laudon and Traver framework 2005 is very elaborate explaining the different pillars that have contributed to the development of the E-Commerce framework.This framework at the very top of the list has E-Commerce application that can be used for the development of businesse s in the future. These applications may seem at the outset like out of a science fiction book but are indeed realities. The disintermediation and ReintermediationThe travel agents for example it was believed that will lose their jobs when more people are interested on online business but interestingly the use of these web-enabled features have only increased the use and conveniences of these businesses. For example two of the three websites that have been taken up for analysis by our group are Travel websites. These are supposed to wipe out the businesses of the intermediary called the travel agent but interestingly, these have added to the convenience of the travel agent hence creating a new intermediary.The Grover V and J Teng (2001) model of the infomediaries and information flow model gives a more clear idea about the various channels that carry information between the buyers/sellers and the infomediaries.The ThemesHence the themes that came up to us were the B2C models and we w ere interested in looking specifically at the travel related websites. There was one website travel that we could not get an approval for but the group was happy to consider the business model of B2CB2CThe group was of a very uniform opinion that the websites have to be B2B only since some of the data that was spoken about were like $ 250 billion taxation in 2005 from B2B as against 6.3 trillion in B2C. Although the difference is huge the group came to a strong consensus that the gap will be bridged and it will be cost pursuing with all the hopes for new business models in the future happening in the B2C segment rather than the B2C segment.The death of the Physical travel agent or the focus on creation of new intermediariesConsidering the new intermediaries that are being evolved because of the e-business it is was discussed if the websites will wipe away the travel agent. But the discussion pointed in the care of all websites have been playing a supportive roles in the B2C front and the travel agent themselves are using these websites to help customers and give them a fracture service.The Adrenalin.com website that sells software has been using the site to reach out to the resellers as well. In a business where there is a very high connectivity on the internet, this is a unique feature that this company is using it build customer loyalty as well as expand the channel of distribution. The criteria for evaluating the websitesAdrenalinSouth wattTravelocitySite Design686Navigation686Customer Interface977Business Model876Criteria Explanation NavigationIs it easy for visitors to find their way around the site?Does the site comply with three gossip rule?ConsistencyAre design elements, especially look and feel, consistent from page to page?Will the website and contents appear the same on all visitors screens?PerformanceHow long does it take for the page to appear?Doest site comply with the 12-second rule? With the 4-second rule?AppearanceIs the site aesthetical ly pleasing?Does the sites look and feel express the companys desired image?Is the site easy to read, easy to navigate and easy to understand?Quality AssuranceDo the site calculators, navigation links, visitors fitting process, search tool etc. wok properly?Are all the dead links fixed promptly?Is the site available for the full service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?InteractivityDoes site encourage the visitor to play an active role in learning about the businesss products or services?Are all appropriate contact details available on the Website so that visitors can submit feedback and ask questions?SecurityIs the customer information protected?Does the customer feel safe in actions such as submitting credit card information?Scalability Does the site design provide a unlined path for intensifyments or upgrades in the future?Will site growth and increased usage protect the initial investment in the site structure?The Criteria for assessment were selected after deliberations on how the customer will view the details of the site. The criteria customer interface was included to assess how the company was recording the details of the customer traffic and recording them in to usable database.In the case of Southwest it was very clear that the website is a place for building the loyalty programs of the airlines. The Adrenalin website is a good place with its feature of blog, for all troubleshooting and technical whitepapersHow Web Site Visitors Evaluate ContentCriteria (and related subcriteria)Explanation Relevance (applicable, related, clear)Concerned with issues such as relevancy, clearness and goodness of the informationTimeliness (current, continuously updated)Concerned with the currency of the informationReliability (believable, accurate, consistent) Concerned with the degree of accuracy, dependability and consistency of informationcompass (sufficient, complete, covers a wide range, detailed)Evaluates the extent of information, range of information and levels of details provided by the web site. Perceived usefulness (informative, valuable, instrumental)Visitors assessment of the likelihood that the information will enhance their purchasing decisionHow Web Site Visitors Evaluate Web Site DesignCriteria (and related subcriteria)Explanation Access (responsive, load quickly)Refers to the speed of access and the availability of the website at all times. Usability (simple layout, easy to use, well organized, visually attractive, fun, clear design)Concerned with the extent to which the website is visually appealing, consistent, fun and easy to use.Navigation Evaluates the links to needed information.Interactivity (customized product, search engine, ability to create a list of items, change the list of items and find related items)Evaluates the search engine and personal features (e.g. shopping cart) of the website. RecommendationWebsite should be more informative. It should be easy to navigate through various pages even for the new online use rs. Since the Travel Agency is providing lot of services and products for its customers so must have assay function should have drop down menu so that even the customer who are not aware about all products and services of the Travel Agency can get information about it. May be it will help the Travel Agency to have more customers as onetime(prenominal) customers are not aware about all the products offered by the Travel Agency. As it is clear from the financial report of Travel Agency which is available on website that the latest report is not available i.e. for third quarter. So it should be taken care that the website is updated regularly.

