Learn to manage time properly so that you are do not end up getting a huge pile of work on your desk.
If you are a student maintain a realistic time table and do your home work, assignments on time without leaving them for TOMORROW or the weekend.
Tuesday 9 August 2011
Time Management
Learn to manage time properly so that you are do not end up getting a huge pile of work on your desk.
If you are a student maintain a realistic time table and do your home work, assignments on time without leaving them for TOMORROW or the weekend.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary learning is an essential part of mastering over a language. Here is a Vocabulary Bank card sample that you can make for your self and the students to make learning easy and interesting!
Tuesday 5 July 2011
How texting help pupils with their textbooks?
How texting helps pupils with their textbooks
Can modern messaging enhance your children's literacy skills?
Experts are unsure whether the rise of textspeak is damaging children's development Photo: Mode Images Limited / Alamy
This cd b v expensive chat, observed my son. He is 19 and in London, I in Tanzania. A scheduled conversation on Skype had failed, but I was determined to extract some news. A dozen brief – and similarly abbreviated – messages followed. An expensive chat indeed. But the alternative – that he write a letter to update his parents as to his whereabouts and wellbeing – seemed out of the question. It would take too long, he’d argue and, he’d point out, there are other, swifter, options.
When he was a malleable eight-year-old, I could coerce him into writing conventional thank you letters (pen, paper, envelope, stamp) post Christmas. By the time he was a teenager, I found myself struggling for a reason why a text – thnx 4 ur pressie gran it is gr8 – mightn’t be as warmly received as a letter in the mail. It was, after all, still a message of gratitude.
Besides, as Guy Merchant, professor of literacy in education at Sheffield Hallam University and a member of the UK Literary Association (UKLA), points out: “Language and literacy change over time. Social, economic and technological conditions influence these changes in significant ways.”
My son is a product of his time. We don’t just communicate in myriad ways today – emails and instant messaging for example – the technology we employ, whether it is mobile phones or laptops, is constantly evolving.
“These different channels of communication have led to the emergence of new communicative styles including text abbreviations and acronyms,” says Prof Merchant. According to him, writing is “enjoying a moment of creativity”, with young people at its heart.
His conclusion is that “there is no evidence that literacy is in decline, reading and writing, in whatever form, is advantageous”. That reminds me of what a teacher said to a mother who was anxious that her child read only comics. “Even the back of the cereal packet over breakfast offers an opportunity to explore words,” she said.
However, Helen Cooper, a professor of English at Cambridge University, voices the worry that textspeak is not enough. “As someone with a deep concern for English literature, and the full possibilities of the use of the language, I’m eager for children and young people to read real books as extensively as possible, so that they can absorb all the things that textspeak doesn’t cover: a large vocabulary, the shape that well-made sentences can take, how to develop ideas through language, even punctuation. I want them to experience all the pleasure that reading gives, and the satisfaction that writing well brings.”
Clare Havers, who teaches GCSE English, shares Prof Cooper’s sentiment about books. “My feeling is that children are daunted by large bodies of text, which is why reading books is so important; it is up to parents and schools to make sure they learn sustained reading skills alongside the browsing skills demanded by the internet.
“There are important things to be gained from 'slow’ meditative reading that can’t be gained from skimming text on the iPhone or iPad.”
But she was interested in the results of recent fourth-form coursework on the future of reading in the 21st century. “We considered books versus electronic forms of text – Kindle, iPad. Some students found traditional forms of reading comforting, but said they didn’t have the time or inclination; others said they devoted time to reading as a leisure activity, whether in the traditional form of books or electronically; most felt that reading on Google, Facebook, or text messages was still reading, and was the shape of reading for the future.”
Perhaps the bite-size texts of today engage children who might have resisted words had they only had access to them conventionally? Many children are overwhelmed by volumes of text, drawing them in with manageable chunks makes reading – and the subsequent manipulation of words as writing – less intimidating.
Indeed, one study which dispelled my anxiety that too much text talk might compromise a child’s literacy was that conducted by Coventry University psychologists Drs Clare Wood and Beverley Plester, who say that though my concerns are understandable, the reality is very different.
