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Discuss the pros and cons of replacing school textbooks with individual student laptops.
Replacing School Textbooks with Laptops
Student’s Name
Institution
The Pros and Cons of Replacing School Textbooks with Individual Student Laptops
The replacement of school textbooks with individual student laptops will in the long-run lead to efficiency in education. However, there are many fundamental issues that need to be factored before coming up with conclusions on this matter. These include: the learning of students where teachers and stakeholders need to ask themselves which is the best mode of ensuring that students learn effectively. Apart from that, they should also think about the ease of use and cost where it should be verified if the laptops screens would be too hard on the student’s eyes when they are doing extensive readings. The repair and maintenance of the laptops should also be considered where teachers should find out if the lap tops could break if the students are allowed to carry them between classes (Finn and Inman, 2004).
The first factor to consider is cost where it is perceived that publishers could generate many CDs of their textbooks at extremely reduced costs since this does not necessitate the binding or printing of paper work. However it is believed that the publishers can still meet these costs in a number of ways. The technology required to use these CDs is one of the highest expenses they will have to meet. Since it is envisaged that most schools have already spend money on technology purchasing laptops for every student the need for computer labs would be obsolete. Laptops with combination of digital text will in the long run be expensive since the students will still want to print their work. Apart from that the cost of replacing broken laptops would make the entire project very costly (Siegle and Foster, 2001).
The second factor to put into consideration is the ease of use; if schools could be hooked to wireless networks, students will be able to access online sources in any remote place within the school compound and this includes the study halls. Challenges posed by analogue programs such as students being unable to get into laboratories or the library to complete their assignments would be a thing of the past. Apart from that students will now be in a position to explore the efficiency of the technology with ease. As a matter of fact it is envisaged that teachers could end up going back to class or changing their methods of teaching to conform to that of the digital technology. However, schools will have to employ computer tutors to teach the students and teachers on how well to make use of this new technology in order to avoid any frustrations (Schrum and Grant. 2002).
The third factor to consider is the learning of students. The introduction of laptops in schools will enhance more interaction with the subjects of learning through the use of multimedia methods. This is so because publishers such as Winston, Holt and Rinehart tend to portray scientific concepts such as photosynthesis by making use of animation which develops printed words about the subjects. Apart from that students can be in a position to access Web Quests and other forms of scientific simulations for instance the dissections of frogs via online sources. To crown it all students could be enabled to generate projects by use of power point and several other Microsoft programs in an attempt to make illustrations of what they have learned (Siegle and Foster, 2001).
In conclusion it is clear that the replacement of school textbooks with individual student laptops will in the long-run lead to efficiency in education. This stems from the following reasons: Publishers could generate many CDs of their textbooks at extremely reduced costs since this does not necessitate the binding or printing of paper work. Secondly wireless networks will enable students to access online sources in any remote place within the school compound thus overcoming challenges of not completing assignments in time due to lack of access to laboratories and libraries. Lastly the introduction of laptops in schools will enhance more interaction with the subjects of learning through the use of multimedia methods.
Reference
Finn, S., & Inman, J. G. (2004). Digital unity and digital divide: surveying alumni to study effects of a campus laptop initiative. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 36, 297–317.
Schrum, L., Skeele, R., & Grant, M. (2002). One college of education’s effort to infuse technology: a systematic approach to revisioning teaching and learning. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 35, 256–271.
Siegle, D., & Foster, T. (2001). Laptop computers and multimedia and presentation software: their effects on student achievement in anatomy and physiology.Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34, 29–37.
Discuss the probable alterations in behaviour after frontal lobe damage
Discuss the probable alterations in behaviour after frontal lobe damage. Critically discuss how might you assess this damage?
