Physical Developments in Adolescence

Physical Developments in Adolescence Introduction Adolescence occurs at different ages for different cultures, while generally considered to be between the ages of 13-18 it is actually the developmental stage in a humans life cycle between childhood and adulthood. During this time the body undergoes many changes quite rapidly much akin to infancy, where drastic growth takes place in a small period of time, however it is less obvious just how much is going on in adolescence. Puberty causes a great many changes as the bodies development of secondary sexual characteristics begins to take place, the brain changes which leads to expanded cognition and streamlined neural pathways. The new developments in the brain cause an influx of hormones into the body which sets off many of these changes, the physical growth has many socioemotional affects as well. These developments impact the childs learning directly through the changes to its brain and indirectly due to socioemotional changes that puberty can have on a child. The implication of the se changes must be taken into account when planning classes and teaching strategies for secondary school students who are going through puberty and in the midst of adolescence. Milestones: The key development during adolescence is puberty. Adolescence can be different depending on culture but is broadly defined as the period between childhood and adulthod as defined my Duchene and McMaugh in Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching 5th edition. Puberty is the biological changes associated with sexual maturity as defined my Duchene and McMaugh in Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching 5th edition. Males and females present different physiological changes during puberty and adolescence. Puberty normally starts during adolescence, usually around the age of 13, however it can occur earlier. Females can often start puberty at an earlier age than males. Limbs grow quickly at the start of puberty which can consequentially lead to clumsiness Both sexes experience an increase in height and weight which is followed by menarche in females and semenarche in males. Menarche is the first menstruation in females and semenarche is the first ejaculation of males. The start of puberty in girls is marked by a drastic increase in height and weight along with the start of breast development, there is a 40% increase in body fat by the end of these changes. Males start puberty by having changes occur to the testes and scrotum, this is followed by the appearance of pubic hair and the growth of the penis. Later during pubertal growth in males, the height and weight changes occur, there is a significant increase in muscle, far more than occurs in females who instead develop more body fat. Towards the end of pubertal development males undergo further changes, the larynx lengthens and their voice deepens, facial hair becomes more abundant. The brain undergoes several changes during adolescence that occur with the onset of puberty. Nerve cells called neurons that are responsible for transmitting and storing information within the brain. Neurons transmit information along axons, jumping a synapse via a chemical neurotransmitter before continuing on to another neuron. By the time a human reaches adulthood it has only half the neurons that it generated through its developmental stages. Some neurons die off and others are pruned, the brain has produced man more neurons and synapses than what are needed, this removes the clutter allowing for faster and more efficient transmission of information along with the space for new connections between neurons to be made. The neural connections that are left and used often undergo a process called myelination which is where an axon is coated in an insulating fatty sheath that greatly increases the speed of information transmission. The use it or lose it approach as stated by geidd, where whatever the child is doing and learning through repetition will become stronger in the brain while unused or less used neural pathways may eventually be pruned. During adolescence, the prefrontal cortex is still developing, it will not complete growth until sometime in the third decade of life, maybe not until 25 years of age. Reward centres of the brain are activated early in the adolescent developmental stage. The late development of the pre-frontal cortex and its linking to the amygdala can lead to risk taking behaviour. The rise in melatonin in the brain during development will change the sleeping patterns in adolescence, adolescents will require more sleep or can suffer from memory loss. The amygdala is responsible for emotional memories and learning, it is also plays a part in the fear response. The hippocampus is important to recent memories, helping sort the when, where and what of events. Implications: Due to the emotional memory centres being more prominent in adolescence it means that teachings that emotionally resonate with students will stick with them easier. Lessons that have meaning or cause emotional responses are best. The changes in height and weight along with sedentary lifestyles of teenagers can lead to obesity, encouraging healthy eating habits and physical exercise can help combat this. The lengthening of limbs and enlarging of hands and feet leads to clumsiness, growth of secondary physical sexual characteristics such as breasts, facial hair and lengthening of the larynx (causing the voice to break), acne and the increase in complex thought and emotional depth can lead to many adolescents becoming very self-conscious. Teachers should be very careful not to make students feel self-aware or picked on as any damage to self-image or feelings of being singled out will be felt very keenly. Due to the development of the hippocampus and the link between it and the prefrontal cortex leads to an increased amount of things that can be held in mind at once. This means teachers can give learners easily digestible chunks of information and they should be able to hold them in mind to apply them to topics. Due to the self awareness direct competitions between students should be discouraged. However sports and physical exercise is important and is inheritabntly competitive, the exercise should be promoted but our best to keep students spirits up. Team building exercises both on the sports field and in the classroom are important to allow students to use their newly developed brains to focus Pedagogical strategy Due to the many drastic changes that adolescence undergo it is important to implement strategies that help them become comfortable with these changes and use knowledge of them to maximise a students learning. Due to the changes in the brain in adolescence students will want to develop a sense of self, take part in their learning and have contact with their peers. All of these things are useful to help teenagers become accustomed to working with others, expressing themselves and grow their confidence, however, student directed learning can be chaotic so planning and control needs to be paramount. The developments in body and brain can lead to students being self-conscious and to question themselves, it is important to make sure that any teaching strategy does not put students in competition with each other. The teacher will give a topic or theory to guide the class, study groups then enable the children to have freedom to grow and form their own opinions. Breaking students up into small groups to talk over ideas and have each write ideas down and them discuss them with the class would allow all of these changes to help maximise their learning. If student groups are mixed up every week so that they can see each others strengths and learn from each other, helping develop social skills and expand their ideas. This self-discovery will mean any ideas they have will have meaning to them and any praise for their thoughts will be felt more keenly and it is expressed in front of peers. This approach will help encourage each individuals skills and knowledge within a small group, again, it is important to make sure never to make groups vie for dominance, or make a class a competition. The importance of healthy eating and physical exercise means that anything that can be done to make the class active is important. In early adolescence students are all at different stages of puberty and their strength, skill and coordination will all be very different as their bodies change. While sports tend to be inherently competitive, it is very important to make sure that students do not feel like they are competing with each other as it can lead to embarrassment and disappointment, a fear to fail in the future which can have people remove themselves from physical exercise so as to not have to experience these feelings again. Conclusion The many and rapid changes that adolescents undergo through puberty lead to a diverse classroom that needs a different approach for different students. The physical development throughout adolescence are inseparable from the cognitive, social and emotional changes that puberty leads to. While a lot of obvious changes occur with the body such as height and weight gain, lengthening of limbs and changes to the sex organs, the most interesting changes occur within the brain with the release of hormones. The changes in the brain lead to changes in cognition, social development and emotions, they can lead to the risky behaviour that is often associated with teens and is why such care needs to be taken with the teaching strategies employed with adolescent students. Adolescence can prove to be a fragile time so care is taken to teach in a way that benefits the developing brain and to not cause any lasting scars. Repetition of good behaviours will myelinate to be used more often and quicker.

