The Curriculum-What Is To Be Taught?

In making instructional decisions the instructors must consider the following factors which include what is to be taught, how it should be taught and the student’s needs. John Dewey was very instrumental in bringing the concept of decision making theory into the educational field. He further presented it in a process that was known as the reflective thinking which involved four phases which are; the problem phase, the criteria phase, the solution phase, and finally the implementation phase. (Auerbach, 2003)The Curriculum-What Is To Be Taught? Is the curriculum guaranteed such that is it taught in a way that it was intended? Is the curriculum viable such that it can be adequately addressed in the time available? Is the curriculum rigorous such that it ensures that all the students’ areas have been adequately challenged? Is the curriculum relevant such that it fosters smooth transitions between the elementary schools, the middle schools, the high schools, the post seconda ry schools and later to the world of work?Are the decisions about the curriculum uniformly applied to all the students?   Is there a lot of emphasis on mastering predetermined and common curricular objectives? Is the curriculum used standard for all the students?   Is the curriculum relevant to the students?   Does the curriculum have an outline that allows for the differences in the students backgrounds, abilities interests and prior knowledge and for the differences in the expectations from the community?

Discuss attitudes towards food and/or eating behaviour (24 marks) Essay

There are many explanations for the different attitudes of food and eating behaviour. One of the main explanations is social learning theory. This emphasises the impact of observing other people on our attitudes and behaviour. In terms of parental modelling, it is suggested that children can acquire their attitudes towards food by observing the behaviour of their parents. This is because the children are observing their parents eating patterns and therefore the parents are acting as eating role models. Children will notice that their parents are rewarded when they enjoy certain foods. The children will then imitate these eating behaviours as they will expect to get rewarded by doing so. Social learning theory therefore expresses the fact that children their food preferences as a result of vicarious reinforcement. As expected, there is a significant correlation between the diets of parents and their children. Brown and Ogden reported consistent correlations between parents and their children in terms of snack-food intake, eating motivations and body dissatisfaction. This is support for social learning theory because it is showing that observation in the home during childhood is a significant factor in determining eating behaviour and food attitudes. As well as this, in an experiment carried out by Duncker (1938), children observed a series of role models making food choices different to their own such as: their mother, a friend, an unknown adult and a fictional hero. The findings showed that all the role models had an impact on the children’s subsequent food choices except the unknown adult. Therefore children are more likely to sample unfamiliar foods after they have seen a significant role model (particularly their mother rather than a stranger) eat the food. This therefore supports the social learning theory explanation because it shows that parental attitudes and behaviour is especially an essential part of the social learning process of food choice and eating behaviour. Media is another factor that has an influence on our attitudes and behaviour towards food. The role of social learning is evident in the impact of media because throughout childhood, children are exposed to widespread food advertising on television to make food seem more attractive. This exposure can be effective in developing preferences, but unfortunately it can have negative effects because the advertised food tends to be high in fat and carbohydrates which can contribute to problems such as child obesity. Children observe role models in the media and due to vicarious reinforcement; they are often motivated to imitate the behaviour that they see. This means that advertisements involving food as well as role models are definitely powerful in shaping people’s food preferences. The role of social learning through media effects is supported in a study by MacIntyre et al. , who found that the media has a major impact both on what we eat, and our attitudes to certain foods. When evaluating social learning as an explanation of attitudes to food and eating behaviour, there is quite a lot of research support. The importance of social learning in attitudes towards food was demonstrated by Meyer and Gast. They surveyed 10-12 year old girls and boys and found a significant positive correlation between peer influences and disordered eating. The ‘likeability’ of peers was considered to be the most important factor in this relationship. However, this study shows that eating behaviour can be learned through alternative role models other than just our parents. Even though this study shows support, there are still issues with the theory and research into social learning as an explanation of attitudes and eating behaviour. For example, most studies and research support use correlations as their main evidence. Although these correlations allow us to study links between variables, they do not prove that one variable causes the other (e. g. media causes disordered eating). There may be other, extraneous variables that can explain why the co-variables being studied are linked. These studies may therefore lack in internal/external validity. As well as this, the social learning explanation has been criticised for ignoring other factors that have influenced attitudes to food and eating behaviour. It has been recognised that attitudes towards food are clearly a product of much more than social learning alone. For example, evolutionary explanations of food preferences suggest that our liking of fatty and sweet food is a direct result of an evolved adaptation among our distant ancestors over 2 million years ago. Therefore, we may not be able to completely rely on findings based on social learning theory as there could be many other factors that are contributing to our eating behaviour. Another explanation for our attitudes to food and eating behaviour is our mood. Low mood can often result in comfort eating, and low mood also seems to influence binge eating behaviour. Davis et al (1988) showed that low mood often preceded binge eating in bulimics. The same seems to apply in those with no known eating disorder. Students were asked to record their mood and eating habits over a two week period. Days that included binge eating tended also to be days of low mood, but significantly, binge eating did nothing to improve mood afterwards. So although we may binge when down it seems to do little to make us feel better. This influence of mood on our eating behaviours is supported by Garg et al. who conducted a study that focused on the impact of different films on mood and therefore eating behaviour. They observed food choices of 38 participants as they watched either an upbeat, funny film or a sad, depressing one. Participants were offered buttered popcorn and seedless grapes throughout the films. They found that those watching the sad film consumed 36% more popcorn than those watching the upbeat film, but the upbeat film group ate a lot more grapes. Garg et al. concluded that people who feel sad or depressed are more likely to go for a snack that tastes good in order to escape their negative mood. Happy people want to extend their upbeat mood and so choose to eat healthier foods. Even though there is support for mood influencing our eating behaviour, it is unclear why a binge-eating episode as a result of low mood is reinforcing for the individual, especially as any benefit appears to be brief at best. Many studies have also reported a mood decrement in individuals immediately after their binge. In terms of IDA, gender bias is an issue with most studies focusing on attitudes towards food and eating behaviour. These studies mainly focus on only women’s attitudes to eating behaviour, particularly in terms of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. However, a large number of studies have also shown that in men, homosexuality is a risk factor in development of disordered eating attitudes and levels of dieting. This suggests that studies that concentrate only on women offer a limited view of attitudes of food and eating behaviour and their findings will not be reliable if they were to be generalised to the population as a whole.