“There is no evidence the use of textspeak is harming literacy development in children: in fact the associations are positive, rather than negative,” says Dr Wood. “There is a reason: many popular abbreviations used by children are highly phonetic in nature (often spelling as they speak), this shows a high degree of sensitivity to letter-sound correspondences in language. It just comes in a more unconventional form, and that unconventional format is what worries people,” she said.
Dr Plester says their research shows “pre-teens who use the most 'textisms’ do best in standard literacy measures of spelling and reading.” Another study, by the National Literacy Trust, concludes that children who blog, text or use social networking websites are more confident about their writing skills.
What about the danger that textspeak may work its way into formal writing requirements, such as school essays? Ms Havers says: “Most children are careful about keeping to a more formal written register for class work: 'u’ and '2’ slip in most frequently, but then so does incorrect grammar, like 'must of’ and 'could of’.”
My 17-year-old daughter, who has just written her Higher Level IB English, but who uses abbreviations and acronyms in emails her grandmother cannot fathom, said: “The constant debate in the media about whether or not teens will soon be illiterate with giant thumbs due to their excessive use of mobile phones is demeaning. Because I am a teen, it does not mean I am unable to switch between textspeak and formal essay writing; it’s as easy as switching between chatting to your friends and speaking to an elderly aunt.”
Speech and language therapist Veenal Raval investigated this subject in a dissertation for City University, London, and concluded that children are able to use appropriate grammar and literacy skills according to their environment. He says: “They are able to 'code-switch’ the same way that I would use a reasonable amount of slang when speaking to my friends and adopt a more formal means when talking to colleagues.”
He adds: “It’s about balancing the 'digi’ and 'traditional’, but there is clearly no cause for alarm: rather than compromising young people’s literacy skills and conventional writing, new media – because it’s so prevalent, so much a part of their everyday lives, so accessible and so instantly gratifying – offers a surprising opportunity to enhance it.”
If u wnt 2 kno wot txt msgz frm ur kds or grandkds rly mean, here are some pointers. Forget punctuation. Teens don’t waste time adding commas, apostrophes or full stops. The only exception is the question mark, a replacement for the word why.
Substitute numbers for letters and words (so 2 is “too,” 4 is “for”, l8r is “later”, gr8 is “great” and g2g is “got to go”) and eradicate vowels (pls is “please,” ur “your”, cd “could” and txts “texts”). Use acronyms (so idk is “I don’t know”, jk “just kidding”, bff “best friend forever”, bffl “best friend for life”, wud “what (are) you doing”, ttyl “talk to you later”, lol is “laugh out loud”, omg “oh, my God’; rofl is “rolling on the floor laughing” to indicate high amusement and tmi is “too much information”, as when your bff tells you she g2g to the loo).
And substitute single letters for whole words, so r is “are” u means “you”, c “see”, o is “oh” and k “OK”. “R u gng to c the movie?” might elicit a response “k” with a friendly “c u l8r”.
Prof Plester suggests reading texts aloud because “most of the txtsms used are phonetic in nature, especially the dreaded b4 l8r 2nite. She adds: “I’ll bet your mother learned to spell phonetically.”
If you’re still struggling, check out Textionary: The Texting Dictionary or Shawn Marie Eddington’s Read Between the Lines: A Humorous Guide to Texting with Simplicity and Style (both available from Amazon), which includes how teens text and texting benefits for us all.
Source: The Telegraph - Telegraph.co.uk
Monday 4 July 2011
How the world's most improved school systems keep getting better
By Mona Mourshed, Chinezi Chijioke, and Michael Barber
Mona Mourshed
How does a school system with poor performance become good? And how does one with good performance become excellent?