mr :: essays research papers

In her novel The Stone Angel, Margaret Laurence uses the stone angel monument to embody the qualities of Hagar . Over the course of the novel, Hagar reflects back on the memories that have made up her life. Hagar’s loneliness and depression are self induced and brought on by her pride, lack of emotion, stubbornness and the ignorance which she has towards anyone’s opinion but her own. The qualities of Hagar are identical with those possessed by the stone angel monument and paralleled by Laurence many times throughout the novel. The angel was certainly not a suitable statue to mark the death of Mrs. Currie as it was uncharacteristic of her. The statue of the angel is a more fitting representation of Hagar’s father Jason Currie and hence suits Hagar because her personality was undoubtedly inherited from her father. The pride inherited from her father causes her much trouble throughout life as it seems to be the main root of her problems. Hagar’s lack of emot ion is also consistent with the characteristics of the stone angel. Her inability to show true emotion effects her a lot later in life and is the main reason she is unable to keep a relationship. Hagar’s stubbornness can also be connected to the stone angel monument in the sense that the Angel never moves and is also very set in its ways. The Stone Angel monument was created without eyes. Hagar is also blind in the sense that she is ignorant to the opinions and thoughts of others. The above qualities are shared by Hagar and the Stone angel, and are in essence the reason behind Hagar’s never-ending escape from family and her problems. One of the most dominant emotions shown in The Stone Angel is pride. Pride is a sense of one's own proper dignity or value. Most of Hager’s loneliness comes from her belief that she is socially above everyone else, regardless of what happens to her. This pride is inherited from her father who is very proud of his social standing and openly flaunts it. The Stone angel monument is a symbol of pride itself as it was brought from Italy to show the wealth and power of Jason Currie but purposely to mark the grave of his dead wife. â€Å"She was not the only angel in the Manawaka cemetery, but she was the first, the largest, and certainly the costliest.

