Helen Keller: A Medical Marvel or Evidence of the I-Function? Essay

Helen Keller: A Medical Marvel or Evidence of the I-Function? Everyone cried a little inside when Helen Keller, history's notorious deaf-blind-mute uttered that magic word 'wa' at the end of the scientifically baffling classic true story. Her ability to overcome the limitations caused by her sensory disabilities not only brought hope for many like cases, but also raised radical scientific questions as to the depth of the brain's ability. For those who are not familiar with the story of Helen Keller or the play 'The Miracle Worker', it recalls the life of a girl born in 1880 who falls tragically ill at the young age of two years old, consequently losing her ability to hear, speak, and see. Helen's frustration grew along side with her age; the older she got the more it became apparent to her parents that she was living in more of an invisible box, than the real world. Her imparities trapped her in life that seemed unlivable. Unable to subject themselves to the torment which enveloped them; watching, hearing and feeling the angst which Helen projected by throwing plates and screaming was enough for them to regret being blessed with their own senses. The Kellers, in hopes of a solution, hired Anne Sullivan, an educated blind woman, experienced in the field of educating sensory disabilities arrived at the Alabama home of the Kellers in 1887. There she worked with Helen for only a little over a month attempting to tea ch her to spell and understand the meaning of words v. the feeling of objects before she guided Helen to the water pump and a miracle unfolded. Helen understood the juxtaposition of the touch of water and the actual word 'water' Anne spelled out on her hand . Helen suddenly began to formulate the word 'wa... ...ther or not the I function exists in the literal sense, its presence began to make its way into scientific rationality long before Christopher Reeves. Sources Cited: 1)jstor home page, Scientific Monthly Vol.15 No.3 http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro03/web1/www.jstor.org 2)originresearch home page http://originresearch.com/sd/sd3.cfm 3)The Life of Helen Keller http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_keller.hcsp 4)Scientific America http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=000BADA4-F9F7-1C95-8EEF809EC588F2D7&catID=3 5)Sensory Perceptions Homepage http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:zYyZf7MEJKYC:www.hhmi.org/senses/senses.pdf+%22helen+keller%22+scientific+research+analysis+%22her+brain%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 6)More of the Life of Helen Keller http://www.broadwaybeat.com/ridge/rrmircle.htm

Causes of Car Accidents

Causes of car accidents Car accidents can happen to drivers anytime, anywhere. â€Å"According to the National Safety Council, which stated that more than 2. 5 million collisions back every year, making it the most common type of car accidents, it is also known that the accident rear end as incidents of injury, because the nature of the collision leads often in whiplash injury the driver in the car in front and about 20% of people who participated in a rear collision injury symptoms of this kind. , (NHTSA, auto-accident-resource. com). Among the car accidents, the teenage group is the only age group who is number of deaths is increasing instead of decreasing. Also, all the people are exposed to risk and actually every one of them has got car accident at least once that could have been easily prevented. There are many reasons car accidents happen such as drunken drivers, using cellular phones while driving, and teenage drivers. First reason is drinking and driving which is the leadin g cause of car accidents. â€Å"Over 1. 1 million drivers were arrested in 2010 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics†, (Federal Bureau of Investigation, â€Å"Crime in the United States: 2010†, madd. org). Also,† drunk driving costs the United States $132 billion a year â€Å", (NHTS FARS data, 2012, madd. org). Driving while intoxicated is dangerous, because drinking increases your inhibitions and self-confidence but lowers your driving performance. In other words, alcohol impairs the decision-making ability of the brain. For example, when people get drunk, they do not even think they are drunk.They may feel like they can do anything. But they cannot. Many accidents occur because of drinking. These accidents involve mostly one car, but other people can be killed by drunk drivers. People have to be educated about drinking and driving, so they do not kill themselves or innocent people on the road. Second reason, using cell phones while driving causes car accidents. According to the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, â€Å"2,600 people died in 2004 and 330,000 more were injured while using cell phones just before an accident†. doityourself. com). When a cell phone is used while driving, it distracts the attention of the driver, leading to car accidents. While using a cell phone many people tend to miss traffic signals, because they are not really concentrating on driving. The process of dialing or answering the phone can make them lose control of the vehicle as well. Even though the driver is looking at the road, he or she can easily get distracted by the conversation. This can result in fatal accidents.Third reason of accidents on the road is teenage drivers. â€Å"2,739 teenagers died in car accidents in the United States during 2008 â€Å", (drivesteady. com). Some teenagers cause fatal accidents, because of immaturity and lack of experience. Teenagers are very impulsive. Although not intending to hurt anyone, t hey sometimes drive very aggressively. It is not difficult to find teenagers driving with one hand on the steering wheel, seat pushed back, and with loud music playing. In traffic they go wild, trying to seek attention.They underestimate the risk of what they are doing. All these acts result in serious consequences on the road. Many accidents of young drivers result from their own mistakes. In conclusion, many people do not realize that being intoxicated while driving, using cellular phones and teenage drivers may bring serious injuries to everybody. Some people may enjoy drinking without care until they get into car accident, which can even result in the deaths of many innocent people.The car accidents caused by these problems are really serious but preventable. If everybody tries to eliminate these problems by following the rules of the road, driving can be less dangerous, and we will not waste time on car accidents. REFERENCES: 1- (http://www. auto-accident-resource. com/statisti cs. html). 2- (http://www. madd. org/statistics/). 3- (http://www. madd. org/drunk-driving/about/drunk-driving-statistics. html). 4- (http://www. doityourself. com/stry/driving-safety-tips-statistics-on-deaths-by