Acquisition of Nursing Critical Thinking Skills Strategies

Acquisition of nursing unfavorable Thinking Skills StrategiesAimsAims ar general statements of the judge educational intentions of the subordinate taught (Butt, 2006). The aims of the lesson be1. To issue nursing students with opportunities to acquire unfavorable idea abilities necessary for distinguishing genuine patients2. To enable students to apply and implement the learnt sarcastic thinking strategies learnt in actual practice with human patients.3. To provide opportunities for students to develop critical thinking skills and practice clinical decision-making with appropriate faculty guidance.4. To equip the students with the necessary opinion skills pick outd in identifying patient problems, analysing these problems in terms of their implications for the underlying disease servees and psychosocial needs, and taking actions to optimize the reco truly situation.Learning ObjectivesLearning headings are specific and measured targets to be attained by students taught (Kerry, 2002). By the end of the lesson, the student shall be able to1. Recall fellowship and facts learnt in class.2. Apply the comprehension thinking to give voice and establish the relationship among data.3. Apply the concept learning new hypothetical situation to arrive at correct answer.4. Apply the analysis in faulting problems into comp acents and examine the components to establish trends and evidence generalization.5. Present items or thoughts together in new ways-synthesis.6. Evaluate arguments for validity or relative worth of a diorama point or process based on established criteria.Teaching PhilosophyThe learn philosophy for lessons is derived from social and situational theories that pitch focus on relationships and interaction betwixt individuals as basis for learning process (International Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Worasinchai Ribiere, 2014). The theories hold that students must engage in meaningful discussions and conversation with one a nonher in order to learn from them. I hold the view that students learn best from their peers. Consequently, peer learning shall be done in any didactics sitting. Teaching Strategies Teaching strategies are methods and processes the teacher uses to engage student and facilitate the learning process (Programme for International Student Assessment., Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2010). These strategies are outlined below. 1. Peer learning. Peer learning is a learning strategy that entails students learning from themselves in pairs or hosts (Frankland, 2007). For peer learning section, the teacher shall group students and provide task for each group to perform. Peers shall together to set up a support network for group learning and support. 2. Observation and feedback. The teacher provides clear, honest, detailed and objective feedback on the learners performance so they may identify areas in need of improvement or levels of achievement. 3. Demonstration Demonstration is a lawsuit of learning that involves exhibition and explanation of the concept, process, office, idea or experiment (Sankaranarayanan Sindhu, 2012). A student entrust be allocated to perform as a patient with a scenario, and the students will talk to him while he answers them.4. mirror image.Reflection involves careful consideration of concepts, ideas, experience, beliefs, processes and information on the basis of its premises and conclusions that supports it (Suqerman, 2000). Time to hire sense of things will be given after the performance of the human stimulator to make sense of everything. 5. Lecture A reproof is a method of teaching that involves the presentation of the subject through talking (Jarvis, 1995). The teacher will explain motley concepts in class. Lecture time shall be used by the teacher to teach students about the topic for the session. 6. PowerPoint Presentation The teacher will make a short presentation to introduce the topic and primae val issues. Procedure The teacher makes a 15 minute PowerPoint presentation followed by a 15 minutes pre-test (multiple answer questions) given to students. Session begins, each having 120 minutes 1. The teacher gives a 15min lecture to students.2. 15 minutes pre-test given to students (7 multiple answer questions). 3. Teacher asks one student to pretend as patient and the rest of students as the student question. The deduction and practice on human stimulator as patient last for 20 min. 4. Students can ask reflection questions on the demonstration for 10 min. 5. Students give 10 min break. 6. Students placed in groups and asked to discuss the concept learnt with their peers for 20 min. 7. The teacher gives students observation feedback for 15 min.8. 15 minutes post-test given to students (5 multiple answer question). preceptCritical thinking is an meaty skill learnt by students studying to become nurses. It is defined as a process of intellectually and actively conceptualizing, u sing, analysing, synthesizing and assessing information to necessitate action or belief (Higgs, 2008). Critical thinking is based on intellectual competencies much(prenominal) as clarity, accuracy, breadth and precision and logic (White, Duncan Baumie, 2013). Nurses use critical thinking skills to apply model and theories learnt in their studies to patients (Cody Kenney, 2006). Nurses are required to make swellspring-reasoned clinical decisions derived from reflection and critical thinking. To this end, they are taught critical thinking strategies equip them with skills needed to make decisions reasoning. Critical thinking enables the nurses to establish the needs of patients and make a decision on the most appropriate nursing action to take (Brunner Smeltzer, 2010). or so nursing schools offer critical thinking course as a separate unit requirement. Others integrate its concepts in other related course subjects. disregarding of how nursing schools approach the teaching of critical thinking skills, it remains important in nursing practice. Critical thinking according to Watson and Glaser has three elements. These elements are