Theory, Design And Specification Essay Example for Free

Theory, Design And Specification Essay The focal point of this paper is to adopt a process centered strategy for a healthcare organization keeping mind that while implementing this strategy the 4 focus points i.e. culture, organization, people and control system and instrument would be taken into account. Culture is the mix of values and shared beliefs that formulates the system of an organization. In general sense the culture of an organization is created by the corporate infrastructure which is dependent on the variables such as strategic thinking ability or depth, dedication level of the personnel and the amount of cooperation involved. This entire mix is compositely known a corporate culture of an organization. While adopting a process centered strategy for a healthcare organization it would be important to keep in mind the basic degree of this culture. Organization on the other hand can be divided into two segments in the field of operations. The first is its structure and the second is its process of decision flow. The structure of the organization is instrumental for the accountabilities that enable the company to achieve its objectives or mission. The process of decision flow is the tool that converts the results into coherent patterns that could be termed as implementation that would help in the controlling decision and implementation. People or the human resource element is the most important factor of management strategies and is a wonderful ingredient of strategy implementation projects. It has been seen that without taking the human factor into consideration has yielded negative results for the ultimate success of the company. Thus this factor is to be taken into account as a vital asset of the organization. One of the most important variables for the success of the implementation process is the control system and instruments. The control system and instruments are those assets where on the organization can take and formulate action with more accurate results. For the hospital industry latest and advanced equipments are the key to better service and result. Therefore if the top management are aware of the ability of the machines available and the there are enough means and abilities to control the machines the management would define their strategies accordingly in terms of formulating the optimum level and outputs. In the practical scenario it should be mentioned that adopting a process centered strategy for a healthcare organization keeping mind that the 4 focus points i.e. culture, organization, people and control system and instrument are well evaluated and analyzed. This because these are the factors that can break or make any laid down planning system that has been prepared with taking into notion these essential components. If these four elements are not considered it is evident that a number of circumstances would presumably arise for with the management would never be ready to handle. It should be looked upon that a perfect mix of these four elements has taken place and a well oiled communication system is in place to juxtapose all these elements together for assumed success. For administrative success controlling processes, motivation, planning and demands discipline are the major factors and to achieve it proper mix of culture, organization, people and control system and instrument are invaluable. Reference: Raps, Andreas;Â   Jun 2004; Strategic Finance. Montvale; Vol.85, Iss 12; pg 48, 6 pgs

Employee Empowerment in Flat Organizations Essay -- Employment Custome

Employee Empowerment in Flat Organizations A flat organization is a culture of ownership and partnership, it is an organization that uses teams to increase efficiency, responsiveness and flexibility. The focus is on customer satisfaction, work is directly connected, to customer processes. Employees in a flat organization know the business, they have been delegated the power to think for the whole company. Flat organizations are giving lower management more responsibilities; they are expected to make more decisions to integral operations. Good decision-making is a balance between getting most of what we want with as little risk as possible. It means that we use the right processes that encourage participation while keeping the focus on the decisions at hand. Every organization has decisions that need to be made daily. Organizational performance is largely dependent upon the decision-making processes that a particular organization uses. Having good decision making skills allows us to make the decision with a degree of confidence and efficiency. Employees at all levels will be able to make decisions with greater confidence if they have processes. Processes provide clarity to think through the recommendation and the process to make coherent decisions. Processes improve our ability to think clearly and a company that adopts a common decision making process improves the outcome and efficiency of decisions made. A process will map out how to plan, frame and resea...