Oligopoly in India Essay

A market structure dominated by a small number of large firms, selling either identical or differentiated products, and significant barriers to entry into the industry. This is one of four basic market structures. The other three are perfect competition, monopoly, and monopolistic competition. The three most important characteristics of oligopoly are: 1. An industry dominated by a small number of large firms 2. Firms sell either identical or differentiated products 3. The industry has significant barriers to entry. PRICING The members of an oligopoly change the nature of a free market. While they can’t dictate price and availability like a monopoly can, they often turn into friendly competitors, since it is in all the members’ interest to maintain a stable market and profitable prices. With four or five large firms responsible for most of the output of each industry, avoidance of price competition became almost automatic. If one firm were to lower its prices, it is likely that its competitors will do the same and all will suffer lower profits. On the other hand, it is dangerous for any single firm to increase its prices since the others might hold their prices in order to gain market share. The safest thing is to never lower prices and only raise prices when there is abundant evidence that the other firms will also raise prices. The largest or lowest-cost or most aggressive firm will often emerge as the price leader. When business conditions permit, the price leader will raise prices with the expectation that the others will follow. The practice of price leadership prevails in many industries: Competition does not exist in any form. Oligopolies that follow a price leader do not engage in price competition, but they still contest for market share with a variety of forms of non-price competition. Pepsi and Coke each spend billions on TV ads designed to entice the consumer to switch cola brands. SCALE OF OPERATION Oligopolistic firms that operate on a national or global scale are also huge in another sense – they are just plain big. Many have several hundred thousand employees and multi-billions of dollars in assets. Size is itself a source of power. ENTRY BARRIERS Oligopolies can become unstable when new firms attempt to gain entry. Of course the high cost of acquiring plant and equipment acts as a barrier to entry. It is also costly to enter an industry dominated by a small number of known trade names. Small firms already in the industry present a special problem. Some might try to grow beyond their established niches. The large firm will often simply purchase the up-and-coming small firm. Or the large firm or firms may rely on its established relationships with customers or suppliers to limit the activities of smaller firms. The new oligopoly is made up of multinational corporations that have chosen specific product or service categories to dominate. In each category, over time, only two to four major players prosper. Starting a new company in that market segment is difficult, and the few that do succeed are often gobbled up or run out of business by the oligopolies. MANIPULATING DEMAND The large firm is often in a position to create a demand for its own product through advertising. While this sometimes leads to actual product  improvement, it can also lead to the production of images rather than truly different products. A study of the tactics of brand names points out that good brand names are most important for the type of products that are â€Å"relatively undifferentiated in terms of product specifications or performance and where consumers are relatively satisfied with existing brands.† One conclusion of the study is that â€Å"†¦on the whole, branding is important only where the character of the product is not.† Few multinationals aspire to be monopolies. Monopolies attract government regulation and consumer anger (just ask Microsoft). Small oligopolies (such as Coke, Pepsi) make plenty of money and avoid the constant attention of the regulators. Oligopoly, then, is a compromise – a social adaptation to powerful technological trends. While the rules of perfect competition should both assure that prices reflect the true costs of production and that firms continue to improve their products and production processes, operating under these rules leads to the type of price competition that continually threatens the value of vast holdings of expensive and specialized production facilities. So we have accepted a set of economic rules that limit price competition but still seem to result in competition over product and production process development. Technology forced firms to become bigger, yet that very bigness put them at such risk that they had to become even bigger in order to control prices. OLIGOPOLY IN BEVERAGE INDUSTRY In the Indian context, the soft drink market though it may seem to be duopoly is essentially an oligopoly. Barring the two major cola giants Coke and Pepsi, every city also has local competitors and there is a large unorganized flavoured water market. Moreover, bottled water is also a competitor to the cola brands and in this category neither of the two cola companies are market leaders. However, as far as the cola flavored fizzy  drinks are concerned there are only two brands, Coke and Pepsi. Under such a situation economists would say there would be intense competition. Unless, the two parties collaborate with each other, which is certainly not the case in the cola market worldwide or in India. This implies that the primary battle is for market share and hence intensity of competition is high. Each and every move by a player attracts retaliation. 