Video Games in Education: Why They Should Be Used and How They Are Being Used

This article, Video Games in Education: Why They Should Be Used and How They Are Being Used touches on the topic of the newest generation, Generation Y. Also known as the Net Generation, these kids have fallen into the world of video games. The article discusses the new addiction on virtual play and how most of what the kids are playing is anything but educational with only a few exceptions. There have been a few games made with the intention of education. These games feature elements of science, logic, and history. With that Generation Y finds they are needing to use logic, memory, problem-solving, critical thinking, and curious to complete the games.

Overall, these games are effectively increasing motivation and interest in subjects once disliked by most. The general consensus is that these games translate what use to be confusing subject matter into something clearer and easier to understand to students.

The article also goes into depth to talk about a new program called HI FIVES. This new leap in classroom technology allows teachers to build a virtual world with all kinds’ lessons actively engaging students in each one. HI FIVE does not replace the teacher; it merely gives students a new way of leaning. The only problem researches worry about is the social pressure that may come along with the program. Because students must build avatars, or virtual character, researches worry that this virtual world maybe become tense and pressured like the real world for some students.

What seems to be almost a new world is coming closer each and every day. With more and more advances in computer science and graphic design classrooms will soon be built around online learning. Some may find this new way repulsive, if they learned with text books and chalkboards so should their kids. However, this is a new age of technology. Generation Y students are so much more technologically advance, the education system has to keep up in order for the students to receive the most out of their years at school.

Pro’s and Con’s- The Healthcare Debate

This article is all about medical insurance and the flaws that exist inside of the system. In many countries there is universal coverage and citizens tend to be able to rest easier than the countries without it. One of the countries without united health care is the United States. There are tons of different plans that really only benefit it subscribers if they are receiving the insurance from a large company employer. The article opens up tell the story of Rosalyn Schwartz, who worked hard to support herself and her 18 year old son after her divorce. The problem was that she worked for a small company who was working on having insurance available for their employees but was not there yet. When Rosalyn tried to get the insurance on her own she found it to be way too expensive, not even covering what she needed it for. Between waiting and paying Rosalyn died before she could afford all of the treatments she needed. This is a prime example of all of the gaps in the health care system. The United States recognized that there were tons of stories like Rosalyn’s and began making some changes in 1985. They first passed COBRA which allowed employees to carry over their health insurance for some time after they left the company supplying it to them. They also passed Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare was the closest step the United States has taken to having universal health coverage. It covers 80 percent of the costs of people over the age of 65. Medicaid is simply health insurance for people who are poor and people with disabilities. Military personnel’s and their families are now covered by CHAMPUS. In 1993 Bill Clinton introduced the HMO to the working world, having each employee put forward money to their own health care.

The article then goes into talk about the idea of AmeriCare. There is both pros and cons to this concept. The author states that with AmeriCare there is greater justice in the system. It does not look at people by age, sex, or race like how health care companies work right now. The system is much fairer all the way around to all citizens. However, there are also opposing factors to AmeriCare. Such as the cost to everyone, even those in great health and the loop holes that would be faced. With AmeriCare illegal immigrants would be part of the system and would be unfair to those of us who do pay. It would also almost rip off the older people in the county because they are already paying in some way for the health care coverage they had before AmeriCare. Overall the article just goes back and forth throwing around ideas of a new system after it informs you of all the flaws already being faced in what health care is today in the United States.

 

 

Is Google Making Us Dumb?

The article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” was a seven page article with not too much to do with Google. The article starts out with the author stating that he is having a hard time reading articles anymore, he finds himself scanning and classifying 4 page articles as too long. He goes on to mention that his friends seem to be having the same problem. And along with them, scientist have proven that more and more people over the past five years have trained themselves to power scan the article rather than read it all the way to the end. Though the author never directly comes out to say it, he is blaming computers and the internet for this new found laziness. This accusation is somewhat ridiculous, whether an article is published online or on paper does not make a difference of how it is read. Someone cannot blame computers for our society’s recently do nothing sort of lifestyle.

