Archive for category: Uncategorized

Bibliography

 

Beghetto, R. and Kaufman, J. (2014). Classroom contexts for creativity. High Ability Studies, 25(1), pp.53-69.

 

(Runco, 2004)

Runco, M. (2004). Creativity. Annual Review of Psychology, 55(1), pp.657-687.

 

 

Starko, A. (n.d.). Creativity in the classroom: schools of curious delight. 4th ed.

 

The Palgrave Handbook of Social Creativity Research pp 487-499| Cite as

Classroom Creative Climate: From a Static to a Dynamic Perspective

Maciej Karwowski

PRACTICAL APPLICATION PROBLEM 1                                                                                  

This problem is worth 10% of your term grade. Note that there is a numeric (problem solving) component as well as an essay question. All parts must be completed successfully for full credit. The problem section is worth 20 out of 30 points and the essay section is worth 10 out of the 30 point total.

Planning for retirement is vital to most individuals. Social Security is a good idea, but it is in danger of running short of funds in the coming years. This problem is structured to help you think about how to save for the future. As with many time value of money problems, you may still need to draw a time line. Note the following requirements for this problem.

1. Answer each of the questions below as directed and submit this file to the assignment folder. Rename the file with your first and last name and Problem 1. (such as: Your Name Problem 1)
2. You must “show your work”. That means, for every calculation, show the inputs you used on the calculator: N (# periods)= ??, I/Y (rate) = ??, PV = ??, PMT = ?? And FV = ?? In TVM problems, you must have 4 of the 5 values, solving for the 5th. Zero is often a valid value and where appropriate, show this. For example, on a monthly mortgage, you owe an amount, and this is the PV, you pay off in x periods (# years * 12), which is N, you have a periodic interest rate, that is annual rate/12, and you owe nothing at the end (FV = 0). You are then solving for PMT.

A correct answer with no work shown is scored as a 50%. An incorrect answer with no work shown is scored as 0%.

Incorrect answers with work shown will receive at least some partial credit.

3. Clearly indicate your final answer for each section. Make it easy for your academic coaches to grade the assignment please.

THE SETUP:

Your best friend Dave just celebrated his 24th birthday and wants to start saving for his anticipated retirement. Dave plans to retire in 36 years and believes that he will have 25 good years of retirement and believes that if he can withdraw $125,000 at the end of each year, he can enjoy his retirement. Assume that a reasonable rate of interest for Dave for all scenarios presented below is 6.5% per year.

This is an annual rate, review each individual question for more specifics on compounding periods per year.

Because Dave is planning ahead, the first withdrawal will not take place until one year after he retires. He wants to make equal annual deposits into his account for his retirement fund.

For each question, add blank lines as needed to provide your solution.

1. If he starts making these deposits in one year and makes his last deposit on the day he retires, what amount must he deposit annually to be able to make the desired withdrawals at retirement?

A1) First: Amount needed at retirement (3 pts):

 

A2) The amount Dave must save each year (beginning at the end of the first year) to fund his retirement is (3 pts):

A3) If Dave decides to make monthly deposits to reach his same retirement goal, how much must Dave start depositing one month from today? (3 pts)?

1. If Dave decides instead to take exotic vacations each year for the next 5 years, and delay putting aside funds for that time, (1st deposit at the end of 5 years from now, leaving only 31 years to grow his retirement nest egg), what amount must he deposit annually to be able to make the desired withdrawals at retirement (4 pts)?

 

1. We are now back to Dave starting his retirement investments one year from now. Suppose your friend has just inherited a large sum of money. Rather than making equal annual payments for the entire investment period , he has decided to make one lump sum deposit today to cover his retirement needs. What amount does he have to deposit today? (3 pts)

 

1. We are now back to Dave starting his retirement investments one year from now (36 years to retirement). Suppose Dave’s employer will contribute $2,500 to the account each year as part of the company’s profit sharing plan. In addition, assume that Dave has a trust fund that will pay out $50,000 to him when he is 40 (16 years from now). What amount must he deposit annually under these assumptions to be able to make the desired withdrawals at retirement?

To find the amount of the annual deposit now, it is easier to break down the components of the problem. Doing so for each of the following to find your friend’s annual deposit, we get:

D1) Value of employer’s contribution at retirement (1 pt):

 

 

D2) Value of trust fund at retirement (1 pt):

 

 

D3) Remaining amount that Dave needs at retirement (1 pt):

 

 

D4) (Final answer) Amount to save each year under these assumptions (1):

 

 

 

ESSAY SECTION, CONCEPTUAL

 

There are obvious simplifications in this problem, making it unreasonable in “real life”. Begin by discussing how economic conditions, chosen investment vehicles (FDIC insured investments, mutual funds, stock markets, etc.), diversification (e.g., invest all in Tesla or go with index funds), rates of return, and inflation will affect retirement planning. What are some ways that those saving for retirement can help address the key issues you have discussed? Be sure to address both parts of this question.

