Technology in Edumucation - Darby Jackson

“Technology is not technology if it happened before you were born.” While this statement sounds preposterous at first, it is very true once one digs deeper into the issue. In this short video from Adobe, Sir Ken Robinson discusses technology in education and how students and educators alike are affected by the role of new advances in technology.  Technology, he says, is all about how you define it. While electricity was a huge, new technology for our great grandparents, it has never been a huge technology for us, because we have always known to have electricity in our lives. The same is with all the technology used in a common classroom today. While the educators think these new advances in the classroom are foreign, the students do not. They are used to having technology all around them and in every aspect of their life. So to not include any sort of growing technology or advances in the classroom would only prohibit students from learning all that they can learn. The technologies of today offer new possibilities to all students. I feel like most of the general public agrees with the notion that technology is good for education. Most people would agree that the good outweighs the bad and it opens many doors for students that were simply not available in years past. A common misconception of technology in the classroom is that it adds many distractions to the field of learning that causes many students to not learn. While this is true and should be a factor to consider, technology in education is usually used purposefully and in a way that students will benefit from it. Why should classrooms not use something so common to students today when it can help them adapt even more to the ever-changing world around them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYk91jzv1jg

Rachel Rogers Adderall

My research paper is on the misuse of Adderall on children but this article that I found from the media also relates to my topic in a way. The New York Times released an article on December 1, 2012 called “Drug of Focus Is at Center of Suspensions”. This article is about recent NFL stars that have misusing Adderall, which is ADHD medicine. The article says that NFL players have been taking Adderall lately whether they need it or not and they are failing drug tests because of it. This also has led to a record setting year for NFL drug suspensions. At least 7 out of the 21 suspensions this season were related to Adderall. According to the DEA Adderall is a controlled substance because it is particularly addictive. Dr. Leah Lagos is a New York sports psychologist who says that the believed raise in Adderall use by professional athletes mimics the use of it by college students. Athletes take it to fight fatigue and exhaustion. I do not think that this has really hit the public strong and fast for a few reasons, one being that the NFL is not allowed to announce what drugs players are using when they are suspended. This causes it to not be as huge of a scandal as it might be. This really goes along with my paper though because the fact that it is banned from the NFL shows that it is the type of substance that can be really dangerous and it can be abused. If these grown men who are active and work out constantly can be harmed by the misuse of this type of medication then young children could definitely be negatively affected by the drug. This article also shows that the use of Adderall has in fact become an epidemic in our society.

Inner Beauty?

http://www.hulu.com/watch/12450

In the movie, The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Anne Hathaway portrays a young woman who comes to New York looking for a job in the journalism industry. She lucks out on her “dream job” and instead, lands a job working for the “devil” of the fashion industry. On the first day of her new job, a co-worker, Nigel, criticizes her eating habits and outfit choice. The clip implies that to look good, you can’t eat. Nigel aims to fill Andy (Hathaway) in having the following dialogue:

Andy: “So what? Girls don’t eat around here?”

Nigel: “Not since 2 became the new 4, and zero became the new 2.”

Andy: “I’m a 6…”

Nigel: “That’s the new 14.”

From this dialogue and conversation, Nigel is essentially saying that Andy needs to lose weight to look good. He tells Andy that the main ingredient of corn chowder, her lunch for the day, is cellulite. This statement definitely catches the ears of women. Let’s be real. What woman or girl or anyone in general WANTS cellulite? The conversation between the two characters implies that to look good, you shouldn’t eat.

            Another scene in the movie, Andy tells co-worker Emily that she looks really thin as they appear at a fashion gala. Emily replies to Andy, informing her of her new diet. “You see I don’t eat anything at all, and then just before I think I’m about to faint, I eat a cube of cheese.” Emily's emphasis on withdrawal reinforces the impression that women need to refrain from food to be attractive.