Final, at the almost end of the article the author goes into the title and the real point of “Is Google Making Us Stupid”. He complains that Google’s artificial intelligence is making the human mind mutate and work at a faster rate than what it is supposed to be at. He states that all of Google taps into what users click on simply to help the advertisers. He refers back to the 15^th century and compares the power of Google on society to the printing press. He seems to be worrying way to much about the power of Google. It does affect society, however, Google will never gain the power to take over the world nor will it honestly hurt the way we learn.

The author, Nicholas Carr, can believe whatever he want on what Google does to society. Nevertheless he should be aware that it is not making us dumb. The power of the internet may be making researches of today a little be lazier, but it is definitely not making them dumb.

Reading, Writing, and Researching in the Social Sciences

The article Reading, Writing, and Researching in the Social Sciences is an amazing resource for all writers. The article breaks down the style of writing in an easy and clear way for every reader to understand. Reading, Writing, and Researching in the Social Sciences describes how to find a topic, prewrite, draft the first essay, and how to edit it in the best way. The article also talk about the types of writing for social sciences; abstracts, case studies, literature reviews, research reports, and ethnographies. The paper really is a tell all for every aspect of researching, writing, and reading for social science.

The article starts out with researching, and the beginning processes of writing a paper. The tips in this section are simple but great reminders on how to go about picking the perfect topic. Next, the article goes into prewriting and drafting. Prewriting is important to be sure thoughts are collected and organized before beginning to write. Drafting and revising for papers with social science topics are the same as any other paper. There should never be too much pressure on the first paper because it really is more just another step in organization for the final draft. Before finishing the final draft, however, there are some important steps that much be completed. This article stressed to go over the paper again and again for spelling errors and simple mistakes.

The next section of the article is genes of social science writings. There are abstracts with are most commonly known as summaries and literature reviews that review text of either books, journals, or other types of articles. Both of these genres are found in most styles of writing. Ones specific to the social science field are case studies and ethnographies. Case studies are deep and in depth analyses of an individual or small group that often lead to a hypothesis. Ethnographies are around the same concept as a case study. They try to figure out a small group or cultural for an insider point of view.

The last two parts of the article Reading, Writing, and Researching in Social Sciences are reading the text and citing. Reading the text very easily just understands the text. If what is read the first time in not understood, then re-read and break it down until the text is again understandable. Citing and evaluating what was read is vital to the paper. Without this part of information the paper will hold no weight and was a complete was of time.

Overall this article was outstanding in the fact that it gives every single piece of information one may need for writing a paper for social sciences. Even if the writer had no background in social sciences, after reading this article that individual would have the capability to writing a very professional paper.

Writing, Reading, and Researching In the Natural Sciences

The article Reading, Writing, and Researching in the Natural Sciences is an in depth self-help sheet for students or anyone who is in need of assistance. The paper goes into all aspects of the writing, reading, and researching process. Beginning with the editing and revising process all the way along though to different types of reports that you will cross in your research, to text styles, to citing. All of the tools that you will need to write a proper paper are in this paper.
Drafting the first paper should always be an easy task; the article states that most do not even see the first paper besides you. Take your time revising each sentence to be sure that it flows perfectly, editing should also be taken very seriously. The paper gives tips such as read sentences backwards and allow a classmate to also read your paper.
Writing natural science papers are classified into three different genres; abstract, literature reviews, and lab reports. An abstract report is commonly 200-300 words and summarizes the hypothesis, research methods, and results of a natural science articles or books. They are often at the beginning of an article and clearly state the main point of and article. A literature review is a review of the important scholarly research on a specific natural science topic. Often they end with a final point or statement. And then a lab report, which documents is what is found out once a lab is completed. These are very to the point and are often reflections. (Dan Melzer. (2005). Reading, Writing, and Researching in the Natural Sciences. http://stemcell.nih.gov/index.asp2005.)
Reading the text assigned may seem to be an easy task, however, depending on the article there may be some difficulty faces. The article stresses to approach each text as something new, because they are all different. It says to pre read and be sure you understand everything in the article, if not, read the passage again.
Citing in your paper is extremely important because it keeps you away from the trouble that plagiarism brings and it also keeps all of your information neatly in place.
The overall article is very simple to read and to understand. The text language is simplistic without being too dumbed down. This article was informative and will be very useful for student writing and analyzing natural science content.

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