Playing Wii Games to Playing Real Games Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Playing Wii Games to Playing Real Games - Essay Example The paper explains the importance and role of the games in our life. Sports like hockey, soccer, rugby and boxing require a lot of physical stress and stamina. These sports are considered healthy as well as tough. They help humans in maintaining a healthy body. The efforts required for these activities fulfill the criteria of exercise needed to keep a healthy body. These exercises increase one’s heart rate, glucose breakdown, and stamina. The movements, power and strategy involved in these activities put one’s mind and muscles to work which in turn shapes the body in to an ideal body. Wii gaming system was released in 2006 by Nintendo. â€Å"Wii is actually an exergame. That is, it’s a video game that requires players to use actual physical movements to manipulate the action. Employing a wireless handheld controller with acceleration sensors and an infrared camera built into the console, the Wii senses players’ Motions and translates them into on-screen movement. For instance, in Wii Tennis you swing the controller like a racket; for Wii Golf, the controller is your club†. ... These sports are considered healthy as well as tough. They help humans in maintaining a healthy body. The efforts required for these activities fulfill the criteria of exercise needed to keep a healthy body. These exercises increase one’s heart rate, glucose breakdown, and stamina. The movements, power and strategy involved in these activities put one’s mind and muscles to work which in turn shapes the body in to an ideal body. Wii gaming system was released in 2006 by Nintendo. â€Å"Wii is actually an exergame. That is, it’s a video game that requires players to use actual physical movements to manipulate the action. Employing a wireless handheld controller (about the size of a TV remote, ironically) with acceleration sensors and an infrared camera built into the console, the Wii senses players’ Motions and translates them into on-screen movement. For instance, in Wii Tennis you swing the controller like a racket; for Wii Golf, the controller is your cl ub† (Anders). Wii has released almost all the popular real world sports games such as boxing, tennis, golf and baseball so its range of games encompass many of the real sports. As mentioned earlier in order to play these games, one needs to mimic the exact movements in front of the screen as used in playing real sports. The player’s actions in real time resemble very closely to actions performed in playing real sports. Playing Wii games helps burn calories just like in playing real sports. Moreover, players even perspire while playing Wii games. â€Å"In fact, in addition to burning the most calories, boxing was the only Wii game tested that would be considered intense enough to maintain or improve cardiorespiratory endurance as defined by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)† (Anders). The

Froebel Kindergarten Essay Example for Free

Froebel Kindergarten Essay Freidrich W. A. Froebel is best known as the founder of kindergarten. He was a German educationalist. Froebel was born in 1782 in a village in Germany. His childhood was difficult because his mother died when he was a baby and his father abandoned him. Froebel was given to his uncle’s care. Between 1808-1810 he attended the training institute run by John Pestalozzi at Yverdon. Froebel left the institution accepting the basic principles of Pestalozzis theory: permissive school atmosphere, emphasis on nature, and the object lesson. Froebel, however, was a strong idealist whose view of education was closely related to religion. He believed that everything in this world was developed according to the plan of God. He felt that something was missing in Pestalozzis theory: the spiritual mechanism that, according to Froebel, was the foundation of early learning. Froebels philosophy of education rested on four basic ideas: free self-expression, creativity, social participation, and motor expression. Froebel began to focus on the needs of children just prior to entering school. He envisioned a place attended by 4-6 year olds where children would be nurtured and protected from outside influences—like plants in a garden. Froebel decided to call his school kindergarten, which in German means child garden. Froebel began a training institute for the teachers of his schools. He believed that teachers should be highly respected people with values that the children should imitate. The teacher should also be a sensitive, open, and easily approachable person. Froebels first kindergarten was founded in 1837 in Blakenburg Germany. It featured games, play, songs, stories, and crafts to stimulate imagination and develop physical and motor skills. The materials in the room were divided into two categories: gifts and occupations. Gifts were objects that were fixed in form such as blocks. The purpose was that in playing with the object the child would learn the underlying concept represented by the object. Occupations allowed more freedom and consisted of things that children could shape and manipulate such as clay, sand, beads, string etc. There was an underlying symbolic meaning in all that was done. Even clean up time was seen as a final concrete reminder to the child of Gods plan for moral and social order. In 1848, the Prussian government ordered these schools to be closed because they did not agree with Froebel’s ideas. Then Froebel died in 1852, not knowing the impact his work would have on the U. S. school system. Then many Germans immigrated to the United States after the German Revolution. Among them were women trained in the Froebel system of education. It was these women who were responsible for bringing kindergarten to the United States. The first U. S. kindergarten was for German immigrant children in Wisconsin and taught in German. Then in 1873 kindergarten was introduced in the public American schools. Freidrich Froebels ideas provided the major direction for kindergarten curriculum during the last half of the nineteenth century. Many of his ideas can still be observed in kindergarten today: learning through play, group games, goal oriented activities, and outdoor time. Now applying Froebel’s philosophy of education to the Bahamas. From the National Task Force on Education (1994) Final report. This was stated about Pre-Schools. PICTURE. But yes we do have active kindergartens in many schools. I know for sure on the island of Eleuthera there is the kindergarten section in all of the primary schools. But upon my research I found that there are kindergarten sections in only a few schools here in New Providence. Example: The Bahamas Academy School. Here is a quick look at their curriculum. Then there is one in Yellow Elder Gardens and Elizabeth Estates. REPORTING TODAY FROM THE EDUCATIONAL CHANNEL, I’M VASHTE’ NAIRN.