3 things important to be successful in this category (oligopoly of colas) are: 1. HIGH AWARENESS: This has two components-one is media awareness the other relates to point of consumption. The first one really means large advertising spends, and simple messages repeated umpteen times. Eg. lways Coca-Cola?or il mange more? Simple and memorable. The category leader dictates the awareness level. Once that has been established, the number two player needs to find a lever, which will ensure a position close to the leader, with less money spent. 2. EASY AVAILABILITY: Marketers in this category need to find innovative ways of ensuring availability of their brand at different consumption occasions and time. 3. HIGH EMOTIONS: The key differentiation in this category is emotion. Brand personality can make or break the brands in this category. In an oligopoly, it is foolish to cut price unless one of the two parties have a much lower cost base. That, too, is not the case in India. Both brands, Coke and Pepsi, invest heavily in advertising and in distribution through their franchise and their own systems. However, a great deal of attention is paid by both companies to cost, particularly in the development of a tightly effective supply chain system in which economies are squeezed out and, wherever possible both overheads and working capital are controlled. As a result it is extremely difficult to reduce prices. Indeed, it is counter-productive, as when prices are reduced in a particular area by one  of the cola brands, the second must follow. There have been some examples of price reduction, but this is generally the local franchise or the sales management of a particular area reducing the price. This is, however, generally not the case and prices have only been reduced in the recent past if there has been a reduction in Government taxes, either at the Central or State level. However, there has been some major initiative on the price front. The first took place some years ago when the brand Coca-Cola came back to India. At that time colas were sold in 200 ml bottles. Coca-Cola launched itself in all major cities in the 300 ml size at the same price as Pepsi, which was then in a 200 ml bottle. Pepsi was, however, prepared for Coca-Cola to launch in the larger bottle, which became the standard inmost parts of the country, making the price a parity issue between the two brands. A few years ago, Pepsi launched itself in one litre and 1.5 litre non-returnable PET bottles at a discount in comparison to a 300 ml returnable glass bottle, the traditional packaging in this product category. This resulted in a significant increase in the depth of consumption; amongst the loyal consumers in the larger towns. Coke followed Pepsi in each of the above moves in order to reduce the cost per glass to the consumer. The soft drink majors also pioneered a 500 ml non-returnable PET bottle, which was advertised almost totally on the cost of the consumer per 100 ml of cola. The great advantage of PET bottle is that they not only encourage high level of consumer but increased home consumption which was small compared to out of home consumption. The latest move to reduce price to the consumer was followed by Pepsi in April,2003 when it reduced the price of its 300 ml returnable glass bottle segment from Rs. 8 to Rs. 6 and priced 200 ml bottle at Rs. 5. However, Coke  still priced it 300 ml bottle at Rs. 8. Coke wanted to push the 200 ml â€Å"Chota Coke† pack in summer since they wanted to gain volumes so they priced 200 ml at Rs 5/-â€Å". The fresh price war follows an earlier onslaught when both Pepsi and Coke reduced prices by about 20% across the board just before the Union Budget for 2003-04 provided them with excise duty relief. In the recent past both the companies took aggressive steps and signed on thousands of new retailers in a drive into rural India that has pushed up sales steeply. Coca-Cola has made its beverages available in 40,000 additional villages in the last three years. As a result, the rural areas now contribute 35 per cent of the company’s sales compared with 25 per cent in 2000. Sales volume jumped over 125% in some rural areas. In order to service far-flung markets better, Coca-Cola has doubled the number of refrigerators in the market to 500,000 and added 5,000 new autos and light commercial vehicles to its fleet in the last one year. Pepsi also has also doubled distributors, cooling capacity and even the number of vehicles in rural areas. Thus, the contribution of rural areas to total sales has climbed from below 10 per cent to 10-15 per cent for Pepsi in the last couple of years. Pepsi has added more than 200 people to drive rural activation programmes and ensure improved coverage and market penetration. In addition, a new â€Å"hub and spoke† model has been put in place to drive the rural expansion plan. Both companies say there is untapped potential in the rural areas that will fuel quick growth in the coming years. e the rural expansion plan. In a competitive situation such as the one that exists in the cola market, the important thing is not the price; it is the value that the consumer  gets. And that always increases in proportion to the ferocity of the battle in the marketplace.