skills, knowledge and attitude (Hersen Thomas, 2003). A critical thinker must be make to look at the problem and find solutions to it. He or she must as well as have good understanding and knowledge of the problem (Bradshaw Lowenstein, 2011). More importantly the person must have the appropriate skill to apply and knowledge to do problems (Andrea, 2009). Nurses are confronted by problems that often need quick and appropriate solutions. For instance, a nurse is evaluate to make a decision on whether to call a doctor or ignore when the patient conditions deteriorates. His or her decision can either save the patients life or lead to death. Hence, they require training on critical skills to equip them with abilities to make independent judgement and assessment patients conditions (Lyer, 2006). Nurses apply critical thinking ski lls in various aspects of their work. In assessment, nurses use critical skills to gather relevant data from patients through interview, observation or from records (Comer, 2005). They must also have critical thinking skills to stigmatise important from non-important data and validate the data using other data sources. In diagnosis, they use the skills to organize data into patterns, establish a relationship between data and make a comparison between patterns and theories (Wilkinson, 1996). A compass, the skills are used to explore individual assumptions on patients conditions and make a judgment on patients health concern and explain those concerns to the clients. In planning, critical thinking skills are used to identify patients concerns, find out desired health outcome and choose capable intervention. On the other hand, in the implementation, nurses use the skills execute interventions make comparison of baseline data and prevailing status. The teaching plan for the deliverin g the topic Strategies for the Acquisition of Nursing Critical Thinking Skills, Incorporates entrenched teaching practices and learning theories. The teaching plan is more students centred. Student-centred learning put emphasis on dis gallopy of knowledge as opposed to passing information (Cook Sittler, 2008). Only 50 minutes out of 120 session minutes are dedicated for teachers active involvement in class. The remaining time is taken up by student-centred teaching methods that include peer teaching, demonstration, and reflection. These student centred methods of teaching support social learning theories that focus on peer learning as most suitable method of acquiring knowledge. Given that the program involves the development critical thinking skills, students can learn bring out by applying what they have learnt by interacting with peers. The demonstration part of the teaching gives the student opportunity to identify a problem and use learnt skills to solve it. They are expected to extract serviceable information from the patient and use it to understand the patients concerns. These tasks require critical thinking skills. The course content for teaching critical thinking skills is very elaborate. It encompasses rudimentary areas of learning that include the development of critical thinking skills and characteristics of a thinker. Besides, the learning outcomes have all been considered in the development of the teaching plan. Consequently, the plan meets the key requirement of teaching plans. Teaching plans have aims, procedure and resources (Mariotti, 2009). This information is captured in the template and it relates to the main topic. Apart from course content, at that place are sections of the plan that are to provide information on situational factors that may have effects on the learning critical thinking skills. These sections include learners entry level and special needs.Reflection in actionReflection is a philosophical understanding of how one c an pick up learning through experience and use distinctive methodologies to the same situation (Nairn et al. 2012). It is also the persistent process of active thinking and putting into consideration the supporting evidence that forms knowledge to a given scenario. Critical reflection is facilitated by a persons mind and emotions. According to Vachon and Leblanc (2011), reflective practitioners are characterised by open-mindedness, whole heartedness and responsibility. Reflection prior to action is essential for impacting learning and teaching because it allows for the teaching plan to cater for individual learners based on theoretical conceptualisations of their needs and interests. I was, therefore, prepared to meet the students, interested and motivated to learn how to apply critical thinking in the field of nursing correctly. I also anticipated that the use of a variety of teaching strategies such as PowerPoint presentation, discussion questions, a brief demonstration, group wo rk and group discussions would cater for the different learning styles of the participants. For the teaching and learning process to conform to how critical thinking is practised, I therefore saw it very vital to modify strategies and approaches during the presentation to meet demands that were not catered for in the planning phase. In delivering the lecture, I was kinda confident as I have worked as a clinical nurse in hospital for three years, giving students necessary skills for working in a lab area, hospital or other working environment. The allotted time for my lecture was 15 minutes, but my teaching plan was structured to cover a slightly longer time frame. I, therefore, had to make a decision to adjust some of the strategies and to approach some aspects of the lesson differently from what was outlined in the teaching plan.To ensure that students understood well this concept, I took the initiative of not following the teaching plan as initially outlined. The PowerPoint prese ntation was the first to be presented. However, there was no enough time for questions from the students, as well as discussion hence clarification of the unclear concept, was not successful. I went on to constitute the procedure of acquiring critical thinking while repeating the initial PowerPoint presentation. This demonstration helped to clarify any