Click this link to read the full Report
The fundamental challenge school system leaders face is how to shepherd their system through a journey to higher student outcomes. This journey is all the more complex because system starting points are different, contextual realities vary, and system leaders face multiple choices and combinations of what to do along the way—a single misplaced step can result in system leaders inadvertently taking a path that cannot get them to their desired destination. While there is no single path to improving school system performance, the experiences of all the 20 improving school systems we studied show that strong commonalities exist in the nature of their journeys. This report outlines the aspects of these journeys that are universal, those that are context-specific, and how the two interact. We hope these experiences benefit school systems around the world in navigating their own path to improvement.
School systems do three types of things to achieve this goal—they change their structure by establishing new institutions or school types, altering school years and levels, or decentralizing system responsibilities; they change their resources by adding more education staff to schools or by increasing system funding; and, they change their processes by modifying curriculum and improving the way that teachers instruct and principals lead. All three of these intervention types—structure, resources, and process—are important along the improvement journey. The public debate, however, often centers on structure and resource due to their stakeholder implications. However, we find that the vast majority of interventions made by the improving systems in our sample are “process” in nature; and, within this area, improving systems generally spend more of their activity on improving how instruction is delivered than on changing the content of what is delivered.
Six interventions occur equally at every performance stage for all systems. Our research suggests that six interventions are common to all performance stages across the entire improvement journey: building the instructional skills of teachers and management skills of principals, assessing students, improving data systems, facilitating improvement through the introduction of policy documents and education laws, revising standards and curriculum, and ensuring an appropriate reward and remuneration structure for teachers and principals. Though these interventions occur at all performance stages, they manifest differently at each stage. Taking the example of teacher training, for instance: while Armenia (on the journey from fair to good) relied on centrally-driven, cascaded teacher training programs, Singapore (on the journey from good to great) allowed teachers flexibility in selecting the topics that were most relevant to their development needs.
Executive Summary
Country Summary
If you liked this report then you might like reading more from McKinsey Social Sector on issues including education and employment.
Electromagnetic fields can disturb learning, study suggests, but only at very high levels
Electromagnetic fields can disturb learning, study suggests, but only at very high levels
Electromagnetic Fields Can Disturb Learning, Study Suggests, but Only at Very High Levels
ScienceDaily (July 1, 2011) — The effects of high-frequency electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones on humans have been hotly debated for years. In a new study, neuroscientists from Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum (RUB) in Germany have shed light on this question. For the first time, they provide evidence that extremely high-powered electromagnetic fields can influence learning processes on the synaptic level within the brain, independent from other factors such as stress. However, such high levels are not encountered during typical use of mobile phones, the researchers note.
"For this effect, very high values are necessary. These do not occur during the daily use of mobile phones," explains Dr. Nora Prochnow, with RUB's Medical Faculty.
Mobile phone derived non-ionizing radiation can produce heat …
High-frequency electromagnetic fields (HEFs) are not only used in mobile phones, but also in a variety of other communication systems like radio, television or cordless telephone sets. Mobile phones of the so-called third generation utilize the UMTS technology (Universal Mobile Communication System) with a frequency of 1200 MHz and a relatively weak operating range (3.8-4.8 V/m). With increasing power, electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are able to elicit local warming of body tissues, being also described as a "thermal effect." Reportedly, mobile phones can cause local warming of the brain by less than 0.1°C. The effect on function and structure of the brain during long term use of mobile phones (e.g. > 30 min) remains unexplained until now.
… and might influence cellular activity
Furthermore, findings regarding the non-thermal effects of mobile phone emitted EMFs are unclear and contradictory. These comprise, for instance, an increase in permeability and fluidity of cellular membranes, which can be implicated in changes in ion-channel integration and metabolism, even without a detectable change in temperature. This may impair synaptic learning processes in the brain. Until now, experiments could not sufficiently answer the question of whether these effects are derived from non-thermal HEFs or from stress, as it can be induced by handling of the experimental animal (e.g. placing a rat into an unknown environment).
Stress or non-thermal EMF effect -- Scientists find out for the first time
To investigate this question, a new study was performed by scientists of the Department of Neuroanatomy and Molecular Brain Research (Professor Dr. med. Rolf Dermietzel) in cooperation with the Chair of Electromagnetic Theory of the University of Wuppertal. For the experiment, rats were placed into differently powered non-thermal HEFs in the UMTS operating range. Synaptic learning and memory formation were analysed by electrophysiological methods. Furthermore, all animals were tested for stress hormone release immediately following the HEF exposure.
