Methodology Exam, Writing, Listening and Speaking Task

Reading Task

PREZI PRESENTATION 

TEACHING READING

Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead

Summary of the poem written by Alfred Lord Tennyson

They brought her husband dead home, but she did not swoon or cry, and she was told to do so or she will die. Then they praised him very soft and called him worthy to be loved because of being the truest friend and the noblest foe, but she still did not speak or move. A maiden stepped towars him and removed a cloth from his face, but she still did not moved nor wept, finally a nurse set his child upon her knee and the wife came to tears saying she will live for him. 

The Velociraptor-Like Robot that could save your life

Summary of the article written by Valerie Ross, from “Discover Magazine”

The Biologist Robert Full use several animals within his lab at the University of California, like crabs, crawling centipedes, etc, as inspiration to built together with his collages, a fast, steady and agile robot, able to navigate through the rubble following an earthquake or other disaster.

The idea came from observing an African lizard with a great ability of landing after vaulting through the air and very stable. Then he thought about applying the same technique with a Robot.

While Full and his team, study about lizards, it lead Full to search about paleontology, and he found out that a predatory dinosaur named velociraptor, used a similar body-stabilizing trick as the African lizard, and after analyzing such creature, he discovered that the raptors were probably as good as the lizards at staying upright by using their tails.

Now Full is able to assess the motion of the computer-generated raptors in the film Jurassic Park even though his theory cannot be confirmed yet.  

An Ecology of Houses

Summary from the text about Ecology, posted by  Kevin Burke, "Students Voice"

This text tell us the importance of nature for humans and non-humans alike, we all depend on nature as nature depends on us.

Now, we are facing very difficult environmental problems that will have important implications in human evolution, by altering the process of natural selection. The primary cause of this was the suburban sprawl, where so many constructions were taking place along the outskirts of cities, increasing profits and economic growth instead of taking care about the real meaning of the nature itself and the incredible thing is that both words share the same word part, “eco” which means house.

The suburban sprawl, broth an important impact on the local and global environment, like global warming, because of the increase of transportation outside the urban areas, the increase of energy consumption and also it causes enormous problems because of the extraction of oil, natural gas and coal mining. And finally all these extractions bring consequences in water contamination.

North Carolina experienced, within the years 2007 and 2008, a drought in, because of the increased pressure on water supplies due to residential development.

The main point to face this huge problem is to remind that we depend on the nature as well as the nature depends on us, that we construct the environment as we are constructed by it and if the environment we build is only for short term, then that´s how long it will last.  

The influences that teachers have in student’s thoughts

Human learning is inductive – deductive that depends on each person (from his memory, motivation, concentration, attitude and behavior), it does change your mindset and achieve a higher level of diversity, complexity and integration. Part of the mindset that the person brings (preconceptions) and recognizes the level of logical thinking that has to encourage experiences that promote their skills of observation, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and review.

All this is based on the conceptual structure of each person, some of the ideas and preconceptions that he brings about a subject of analysis, provides conceptual change is expected from the active construction of new concept and its impact on the mental structure; confronting preconceptions and ideas related to the subject, with the new learning concept, as applied to specific situations (and relates to other concepts in cognitive structure) in order to expand their transfer.

All social groups establish their rules, their values, their practices and specific knowledge, define its mission and goals, within these goals are also the goals of training each group seeks to achieve social and individual identity and make it part of their reality.

Human learning is a process whereby construction involves four fundamental aspects like:

1. The Self is the apprentice, who makes a significant learning of cognition structured learning activities.

2. Knowledge is the key information and content or access the sources of which are real objects, experience, educational materials, libraries and tradition.

3. The role of parents, teachers, guidance tutor or teacher who sets the audiovisual language teaching tools aid in sustained switched.

4. The teaching methodology for adults to develop their learning projects.

To give a clear idea of ​​how humans think, we should be clear what their learning process are, how it behaves, motivation and how the process is done when the interaction between the student (apprentice, son), the teacher (parents) and content to get a good learning process and the transformation in the thinking of man.

Human learning is done in non-hierarchical and interrelated levels that lead to the formation of formal thought as quoted below:

1. Sensory: Is the object world begins to operate in the form of concrete thinking.

2. Perceptual: The subjective world is sensory interpretation.

3. Neuropsychological or cognitive: Is cerebral interpretation.

4. Configurationally: The psyche, mental linking new knowledge or behavior. This way we can get a proper evolution permanently linking these levels to each other.

Similarly, I cannot ignore Piaget's theory of constructivism, interactions and critical realism, giving concrete and formal thinking in humans. This theory allows visualizing the evolution of concrete thinking to formal thinking in a simple way, for this we will take each element (constructivism, interactions and critical realism) and we will see what role in this evolution.

Constructivism is opposed to empiricism and PTO building knowledge from the interaction between subject and object.

Interactions, generates a dialectical movement between subject and object generating knowledge construction.

Critical realism is where we perform a consensus between what we know of the object in reality as such and relate within our schemes.

Thus we can say that humans develop their thinking in a  associative way, starting with inductive learning (making specific data entry and delivery models or general rules) and reaching a deductive learning (making models or general rules and delivery specific rules).

The success of all this development is linked to motivation that humans have to perform a learning process. Motivation is the inner strength that leads man to discover and learn new things, which compels him to meet the different needs that arise every day and guide you to explore on your areas of interest. I could say that motivation is the engine of human beings, if the engine is in perfect condition and has a goal to reach, push the entire machine to it, but if the engine is no strength, no goals, the machine will be, static, just watching life pass.

If we combine motivation with the learning process of human beings in an objective way we can get a proper result and optimum process lived as in the classroom. If the teacher spends time studying, knowing and understanding the process of learning of each student, he or she may have a greater chance of succeeding in the methodologies used, and if we also add motivation, we may have a group of people not only present in a classroom to hear but motivated to explore science fields of interest and with an open mind willing to acquire the knowledge and experiences that the teacher will provide.

A student looks at his or her teacher as a model of life, professionally and in labor. If the teacher shows his students an integral being, ethical, intelligent, with a life plan clear and structured, motivated to succeed every day, and enjoys teaching, the student may take him as a role model.

It is important therefore that teachers never forget that their own life is a model for their students.

Source:  http://www.eumed.net/rev/cccss/08/rdce2.htm