Business Ethics

Business Ethics Essay I own a local business that provides Internet access to individuals and businesses, my business is one of four businesses in the local market that provide internet access to both individuals and businesses. Each of the four businesses charges the same price of twelve dollars a month for unlimited dial up services. My businesses breakeven price is seven dollars per customer, so no matter what I must charge it least seven dollars per package in order to cover all my costs. Recently my business and the other three businesses have begun to enter into a price war, to ensure that my business isnt destroyed I will have to develop specific pricing strategies based on certain situations brought upon by my competitors. Demand for my businesses service is often fluctuating because of the constant price changing between my competitors and I. Demand for my service is affected by changes in prices because people are drawn more toward the lowest priced Internet service providers The provider that offers the most bonuses and upgrades along with a strategically low priced internet service, will most likely succeed in bringing in the most customers. Dramatic price drops by my competitors would make it hard for my business to stay afloat because my breakeven price is seven dollars per person, so if they drop their prices to seven dollars or less, then my business would probably have to close because of insufficient profits. My business has three competitors selling the same service as I am, and most any of their business decisions can affect my business in either a positive or negative way. If those businesses are able to drop their prices and offer more extras with their Internet service than my business is able to, it could result in a dramatic loss of business for me and a gain of business for my competitors. The opposite could also occur, my competition could start losing profits and have to raise their prices to maintain operations. In this instance some of their customers might switch to my Internet provider so they wouldnt have to pay higher prices. My customers who were previously thinking about switching to one of my competitors will now decide to stay with my business rather than switching to a provider with fluctuating prices. Having too many of the same kinds of businesses (such as an internet service provider) in the same area, results in a loss of business for everyone because now consumers have so many options of which business to choose form. Where as if my business was in an area where it was the only Internet service provider or it had only one business competing for consumers, I would have a much larger amount of customers. Other than price changing, there are many other methods I could use to attract new customers and retain current customers. One method which some of my competition has used to gain new customers is by offering extras with their service. Extras such as, free personal web pages, free e-mail services, and answering machine services so that dial up users wont have to worry about missing important calls. Another way of attracting new customers would be to use different marketing techniques or perfecting the current marketing techniques that my business uses. I could use different kinds of media to attract specific target markets by using market segmentation. I could use Internet media to my advantage by having a sufficient website promoting my business, Internet marketing would be extremely helpful to my business in particular because anybody who goes to my website would be using some form of Internet which would make them a potential customer to my service. Other ways of attracting new customers would be to target certain groups, for instance my business could market in college campuses that for a certain time period all college students can have their first six months of service at seven dollars rather than the original twelve dollars per month. By doing this I open up the door to potential long-term customers because college students are going to need the Internet for the rest for their lives. By targeting them at a young age my business could try and fulfill their current .