Mobile phone use seems to be harmless -- critical values for occupational use have to be controlled precisely
The results: Although there was daily training and effortless contact to the exposure environment, increases in blood derived stress hormone levels could be detected for all exposed groups. The stress clearly influences learning and memory formation on the synaptic level in the rat brain. High-powered EMFs (SAR 10 W/kg) also have a significant effect on learning and memory formation. In contrast to this, weak EMFs (SAR 0 and 2 W/kg) lead to no detectable changes or impairments.
"These results cannot directly be transferred to humans," says Nora Prochnow. "But in the animal model, it can be demonstrated that neuronal mechanisms of synaptic learning can serve as a target for high powered EMFs."
However, there is no need for serious concerns: humans are not exposed to such high-powered EMFs during daily mobile phone use. Nevertheless, the matter has to be regarded differently in special occupational situations, for instance during the use of body worn antenna systems as it is common for security services or military purposes. Here, critical levels for occupational exposure may be reached more easily and have to be controlled carefully.
Sunday 3 July 2011
Complex Islamic response to evolution emerges from study
Complex Islamic response to evolution emerges from study
Acceptance of evolution varies widely across the Islamic world, demonstrating that stereotypical ideas about Islam and evolution are wrong, said Salman Hameed, director of the Centre for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies (SSiMS) at Hampshire College, United Sates.
But ideas are being moulded now, he said, because of new phenomena such as mass education, migration and access to the Internet.
“This is a unique moment,” Hameed told the 7th World Conference of Science Journalists (27–29 June) in Qatar this week. He presented initial results from a survey that examines the attempts of educated Muslims to reconcile their religion with the evolutionary science.
The survey is being conducted among doctors and medical students in five Muslim countries — Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey — and also in three countries hosting Muslim diaspora — Turkish doctors in Germany; Pakistani doctors in the United Kingdom; and Arab, Pakistani and Turkish doctors in the United States.
Hameed told SciDev.Net they picked doctors as they would be scientifically literate and share similar educational and social backgrounds. The questions included whether the respondents accepted or rejected the general theory of evolution and, more specifically, whether microbial, animal and human forms of evolution are possible.
He presented the results of just two groups — Pakistanis in the United States and Malaysians in their home country.
More than 80 per cent of Pakistani doctors in the United States accepted the theory of evolution, including microbial, animal and human evolution.
The majority also believed that one could accept the theory of evolution and hold religious beliefs at the same time.
But most Malaysian doctors (in Malaysia) rejected the theory of evolution, especially with regard to humans.
So while Hameed is optimistic that the basic principles of evolution will eventually become accepted, he said that Muslim countries are still “negotiating modernity” and many replies demonstrated the resulting confusion.
For example, a Turkish doctor said: “It is complicated … I accept evolution scientifically, but reject it religiously”. And a Pakistani medical student said: “I accept it when I am in a hospital and reject it when I go home”.
Young earth creationism, which holds that Earth was created around 6,000 years ago literally as described in the Bible, and is held by some, mainly US Christian groups, who reject evolution, was absent, demonstrating that media coverage of evolutionary debate needed to be more nuanced.
“Muslim contexts are different from the battles in the United States,” Hameed warned. Presenting Muslim attitudes as a controversy was premature and could be damaging, as the “dominant narrative is yet to emerge in the Muslim world”, where religion plays an important role in forming people’s worldviews.
“If evolution gets conflated with atheism, then a vast rejection, even of the basic principles, is quite possible,” he said. Human evolution, though, will likely continue to be a controversial subject — and perhaps be rejected by the majority of Muslims. — www.scidev.net
Time and Aspect in the English Verb System
One of the problems encountered by students of English as a foreign language, whose level is more or less quite high, is more to do with accurately and consistently applying the grammar rules that they would have learn in the past than with actually being…
in the morning
in the afternoon
in the evening
AND
at night
Thursday 16 June 2011
Saturday 4 June 2011
Keeping Promises
Teacher: Didn’t you promise to behave?