Character Analysis -Tell Tale Heart

The short story can produce many different â€Å"types† of characters. Usually, these characters are faced with situations that give us an insight into their true â€Å"character†. In the Tell Tale Heart, a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator of the story is faced with a fear. He is afraid of the Old Man’s Eye. The actions that this narrator performs in order to quell his fear can lead others to believe that he suffers from some sort of mental illness. The very fact that this narrator is so repulsed by the old man’s eye, which he refers to as â€Å"the evil eye†, is reason enough to be suspicious of his character. The narrator has an inner struggle with the thought that â€Å"the evil eye† is watching him and an underlying feeling that â€Å"the evil eye† will see the real person that he has become. This paranoia leads the narrator to believe that the only way he can put down his fears is to kill the old man. It is said that denial is usually the sign of a problem. If this holds true, then the narrator has the characteristics of a â€Å"madman†. In the first paragraph, he asks, â€Å"but why will you say that I am mad! (Kennedy & Gioia, 34) This statement can be looked upon as a statement made by someone going through a paranoid episode. He talks as if he is in frenzy, especially when he talks about hearing things in heaven and in hell. â€Å"The disease had sharpened my senses? Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven? I heard many things in hell. † (Kennedy & Gioia, 34) The â€Å"disease† that the narrator is talking about eats away at his conscience until â€Å"[I] made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever. (Kennedy & Gioia, 34) The progression of the story revolves around the actions of the narrator. He describes the â€Å"wise† ways in which he prepares himself to commit this deed. The way the narrator â€Å"stalks† the old man the whole week before he kills him can be evidence of a problem. Every night he would watch the old man sleep. He found comfort in knowing that the eye was not watching him, that it could not see the true evil within his soul. While the eye was closed, so was the idea of killing the old man. It is not until the old man awakens each day that the struggle within is apparent. This may be the reason why the narrator is so obsessed with watching the old man sleep. The actual act of murder, which the narrator believes was premeditated, was in fact a spur of the moment action. He toiled with the idea while the man was awake, that is, while he could see the â€Å"evil eye†. However, while the eye was closed, the narrator was at peace. One night, during one of the narrator’s â€Å"stalking† sessions, the old man awakens. The narrator goes into a paranoid frenzy, mistaking the beating of his heart for the beating of the old man’s heart. During this frenzy, the narrator is afraid that neighbors will hear the beating of the man’s heart. This causes the narrator to take action. He quickly subdues the old man and kills him. He then takes extreme steps in disposing of the body, dismembering it and burying it under the planks in the floorboard. These extreme actions can be used as evidence to the paranoia that is taking shape. The fear of getting caught would be a normal reaction to someone who has committed a murder. However, the dismemberment of the body was not necessary since the narrator had ample resources to dispose of the body properly. When the police arrive at the house, the narrator is sure that he has nothing to fear. He lets them into the house and bids them to search wherever they like. He leads them into the room where the body is buried and invites them to sit down. Although he fears nothing consciously, the narrator battles with his conscience subconsciously. He begins to feel uneasy when the officers start talking to him. The paranoia begins to build steadily and before long, the narrator hears the beating of his heart, which he again mistakes for the beating of the corpse’s heart. This implication gives further evidence to the paranoid nature of the narrator. The beating grows louder to him and, since it is his heart beating, the officers could not hear it. This made the narrator even uneasier since he could not understand why they could not hear it as well. A short while later and after a rabid inner struggle, the narrator, in a fit of rage, admits to his crime, believing that the police officer were aware of what he had done. This is the pinnacle of his paranoid state. The idea that the officers were just toying with him, that they knew all along that he had murdered, presents a clear case of paranoid psychosis. Despite the narrator’s cunning plan of how to commit the murder and how to dispose of the body, his own sub-conscience becomes his undoing. The sound of the old man’s heartbeat continues to taunt the narrator and his reaction to his subconscious thoughts causes him to admit his crime to the police.