Critical ethnography Research Strategy

Critical ethnography Research Strategy Introduction The research methodology that I will be using for the Data Collection and Analysis assignment is critical ethnography. This methodology fits with my research goal to bring awareness to the unequal power structures and oppression existing within the collaborative child welfare and violence against women (VAW) advocates relationship. Madison (2005) states that critical ethnographers have an ethical responsibility to address unfairness and injustice within a particular lived domain and moves beneath surface appearances, disrupts the status quo, and unsettles both neutrality and taken-for-granted assumptions by bringing to light underlying and obscure operations of power and control (p. 5). Therefore, using the critical paradigm embedded in this methodology, I set out to uncover how issues of power, oppression and inequality affect the collaborative relationship between child welfare and violence against women (VAW) advocates that ultimately affect the services they provide to women and children. Through examining the strengths and weaknesses of their relationship, I intend to shed light onto how women and children who have experienced domestic violence and abuse are impacted by the power exerted by both service providers and their existing policies and ideologies. Theoretical and Conceptual Lens Conceptual Lens: Critical ethnography is defined as the doing or performance of critical theory. It is critical theory in action. (Madison, 2005, p. 5). Thus, critical ethnography is innately connected Exploring Methodology To the critical paradigm, which will be the conceptual lens utilized to investigate my research question. Critical theory is concerned with the mediation of power and dominance in society. Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2005) state critical theory seeks to uncover the interests at work in particular situations and to interrogate the legitimacy of those interests Its intention is transformative to transform society and individuals to social democracy (p. 28). The critical theory component of critical ethnography differentiates it from mainstream ethnography, which is concerned with the observation and description of culture or phenomenon. Critical theory modifies conventional ethnography by incorporating a political agenda which seeks to emancipate society. Theoretical Lens: Anti-oppressive theory provides a strong theoretical lens to use with critical theory and critical ethnography as both the former and the latter seek to uncover oppression and marginalization in society. It recognizes the intersectionalities of both clients and workers and can be used to highlight how legislation is entrenched in hetero-patriarchy. Similarly, at an organizational level, anti-oppressive theory can help to reveal the hegemonic practices in child welfare which influences the relationship between VAW workers and child protection workers and impacts the delivery of services to women and children. Epistemology of Critical Ethnography The epistemological underpinnings of critical ethnography are concerned with how the knowledge of oppression and power emerged historically and politically and its impact on Exploring Methodology shaping relations in society. The potential of knowledge production to reproduce and perpetuate notions of power, oppression and inequality in society is recognized. In addition, critical epistemology includes an understanding of the relationship between power and thought and power and truth claims (Carspecken, 1996, p. 10) This approach is value-laden because it has a determinedly political agenda. It seeks transformation by exposing oppressive structures in society, with the goal to emancipate society. Critical ethnographers are interested in hearing the narratives of their clients with the explicit agenda to bring forth political change. It is also value mediated because the researcher and the researched are interconnected, with the values of the investigator and the other influencing the inquiry. However, it is important to note that while research is value-driven, the validity claims of the researcher must meet rigorous standards to avoid bias. (Carspecken, 1996, p. 8) Moreover, a critical ethnographic approach goes further than other approaches. Firstly, critical researchers acknowledge researcher bias and subjectivity, as the researchers personal feelings and views are a part of the research process. The researcher is reflexive, and is engaged in a constant process of critiquing both objectivity and subjectivity. Second, researchers engage in an examination of their positionality in relation to the other (who is being studied). The researcher is engaged in a dialogical relationship with the other and remains grounded in their experience, as it is the concern for their condition which is driving the research. According to Madison (2005) dialogue moves from ethnographic presence to the present by opening up passageways for readers and audiences to experience and grasp the partial presence of a temporal conversation constituted by the others voice, body, history and yearnings (p. 10). Exploring Methodology Ontology of Critical Ethnography Critical ethnography begins from the premise that the structure and content of culture make life unnecessarily more nasty, brutish, and short for some people (Thomas, 1993, p. 33). When conducting research, critical ethnographers start with a view of what there is to know, an ontology, that furnishes a set of