Language development in children

All the other ways of knowing are controlled by language. The appropriate use of language is central to virtually all aspects of learning and social development. Successful and appropriate language communication is also closely linked to the individual’s place in society, while the inability to communicate clearly hampers and may virtually eliminate a person’s ability to cope with even the simplest educational and social situations. The manner in which children learn to understand and successfully communicate through language is among the most important questions studied by psychologists. The appropriate use of language is central to virtually all aspects of learning and social development. Successful and appropriate language communication is also closely linked to the individual’s place in society, while the inability to communicate clearly hampers and may virtually eliminate a person’s ability to cope with even the simplest educational and social situations. Traditionally, psychological accounts of language development  Ã‚   have been developed by theorists who have included language learning in their discussions of a general acquisition process (e.g. Miller and Dollard, 1941; Skinner, 1957). Skinner for example, believes that language is learned in large measure by waiting for children to emit approximations of the forms of speech which are ultimately desired and then by gradual shaping  Ã‚   (by parents or other socializing agents) until the correct sounds and sentence forms can be reproduced in appropriate situations with a high degree of fidelity.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In contrast, some psycholinguists (e.g. Chomsky, 1959; Fodor, 1966) have  Ã‚   cogently argued that operant learning theory cannot adequately account for complex verbal behavior. Chomsky (1959) offers the following pregnant critique of a â€Å"conditioning† viewpoint: †¦it seems quite beyond questions that children acquire a good deal of their verbal and non-verbal behavior by casual observation and imitation of adults and other children. It is simply not true that children can learn language only through â€Å"meticulous care† on the part of adults who shape their verbal repertoire through careful differential reinforcement, though it may be that such care is often the custom in academic families. It is a common observation that a young child of immigrant parents may learn a second language in the streets, from other children, with amazing rapidity, and that his speech  Ã‚   may be completely fluent and correct to the last allophone†¦ A child may pick up a large part of his vocabulary and â€Å"feel† for sentence structure from television, from reading, from listening to adults, etc. Even a very young child who has not yet acquired a minimal repertoire from which to form new utterances may imitate a word quite well on an early try, with no attempt on the part of his parents to teach it to him (p. 42). Numerous experiments have now disclosed that principles for generating novel responses can be acquired through the observation of others (for example, Bandura & McDonald, 1963; Bandura & Mischel, 1965). If principles of language usage, rather than mere words can be shown to be acquired through observational learning, then this would provide at least a partial account of the process of language acquisition. The classic experiment in this area was conducted by Bandura and Harris (1966). They were interested whether second-grade children could make up sentences that included prepositional phrases and the passive voice. The children were tested first during a base rate period and then again after some form of intervening training. The results demonstrated that the children showed a greater increment in the production of the relevant construction in their sentences (than did the control group) if they were exposed to a combination of (1) an adult model’s production of sentence3s with and without the relevant construction (2) reward to both the model and the observer for sentences containing the relevant construction and (3) attention-focusing instructions. This study clearly suggested that children’s language productions might be modified through modeling in conjunction with other procedures. It is likely, however, that the children in Bandura and Harris experiment had been exposed to prepositional phrases and the passive voice many times in their lives prior to entering the experimental situation. Therefore, the question still remained as to whether children could actually acquire new or novel language rules as a function of observation. Indeed, language is important and in fact, traditionally, psychological accounts of language development have been developed by theorists who have included language learning in their discussions of a general acquisition process (Miller & Dollard, 1941; Skinner, 1957). Skinner, for example, believes that language is learned, in large measure by waiting for children to emit approximations of the forms of speech which are ultimately desired and then by gradual shaping (by parents or other socializing agents) until the correct sounds and sentence forms can be reproduced in appropriate situations with a high degree of fidelity. This is a fair representation of the interrelationship between perception, emotion, reason and language, for numerous experiments have now disclosed that principles for generating novel responses can be acquired through the observation of others (Bandura & McDonald, 1963) If principles of language usage, rather than mere words, can be shown to be acquired through observational learning, then this would provide at least a partial account of the process of language acquisition. In the area of linguistic diversity, researches reveal that in spite of enormous impact that language has on children’s schooling, lack of English skills alone cannot explain the poor academic achievement of students. It is tempting to fall back on this explanation and thus count on simple solutions to solve the problem. Cuban