Over the past fifty years neuropsychologists, thanks in part to the rapid development of imaging technologies, have identified many of the cognitive and behavioural correlates of organic brain impairments. Over the same period, a range of new psychological tools have proven effective as diagnostic indicators of lesions or other malfunctions. The present analysis focuses specifically on the frontal lobe regions, the types of damage that might occur, the associated behavioural problems, and measures that have been formulated to assess the nature and extent of that damage.
The idea of cerebral localisation of psychological functions has existed in various forms since Gall (1935), but only recently have researchers been able to locate specific psychological processes to particular brain structures with any confidence; and studies of malfunction have been found to hold critical value here in identifying normal functioning. Kolb and Whishaw (2003) offer five discrete categories of psychological abnormality associated with frontal lobe lesions: (1) disturbances of motor functions; (2) loss of divergent thinking; (3) impaired response inhibition and inflexible behaviour; (4) poor temporal memory, and (5) impaired social and sexual behaviour imaging. Evidence, however, suggests a degree of overlap and interaction between categories. For the present analysis, the ‘cognitive’ categories, (2) and (4), will be discussed together, as will the categories relating to social behaviour and inhibition: (3) and (5).
Lesions in the motor cortex may lead to impaired motor functions, but there is evidence that damage to the prefrontal cortex also results in certain motor-control problems. For example, Fuster (1997) notes that inactivity through hypokinesia is associated with an impaired reactivity to stimuli involved with attention; impaired reactivity may also affect normal language processing functions resulting in mutism.
Damage to the motor cortex itself can lead to a reduced capacity to make fine, independent finger movements, though speed and strength of hand movements may be limited through damage to either the motor cortex or the dorsolateral area of the prefrontal cortex. Kolb and Milner (1981) carried out an experiment in which subjects who had undergone unilateral frontal lobectomies (a surgical intervention not affecting the prefrontal cortex) showed an impaired ability to copy facial and arm movement, a second group suffering left parietal lobe lesions made significantly more copying errors, while a third group suffering both left- and right frontal lobe lesions were very poor indeed at copying tasks. These findings suggest that impaired motor activities may involve a reduced capacity for the organisation and temporal programming of physical activities. (Problems of organisational disruption may relate to difficulties with temporal memory, to be discussed presently.)
Evidence suggests that Kolb and Whishaw’s (2003) category of impaired social and sexual behaviour imaging may share some common physical causal factors with that of impaired response inhibition and inflexible behaviour: specifically the inability of patients with frontal lobe lesions to demonstrate normal inhibitory responses in a range of social, emotional and decision-making contexts.
For example, Berlin et al. (2004) report that sufferers of frontal lobe lesions show inappropriate behaviour and difficulty with using normal social cues and information to monitor and control their own behaviour. Also, impaired inhibition may lead to a person to persist in a task that is obviously failing. Risk-taking, rule-breaking and reckless gambling behaviour may also be evident, as well as inappropriate sexual behaviour. Goel et al. (2004) have found evidence that failures in social reasoning may be specifically associated with left-lobe damage, rather than the right.
However, hemispheric asymmetry may play a different role in patterns of inflexible behaviour shown in age-related physical deterioration, such as is demonstrated by dementia sufferers. Goldberg (2001) argues that the right cerebral hemisphere is normally specialised for dealing with novelty and new procedural information, while the left is more specialised for routine and familiar tasks. (The left hemisphere is believed to be generally more resilient to deterioration through ageing.)
Early onset of frontal lesions tends to show far greater behavioural disruption than adult-onset lesions. Anderson et al. (1999), have noted that antisocial behaviours such as stealing and violence are more prevalent in child-onset cases, through an impulsive tendency to act on immediate cues and an inability to suppress inappropriate behaviours. Eslinger et al. (2004) cite the case of a girl who experienced a frontal lesion at the age of seven. Throughout her subsequent life she was to show consistent patterns of disruptive, antisocial and uncooperative behaviours: typically erratic, impulsive and failing to understand or empathise with others. Her failure to recognise normal societal boundaries led to serious social problems.