concerns the participants would have had from the initial presentation. This is because they had a chance to view the little by little procedure. My experience facilitated the quick movement through the procedure without neglecting relevant details and therefore the students were able to understand the process. I gave each student the opportunity to demonstrate the procedure. Each student constructed a checklist which he or she would use to perform the procedure. Thereafter, each student demonstrated the procedure while one of the other students explained to the students what was world done. The modifications I made to the teaching plan were important because they met the stated objectives within a given timeframe. The reflective process that I followed in order to make the adjustments was essential, and is terms as reflection in action (Ely Scott, 2007).Feedback played a key role in the process. From the comments made by the students in their fifteen-minute post-test, I reckon that the process of reflection was successful. Although there were constraints such as non-adherence to the teaching plan and time shortage, the objectives of the teaching session were successfully met. The students reported that they got an understanding of how to perform the procedure, the steps to follow and the order in which those steps are followed. In addition to the students reporting that they are able to understand the procedure, I was able to estimate how well they understand the procedure based on the demonstration and narration that they exhibited. During each demonstration, I observed the student performing the procedu re, and whenever a mistake was being made, I quickly pointed it out so that the correction could be made immediately. With these corrections, they were able to understand the procedure even better. The students themselves were able to reflect in action, revealing that in any learning situation all parties have to be actively involved in reflecting on and modifying practice (Rubenfeld Scheffer, 2010). In general, the teaching session was a decent experience for me. I discovered that in conveying teaching sessions, the instructor must consider the needs of the understudies and that their individual learning styles must put into consideration.Outcome criteriaThe outcome criteria are another important process in nursing. In this process, what nurses have been learning and practicing is put into practice. To accomplish the objective of this process, the students demonstrated knowledge of the performance procedures, risks and precautions related to acquisition of critical thinking in nur sing by producing a ten-minute reflective paper, earnestly taking part in group discussions , airing their views, coming up with reflective questions and comments, teaming up in the making of an itemized informative agenda on the most proficient method to perform the process and doing a demonstration of the technique.Evaluation of teachingAmid this stage, I measured how well the students had understood the procedure. The key purpose of this stage was to gather information to assess the nursing consideration. The stage is simultaneous or on-going on the grounds that I assessed and settled on a choice amid the usage period by the students of the methodology. One of the key exercises that I carried out at this stage was to measure the attainment of the objective of goal and the modification of the teaching plan because I found out that it did not achieve the objectives (Bradshaw Lowenstein, 2011).To ensure that the evaluation process was successful, I issued the students with post-tes t sixth week of the teaching session. The post-test comprised a fifteen minute questionnaire where they had to tick in the boxes next to what was useful to them during the session. Moreover, by completing the questionnaire, I was able to see that the teaching session was successful because it met the criteria that all the notes that I had given them were relevant. Moreover, I ascertain that the procedure for acquiring critical thinking was well described and performed satisfactorily. Interviewing was also another criterion that I used to evaluate the teaching session. After interviewing the students, they said that they had gained a spacious knowledge in the field of nursing especially in the application of critical thinking. They also said that through the demonstration and presentations in the class, they were able to gain a lot of knowledge that they would apply in their future career.I also picked two students who expressed a high level of performance as well as two who express ed a low level of performance and learning. I asked them to explain to me their views pertaining to the session, and they had different ideas. The high performing students said that the session went smoothly and that the objectives were successfully met. However, the other two students had some complaints. These complaints act as the basis for future recommendation in my teaching sessions. The students complained of inadequacy of time for discussion. This was sort of a challenge because some students were not able to hear from each and every member of their group. This triggers me to allocate enough time in my next teaching session to avoid the issue of time constraint. The students also suggested that not all learning materials were available for the session hence recommended that in my next session that I ensure that they are in a capacity to access the internet.They also recommended that to ensure they are in a capacity to meet their learning objectives well they should be taken to a hospital setup where they can observe how the skill is applied. In summation, in my next lecture, I will evaluate of the consummate learning session in the form of peer review. Here, I will ensure that the students make comments on each others procedure, commending good techniques and highlighting errors or oversights. I will also make appropriate general comments on the students performance of the procedure by making any further clarifications. Finally, I will require the students to complete a feedback evaluation of the lesson.