students, for example, have the highest educational level of all Latinos, yet they are the most likely to speak Spanish at home. (Valdivieso & Davis, 1988). However, the fact that students speak Spanish is treated by many teachers as a problem. There is also evidence that teachers interact more negatively with students who do not speak English than with those who do. (U.S. General Accounting Office, Bilingual Education: A New Look at the Research Evidence, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, March 1987). Thus, this is where the emotion and perception side come in the picture. Because if this is the case, then the language dominance of students is not the real issue; rather, the way in which teachers and schools view their language may be even more crucial to student achievement in acquiring knowledge. How language and language use are perceived by the schools and whether modifications in the curriculum and imparting of knowledge are made as a result are important factors to keep in mind. The fact that English speakers rarely have the opportunity to enter bilingual education programs reinforces status of these programs. This is where the methodology of knowledge is more important than the knowledge itself. According to Jean Piaget, what differentiates humans from animals is human’s ability to do â€Å"symbolic abstract reasoning† [Piaget’s Theory] and this forms the basis for the constructivist theory in learning and instruction [Ibid.]. During his experiments, he observed that children think differently from adult and answer questions differently, but it does not mean that children are dumb [Ibid.]. Piaget’s theory had two major aspects: the process and stages of cognitive development [Ibid.]. The process of learning and acquiring intelligence of children is influenced by ‘schemas,’ which is actually the child’s representation to the world. The processes used by children to attain equilibrium between their schemas and the real environment are â€Å"accommodation† and â€Å"assimilation† [Ibid.]. It is assimilation when a child tries to fit cubes into square holes during playtime. It is accommodation when a child tries to push harder a heavier play cart with classmate- passengers than a cart with no one riding. As a child grows, schemas become more complex [Ibid.]. The stages in cognitive development of a child are divided into three: sensorimotor [infancy], pre-operational stage (toddler and early childhood), and concrete operational stage (elementary and early adolescence). During infancy, a child only recognizes an object when he or she sees it [Giants]. During toddler hood and early child hood, a child knows the direction of the right and left of an object, but the child cannot correctly think relative to that object [Ibid.]. At the concrete operational stage, a child becomes more logical in their understanding of the world. It is important that teachers of pre-school and primary schools learn to challenge abilities of children [Piaget’s Theory]. â€Å"Discovery learning and supporting the developing interest of the child are two primary instructional techniques† [Ibid.] to help children understand the world more. â€Å"Children construct knowledge, learning can lead development, development cannot be separated from its social context, and language plays a central role in cognitive development† are the main themes of Vygotsky’s developmental theory [Giants]. Children construct knowledge in a way that Piaget had described it [Bodrova 2005]. A child’s learning can be measured in a level of independent performance and level of assisted performance [Ibid]. The area between these measures will result to the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which increases as learning occurs [Ibid]. Both content and processes of thought is determined by the culture [Ibid.]. Higher functions in man such as focused attention, deliberate memory and symbolic thought are passed down thru teaching [Ibid.]. â€Å"Learning always involves external experience being transformed into internal processes through the means of language† [Ibid.]. Vygotsky’s principle taught that teachers should know the specific learning needs of a child and determine what most appropriate intervention could be done. The ZPD would eventually be filled-up if the learning needs were met thru proper teaching practice. One good practice was to devise an assessment questionnaire that would equally gauge independent performance and assisted performance, and from there, the ZPD can be quantitatively determined. By identifying the gap qualitatively, the learning needs of a child would be revealed.  Ã‚   Moreover, teachers should also know how to develop a child’s attention to focus, improve child’s memory, to teach children think symbolically, and use a language game that children understand. Meanwhile, one’s cultural and social upbringing affects the way a person views this. There are no assumptions or deducing involved here. One can verify the information by just looking again at the dizzying array of program alternatives in bilingual education, each claiming to be more successful than the others. In general, most research has found that bilingual programs of all kinds are effective not only in teaching students content area knowledge in their native language but also in teaching them English. This has been proven time and again to be the case in research analyses and specific program reviews (Hakuta, 1990). According to Hakuta, the most significant effect of bilingual education may not be that it promotes bilingualism in general, which he claims it does not, but rather that it â€Å"gives some measure of official public status to the political struggle of language minorities, primarily Hispanics.