It was noted earlier that specific aspects of brain architecture and function have been associated with particular psychological behaviours since the nineteenth century. However, as Thimble (1990) notes,
‘It is remarkable how frontal lobe pathologic conditions often go unnoticed clinically, and indeed how the relevance of frontal lobe syndromes in man to an understanding of brain-behavior relationships has been neglected.’ (p.1)
In cases such as those cited where disinheriting through frontal lesions results in dysfunctional behaviours, the behavioural ‘abnormality’ tends to be socially, rather than clinically defined. Hence it is understandable that many cases of brain lesion may go unnoticed and undiagnosed. However, it is perhaps in researching categories of psychological disturbance dealing with cognition and memory that psychologists have been most successful in rectifying that earlier neglect of frontal-lobe symptom logy, as this area is most readily-suited to structured, task-based investigations.
The cognitive processes associated with the frontal lobes are those typically associated with ‘working memory’. Baddeley and Hitch’s (1974) model of short-term processing that stresses the role of specialised immediate storage modules under the control of a ‘central executive’. Bechara (1998) suggests that the prefrontal cortex provides the physical mechanism for this behavioural organiser. Anderson et al. (1999) found that certain types of lesion can result in castrophic interference with short-term memory-processing, whilst leaving other cognitive measures of IQ and long-term memory unaffected. Dimitrov et al. (1999) have found that short-term memory malfunction is especially marked in free-recall, rather than cued-recall tasks. ‘Divergent’ (or creative) thinking is also very limited in frontal lesion sufferers. ‘Convergent thinking’ (where a specific right-or-wrong answer is given to a specific question) is less affected. Again, this would appear to lend support to Goldberg’s hemispheric-asymmetry hypothesis, in that novel or original thinking is more severely affected than is the processing of familiar information. New learning is also typically impaired by frontal-lobe damage.
Many problems arise through poor ‘temporal’ memory, or an inability on the part of a lesion sufferer to organise information in an appropriate temporal sequence. Shimamura et al. (1990) found that subjects with frontal lesions, whilst showing a basic level of recall that matched that of controls, were significantly less to place lists of words into their temporal, presentation sequence, or to organise the sequence of chronological facts into their correct narrative order.
A whole battery of ‘frontal lobe tasks’ have been developed by psychologists (eg., see Thimble, 1990) which may serve as indicators of organic lesions. These include maze tests, rhythm-copying tasks, the Wisconsin card-sorting task and the Towers of London task. All tend to show impaired performance on the part of frontal-lesion subjects compared to controls, although variations in response patterns have been linked to laterality and other factors. For example, subjects with right-side lesions are more prone to risk-taking when carrying out the Iowa Gambling task, when compared to left-side lesion subjects and controls (Clark et al., 2003).
In conclusion, when evaluating any psychological research methodology, useful as these may be, it should perhaps be stressed that one may never infer causation from correlation, although, in many areas of clinical psychology, behaviours that start out as correlates may quickly become ‘indicators’ of a given condition. An indicator, however useful, can only be suggestive of brain malfunction, rather than conclusive evidence. A poor performance on a cognitive or other psychological task may arise for a range of reasons, and the same may be said of observed socially-dysfunctional behaviours; similarly a ‘normal’ performance is not ‘evidence of absence’. Ultimately, physical damage can only be confirmed by physical diagnostic methods. Although limited in this respect, perhaps the chief value of the kind of psychological studies cited here is, through working alongside neurology, to point clinicians in the right direction.
REFERENCES:
Anderson, Stephen W., Antoine B., Damasio H., Tranel D., Damasio Antonio R. (1999). Impairment of social and moral behavior related to early damage in human prefrontal cortex. Nature Neuroscience,2(11),1032-1036.
Baddeley, A.D, Hitch, G.J. (1974) Working Memory, In G.A. Bower (Ed.), Recent advances in learning and motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47-90). New York: Academic Press.