Student: Yes, Sir.
Teacher: And didn’t I promise to punish you if you didn’t?
Student: Yes, Sir, but since I broke my promise, I don’t expect you to keep yours.
Student: Yes, Sir.
Teacher: And didn’t I promise to punish you if you didn’t?
Student: Yes, Sir, but since I broke my promise, I don’t expect you to keep yours.
Friday 21 January 2011
Best Online Resources for Students By Syed Talal
These days internet has become an invaluable resources for students. There’s no question that these days students can further their academic success by appropriate use of it.
But due to the sheer vastness of the Internet, finding relevant information can be a bit of a challenge as well as time consuming unless you know exactly what you’re looking for.
So here I present various resources of use to a student that I have come across.
Library.nu:
Link: http://library.nu/
The new home of Gigapedia, which hosted the biggest collection of e-books relating to any subject imaginable on the internet. It has always been of great help to me since one can find almost any textbook or solution manuals on it.
It also has novels, autobiographies. In short, if you need an e-book, this should be your first stop. The site requires registration to search for documents though. Most of the files are hosted on rapidshare, hotfile, ifile.it etc.
Free Ebook spot:
Link: http://www.freebookspot.biz/
On the rare occasion when you cant find a specific ebook on Library.nu, chances are free ebook spot has it. Between these two sites, I have found almost every book and novel I have ever searched for.
MIT OCW:
Link: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
Its an online project started by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
Basically, selected courses (being offered at MIT) are available here. There are lecture notes, quizzes, their solutions and even videos of the lectures delivered in the class rooms.
Students can access all the content for free and without registration.
Yale OCW:
Link: http://oyc.yale.edu/
The principle is same as OCW offered by MIT, but the range of topics in the introductory courses available here, are related more to the arts.
Cramster:
Link: http://www.cramster.com/
Cramster is basically a community of students and professors etc, who offer help with studies. They have step by step solutions to many textbooks and there’s an community of experts who answer any questions you might have as well as guide you with your problems.
Catch is, its not free. You can register for free but free members get limited access to the resources, but in most cases its adequate, specially when coupled up with the above sites.
All Free Essays:
Link: http://www.allfreeessays.com/
This site offers free access to thousands of essays, reports and papers written by students from all over the world.
Simple English Wikipedia:
Link: http://simple.wikipedia.org
No doubt Wikipedia is an invaluable source of information. But sometimes the language in which it is written can a bit too technical. Which makes it difficult to understand for people whose first language isn’t English.
So here’s the alternative. Simple English Wikipedia is the same as Wikpedia but all the articles are written in easy to understand English.
Khan Academy:
Link: http://www.khanacademy.org/
Khan Academy aims to be a world class education to anyone, anywhere and it does that by providing video lectures of thousands of topics from all subjects.
The quality of the lectures provided here is simply superb. An easy to understand approach is given to every topic. If you are having issues with any topic, specially from Mathematics and Physics, I highly recommend Khan Academy.
DogPile:
Link: http://www.dogpile.com/
Dogpile lists all results from the four major search engines namely, Google, Bing, Yahoo! and Ask. So its a far more effective tool for finding relevant information. It has a ton of features including side by side comparison of search engines etc. Check it out for yourself.
Microsoft OneNote:
Link: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/
OneNote is one of the best notetaking softwares I’ve come across for a long time. It has brilliant features like adding images, audio clip, free hand drawings etc to your notes. Its not free, but then again, we Pakistanis are not known for the massive profits we provide to the companies. For a free alternative check out EverNote. Its equally capable, if not better.
By the we recently did a list of must have iPhone apps for students. You can check the list here.
You are welcome to share links that you have found useful in the comments section.