images and metaphors, in which various forms of social oppression constitute what is to be known (Thomas, 1993, p. 34). Thus, ontological underpinnings of critical ethnography are concerned with how societal structures and systems oppress certain groups, while reinforcing power, domination and capitalism. It sets out to expose the deeper social, historical and political meanings in society which reinforce the marginalization of some groups and how power and interests mediate these relations going below the surface level meaning to expose how bodies of ideas, norms and ideologies create meanings for constructing social subjects and concepts like gender, race and student (Thomas, 1993, p. 34). Critical ethnography also acknowledges that there are multiple realities, which can be uncovered through incorporating a narrative ontology. The narratives of participants are used to provide a rich description of their experience, as interpreted by the researcher to illustrate how issues of oppression, power and inequality are operating in his or her life (Thomas, 1993, p. 34). Unit of Analysis For this research study, dialogical data will be collected through a semi-structured interview with the intent to shed light into organizational practices existing within child protection and VAW services that influences their collaborative relationship. A key informant Exploring Methodology who has worked both in child welfare and VAW services will be interviewed for twenty to thirty minutes. Data Collection Tools For this research study, I will be interviewing a single individual. A semi-structured interview will be used because it allows the interview to be sufficiently open-ended. The interview questions can be re-ordered, modified and the researcher can probe the participant with additional questions, if needed. The interview will be recorded using an audio recorder. Field notes and observational notes of non verbal communication will also be taken. After the interview, additional notes will be made to capture anything that may have been missed. Strengths and Weaknesses of this Methodology One of the major strengths of critical ethnography is that it goes further than a traditional descriptive study, as it seeks to make emancipatory changes in society. Its political agenda attempts to transform society and share narratives and experiences of oppressed groups. This methodology also attempts to include the participants in the research process, using methods such as member checking (Carspecken, 1996, p. 166) which helps provide individuals who are often ignored from dominant discourses a voice. However, one glaring criticism of critical ethnography has been that we cannot separate it from the historical and political context from which it emerged. This context is problematic as it effects the researchers epistemological position because the ethnographers institutional or Exploring Methodology material standpoint within the everyday world is rarely connected or made problematic in relation to his or her subjects lived actualities. (Jordan Yeoman, 1995, p. 393). While critical ethnography is supposed to take a bottom-up view, the majority of its researchers come from an academic background, which is often in contrast of the material location of their participants. (Jordan Yeoman, 1995, p. 399-400). This influences the production of knowledge and data, as the relationship may be characterized by a power imbalance and differing worldviews as a product of varying material locations. Moreover, exposing inequality and oppression in academic literature does not ensure that change is created in the field. Thus, critical ethnographers become caught in a double bind. On one hand, the researcher seeks emancipation and liberation for their subjects, but they are constrained by their own positionality and the institutions for which they work. Thomas (1976, p. 25) states: We must never become wholly dependent upon established institutions; publishing houses, commercial media, universities, foundations. Social intellectuals must occupy some territory which is their own; their own journal, their own theoretical and practice centres: places where no one works for grades or fore tenure but for the transformation of society (Jordan Yeomans, 1995, p. 399-400). However, despite the researchers positionality, critical ethnography brings an opportunity to challenge traditional research and incorporate participant voices. It is also exciting as it attempts to liberate society from oppression and therefore, provides an alternative and welcomed choice to mainstream research. Exploring Methodology Analysis of Three Peer Reviewed Articles The appendix will discuss three peer reviewed articles in a chart, which is on the following page. The chart is divided into multiple categories, which will discuss the unit of analysis, the sample group, data collection and data analysis. I will conclude the chart by examining the strengths and the weaknesses of the methodology in the articles and then relate it back to my research study. Conclusion This paper set out to explore critical ethnography as my chosen methodology to conduct my research. Through writing this paper and reviewing the three articles, I know that critical ethnography will be useful in achieving my research goal of highlighting the oppression and power in the collaborative relationship between child welfare and VAW workers. This is important, as the relationship between these two sectors ultimately impacts the level of service provided to women and children.