Read the Rubric for essay section (below). The essay section is worth 10 out of the assignment’s 30 point (max) total.

 

Rubric for the essay section:

• Answer provides enough depth to cover the topic (250 words minimum).
• Response is well written and free from writing errors (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, spelling, etc.)
• APA citation for sources provided (with a minimum of 1 reference, but no more than 5 references). The sources are of high quality (books, journal articles, reputable business magazines, professional association publications, government websites etc.). INVESTOPEDIA (OR WIKIPEDIA) is not considered a proper reference.

 

Begin essay below:

Just start typing over this text

 

 

 

 

 

Literature Review

October 7, 2019

 

In Integrating Art into the Early Childhood Curriculum: Appendix A—Children’s Art Development, authors Althouse, et.al, seek to provide teachers with a rating tool used to evaluate student artwork. The writers included ten indicators on their assessment.  These items work together to measure a student’s level of creative, cognitive, and artistic thinking which all translate into artistic thinking. The authors cite the first 6 indicators on the rating scale as items that can be observed in a student’s artwork, they are: repletedness, elaboration, originality, composition, expression, and fluency.  The 4 remaining indicators are designed to be observed over time, they are: flexibility, problem solving, transfer of artistic knowledge and skills, and use of art language to discuss work. This seems to be a well throughout rating scale that will be helpful to me during the experimental process.

 

In Visual Art: Accessing Content through Image, the authors Donovan et.al, seek to convey that images help to construct meaning.  They believe visual art are relevant in the education sector because they see visual arts as a universal language that enables students to grasp concepts that may otherwise be hard to understand. The authors assert that visual arts can enhance many of the subjects’ students study in school. They affirm that reading is enhanced by the creation of mental images. In writing, students’ imaginations open up once visuals are incorporated, writes block is also avoided. In science, visual art education helps students make better observation which will enables students to include more details in their sketches, which in turn helps them better understand the specimen at hand.  They also point out in mathematics that visuals are key and are helpful in making mathematics more concrete. The authors go on to further justify their claims that visual arts improve academic achievement. They affirm that engaging readers in visual arts allows readers to visualize and interpret text better than text alone, which in turn enhances literacy skills.  The authors quoted a study that stated that students enrolled in a visual arts program by the Guggenheim Museum performed better in six categories of literacy and critical thinking skills, namely: detailed description, hypothesizing, and reasoning than those who did not attend the program.

 

In Significance of Adult Input in Early Childhood Artistic Development, Author Anna M. Kindler believes that there is a discrepancy between what is known about the stages of artistic development and how art instruction is approached by both teachers and parents. Piaget believes that artistic growth begins in his preoperational and early concrete operational stages, which is as early as two years old and goes up to 9 years old. The authors hold that there is not much of an emphasis on developing preschool children’s artistic development. Unfortunately, history reveals that in the 19^th century children were seen as unskilled, miniature adults so there was no real concept of childhood whatsoever, thus no emphasis on artistic development in children. It was only in the last century did a shift begin to occur when it came to children’s’ art development.  This emphasis was on allowing children to find their own sense of creativity that is supposedly buried within them. Philosopher Franz Cizek believed that “method poisons art” (Efland, 1976, P. 71) this belief caused educators to take a hands-off approach when introducing children to art. This view is still perpetrated in preschool classrooms and beyond in North America. Many, who have learned under the pretense of “unfolding” confess that they lack the knowledge needed to facilitate artistic expression and development to their students, therefore this reality disproves that adult intervention is detrimental to a child’s artistic development, rather the opposite is. Vygotsky (1978) disagreed with this notion, and instead asserted that learning inspires development, and once learning is internalized then it becomes a part of a child’s “independent developmental achievement” (p.90).  Vygotsky further elaborates his theory by stating that using a laissez-faire approach to learning does not encourage students to progress on to areas that they are well ready for.

 

In Preschool Day Care and Artistic Expression of Pupils in the First Grade of Primary School, Kljajic and Cagran (2015) are convinced that there are specific variations among pupils concerning their form of preschool day care with the aim of explaining whether a child’s environment impacts the development of their artistic abilities. The authors highlighted that children spent time between their birth and school enrollment in various environments. During this time, children develop at different rates with some progressing faster and some slower. Besides school and kindergarten environment, children often learn spontaneously uniquely depending on the world around them. By the age of two they begin developing artistically. It is then that they notice materials that leave stains on their cloths or floor. Developing artistic skills in children has been associated with their cognitive processes, motor development and use of materials of art. The study found that there was a statistically significant variation in the level of art skills among the pupils considering with regards to their form of early childhood daycare technique of charcoal drawing.  The highest level of artistic skills was evident among children who spent time with grandparents unlike those that attended kindergarten. The study also found that tendency of artistic skill level among pupils was evident in crayon painting, potato printing, and monotype. The findings mean that regardless of the environment a child grows up in, subjecting them to various art techniques by providing them a variety of materials, they develop motor skills.

