ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Instructors teaching in classrooms where collaborative learning is used are interested in accessing their works effectiveness. As a research process, assessment enables instructors to confirm the idea that students working collaboratively learn easily and efficiently. For example, biology instructors from Yakima Valley Community College used grade distributions and retention rates to compare student’s performance in Biology before and after introduction of a collaborative learning method. They compared the two variables in the previous twelve lessons taught in lecture mode to those taught using the collaborative approach. The results indicate that retention rates of the students improved remarkably. Students rarely dropped out before the completion of the course. The Collaborative method of learning is more demanding and leads to improvement of grades. Students are responsible for learning from each other and solving problems together, individual effort is directly reflected in their grades. Although students in classrooms using collaborative learning as a method of teaching showed improved performance, it leads to a drop in reading tests. Instructors ask students to assess their work to ascertain their development over a given period of time. It enables students to review what they did, learned and the effects of learning on his or her capacity to perform in future. Self-assessment enables students to reveal things relevant to learning which the teacher cannot know unless students speak out. For example, the students are in a good position to report the difficulties they encounter when starting to write an essay and if watching news triggers thought about other things. Pleasure, constant interest, and continuous elucidation of personal experiences by new ideas influence the resultant quality of a student’s academic output. Self-assessment enables students to review their objectives and readjust their targets as well as reminding other stakeholders of the importance of their achievements. It also enables them to reflect on their mental habits that enhance development of capacities (intelligence and thinking) that support good performance. The challenge in the use of this method is that students exaggerated and misinterpret what they have achieved. This gives the instructor the wrong implication. Teachers can support students’ development of capacities to assess through giving cheap assignments and progress to demanding ones as students adjust.
Introduction The Magna Carta has become known as the first successful attempt on limiting the powers of a ruling authority by citizens under the authority. The document, signed by King John of England in the presence of witnesses, gave more freedom for the people of England in later years. The documents in the Magna Carta set course for development of human rights and empowered parliament in the making of decisions. In the US, the founding fathers used the Magna Carta as a reference point when formulating the American constitution. This article entails a brief history on the source of the Magna Carta and details on its influence in American Law. Background The Magna Carta was first drafted by Stephen Langton, an Archbishop who was perceived as one of the most influential Barons in England. The document was previously known as the “articles of the Barons’, as it was drawn to reflect the discontent of Barons in light of King John’s rule (Clanchy 141). The document has also been referred to as the Great Charter or Magna Charter. The charter aimed to award more freedom to the non-serf community in the country, and thereby reduce the arbitrary powers of the king. It could be viewed as the first step to establish a constitution within a country. King John was reluctant to sign the charter into law since his powers would be reduced. The charter also set a foundation for the establishment of parliament. Several events led to the signing of the Magna Carta. In the year 1205, King John of England had a disagreement with Pope Innocent III on who would be the next Archbishop of Canterbury, whereby the king swore that the pope’s candidate would never be allowed into England (Holt 107). As a result, Pope Innocent III excommunicated the king and banned church services in England. King John also levied high taxes on the citizens of the land, whenever such money was required. The Magna Carta came into effect in the year 1215, and was reissued with a shorter version in 1227 by King Henry III (Danziger and Gillingham 278). Influence on past and current American law The statute held in the Great Charter of 1297 set the pace for the development of citizen rights in England. Due to the close connections between England and America, documents citing English liberties would also influence American liberties. Article 21 of the United States Constitution states, “That no freeman ought to be taken, or imprisoned, or disseized of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.” As such, the US constitution has become the supreme law of the land. The most important aspect of the Magna Carta is that it placed everybody under the rule of the law, or as stated in the document, the rue of the land. This enabled greater justice and fairness in the country since the law would be effected for all members if society, thererby abolishing the norm of the class system. The Magna Carta contained elements of English common law and a few other
Definition This is a branch of psychology that deals with the mental processes of human beings. This includes the way human beings think, recall, and learn things. It further looks at how human beings perceive things (Goldstein, 2008). This branch of psychology mainly deals with how human beings acquire and process information (Goldstein, 2008). It further looks at how information is stored in the human brain. This term was first used in the year 1967 by an American psychologist by the name Ulric Neisser (Willingham 2007). This was when he wrote a book about cognitive psychology. He further elaborated the meaning of cognitive psychology. Till the 1950s, behaviorism had been used by psychologists to study the human mind. Behaviorism had been mainly concerned with studying the behavior of human beings. Cognitive psychology attempted to scientifically study the human mind and the mental process behind it. Cognitive psychology emerged as the favorite among many psychologists due to the massive flaws exhibited by behaviorist psychology. This is believed to be one of the main reasons behind the shift from behaviorism psychology to cognitive psychology. Milestones