How an Extended Response Item Can Enhance Learning

Extended response items have traditionally been called essay questions. An extended response item is an open-ended question that begins with some type of prompt. These questions allow students to write a response that arrives at a conclusion based on their specific knowledge of the topic. An extended response item takes considerable time and thought. It requires students not only to give an answer but also to explain the answer with as much in-depth detail as possible. In some cases, students not only have to give an answer and explain the answer, but they also have to show how they arrived at that answer. Teachers love extended response items because they require students to construct an in-depth response that proves mastery or lack thereof. Teachers can then utilize this information to reteach gap concepts or build upon individual student strengths. Extended response items require students to demonstrate a higher depth of knowledge than they would need on a multiple choice item. Guessing is almost completely eliminated with an extended response item.  A student either knows the information well enough to write about it or they do not. Extended response items also are a great way to assess and teach students grammar and writing. Students must be strong writers as an extended response item also tests a students ability to write coherently and grammatically correct. Extended response items require essential critical thinking skills. An essay, in a sense, is a riddle that students can solve using prior knowledge, making connections, and drawing conclusions.  This is an invaluable skill for any student to have. Those who can master it have a better chance of being successful academically.  Any student who can successfully solve problems and craft well-written explanations of their solutions will be at the top of their class.   Extended response items do have their shortcomings. They are not teacher friendly in that they are difficult to construct and score.  Extended response items take a lot of valuable time to develop and grade.  Additionally, they are difficult to score accurately.  It can become difficult for teachers to remain objective when scoring an extended response item. Each student has a completely different response, and teachers must read the entire response looking for evidence that proves mastery. For this reason, teachers must develop an accurate rubric and follow it when scoring any extended response item. An extended response assessment takes more time for students to complete than a multiple choice assessment.  Students must first organize the information and construct a plan before they can actually begin responding to the item.  This time-consuming process can take multiple class periods to complete depending on the specific nature of the item itself. Extended response items can be constructed in more than one way. It can be passage-based, meaning that students are provided with one or more passages on a specific topic. This information can help them formulate a more thoughtful response. The student must utilize evidence from the passages to formulate and validate their response on the extended response item.  The more traditional method is a straightforward, open-ended question on a topic or unit that has been covered in class.  Students are not given a passage to assist them in constructing a response but instead must draw from memory their direct knowledge on the topic. Teachers must remember that formulating a well written extended response is a skill in itself.  Though they can be a great assessment tool, teachers must be prepared to spend the time to teach students how to write a formidable essay.  This is not a skill that comes without hard work.  Teachers must provide students with the multiple skills that are required to write successfully including sentence and paragraph structure, using proper grammar, pre-writing activities, editing, and revising.  Teaching these skills must become part of the expected classroom routine for students to become proficient writers.