Operation Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 2

Operation Management - Essay Example Tactical issues deal with the plant structure and layout, project management methods and also equipment selection as well as replacement. Finally, an operational issue involves production scheduling, production control, quality control & inspection, inventory management, equipment maintenance policies and traffic & material handling (Chary, p. 88). Construction firms require the use of construction management techniques in order to be able to direct and coordinate the workers and the material resources required throughout the timeframe of a given construction project. Management techniques are quite important when it comes to the implementation of a management system. Benefits attributed to various management techniques are that they are able to increase a firm’s success based on cost, quality, time, and scope and participation satisfaction (Chary, p. 91). With regards to project management in a construction firm scenario, what is involved is a set of objectives that are meant to be accomplished through implementation of operations that are subject to the resource constraint. Based on the concept explained above on operation management, this paper is going to focus on the best method of implementing a management system for a construction company following the necessary essentials in the concept. There is need for most business companies to adopt an operational management method that will help in achieving most of their goals especially in the production of quality goods that will definitely increase their financial gain (Chary, p.93). Satisfying the customers’ needs is the major priority for any business organization. The construction companies which are referred to as one of the highly ranked performing organizations are required to have their own processing bodies which are meant to be the foundation of the company’s standard

Can Rehabilitation be Effective Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Can Rehabilitation be Effective - Research Paper Example Earlier, or in 2007, Bonta and Andrews reported that Canada has been using a risk-need-responsivity or RNR model in reducing recidivism with an increasing success rate in assessing and rehabilitating criminals in Canada and around the world (p. abstract section). The RNR approach follows three principles: (1) match services based on the risk to offend among offenders (risk principle); (2) assess and target criminogenic needs in treatment (need principle); and (2) maximize the offender’s ability to learn from rehabilitation by providing cognitive behavioral treatment and designing specific interventions based on learning style, motivation, and situation of the offender (responsivity principle). Meanwhile, according to Murphy, in the English and Welsh Probation Service and Prison Service Programs of the United Kingdom, combines the RNR model discussed earlier and a model called the Good Lives Model (GLM). Murphy elaborated that the GLM focuses on helping offenders obtain what the probation and prison institutions termed as â€Å"human goods† or needs like intimacy, autonomy, and knowledge. Murphy stressed however that in the UK probation and prison programs that those that have adequate discharge planning, provide appropriate community aftercare services, and involve significant others have increasingly reduced recidivism. Much earlier, in 1996, Gendreau identified the principles of effective intervention: (1) services should be intensive and behavioral in nature given tangible, activity, and social reinforcers; (2) program contingencies and behavioral strategies should be implemented in a firm but fair manner.

MLA Formatting and Style Guide by Purdue OWL Essay - 10

MLA Formatting and Style Guide by Purdue OWL - Essay Example For instance, in case of expert users, the document needs to present facts through the use of figures and any available data, there is no need of definitions, explaining the data, background explanations and the writer can use abbreviations. This is different for writing other documents because one needs to explain things like terms, the user data and focus on the bigger picture. Visuals are important in the sense that they enhance the meaning of the document and easily create an understanding to the user on what the document is all about. Visuals play a significant role in attracting the attention of the end user to a particular document and help them multitask when reading a technical document. Visuals keep the user interested because they easily connect to the document. Training manuals are the choice of a technical communication document to use in my field. The document will be used to enhance classroom teaching by the professor and helps students understand better the subject at hand. The documents target students in institutions of higher learning and it’s best suited compared to any other technical communication document.