Bechara et al. (1998), Dissociation of working memory from decision making within the human prefrontal cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 18, 428-37.
Berlin,H., Rolls, ET, and Kischka,U. (2004). Impulsivity, time perception, emotion,. and reinforcement sensitivity in patients with orbitofrontal cortex lesions. Brain, 127, 1108-1126.
Clark, L., Manes, F., Antoun, N., Sahakian, B.J., Robbins, T.W. (2003). The contributions of lesion laterality and lesion volume to decision-making impairment following frontal lobe damage. Neuropsychologia, 41: 1474-1483.
Dimitrov, M., Granetz, J., Peterson, M., Hollnagel, C., Alexander, G. & Grafman, J. (1999). Associative learning impairments in patients with frontal lobe damage. Brain and Cognition 41: 213-230.
Eslinger, P.J., Flaherty-Craig, C.V., Benton, A.L., (2004). Developmental outcomes after early prefrontal cortex damage. Brain and Cognition 55: 84-103.
Fuster, Joaquin, M.(1997). The Prefrontal Cortex Anatomy, Physiology, and Neuropsychology of the Frontal Lobe. In Human Neuropsychology.(3rd Ed. pp.150-184) Philadelphia, NY: Lippincott-Raven.
Gall, F.J. (1835) On the Functions of the Brain and of Each of its Parts. Lewis, W. Jr., Ray, I, translators. 6 vols. Boston: Marsh, Capen & Lyon.
Goel, V., Shuren, J., Sheesley, L. and Grafman, J. (2004). Asymmetrical Involvement of Frontal Lobes in Social Reasoning. Brain. Vol. 127, 783-790.
Goldberg, E. (2001) The Executive Brain: Frontal lobes and the civilised mind. Oxford University Press.
Kolb, B. & Milner, B. (1981), `Performance of Complex Arm and Facial Movements After Focal Brain Lesions’. Neuropsychologia, 19, 491- 504.
Kolb, B. & Whishaw, I.Q. (2003) Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology. New York: Worth Publishers.
Shimamura A.P. et al (1990). Memory for the temporal order of events in patients with frontal lobe lesions and amnesic patients. Neuropsychologia 28: 803-813.
Thimble, M.H. (1990) Psychopathology of Frontal Lobe Syndromes. Seminars in Neurology Volume 10, No. 3, September 1990.
Discuss the Policy Making Role of the Federal Judiciary in Shaping our Understanding of Federalism
Discuss the Policy Making Role of the Federal Judiciary in Shaping our Understanding of Federalism
Name
Institution
Discuss the Policy Making Role of the Federal Judiciary in Shaping our Understanding of Federalism
Introduction
Federalism, which is the basic principle of the United States Constitution, means that power is shared between the national and state levels of government (Slyke, 2009). Each of the fifty states within the United States has their own individual laws and powers while the federal government has some laws which are enforceable in all the states. “In a federal system, authority is divided, usually by a written constitution, between a central government and regional, or sub divisional governments” (Bardes, Shelley & Schmidt, 2008). Federalism involves protecting the powers of individual states in making laws that are specific to them as required depending on their capacity. State laws may be different across states but federal law is the same across all the states. An example is the legalization of gay marriage which has been legalized in some states while others have not. The Federal Judiciary consists of “the Supreme Court, 91 bankruptcy courts, 94 district courts, 12 geographic circuit courts of appeals, the Court of International Trade, the Court of Appeal for the federal circuit and the Court of Federal Claims” (Diane Publishing Company, 2004). They are the tools of justice within the federal government. Their main responsibility is to ensure the rights of individual citizens are upheld even when other levels of government do not do so. The President has the mandate to nominate judges for the federal judiciary. However, the senate has to vote before the nominees are appointed into office. The Supreme Court, for the states, is the ultimate court of appeal and mainly influences the decision through interpreting the law used to make the decision. Federal courts decide cases that involve the United States government or its officials, “the United States Constitution or federal laws, or hullabaloo amid states or between the United States and foreign governments” (Hogan, 2010). They also decide cases where there are disputes over judicial jurisdiction between two states among other cases. The Judicial Conference of the United States, established by statute in 1922, is the federal courts’ national policy-making body, and it speaks for the judicial branch as a whole (Hogan, 2010). The federal judiciary makes policies that delineate the different mandates of the federal, state and local governments. This is through the decisions and judgments passed for cases they preside over during cases.