in the development of cognitive psychology There are some factors that are believed to have been behind the development of cognitive psychology. Some of the factors include; Criticism of behaviorism Behaviorism psychology, which had been used for some time, had massive flaws. The behaviorist school of thought had been unable to account for some of the issues raised by psychologists. This was because it had relied on only behavior to make assumptions about how the human mind functioned (Willingham 2007). Many psychologists believe the use of cognitive psychology developed because behaviorism had been unable to help psychologists to effectively study the human mind. It also had been unable to explain the internal processes of the human brain. Neuroscience This is one of the major factors believed to have aided the development of cognitive psychology. Neuroscientists study how the human brain and nervous system work together to determine human behavior (Goldstein 2008). Through these studies, neuroscientists have been able to explain behavior that has been observed in human beings. These scientists use abstract constructs and hypothetical representation to account for intelligent human behavior. These methods have been used by psychologists to determine the functionality of the human brain and account for some of the mental processes behind human behavior (Willingham 2007). Information processing model This one of the many methods used to study the human brain. Psychologists have gone ahead and used this model to account for, and get a deeper understanding of the human mind. The information processing model compares the human mind with a computer (Willingham 2007). According to the model, the human mind works almost the same as a computer. The mod
Change Management Techniques The first change management technique that Shimon Kornfield should have used is careful planning. It could be important for the team to understand Kornfield’s vision of the project, the main and secondary tasks, the project timeline, and the general outline of it. Kornfield’s responsibility was to engage the two sides of the team in this planning to create and share the vision that would further be used as a guide for the implementation of the whole project. The next technique that could have helped communicate the message to the designers. As stated in the case study, each of the designers felt that the other one wanted to own the project (Laufer, 2012). In this case, the project leader needed to translate the mission of the project, even though both designers seemingly understood it. The fact that both designers felt their actions could be “suppressed” by the other one and did not focus on the project mission and message instead indicates that either their vision of it was different or the fear of the other curator “owning” the project was too great and interfered with communication among the team members. The third technique is to ensure face-to-face communication with each of the project stakeholders (Davis, 2014). As one of the employees pointed out, it appeared that some members of the team were afraid to confront the architect personally and preferred to leave some of the issues unresolved or unaddressed. Therefore, Kornfield had to address these matters in a personal conversation with individual stakeholders to work on misunderstandings and conflicts that led the project to an undesired outcome. The fourth technique is to create highly detailed implementation plans that will be discussed with each stakeholder and/or department that participates in the project. The timetable with clear deadlines is also necessary to coordinate the work of all stakeholders involved (CMI, 2014). Essential Steps  1. Collaboration. Collaboration with all stakeholders on a solution or suggestion automatically informs them about the upcoming change and gives time for preparation.  2. Communication. If no solution is found, suggest one, addressing all issues that were discussed. It is crucial to introduce stakeholders to the solution before its implementation to avoid disruptions in the working process.  3. Ensure participation. If some of the stakeholders are unable to participate, reschedule the meeting rather than discuss the change with present team members (CMI, 2014). Timing First, the timing was crucial for the museum because it depended on donations, and potential donors were more likely to provide money if they saw the construction in action. If the construction of the museum had not started as soon as it was possible, the project could remain underfinanced. Second, the right choice of a contractor was also crucial for successful project implementation. As Shimon demonstrated, the wrong choice led to expired deadlines and negatives outcomes for project quality (Laufer, 2012). Third, Israel’s solution to ask the architect whether he would be willing to cooperate at the right point in time also facilitated the impl
Prohibition was a momentous period in the history of the USA, during which the government was trying to ban alcohol. There were several reasons for introducing the prohibition legislation. Firstly, liquor was considered as the “national danger” since too many men attended saloons and behaved in an entirely uncontrolled way after having too much to drink. Secondly, there was an opinion that alcohol was a capitalist plot to undermine the will of a working man. Finally, there was also the idea that the prohibition of liquor would allow controlling African Americans easier. The Whites were afraid both of the possibility of Afro-Americans getting the right to vote and their likelihood to fight against their oppressors physically. Hence, the image that most Americans dreaded was a Negro man with a ballot in one hand and a bottle in the other. While the attempts to introduce prohibition seemed to be too weak to succeed at first, more and more states turned to support the ban on liquor. However, the first attempt to do so was suppressed when the war started, and the country had to think about the enemy as more menacing than the bottle. It was interesting to find out that there were some groups of individuals, both of male and female gender, who did not want alcohol to be prohibited. Naturally, the producers of liquor and owners of saloons protested, but it was surprising to hear that some women did not want alcohol products to be banned. Eventually, it turned out that bypassing the 18th amendment, the government did not gain an alcohol-free country. People continued to produce and sell liquor illegally, which undermined both the economic and social relationships within the USA.