Microeconomics - Help and Resources for Students

Microeconomics - Help and Resources for Students This page contains links to economics articles on this site. Most of the major topics in microeconomics have at least one article associated with them, but this is a work in progress and more will be added every month.   Collective Action - Microeconomics The Logic of Collective Action Costs - Microeconomics How to Understand and Calculate Cost Measures (Note: Includes Marginal Cost, Total Cost, Fixed Cost, Total Variable Cost, Average Total Cost, Average Fixed Cost, and Average Variable Cost.) Demand - Microeconomics What Is The Demand For Money?Price Elasticity of DemandIncome Elasticity of DemandCross-Price Elasticity of DemandCost-Push Inflation vs. Demand-Pull Inflation Economic Scale - Microeconomics Increasing, Decreasing, and Constant Returns to Scale Elasticity - Microeconomics Beginners Guide to ElasticityPrice Elasticity of DemandIncome Elasticity of DemandCross-Price Elasticity of DemandPrice Elasticity of SupplyArc Elasticity Income - Microeconomics The Effect of Income Taxes on Economic GrowthIncome Elasticity of DemandFairTax - Income Taxes vs. Sales Taxes Inflation and Deflation - Microeconomics Cost-Push Inflation vs. Demand-Pull InflationWhy Dont Prices Decline During A Recession?What is Deflation and How Can It Be Prevented? Markets - Microeconomics How Markets Use Information To Set Prices Money - Microeconomics What Was The Gold Standard?What Is The Demand For Money?How Much Is The Per-Capita Money Supply?Why Does Money Have Value?Are Credit Cards a Form of Money?When Stock Prices Go Down, Where Does the Money Go?Expansionary Monetary Policy vs. Contractionary Monetary PolicyWhy Not Just Print More Money? Prices - Microeconomics Price Elasticity of DemandCross-Price Elasticity of DemandPrice Elasticity of SupplyWhy Dont Prices Decline During A Recession?What is Arbitrage?When Stock Prices Go Down, Where Does the Money Go?How Markets Use Information To Set Prices Quotas and Tariffs - Microeconomics Why Are Tariffs Preferable to Quotas?The Economic Effect of Tariffs Short Run vs. Long Run - Microeconomics The Difference Between Short and Long Run Supply - Microeconomics How Much is the Per Capita Money Supply in the U.S.?The Oil SupplyPrice Elasticity of Supply Taxes and Subsidies - Microeconomics The Effect of Income Taxes on Economic GrowthWhy Are Tariffs Preferable to Quotas? Voting Systems - Microeconomics Proportional Representation vs. First-Past-The-Post

The True Story Of A Black Youths Essays - Mark Mathabane

The True Story Of A Black Youths Essays - Mark Mathabane The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa Mark Mathabane I. Main Characters A. Johannes (Mark) MathabaneKaffir Boy revolves around Johannes for the simple reason that he is the author of this book. Growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa was especially hard for Johannes. Johannes is very smart and graduated at the top of his class during his 13 years of schooling in apartheid South Africa. Johannes has had a lot of courage and perseverance throughout his life. B. Jackson MathabaneJohannes's father came from what is now the so-called independent homeland of the Vendas in the northwestern corner of the Transvaal. Johannes's father tried desperately to support his family, but in times of dire need, he backed away and depended on alcohol and abusive behaviors. Johannes's parents met and married in Alexandra on March 21, 1960. C. MotherJohannes's mother came from Gazankulu, the tribal reserve for the Tsongas in the Northeastern Transvaal. She is a very loving and devoted woman. D. Johannes's siblingsJohannes has five sisters and one brother. His sisters names are Florah, Linah, Maria, Merriam, and Linah. George was his only brother. E. Ellen MabasoEllen was the mother of Johannes's mother. She was a humble woman who bore four children: Uncle Piet, Aunt Bush, Uncle Cheeks, and Johannes's mother. she had a statuesque figuretall, limber, and ebony colored complete with tribal attire and multiple anklets, beads, earrings and bracelets. She could easily been a chief's daughter. Her friendly, brown eyes had the radiance of pristine pearls. She was the most beautiful woman Johannes had ever seen. She worked six days a week, from seven to five, mowing lawns, raking leaves, clipping hedges, watering plants, sweeping driveways, cleaning yards and pruning trees for white people. F. Mr. BrownMr. Brown was one of the few people in the yard where the Mathabane's lived with the equivalent of a high-school education. He was a bus driver for PUTCO, but he also operated a moving service that transported people and goods between Alexandra and the tribal reserve of the Vendas. G. Mrs. SmithMrs. Smith was Granny's employer. She was a short, slender woman with silver hair and slightly drooping shoulders. Granny was the Smith's gardener. H. Clyde SmithClyde is the son of the woman who Granny works for. He is a young boy who is somewhat of a snob. As he grows, he learns to like Johannes and they become friends. I. ScaramoucheScaramouche was a self-employed painter. He was also one of the best tennis players among people of color in Johannesburg. An excellent coach, he was well connected in white and black tennis circles. He agreed to be Johannes' coach. Scaramouche turned out to not only be a great coach but a confidant and a surrogate father. He was firm and demanding but not authoritative and stifling. Instead of teaching Johannes his style of play, he let Johannes acquire his own way. J. TomIn June of 1972, Johannes met Tom. He is a lanky Zulu tennis player. He was very harmless-looking K. Wilfred HornWilfred married to Norma. He respects black people and owns a tennis ranch in Halfway House called Barretts. He was a German immigrant. L. Arthur AsheArthur Ashe was a Negro tennis player that Johannes admired very much. he condemned apartheid and did not pretend he was a white man erroneously painted black. Arthur always appeared calm, cool, and collected, even when he was surrounded in a sea of white faces. M. DavidDavid was the number two singles player on the tennis team. He was soft-spoken, politically sensitive, and a brilliant Zulu student whose love for the English language exhaled Johannes's. Johannes and David frequently exchanged books, did English homework together, read prose and poetry together, trained together, and sat on the same seat during tennis trips. David was the first close friend Johannes ever had. The only difference between David and Johannes was that David was a womanizer. N. HelmutHelmut was a short, brown-haired bespectacled white man with a barrel chest. He was always dressed in flashy clothing. He came from a small town in Germany and was working for a German company in South Africa only a few months before he met Johannes. He turned out to be a horrible tennis player, but good practice