The Power of Tuesday :: Definition Essays

The Power of Tuesday The word "Tuesday" originates from the name of the God of war, sky, and courage known as Tiw who was one of the Anglo-Saxon Gods. There are many different translations of his name, which are Tiwaz, Tyr, Ziu, or Tir (The Nordic Story, p.1). The Germanic translation of Tuesday was Tiwes-daeg or the day of Tiw (Tiwesdaeg, p.1). Tiw was one of the most powerful, original, and oldest gods known to the Anglo-Saxons and Germanic people. Tuesday to us today is the second day of the week. People also celebrate Mardi Gras, which is known as Fat Tuesday in New Orleans. There they celebrate by having a big feast. Tiw was one of the most powerful gods during the Germanic period but was eventually overthrown by other gods. Even though he was overthrown, he was still a strong symbol to the people. When the people went to war, they had a symbol of him stamped on their weapons representing his strong role as the god of war (Tiw, p.1). During the Roman period, Tuesday was known as "dies Martis" or the day of Mars (Tiw, p.1). There is also a story about how Tiw (in the Roman times known as Tyr) loses his hand to Fenris the wolf that many of the gods fear (The Nordic story, p.2). The story says that the gods try to tie up Fenris so that he can not hurt anyone, but they had to trick him with a string specially made. They finally get Fenris to allow them to tie him up by betting to see how strong he is. One of them has to put his hand in Fenris's mouth so that he would think they are not tricking him. Since most of the gods fear Fenris, the only god brave enough to put his hand in his mouth is Tyr.

Who is Adrienne Rich

In these essays the writers back up there views with examples of how either man or woman has been oppressed throughout the history of education. While Adrienne Rich is talking mainly about the college system and David Thomas is talking about the school system in general, their views do conflict each other. Rich believes that women have been exploited throughout the history of time. Thomas on the other hand believes that by being forced to have women teachers has disadvantaged boys. Though these views do no directly conflict, they are pretty close. Rich tells why she feels that women have been oppressed and Thomas tells why he feels that boys have been disadvantaged. In Rich†s essay â€Å"What Does a Women Need to Know? † she argues that women have been demoralized throughout time. Rich says â€Å"when we think of what an independent women†s college might be: a college dedicated both to teaching women what women need to know and, by the same token, to changing the landscape of knowledge itself. (Rich 45) This means that she believes that women should be taught the skills that they will need to succeed in life as a wife and as a â€Å"self conscious, self-defining human being. † (Rich 45) She then gives examples of her life experiences and how her life experiences with men trying to force her to think and see things one way, and how she struggled to see things from a different perspective, â€Å"through the eyes of an outsider. † (Rich 46) She ends her speech by talking about how these women have to change the ways of the past and they have to step into the now and become educated of the past and present. She ends the speech with, â€Å"Get all of the knowledge and skill that you can in whatever professions you enter; but remember that most of your education must be self-education, in learning the things that women need to know and in calling up the voices we need to hear within ourselves. † (Rich 50) The David Thomas essay â€Å"The Mind of Man† is about how boys are shot down at an early age. In a writing from the Independent on Sunday Toney Mooney says â€Å"Women teachers find boys too noisy, too aggressive, too boisterous. Unconsciously or not, they consistently reinforce and reward more ‘feminine† behavior. If all this is true it is understandable that boys should not be as advanced as girls in the hands of woman junior school teachers. There is a direct relationship between a child†s academic achievement and a favorable response from the teacher. † (Thomas 339) To prove this fact there was an experiment done with seventy-two boys and sixty girls at kindergarten. They were taught to read on a self-teaching machine and then they were tested. The boys did better than the girls. Then they resumed normal classroom instruction by women teachers. The children were tested again and this time the boys† scores were lower than the girls. It is not a prejudice that women or men have against the children, it is a understanding of what the child is going through because the teacher has been in that position at one time in their lives. It is a common ground that the male teachers have with the male students and vice versa. Thomas talks about how a single sex environment is not always the answer either. He attended an all boys† boarding school and he was â€Å"taught in a system that was designed to bring the best out of boys, intellectually, creatively and on the sports field. † (Thomas 341) He says that it is a better venue to learn but he says, â€Å"I was painfully aware of the distorting affect that an all-male institution was having on my own emotional development and that of my classmates. (Thomas 341) He says that some people cannot handle this environment and it will lead to â€Å"disaster† (Thomas 341) In conclusion I would have to agree with Thomas. I am a little biased but women teachers have personally disadvantaged me. I also worked in a pre-school over the summer where the teachers are mostly women. I witnessed this discrimination first hand. I disagree with Rich because I think that today women and men pretty much stand on even ground. I think that there is more discrimination against men then there is against women.

