by Jessie

Schools Are Quickly Changing Curriculum

When adults think back to their school days, they fondly remember learning how to multiply by memorizing their multiplication tables. Others remember learning how to read by sound out the sounds phonetically. Today, kids are learning how to multiply by essentially adding large groups of numbers and barely memorizing their multiplication tables. Special needs kids are now integrated into regular education classrooms with their peers, as years ago they would be secluded into their own classrooms and taught by their special education teacher and teacher assistants.

Leadership skills are being taught to kids in middle school who are earning only the highest grades and are exhibiting the best attitude and leadership qualities. The curriculum is being changed to help those kids who need it with extra help within the regular education classroom, and those students who do not have special education needs are suffering according to some parents because the attention is being taken away from those kids if they need the extra help and focused entirely on the special education kids that are in the classroom. Even with a special education paraprofessional in the room, most special education kids may have a difficult time acclimating to the regular education classroom if they have been secluded in a special needs room their entire lives.

Teachers are divided on whether or not the new curriculum is working in favor of our students or actually hurting them. Some teachers report that we are babying the children too much, as they are not being held to the higher standards of other countries. For example, not having to memorize the multiplication tables poses a huge debate among third grade teachers that are teaching these skills to their students. Parents should educate themselves on their child’s curriculum to see how is different from when they were in school.

by Jessie

Learning How to Equip a Laboratory

We do not need a huge laboratory, but we are going to have to have a good deal of laboratory equipment for the shop. I know all about using the stuff that we need, but I have never bought any of it for myself or in this instance I am simply responsible for figuring out what we need. In truth I learned this stuff on the job, being close friends with a Doctor of Chemistry who owned a business doing similar work to what we are doing now. I need a lot of things and I am reading microscope reviews right now looking for something that fits within my actual budget. I am hoping to get a really good binocular type microscope for about 300 dollars or less, which would be more than I really want to speed. Continue reading →

by admin

Keeping Connected On The Move

Smartphones are everywhere these days, with Twitter, Facebook and Google+ keeping us all up to date with everyone else’s business. Unfortunately it has all come at a price, both financially and in terms of the privacy we all used to enjoy. We have a good amount of control over what we post online, but unfortunately other people have a rather worrying habit of throwing up every photo they own onto Facebook or other social sites.

Once things get out onto the internet, it can be very difficult to undo, as anyone can take copies and post it onto their own accounts. There’s been countless examples of teenagers trying to fit in or impress their boyfriends or girlfriends with pictures that they’d never send to a newspaper, but for some reason they’ll quite happily post it onto Facebook in the naive belief they will remain in control of the images. Of course, most of these incidents fade without serious long term impact on the subjects, but for some it can do very long term to careers or social standing.

From a financial perspective, our ever connected world now leads us to devour megabytes on the move, with smartphones often used to capture those very same images that end up on the web. While the cost of using the phones to access the web has fallen a lot, it’s still got the potential to run up very significant bills. Even with totally unmetered tariffs like Three’s One Plan you have to spend upwards of £30 a month to take out a contract with a phone included.

So what can be done about the problems the mobile age has brought us? For children, parental education is essential to prevent mistakes being made, and for the rest of us a good sized dose of the common sense medicine would go a long way. The rules are pretty simple after all, if you wouldn’t want your boss and his/her boss to see something, don’t post it on the web! To keep costs down, you can try to get a grasp on the fact that nobody is going to get hurt if you don’t share what you’ve had for breakfast on Twitter. If you’re a social addict though, it can pay to do your research and find out whether you can get a better tariff – click here for more information.

The world has changed, people love to be in contact on the move and smartphones aren’t going to disappear. We need to be sure we really consider the impact of our actions, not only on our own lives, but also those of other people. Next time you feel like posting pictures of your mate’s drunken tomfoolery on the web spare a thought for their career prospects, as you never know who might repost them to an account their boss can see!