Policy Making Role of the Federal Judiciary in Shaping our Understanding of Federalism
The decisions of the Federal judiciary when listening to various cases under its jurisdiction are part of it policy making roles. The federal judiciary itself is responsible for issuing the rules of procedure and evidence that govern all federal court proceedings (Hogan, 2010). These allow them to carry out their duties within these procedures so as to ensure they are as fair and true as possible. The decisions made provide guidelines on what to do when faced with the specific issue dealt with or similar ones. These assist in shaping ones understanding of federalism in various ways. This includes determining which cases are within the federal, state and local jurisdiction, interpreting the application of the law, guiding the policy making process of the state government by providing checks and balances especially on laws that do not conform with the constitution and settling disputes between states. The decisions made in these cases are aimed at solving the issue and providing guidelines as well as enforcing the capacity of the relevant levels of government to carry out their judicial responsibilities. Most of the laws made in the states are replicated in the federal government at a higher echelon. An illustration is the policies on budgets. The federal, state and local governments all have budget related policies to deal with their income and expenditure. However, they are at different scale with the federal having a large scale budget for the whole country while the state deals with the state budget and the local government in the local budget. Their policies are all intertwined with the scales of operation differing. In some realms, the federal government is supreme and the states may not interfere; in others, the states are supreme and the federal government has little or no power to interfere; in still others, the federal government and the states share concurrent powers over the same spheres of activity (Zelden, 2007). This may sometimes cause conflicts and hence the need to have a judiciary to determine where the power lies.
The federal judiciary is responsible for judicial reviews on laws made by different states to determine whether they are constitutional or not. This power enables the judiciary branch to act as a check on the other two branches of government, in line with the system of checks and balances established by the US constitution (Bardes, Shelley & Schmidt, 2008). Applying checks and balances to state laws enables them to make policies that are in accordance to the constitution. Judiciary reviews are conducted by federal court judges who observe cases at lower courts within the states and local governments in order to determine whether they are operating within the requirements of the constitution. The federal and state courts are required to extend “full faith and credit” to each other’s respective judgments (Hogan, 2010). The federal judiciary allows the state government to change and formulate their individual laws as long as they are in accordance with the constitution. The federal government is responsible for laws that affect the country as a whole while the state laws only affect the specific states. However, it is mandatory for all the policies made to be in line with the constitution as it is the ultimate law in the country.
Federal law supersedes state and local laws and hence any decision made by the federal judiciary has to be followed. This means that where a state law is challenged, the federal law on the same issue is followed as opposed to the state one. The Supreme Court, as the highest court in the US has the greatest implications on the states based on the decision being made and area affected. The area of jurisdiction determines the level of control the federal court has. An example is when the Supreme Court held that Arkansas state constitutional amendment limiting the terms of congresspersons was unconstitutional, laws establishing term limits in twenty three other states were also invalidated (Bardes, Shelley & Schmidt, 2008). Once a decision has been made in court with regard to a law; all the states affected by a similar amendment face the same consequence. This also shows the hierarchy of power in federalism with the Federal judiciary being at the top, followed by the State and final the local government. This is important in federalism especially in determining where the powers of each level of government start and end. The different mandates should be clear in each level of government to ensure that policies are made by the correct level in order to be enforceable.