† He suggests that raising the status of these children’s native languages contributes to their opportunities for friendships with English-speaking children. Similarly, Erik Erikson as psychoanalyst taught that any person, child or adult faces specific life crisis that they have to resolve in order to perform their tasks (Atkinson 1993). During early childhood or preschool, a child develops an ability to initiate activities (Ibid. 118); teachers have to learn how to encourage or discourage them in order that the child would not feel inadequate. During middle child hood or elementary, children learns various skills such as reading and writing, but they have to interact socially with others in order to feel successful or competent, otherwise they would feel inferior. During this time, a teacher should constantly but reasonably praise a child for a job well done. The LOGO programming used with young children was believed to be supported by Erikson’s theory on the psychosocial stages (Gillespie and Beisser, 2001, p. 230). LOGO is a computer programming language developed by Dr. Seymour Papert in 1980s that is loaded with MicroWorlds software. With the MicroWorlds, a child creates his own animated graphics thru self-directed activity and independently explores cause and effect. Giving children ample time to spend with LOGO programming,   building and constructing encourages children to work without making them feel guilty which makes smooth the transition of a child in his guilty-prone period   (Ibid. p. 234). The same activities enable a child also to acquire mastery of the game in order to feel competent. REFERENCES Atkinson, R.L., Richard C. Atkinson, Edward E. Smith and Daryl J. Bem (1993). Introduction to Psychology 11th ed.. United States: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Bandura, A. & McDonald F.J. (1963). The influence of social reinforcement and the behavior of models in shaping children’s moral judgments. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology.   67, 274-281. Bodrova, Elena (2005). Vygotsky’s Developmental Theory: An Introduction. In Davidson Films Homepage. Retrieved Oct. 29, 2006, from http://www.davidsonfilms.com/develope.htm Chomsky, N. Review of B.F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (1959).Language, 35, 26-58. Gillespie, C., Beisser, W. (2001). Developmentally Appropriate LOGO Computer Programming with Young Children. Retrieved Oct. 29, 2006, http://www.aace.org/dl/files/ITCE/ITCE2001-229.pdf Hakuta, K. (1990). Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: A Research Perspective, no. 1 Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, Spring. Miller, N.E. & Dollard, J. Social learning and imitation. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1941. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. In Educational Psychology Interactive Homepage. Retrieved October 29, 2006, from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/piaget.html. Skinner, B. F. Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1957. U.S. General Accounting Office (1987).   Bilingual Education: A New Look at the Research Evidence, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Valdivieso, R. and Davis, C. (1988). U.S. Hispanics: Challenging Issues for the 1990s Washington D.D.: Population Trends and Public Policy.                            Language development in children All the other ways of knowing are controlled by language. The appropriate use of language is central to virtually all aspects of learning and social development. Successful and appropriate language communication is also closely linked to the individual’s place in society, while the inability to communicate clearly hampers and may virtually eliminate a person’s ability to cope with even the simplest educational and social situations. The manner in which children learn to understand and successfully communicate through language is among the most important questions studied by psychologists. The appropriate use of language is central to virtually all aspects of learning and social development. Successful and appropriate language communication is also closely linked to the individual’s place in society, while the inability to communicate clearly hampers and may virtually eliminate a person’s ability to cope with even the simplest educational and social situations. Traditionally, psychological accounts of language development  Ã‚   have been developed by theorists who have included language learning in their discussions of a general acquisition process (e.g. Miller and Dollard, 1941; Skinner, 1957). Skinner for example, believes that language is learned in large measure by waiting for children to emit approximations of the forms of speech which are ultimately desired and then by gradual shaping  Ã‚   (by parents or other socializing agents) until the correct sounds and sentence forms can be reproduced in appropriate situations with a high degree of fidelity.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In contrast, some psycholinguists (e.g. Chomsky, 1959; Fodor, 1966) have  Ã‚   cogently argued that operant learning theory cannot adequately account for complex verbal behavior. Chomsky (1959) offers the following pregnant critique of a â€Å"conditioning† viewpoint: †¦it seems quite beyond questions that children acquire a good deal of their verbal and non-verbal behavior by casual observation and imitation of adults and other children. It is simply not true that children can learn language only through â€Å"meticulous care† on the part of adults who shape their verbal repertoire through careful differential reinforcement, though it may be that such care is often the custom in academic families. It is a common observation that a young child of immigrant parents may learn a second language in the streets, from other children, with amazing rapidity, and that his speech  Ã‚   may be completely fluent and correct to the last allophone†¦ A child may pick up a large part of his vocabulary and â€Å"feel† for sentence structure from television, from reading, from listening to adults, etc. Even a very young child who has not yet acquired a minimal repertoire from which to form new utterances may imitate a word quite well on an early try, with no attempt on the part of his parents to teach it to him (p. 42). Numerous experiments have now disclosed that principles for