Source: ProPakistani.pk
·http://propakistani.pk/2011/01/21/best-online-resources-for-students/#comments
Friday, Jan 21, 2011
But due to the sheer vastness of the Internet, finding relevant information can be a bit of a challenge as well as time consuming unless you know exactly what you’re looking for.
So here I present various resources of use to a student that I have come across.
Library.nu:
Link: http://library.nu/
The new home of Gigapedia, which hosted the biggest collection of e-books relating to any subject imaginable on the internet. It has always been of great help to me since one can find almost any textbook or solution manuals on it.
It also has novels, autobiographies. In short, if you need an e-book, this should be your first stop. The site requires registration to search for documents though. Most of the files are hosted on rapidshare, hotfile, ifile.it etc.
Free Ebook spot:
Link: http://www.freebookspot.biz/
On the rare occasion when you cant find a specific ebook on Library.nu, chances are free ebook spot has it. Between these two sites, I have found almost every book and novel I have ever searched for.
MIT OCW:
Link: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
Its an online project started by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
Basically, selected courses (being offered at MIT) are available here. There are lecture notes, quizzes, their solutions and even videos of the lectures delivered in the class rooms.
Students can access all the content for free and without registration.
Yale OCW:
Link: http://oyc.yale.edu/
The principle is same as OCW offered by MIT, but the range of topics in the introductory courses available here, are related more to the arts.
Cramster:
Link: http://www.cramster.com/
Cramster is basically a community of students and professors etc, who offer help with studies. They have step by step solutions to many textbooks and there’s an community of experts who answer any questions you might have as well as guide you with your problems.
Catch is, its not free. You can register for free but free members get limited access to the resources, but in most cases its adequate, specially when coupled up with the above sites.
All Free Essays:
Link: http://www.allfreeessays.com/
This site offers free access to thousands of essays, reports and papers written by students from all over the world.
Simple English Wikipedia:
Link: http://simple.wikipedia.org
No doubt Wikipedia is an invaluable source of information. But sometimes the language in which it is written can a bit too technical. Which makes it difficult to understand for people whose first language isn’t English.
So here’s the alternative. Simple English Wikipedia is the same as Wikpedia but all the articles are written in easy to understand English.
Khan Academy:
Link: http://www.khanacademy.org/
Khan Academy aims to be a world class education to anyone, anywhere and it does that by providing video lectures of thousands of topics from all subjects.
The quality of the lectures provided here is simply superb. An easy to understand approach is given to every topic. If you are having issues with any topic, specially from Mathematics and Physics, I highly recommend Khan Academy.
DogPile:
Link: http://www.dogpile.com/
Dogpile lists all results from the four major search engines namely, Google, Bing, Yahoo! and Ask. So its a far more effective tool for finding relevant information. It has a ton of features including side by side comparison of search engines etc. Check it out for yourself.
Microsoft OneNote:
Link: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/
OneNote is one of the best notetaking softwares I’ve come across for a long time. It has brilliant features like adding images, audio clip, free hand drawings etc to your notes. Its not free, but then again, we Pakistanis are not known for the massive profits we provide to the companies. For a free alternative check out EverNote. Its equally capable, if not better.
By the we recently did a list of must have iPhone apps for students. You can check the list here.
You are welcome to share links that you have found useful in the comments section.
Source: ProPakistani.pk
·http://propakistani.pk/2011/01/21/best-online-resources-for-students/#comments
Friday, Jan 21, 2011
Thursday 20 January 2011
Laptop Vs Mobile Phone for School Girls, which is better? Samia Adnan
Many of the students are using mobile phones and some insist in having a laptop too, so should they have both or any one of these gadgets but which one of the two is better for them?
The school going girls are not mentally matured, thus they are more attracted and inclined towards the social evils and immoral activities. They do not like taking guidance from their elders and like to undergo different experiences themselves.
Mobile Phones Can Easily Get Un-noticed: They can easily take their mobile phones with them at school and tuition centres – unnoticed by their parents. They should only own a mobile phone when they get really mature enough to use them properly. I think girls should not be allowed to have a mobile phone until they reach to 14 grade (Graduation).