The federal judiciary also makes policies through interpreting laws and providing guidelines. When there is a dispute in the interpretation of federal laws or the constitution, the federal judiciary is responsible for interpreting it and setting a precedent through the decision made. This provides guidelines for other judiciary levels in judging cases of similar or related issues. In doing this, the lower courts are empowered to deal with cases of the same caliber. This enables them carry out their individual judicial activities and enforce their laws without needing the federal government. In this case, the federal judiciary plays an enabling role in the policy making process. In addition, it is also restricted on the kind of cases it can deal with so as to ensure states’ autonomy is not interfered with. Cases listened to by the federal judiciary include cases involving the United States government or its officials, the United States Constitution or federal laws, or hullabaloo amid states or between the United States and other governments (Hogan, 2010). The state government, on the other hand, deals with most issues within the state level such as divorce cases. The policies and laws addressed by the federal government are related to the constitution and the US relations with other countries as well as solving arising conflicts between states. This promotes the understanding of federalism as it clearly shows the issues that are dealt with by the federal government and the judiciary. The decisions made by the federal court on hearing the cases serve as guidelines for the actions of the federal government.
Another policy making role of the federal judiciary is settling disputes between two or more states that do not agree. The decisions made in these cases are used as policies to guide the involved states. The federal judiciary is charged with determining how the involved states will solve their issue. The decision is then included in the laws and policies made related to the issue. While the decision has an influence in the policies that are made, the states will, however, be allowed to enforce their power in implementing the policies made. Federalism in this case is seen in the enforcement of the states in order to effectively implement them and carry out their duties. Once a dispute is resolved, the two states are clear about their scope of jurisdiction and the extent of their power.
Conclusion
The Federal judiciary shapes our understanding of federalism by making policies that encourage and empower the state and local governments in enforcing their policies. This is done through the use of the decisions made in the judicial courts to formulate policies within the state government. Such decisions include those made when interpreting the law to determine the best way of implementing it. It is normally brought about by cases where the lower courts are unable to determine which way a case should be handled. They also solve disputes between two states over jurisdiction and conflicts thereby empowering them to implement the laws into their policies. In addition, the federal judiciary also reviews the state laws to ensure they are within the constitutional requirement. Lack of consideration for the constitution is not allowed as it is the supreme law in the country and may lead to the law or policy being scrapped off or amended. The federal, state and local government follows a hierarchical system where the federal government is at the top. This shows the kind of mandates each level has. Federal laws supersede the state laws and are upheld in case of a conflict between the two. However, there are instances where the federal and state governments work together concurrently in order to achieve them according to the constitution. Decisions made in the above case influence the policies made at state level and enforce their power to implement them. These enables one understand federalism as they show what issues the state is able to handle on its one and which should be left for the federal government. It outlines the power of each level by providing guidelines on how they can implement them in their policies. This is important as it separates the powers of the different levels and their mandate. The federal government oversees laws across the US and its operations are more large scale level compared to the state level. The state level oversees laws across the state and has a less operation scale. The federal government often steps in once the state level needs help by providing needed personnel and other resources. It also provides guidelines for important sectors such as health care and education, which should be followed by the states in enforcement.
References
Bardes, B.A., Shelley, M.C. & Schmidt, S.W., (2008). American Government and Politics Today 2008: The Essentials. Belmont, CA: Cengage Higher Education.
Diane Publishing Company. (2004). Federal Judiciary: Reviews of Court Operations Should Adhere To Oversight Standards. Darby, PA: Diane Publishing Company.
Hogan, T.F. (2010). The Federal Court System in the United States: An Introduction for Judges and Judicial Administrators in Other Countries. Washington, D.C.: Administrative Office of the U.S Courts.
Slyke, C.V. (2009). Kaplan GED 2009-2010 Edition: Complete Self-study Guide for the GED Tests. New York: Kaplan Publishing.
Zelden, C.L. (2007). The Judicial Branch of Federal Government: People, Process and Politics. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Inc.