generating novel responses can be acquired through the observation of others (for example, Bandura & McDonald, 1963; Bandura & Mischel, 1965). If principles of language usage, rather than mere words can be shown to be acquired through observational learning, then this would provide at least a partial account of the process of language acquisition. The classic experiment in this area was conducted by Bandura and Harris (1966). They were interested whether second-grade children could make up sentences that included prepositional phrases and the passive voice. The children were tested first during a base rate period and then again after some form of intervening training. The results demonstrated that the children showed a greater increment in the production of the relevant construction in their sentences (than did the control group) if they were exposed to a combination of (1) an adult model’s production of sentence3s with and without the relevant construction (2) reward to both the model and the observer for sentences containing the relevant construction and (3) attention-focusing instructions. This study clearly suggested that children’s language productions might be modified through modeling in conjunction with other procedures. It is likely, however, that the children in Bandura and Harris experiment had been exposed to prepositional phrases and the passive voice many times in their lives prior to entering the experimental situation. Therefore, the question still remained as to whether children could actually acquire new or novel language rules as a function of observation. Indeed, language is important and in fact, traditionally, psychological accounts of language development have been developed by theorists who have included language learning in their discussions of a general acquisition process (Miller & Dollard, 1941; Skinner, 1957). Skinner, for example, believes that language is learned, in large measure by waiting for children to emit approximations of the forms of speech which are ultimately desired and then by gradual shaping (by parents or other socializing agents) until the correct sounds and sentence forms can be reproduced in appropriate situations with a high degree of fidelity. This is a fair representation of the interrelationship between perception, emotion, reason and language, for numerous experiments have now disclosed that principles for generating novel responses can be acquired through the observation of others (Bandura & McDonald, 1963) If principles of language usage, rather than mere words, can be shown to be acquired through observational learning, then this would provide at least a partial account of the process of language acquisition. In the area of linguistic diversity, researches reveal that in spite of enormous impact that language has on children’s schooling, lack of English skills alone cannot explain the poor academic achievement of students. It is tempting to fall back on this explanation and thus count on simple solutions to solve the problem. Cuban students, for example, have the highest educational level of all Latinos, yet they are the most likely to speak Spanish at home. (Valdivieso & Davis, 1988). However, the fact that students speak Spanish is treated by many teachers as a problem. There is also evidence that teachers interact more negatively with students who do not speak English than with those who do. (U.S. General Accounting Office, Bilingual Education: A New Look at the Research Evidence, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, March 1987). Thus, this is where the emotion and perception side come in the picture. Because if this is the case, then the language dominance of students is not the real issue; rather, the way in which teachers and schools view their language may be even more crucial to student achievement in acquiring knowledge. How language and language use are perceived by the schools and whether modifications in the curriculum and imparting of knowledge are made as a result are important factors to keep in mind. The fact that English speakers rarely have the opportunity to enter bilingual education programs reinforces status of these programs. This is where the methodology of knowledge is more important than the knowledge itself. According to Jean Piaget, what differentiates humans from animals is human’s ability to do â€Å"symbolic abstract reasoning† [Piaget’s Theory] and this forms the basis for the constructivist theory in learning and instruction [Ibid.]. During his experiments, he observed that children think differently from adult and answer questions differently, but it does not mean that children are dumb [Ibid.]. Piaget’s theory had two major aspects: the process and stages of cognitive development [Ibid.]. The process of learning and acquiring intelligence of children is influenced by ‘schemas,’ which is actually the child’s representation to the world. The processes used by children to attain equilibrium between their schemas and the real environment are â€Å"accommodation† and â€Å"assimilation† [Ibid.]. It is assimilation when a child tries to fit cubes into square holes during playtime. It is accommodation when a child tries to push harder a heavier play cart with classmate- passengers than a cart with no one riding. As a child grows, schemas become more complex [Ibid.]. The stages in cognitive development of a child are divided into three: sensorimotor [infancy], pre-operational stage (toddler and early childhood), and concrete operational stage (elementary and early adolescence). During infancy, a child only recognizes an object when he or she sees it [Giants]. During toddler hood and early child hood, a child knows the direction of the right and left of an object, but the child cannot correctly think relative to that object [Ibid.]