School have Strictly Prohibited Mobile Phones: Almost all the schools in Pakistan have implemented policies that prohibit using mobile phones in school. They even rusticate those girls who are found with the mobile phone. Many girls bring their SIM card instead of a mobile phone and they use their SIM on a mobile phone brought by one of their classmates. Therefore, school administration and parents should make sure that the girls do not have a SIM card with them – they should check them and their belongings (books, school bag, hair bands, water-bottle, lunch box etc.). Now many of you might be thinking that how their daughters and sisters can contact home if they are away – simple – they can make a call with the permission of their school administration via school’s landline number. Many girls use the mobile phones in washrooms.
SMS/MMS: Many school students are addicted to the SMS service . Some also send their pictures via SMS to the opposite gender – especially when they have made friends in co-ed schools and tuition academies. According to a survey the most text messages are sent by teenagers. Texting can also have adverse affects on one’s health.
Wastage of Time: The students waste their valuable time in sending and reading text messages, playing mobile games, use mobile applications – instead of wasting that time in their studies. Mobile Cellular companies are also introducing ‘Youth Packages’ and SMS-bundles offers to promote their business and indirectly spoiling the youngsters. The students are seen messaging and calling late nights as they have subscribed to these packages. Parents should make sure that their children have a mobile phone and if they have then make them use post-pay package so that parents can monitor on their daughters.
Use of Laptop for doing the School Homework: Laptop is a better for school girls as they can compose their assignments and search for the materials for their assignments from the internet. Not only this, they can have a record of their assignments in their laptop. The laptop will also help them in making PowerPoint slides to aid them in their classroom presentations.
Observe School-going Children when they Use their Laptop: Laptop is better for school going girls because – if they do not have a mobile phone they would not be able to give their mobile phone numbers to boys and strangers – is it that simpel? No! they can communicate via internet too. It is the duty of the parents that they observe their activities on the internet and disallow them to make accounts on the social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, MSN Live Spaces, Hi5, Friendster and Orkut etc. School going girls (boys too) should not be allowed use on the Instant Messengers and visit websites with Chat feature and web-messengers. As many school students trick their parents and even school staff by using web-messengers – as they can be used without being installed on the system. Parents should make sure that the girls do not upload their photographs on any website or given their contact details or information, as some girls join different discussion forums too. Parents and school Computer Lab Dept should install programs like NetNanny www.netnanny.com and Spector Pro etc. in the computers, to keep a check on the and restrict their activities by blocking some websites that are not fit for them – including Social Networking websites and YouTube etc.
Also read:
Friday 14 January 2011
Have a Blast in Biology Class!
Ask the average student to name the most boring class and 7 out of 10 are likely to name biology and chemistry. That could change radically in a couple of months when an online interactive education game that is currently in the final phase of development by a team of biologists and computer programmers in the United States, is ready.
Meta!Blast, a real-time 3D action-adventure game promises to put students in the pilot's seat, allowing him or her to shrink down to microscopic size and explore the vivid, dynamic world of a soybean plant cell spinning out of control. One can interact with numerous characters, fight off plant pathogens, and discover just how important plants are to the survival of the human race. The goal of the application is to dynamically illustrate modern concepts in cell and metabolic biology, prepare students for their public role, and stimulate students to join the biological and medical teaching and research professions.
"The interactive software module on cell biology will immerse students in a three-dimensional, biologically-accurate plant cell. Biological concepts will be parsed into student tasks, while keeping these in the context of the whole environment. Meta!Blast will combine simulation technology with accurate biological information, allowing students to explore and interact with a cell to discover concepts such as cellular energetics, gene function, cellular defenses against pathogens, and the consequences of compartmentalization. The application will dynamically illustrate modern concepts in cell and metabolic biology, prepare students for their public role, and stimulate students to join biological and medical teaching and research," said Eve Syrkin Wurtele from department of genetics, development and cell biology at Iowa State University, who is leading the project to make cell-biology a fun-to-learn experience.