            The movie had a $27,537,244 opening weekend, showing that millions of women saw the movie – and that’s just opening weekend. Although hearing and seeing things like this clip in movies and TV shows doesn’t seem like a very big deal, we take a lot of information from movies and apply it to our daily lives. It is important for people to recognize that we shouldn’t try to mimic the media to make our lives better or our bodies “look good.”

wOrLdS sCaRiEsTs AiRpOrt

I recently stumbled upon a great source for my research paper. It is call the “diaconspiracyfiles.com” and it is all about the Denver International Airport, aka “DIA.” On this website there are lots of first hand accounts of people who have visited the airport, and even some video tours of the airport. There was a man named Khalil Amani who had heard of all of the conspiracies and wanted to take a look for himself. He went to the airport and brought his video camera. He walked around to all of he places that have been questioned (i.e. the murals, tiles, statues etc.) and videoed them as well as talking about them and what certain things represent and mean. He posted this video only a few days ago. He walked through and went first to the tiles in the floor. On these tiles are all kinds of strange symbols. There is no way that one could interpret what all of these many symbols mean. He goes to the murals on the walls and reads what the descriptions mean and take you to some statues and reads you the history behind those. It is like a video tour of the airport.

            The video itself is a public view of my research. This is a man who lives in Denver who wants to let everyone see what all of the chatter is about. He describes it as the “scariest airport in the world.” He does not think that the theories are false. He knows that something is up and that all of these signs and hidden symbols have some sort of meaning or story behind them. I almost feel like I have been to the airport now that I have watched this. He hit on all of the major points regarding the theory that I am researching and it made it very easy for me to see what it is really like at the DIA.

why do we continue to gain weight?

            I found this article through the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, it is an article form the Health section of USA Today’s website. It shows some statistics about how since 2003, Americans have collectively been consuming less calories than before a lot of attention was drawn to obesity, yet the obesity numbers are still increasing. So why is weight still being gained? This article says it is probably due to lack of exercise, because people are burning a substantially lower amount of calories than they are consuming. This article tells about a study that shows that average caloric intake fell by 74 calories between 2003 and 2010. With the decline in calories weight loss would be expected but that is not at all what is happening. 35 percent of adult women were obese in 1999 and the number has stayed constant since, while 27 percent of adult men were obese in 1999 and now 35 percent of men are obese. A nutritionist is quoted saying that by now you would expect people to be losing weight, but the fact that they are not is scary.

            This article was very recently published, but I think once it begins to be viewed by the general public the reactions will vary. Because this is a controversial topic I think opinions will fall in one of two categories. Readers could possibly be confused by this article if they fail to understand that exercise is just as important to a healthy weight as diet is. Additionally readers could feel that this article is troubling, because the publics weight should be lowering.

            If you fall into the category I place myself in, you would be skeptical of this study that shows Americans are eating fewer calories. Although I would like to believe the best about the people in America, and I know some really have lowered their caloric intake, overall I do not think Americans have lowered their caloric intake.  

http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2013/03/07/17224260-us-obesity-mystery-were-eating-fewer-calories-getting-fatter?lite

Telephone

I am writing my research paper on the validity of the Hebrew Bible, and, as most all papers, mine is certainly biased.  Coming from a Christian perspective, it is only natural that I would fall on the side of the bible being a truly reliable, historically accurate collection of documents.  However, per request of Miss Mahoney herself, I would like to elaborate on the most common argument against the validity, accuracy, and the likes of the Christian Bible.  The argument in its most simple state is this: that the Bible simply cannot be a reliable historical document, it has simply been translated and re-translated so many times that there is no logical-rational way by which we can argue for its validity and accuracy in its current state.  The common example used in unison with this thinking is that of the classic gossip game "Telephone".  In the game, as many of you know, a single individual begins by telling an elaborate short story to the person beside them.  Then, the person must relay the message to the person beside them, and on, and on, it goes.  If you have ever played the game you know full and well what happens by the end of it.  The story becomes comically illogical, or, an entirely new story is fabricated that has little or nothing to do with the original.  Though this argument may seem fool-proof, it certainly is not.  However, I do not wish to spoil the contents of my research paper, so in order to hear the rebuke to this particular argument, you’ll have to check out Bryce’s research paper.  For the record, I nor any other educated person would consider this argument to be the best against the Bible itself, however, I chose to elaborate on it because it is one of, if not the most common argument I have heard and seen on this particular topic.