. At the concrete operational stage, a child becomes more logical in their understanding of the world. It is important that teachers of pre-school and primary schools learn to challenge abilities of children [Piaget’s Theory]. â€Å"Discovery learning and supporting the developing interest of the child are two primary instructional techniques† [Ibid.] to help children understand the world more. â€Å"Children construct knowledge, learning can lead development, development cannot be separated from its social context, and language plays a central role in cognitive development† are the main themes of Vygotsky’s developmental theory [Giants]. Children construct knowledge in a way that Piaget had described it [Bodrova 2005]. A child’s learning can be measured in a level of independent performance and level of assisted performance [Ibid]. The area between these measures will result to the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which increases as learning occurs [Ibid]. Both content and processes of thought is determined by the culture [Ibid.]. Higher functions in man such as focused attention, deliberate memory and symbolic thought are passed down thru teaching [Ibid.]. â€Å"Learning always involves external experience being transformed into internal processes through the means of language† [Ibid.]. Vygotsky’s principle taught that teachers should know the specific learning needs of a child and determine what most appropriate intervention could be done. The ZPD would eventually be filled-up if the learning needs were met thru proper teaching practice. One good practice was to devise an assessment questionnaire that would equally gauge independent performance and assisted performance, and from there, the ZPD can be quantitatively determined. By identifying the gap qualitatively, the learning needs of a child would be revealed.  Ã‚   Moreover, teachers should also know how to develop a child’s attention to focus, improve child’s memory, to teach children think symbolically, and use a language game that children understand. Meanwhile, one’s cultural and social upbringing affects the way a person views this. There are no assumptions or deducing involved here. One can verify the information by just looking again at the dizzying array of program alternatives in bilingual education, each claiming to be more successful than the others. In general, most research has found that bilingual programs of all kinds are effective not only in teaching students content area knowledge in their native language but also in teaching them English. This has been proven time and again to be the case in research analyses and specific program reviews (Hakuta, 1990). According to Hakuta, the most significant effect of bilingual education may not be that it promotes bilingualism in general, which he claims it does not, but rather that it â€Å"gives some measure of official public status to the political struggle of language minorities, primarily Hispanics.† He suggests that raising the status of these children’s native languages contributes to their opportunities for friendships with English-speaking children. Similarly, Erik Erikson as psychoanalyst taught that any person, child or adult faces specific life crisis that they have to resolve in order to perform their tasks (Atkinson 1993). During early childhood or preschool, a child develops an ability to initiate activities (Ibid. 118); teachers have to learn how to encourage or discourage them in order that the child would not feel inadequate. During middle child hood or elementary, children learns various skills such as reading and writing, but they have to interact socially with others in order to feel successful or competent, otherwise they would feel inferior. During this time, a teacher should constantly but reasonably praise a child for a job well done. The LOGO programming used with young children was believed to be supported by Erikson’s theory on the psychosocial stages (Gillespie and Beisser, 2001, p. 230). LOGO is a computer programming language developed by Dr. Seymour Papert in 1980s that is loaded with MicroWorlds software. With the MicroWorlds, a child creates his own animated graphics thru self-directed activity and independently explores cause and effect. Giving children ample time to spend with LOGO programming,   building and constructing encourages children to work without making them feel guilty which makes smooth the transition of a child in his guilty-prone period   (Ibid. p. 234). The same activities enable a child also to acquire mastery of the game in order to feel competent. REFERENCES Atkinson, R.L., Richard C. Atkinson, Edward E. Smith and Daryl J. Bem (1993). Introduction to Psychology 11th ed.. United States: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Bandura, A. & McDonald F.J. (1963). The influence of social reinforcement and the behavior of models in shaping children’s moral judgments. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology.   67, 274-281. Bodrova, Elena (2005). Vygotsky’s Developmental Theory: An Introduction. In Davidson Films Homepage. Retrieved Oct. 29, 2006, from http://www.davidsonfilms.com/develope.htm Chomsky, N. Review of B.F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (1959).Language, 35, 26-58. Gillespie, C., Beisser, W. (2001). Developmentally Appropriate LOGO Computer Programming with Young Children. Retrieved Oct. 29, 2006, http://www.aace.org/dl/files/ITCE/ITCE2001-229.pdf Hakuta, K. (1990). Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: A Research Perspective, no. 1 Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, Spring. Miller, N.E. & Dollard, J. Social learning and imitation. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1941. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. In Educational Psychology Interactive Homepage. Retrieved October 29, 2006, from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/piaget.html. Skinner, B. F. Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1957. U.S. General Accounting Office (1987).   Bilingual Education: A New Look at the Research Evidence, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Valdivieso, R. and Davis, C. (1988). U.S. Hispanics: Challenging Issues for the 1990s Washington D.D.: Population Trends and Public Policy.                           