How is walt disney company dealing with the challenge of diversity Essay

How is walt disney company dealing with the challenge of diversity - Essay Example Many companies have struggled to unite different employees who have different cultural background and ideologies an aspect that has made some of them to collapse. Nevertheless, Walt Disney Company is one of the companies that have been able to deal with cultural diversity an aspect that has been reflected in the overall returns of the company. This topic will therefore, set the way forward for other companies that are struggling with cultural issues (Esty, Griffin & Hirsch, 1995). Reason why culture has been a challenge One of the main reasons that have made culture a major problem to many companies is that some organization leaders favour some employees based on race, gender and status. This has created divisions in the organizations an aspect that has made it hard for the organization to prosper. In addition, leaders of organizations do not base their appointment, demotion or other organizations activity on performance appraisal and instead they base them on individual’s cul ture (The Walt Disney Company, 2012). Managers lack the skills to manage diversity in the organization. In many instances, managers fail to bring the employees together in order to accomplish a specific goal. Lack of skills therefore makes it hard for the managers to value differences in the organization, combat discrimination. Lack of skills to deal with diverse cultures in the organization therefore, increases cases of prejudices and discrimination. Some of the individual characters of the managers that undermine diversity include negative attitude towards diversity. This topic will therefore, analyze the skills that organizations need to equip their managers with in order to enable them deal with diversity (Conference Board of Canada, 2011). Organizations have been assuming that diversity have little to do with the overall profits of the organization. Respecting diversity in the organization creates team work an aspect that contributes directly to the success of the organization. In order to achieve this, managers need to have open doors for all employees irrespective of their gender, race or even religion (International Labour Office, 2008). Advantages of diversity to the organization One of the main advantages that have been noted in Walt Disney Company is consistent performance due to reduced conflicts emanating from diversity. The company has been able to achieve this through listening to all opinion irrespective of people or an individual employee airing them. As a result, there has been continuous coordination of employees in the organization an aspect that has been replicated in the organization’s performance (Clarke & Chen, 2007). In addition to this, the organization has been able to identify the loopholes that might bring conflicts in the organization. Some of the loopholes include discrimination and prejudice. These two aspects occur; employees feel unwanted in the organization an aspect that reduces their morale to work hard (The Walt Dis ney Company, 2012). Second advantage of diversity is improved reputation in the organization. In Walt Disney Company, customer feel represented an aspect that creates loyalty towards services being offered. In addition, diversity increases ideas as people from diverse regions have different ways of conducting activities an aspect that improves efficiency and overall

Law & Social Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Law & Social Control - Essay Example Further in the article Marx (1981) outlines the theories connected with the role of authorities in establishing the deviance which he calls â€Å"ironies†. Marx (1981) describes situations in which social control generates rule-breaking behavior and divides them into escalation, nonenforcement and covert facilitation. In discussing these types of social control, Marx (1981) uses mainly examples from criminal justice to make his point. In escalation, authorities unintentionally trigger rule-breaking by taking enforcement actions. The best example to depict the escalation type of situation is police involvement in family conflict. Police interference in interpersonal conflicts seems to lead to further violence, acting as â€Å"a breeding ground† for aggressive and provocative response. In nonenforcement, authorities contribute to deviance in more indirect way than in escalation. Here institutions prefer not to take enforcement actions and by this they intentionally permit rule breaking. Marx (1981) says that nonenforcement is the most difficult to identify, because this strategy is illegal and authorities often try to hide it. An example is given by the informant system, which is a major source of nonenforcement, though it plays crucial role to many kinds of law enforcement. Called a form of institutionalized blackmail, the informant system helps informants to avoid prison, or to receive reduced sentences. However, the informant source assists the police in arresting criminals which will not be caught with other means. Covert facilitation represents taking deceptive enforcement actions through which authorities intentionally aid rule breaking. Marx (1981) calls this passive nonenforcement. Social control agents may infiltrate into certain structures and buy or sell illegal goods, victimize others or seek prostitutes in a tourist disguise. Covert facilitation