Using Real World examples, illustrate both some of the potential :: Economics

Using Real World typefaces, illustrate both some of the potentialbenefits of monopolies and explain how monopoly firms may be able to utilise in price discrimination practices.A noncompetitive market place or gild is one where at that place is non existentcompetition. There is one leading market domineer that is producingand supplying the entire market. In a monopolistic market the companyin question can determine prices or the amount of products sell towork in their advantage. The power of a monopoly company is that itcan completely dominate a particular market subject to whether or notthere are existing or up and coming substitutes. By this what is meantis that there could well be a substitute for the monopolists product.An example of this would be old public sector companies desire BritishRail. They controlled the entire rail travel market however therewere always alternative forms of travel like coach or air travel. Thisproves that there is no real possibility of a pure mon opoly as thereare always alternatives. There is another(prenominal) variant that decides toclassification of a monopoly. This is the barriers of entry into thatparticular industry or sector of the market. If there are low barriersof entry, this will stimulate competition amid firms competing forconsumers of that market sector, however if the barriers are of highentry, then it is easy to say that the company dominating the marketis that of a monopolistic nature. This echoes the fact that amonopolistic firm can indeed decide on price or quantity sold toinfluence demand. They can only influence demand to a certain extentbecause of other alternatives to their own product e.g. travel anddifferent forms of transport. By doing this, a monopolist company canmake non-standard profits in the long term future.A major advantage of a monopolistic firm is that it can use pricediscrimination as a spear in gaining more money. This is where a firmcan make the consumer pay for a different price for the exact sameservice. A good example of this is through British telecom and how itis cheaper to ring during off peak tariffs rather that during the daywhen the cost of a phone call is substantially higher than that of aphone call during the evening. However, for price discrimination tohappen there must be a number of factors occurring to make pricediscrimination work for the company. First, the company must know itscustomers and know that they have different demands to that of otherpeople. This may be the travel of commuters into the city for work.

Dramatic Irony in Oedipus Rex Essay examples -- Oedipus the King Oedip

Dramatic Irony in Oedipus Rex M. H. Abrams defines dramatic irony as a situation wherein the audience or referee shares with the author knowledge of present or future circumastances of which a character is ignorant in that situation, the character unwittingly acts in a way we recognize to be grossly inappropriate to the real circumstances, or expects the opposite of what we know that fate holds in store, or says something that anticipates the actual outcome, but not aat all in the way that the character intends(137). Let us explore that feature in Sophocles Oedipus Rex. From the very outset of the tragedy, Sophocles relies on monstrous irony. E. T. Owens in Drama in Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus comments We must bear in mind that Sophocles builds his effects on the audiences presumed knowledge of the outcome. He has indeed constructed these early scenes also to get the most out of the ironic contrast between appearance and reality. For there is here the opportunity not only of more and more sharpening and deepening the irony, but of prolonging suspense, keeping the audience breathlessly waiting for the expected blow to fall (32). The pro strike outonists fortunes are never higher than at the outset of the drama. The rising action has already occurred with his destruction of the Sphinx and his election as king. This is the high point of Oedipus fortunes, to which he will never return. At the outset of Oedipus Rex the reader sees a king who comes to the door full of curiosity Explain your mood and purport. Is it dread /Of ill that moves you or a boon ye crave? When the priest, referring to Oedipus as savior, has responded that the mass are despairing... ... of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Owens, E. T.. Drama in Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus. In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. OBrien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Segal, Charles. Oedi pus Tyrannus Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge. New York Twayne Publishers, 1993. Sophocles In Literature of the Western World, edited by Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. NewYork Macmillan Publishing Co., 1984. Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http//etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi Van Nortwick, Thomas. Oedipus The Meaning of a Masculine Life. Norman, OK University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.