Quebrada Jaguay - Terminal Pleistocene Archaeology

Quebrada Jaguay (designated QJ-280 by its excavator) is a multi-component archaeological site, located on an  alluvial terrace within the coastal desert of southern Peru, on the north bank an ephemeral stream near the town of Camanà ¡. At the time of its earliest occupation, it was about 7-8 kilometers (4-5 miles) in from the Peruvian coast and today is about 40 meters (130 feet) above sea level. The site was a fishing community, with a Terminal Pleistocene occupation date between about 13,000 and 11,400 calendar years ago (cal BP), based on a large suite of radiocarbon dates. Terminal Pleistocene sites are known in  Andean chronology as Preceramic Period I). The site is one of about 60 sites which have been found along the coast of Peru in this region, but it is the only one containing the Jaguay Phase occupations, and it is the earliest site in the region found to date (as of 2008, Sandweiss). The closest site with the same date is Quebrada Tacahuay, some 230 km (140 miles) to the south. It, like Quebrada Jaguay, is a seasonally-occupied fishing village: and those sites and many others extending from Alaska to Chile support the Pacific Coast Migration Model for the original colonization of the Americas. Chronology Late Preceramic Period, 4000 cal BP, Manos PhaseHiatus, 4000-8000 cal BPEarly Middle Preceramic Period, 8000-10,600 cal BP, Machas PhaseEarly Preceramic Period, 11,400-13,000 cal BP, Jaguay Phase During the Jaguay phase, the site was a seasonally-occupied coastal base camp for hunter-gatherers and fishermen who targeted mostly drum fish (Sciaenae, corvina or sea bass family), wedge clams (Mesodesma donancium), and freshwater and/or marine crustaceans. The occupations apparently were confined to the late winter/early summer months; the rest of the year, the people are believed to have moved inland and hunted terrestrial animals. Based on the size of the fish, the people were net fishing: the Machas phase occupations contain a few specimens of knotted cordage. The only terrestrial animals recovered from the site were small rodents, which were not likely food for the residents. Houses during the Jaguay phase were rectangular, based on the identification of postholes, and contained hearths; the houses were reconstructed several times in the same location but slightly different positions, evidence for seasonal occupations. Food remains and abundant lithic debitage were also recovered, but there were almost no finished tools. Poorly preserved plant remains were restricted to a few prickly pear cactus (Opuntia) seeds. The vast majority of the raw material for the stone tools (lithics) were local, but Alca obsidian identified by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis had been brought from its Pucuncho basin source in the Andean highlands some 130 km (80 mi) away and 3000 m (9800 ft) higher in elevation. Machas Phase The Machas Phase occupation at the site contains neither prickly pear nor obsidian: and during this period there are many more such villages in the region. The Machas phase occupation included several bottle gourd rind fragments; and a single semi-subterranean house, about 5 m (16 ft) in diameter and built with a foundation of mud and stone. It may have been roofed with wood or other organic material; it had a central hearth. The house depression is filled with a shell midden, and the house was also built on top of another shell midden. Archaeological Discovery Quebrada Jaguay was discovered by Frà ©dà ©ric Engel in 1970, as part of his investigations into the preceramic epoch along the coastline. Engel dated charcoal from one of his test pits, which came back to a remarkable 11,800 cal bp, unheard of at the time: in 1970, any site in the Americas older than 11,200 was considered heresy. Excavations were conducted at the site by Daniel Sandweiss in the 1990s, with a team of Peruvian, Canadian and U.S archaeologists. Sources Sandweiss DH. 2008. Early Fishing Societies in Western South America. In: Silverman H, and Isbell W, editors. The Handbook of South American Archaeology: Springer New York. p 145-156. Sandweiss DH, McInnis H, Burger RL, Cano A, Ojeda B, Paredes R, Sandweiss MdC, and Glascock MD. 1998. Quebrada Jaguay: early South American maritime adaptations. Science 281(5384):1830-1832. Sandweiss DH, and Richardson JBI. 2008. Central Andean Environments. In: Silverman H, and Isbell WH, editors. The Handbook of South American Archaeology: Springer New York. p 93-104. Tanner BR. 2001. Lithic Analysis of Chipped Stone Artifacts Recovered from Quebrada Jaguay, Peru. Electronic Theses and Dissertations: University of Maine.