Wurtele was in Kolkata to give a talk on A green world of biological network and plants: Turning Air to Oil' to students at the Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Kolkata. She has been touring the country to interact with students and teachers to get them interested in microbiology and make them aware of Meta!Blast that would be available for use in classrooms and homes soon.
Meta!Blast will provide a medium a dynamic virtual cell that lends itself to the comprehension of cell biology. Building and populating an accurate 3D representation of a plant cell was a huge challenging and the team spanned numerous disciplines with faculty and students in biology, art, computer science, music, and game design constructed the compelling and accurate virtual cell. The game will be tested by 5,000 students in 20 high schools in Iowa and Mississippi in the next semester before being released worldwide.
"Knowledge of cellular structure and function has increased dramatically with the advent of modern molecular and computational technologies. Helping students understand cellular dynamics is a major challenge to educators. Meta!Blast will contain virtual plant cell containing a prototype chloroplast in which students can enter, activate light reactions, including electron excitation, and create molecular oxygen and ATP," she said.
Wurtele has been researching metabolic networks in plants and how they can be regulated to manipulate the levels of valuable compounds both natural ones already available in plants and add different genes to create new compounds. "Plants produce a wide range of nutrition, energy, industrial materials, fibre, medicines, flavours and fragrances and designer compounds. We are trying to develop a small molecule that can be used by chemical industry to replace the molecules derived from petroleum," Wurtele added.
Source: Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Have-a-blast-in-biology-class-with-virtual-game/articleshow/7007084.cms
Meta!Blast, a real-time 3D action-adventure game promises to put students in the pilot's seat, allowing him or her to shrink down to microscopic size and explore the vivid, dynamic world of a soybean plant cell spinning out of control. One can interact with numerous characters, fight off plant pathogens, and discover just how important plants are to the survival of the human race. The goal of the application is to dynamically illustrate modern concepts in cell and metabolic biology, prepare students for their public role, and stimulate students to join the biological and medical teaching and research professions.
"The interactive software module on cell biology will immerse students in a three-dimensional, biologically-accurate plant cell. Biological concepts will be parsed into student tasks, while keeping these in the context of the whole environment. Meta!Blast will combine simulation technology with accurate biological information, allowing students to explore and interact with a cell to discover concepts such as cellular energetics, gene function, cellular defenses against pathogens, and the consequences of compartmentalization. The application will dynamically illustrate modern concepts in cell and metabolic biology, prepare students for their public role, and stimulate students to join biological and medical teaching and research," said Eve Syrkin Wurtele from department of genetics, development and cell biology at Iowa State University, who is leading the project to make cell-biology a fun-to-learn experience.
Wurtele was in Kolkata to give a talk on A green world of biological network and plants: Turning Air to Oil' to students at the Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Kolkata. She has been touring the country to interact with students and teachers to get them interested in microbiology and make them aware of Meta!Blast that would be available for use in classrooms and homes soon.
Meta!Blast will provide a medium a dynamic virtual cell that lends itself to the comprehension of cell biology. Building and populating an accurate 3D representation of a plant cell was a huge challenging and the team spanned numerous disciplines with faculty and students in biology, art, computer science, music, and game design constructed the compelling and accurate virtual cell. The game will be tested by 5,000 students in 20 high schools in Iowa and Mississippi in the next semester before being released worldwide.
"Knowledge of cellular structure and function has increased dramatically with the advent of modern molecular and computational technologies. Helping students understand cellular dynamics is a major challenge to educators. Meta!Blast will contain virtual plant cell containing a prototype chloroplast in which students can enter, activate light reactions, including electron excitation, and create molecular oxygen and ATP," she said.
Wurtele has been researching metabolic networks in plants and how they can be regulated to manipulate the levels of valuable compounds both natural ones already available in plants and add different genes to create new compounds. "Plants produce a wide range of nutrition, energy, industrial materials, fibre, medicines, flavours and fragrances and designer compounds. We are trying to develop a small molecule that can be used by chemical industry to replace the molecules derived from petroleum," Wurtele added.
Source: Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Have-a-blast-in-biology-class-with-virtual-game/articleshow/7007084.cms
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