Definition and Examples of Free Relative Clauses

Definition and Examples of Free Relative Clauses In English grammar, a free relative clause is a type of relative clause (that is, a word group beginning with a wh-word) that contains the antecedent within itself. Also called a nominal relative clause, a  fused relative construction, an independent relative clause,  or (in traditional grammar) a noun clause. A free relative can refer to people or things, and it can function as a subject, a complement, or an object.Examples and Observations Nobody knows it, because nobody knows what really happened.(Donald E. Westlake, The Hook. Mysterious Press, 2000)We want to make sure that what were doing is really what we ought to be doing.(General Abrams in Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968-1972, ed. by Lewis Sorley. Texas Tech University Press, 2004)You can say what you please. I burnt my English books and I didnt get a degree. All Im saying now, if Im allowed, is that Willie should get a degree.   (V.S. Naipaul, Half a Life. Alfred A. Knopf, 2001)A man wearing the uniform of the Military Police had stepped into the unit and was just turning toward where she was standing.  (Michael Palmer, The Fifth Vial. St. Martins Press, 2007)Look, Cynthiayou have a perfect right to disapprove. You go ahead and think whatever you want. Even if you want to be angry, then you be angry.   (Philip Roth, Letting Go. Random House, 1962)The way I hear it you can really put it away.Whoever told you that is a liar. Bledsoe straightened a way from the rail, started toward the barn.  (Michael Joens, Blood Reins. Thomas Dunne Books, 2005) Antecedents in Free Relative Clauses The relative word in the nominal relative clause has no antecedent since the antecedent is fused with the relative: I found what (that which; the thing that) you were looking for; He says whatever (anything that) he likes. Because they are free of antecedents, such clauses are sometimes called independent or free relative clauses.  (Tom McArthur, Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press, 2005) A Headless Relative A relative clause which apparently lacks a head is called a free relative clause, also sometimes called a headless relative (though some argue that the head is present syntactically but phonologically empty, and hence that this is a misleading term).  (R.E. Asher and ‎J.M.Y. Simpson, The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Pergamon Press, 1994) Characteristics of Free Relative Clauses [The] free relative clauses . . . [are] italicised in: (117a) What you say is true(117b) I will go where you go(117c) I dont like how he behaved toward her They are characterised by the fact that the wh-pronoun what/where/how appears to be antecedentless, in that it doesnt refer back to any other constituent in the sentence. Moreover, the set of relative pronouns found in free relative clauses is slightly different from that found in restrictives or appositives: e.g. what and how can serve as free relative pronouns, but not as appositive or restrictive pronouns; and conversely, which can serve as a restrictive or appositive relative pronoun but not as a free relative pronoun.  (Andrew Radford, Analysing English Sentences: A Minimalist Approach. Cambridge University Press, 2009) Two Types of Free Relative Clauses: Definite and Indefinite The first type of free relative clause, the definite free relative clause, is introduced by a wh- word such as what, where, or when, as shown in (64). (64) Mark eats what he orders. . . . [V]erbs that are followed by definite free relatives beginning with what must be capable of being followed by nonhuman NPs. What Jim chose in (65a), a free relative, passes this test, as shown by (65b). (65a) Sally ordered what Jim chose.(65b) Sally ordered a hamburger/coffee/a piece of pie. Another test for definite free relatives is substituting that (thing) which for what, as shown in (66). (66) Sally ordered that (thing) which Jim chose. . . . The second type of free relative clause is an indefinite free relative clause, also called a conditional free relative clause because the words that introduce the clause (who(m)ever, whatever, whichever, whenever, and however) can be paraphrased with if, as show by (68a) and (68b), or regardless of, as shown by (68c) and (68d). (68a) Joan dances with whoever asks her to dance.(68b) If someone asks Joan to dance with him, she dances with him.(68c) Fred eats whatever Alice offers him.(68d) Regardless of whatever Alice offers Fred, he eats it. (Ron Cowan, The Teachers Grammar of English: A Course Book and Reference Guide. Cambridge University Press, 2008)