 

In Cross-cultural Analysis of Artistic Development: Drawing by Japanese and U.S. Children Toku (2001), disagrees with the belief that drawing in children follows a universal pattern during their early years despite their culture or gender. Toku proceeds to reveal that characteristic and universal patterns in children including spatial patterns and graphic representational patterns emerge with children’s cognitive development and physical growth. However, Toku confirms that during their early ages, children’s artistic development depicts a universal pattern coupled with cultural specificity upon attaining particular ages. Consequently, the universal artistic development tendency is restricted within the early years up to 6 years, when cultural and educational influences kick in. The study was conducted in spring 1993 to a total of 1250 collected drawings from among United States children in second fourth, and sixth grades. Another set of 767drawings were collected among Japanese students in the same age group 2^nd, 4^th, and 6^th grade from the same areas as those of the US children. The subject for each of the drawing was me and my friends playing in the school yard.  The study found significant variations between US and Japanese children within the process of spatial treatment. The differences were attributed to education culture in Japan requiring that children begin drawing at an early age, and intense training of Japanese kindergarten teachers as art experts. The difference in language was also found to be contributing factor to the variations. In essence, the findings depicted that cultural differences contributed to the variations in artistic development among children across various cultures.

 

 

References

 

Donovan, L.; Pascale. L. (2004) Integrating the Arts  Across the Content Areas Huntington Beach, CA: Lesley University.

 

Althouse, R.; Johnson, M.H.; Mitchell, S.T. (2003). The Colors of Learning: Integrating the Visual Arts into Early Childhood Curriculum. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. 129-144/

Althouse, R.; Johnson, M.H.; Mitchell, S.T. (2003). The Colors of Learning: Integrating the Visual Arts into Early Childhood Curriculum. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Apendix A

Kljajič, A. and Čagran, B. (2015). Preschool day care and artistic expression of pupils in the first grade of primary school. The New Educational Review, 41(3), pp.27-38.

Toku, M. (2001). Cross-cultural Analysis of Artistic Development: Drawing by Japanese and U.S. Children. Toku, Masami, 27(1), 46-59.

 

Competency

This competency will allow you to demonstrate your understanding of prominent sociological theories and how they impact the digital world.

Instructions

You are working for a local department store in the Operations Department. You notice that their business practices and use of technology are not up to date. The Human Resources Department does not have adequate computer access and often requires employees to complete some business at home. They also require prospective employees to apply from home. You recognize that not all people have personal computers, and some might be accessing business and personal records from a public computer. There are two prominent sociological theories that can be used to easily examine computer usage for individuals and organizations. Those theories are Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interaction Theory.

At a staff meeting, you and your team are engaged in a discussion about the use of technology on both an individual and organizational level. You cite the digital divide as a major concern. Your store is considering an upgrade in some or all of their technological resources.

Recognizing that you are technologically savvy, your supervisor asks you to generate a visual comparison that considers the use of public computers versus a personal computer. You will rank concepts such as ease of use, time, and comfort in completing tasks, security factors, email management, and safety in conducting business that is typically completed on a computer that may lead someone to experience the digital divide (a difference between groups of people and their use of digital technology). You will also need to consider the sociological theories named above and explain how from a sociological perspective, it would benefit or hinder the store you work in to upgrade their technology.

Your comparison should consider various factors identified below and will illustrate the benefits and some potential limitations of utilizing technology. Your presentation will be presented to your supervisor and other members of the Operations Department in order to determine which, if any, components of the store’s current technological operations will be updated. The visual comparison can be in any engaging format that you select.

For this comparison chart, you are to reflect upon and address the following sets of questions/information.

Define conflict theory.
Define symbolic interaction theory.
Discuss how each of these theories would explain the use of technology and the development of the digital world we now live.
Consider multiple ways that society has changed in the past several decades and what contributed to that change.
Provide examples of technological growth and change over the past several decades.
Make direct correlations between the technologies that exist and the changes that have occurred at the organizational and societal levels in the past several decades.
Define digital divide.
Consider factors that create the digital divide, such as access to technology, socioeconomic status, age, personal interest, location of residence, etc.
Based upon factors that cause the digital divide, suggest ways that this divide can be combated.
How does the digital divide apply to the store that you work in for this scenario?
Which theoretical perspective can best be applied to your store in the above scenario to help explain and counter the impacts of the digital divide?