Capital punishment is one of the most controversial issues in the United States of America. Most Americans believe that death penalty is the best punishment for murderers. However, capital punishment should be abolished in the United States. Even though some people are heartless, there are a few reasons as to why the death sentence should not be given. Firstly, this punishment is offered in a skewed manner. Consequently, most of the convicts facing the death penalty are blacks or Latinos who have mostly killed whites. Secondly, it has been proven that capital punishment does little to curb crime. Finally, a good number of people in the death row are innocent. This paper is, therefore, a critique of Cynthia Tucker’s article on the death penalty. The question posed by Cynthia Tucker in the article is whether the criminals in America deserve the death penalty or not. Author’s answer is “No”. In this article, Tucker argues that capital punishment serves no good and is inconsequential. According to her, capital punishment does not prevent people from committing crimes. She supports these claims by arguing that America should be a crime-free country by now. This is because the criminal justice system has applied capital punishment for a long time. The article also proceeds that capital punishment does not apply equally to all. To say the least, there has been inequality in the American justice system for a long time. Surprisingly, nowadays, most death row convicts are still blacks and Latinos sentenced for having killed whites. Therefore, it is very rare to find the likes of John William King in this list. For that reason, Tucker believes that there is no equity and fairness as far as the death penalty is concerned. For centuries, the criminal justice system has taken the lives of black and Latino people. Accordingly, those who take such persons’ live
The question of increasing the rate of crimes is the controversial issue for any state. That is why, the politicians, sociologists, and researchers pay much attention to examining the factors which can lead to decreasing this rate. The early 1990s can be characterized by the considerable decrease of the crime rate, and the main researchers’ task was to examine the process in order to determine the causes for the phenomenon. In their article “Where Have All the Criminals Gone?”, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner provide an arguable vision of the possible causes for decreasing the crime rate which differs significantly from the other popular opinions on the nature of the process. Levitt and Dubner focus on discussing the law on the legalization of abortions in the late 1970s as the main cause for decreasing the crime rate in the early 1990s, and the researchers develop their argument with the help of discussing the relevant statistical data on the problem. The Definition of the Problem The purpose of Levitt and Dubner’s discussion is the presentation of arguments to support the direct connection between the legalization of abortions in the USA in the 1970s with decreasing the amount of criminals in the country’s streets in the 1990s. The provocative definition of the problem is discussed with references to the situation in Romania where abortions were strictly forbidden during the years of Nicolae Ceausescu’s ruling. The authors concentrate on presenting the negative results of forbidding abortions for Romania and the social and political situation in the country in order to create the necessary frame for presenting the situation in the USA with its opposite results (Levitt and Dubner). From this point, the story of the Romanian abortion question of the 1970s-1980s can be considered as the context for discussing the situation in the USA in the 1990s. Basing the argument on the opposition of the results of forbidding or legalizing abortions in two countries, Levitt and Dubner reveal such weak points of the question as the possible obviousness of the connection between the laws on abortions and the decrease or increase of the crime rate; the correlation between the effectiveness of the police work and decreasing the amount of criminals in the USA. These uncertainties are discussed by the authors in detail as the part of building the support for their argument. The Relevant Information The key point of Levitt and Dubner’s research is the presentation of the evidence for supporting the idea that the right to do abortions led not only to decreasing the number of births but also to decreasing the number of potential criminals. The researchers develop their argument in relation to the idea that when women received the right to give the birth or not, they also received the possibilities to control their life and the life of their children. Levitt and Dubner state that when women decide
Introduction Voting powers play a crucial role, especially where directors also happen to own a majority of the shares. Such shareholders can easily implement some decisions against the interests of minority partners. This situation reflects a case where a wrongdoer also possesses the power to support his or her mistaken opinions to the detriment of minority shareholders. Consequently, minority shareholders have their interests substantially reduced, yet they have no course of action, especially when courts fail to intervene. Courts intervention involves the use of laws to resolve cases before them. Through a detailed discussion of legal recourses for minority shareholders and providing evidence from various courts cases involving the breach of duties owed to companies by directors in violation of minority shareholders’ interests, this essay argues that Company Law currently strikes the right balance between management efficiency and minority shareholder protection. The Main Argument Deakin and Pistor observe that Company Law in different jurisdictions establishes a balance between the need for effective management of organisations and the protection of minority shareholders through various cases, legislation, and statues. 1 This goal is achieved through the existence of laws and regulations that protect not only the role of directors and managers but also the rights of minority shareholders. The protection of minority shareholders is crucial, especially in situations where they are unable to control the decisions of a company through voting. Their challenges are manifested in situations where company directors not only take charge of running the daily affairs of an organisation but also constitute the majority of shareholders. In the UK, Common Law protects minority shareholders while maintaining a balance of the need to manage an organisation. This law mitigates superfluous litigations brought against directors. In fact, the UK’s case of Hutton v West Cork Railway Co limits the level of a director’s freedom to expend an organisation’s finances to serve the interest of non-shareholders. 2 Directors have the authority to execute a company’s activities as prescribed in the Articles of Association. Indeed, they are required to act in good faith and in a manner that satisfies the interest of companies’ stakeholders, especially the owners (shareholders). Shareholders are the critical decision-makers, as evidenced by their voting powers in passing the most import
Abstract Through globalization, people around the world have interacted and come to understand each other. Since human needs are universal, those that have been deprived and oppressed by their governments are now endeavoring to change the status quo through popular coups. This has seen the use of social networks in organizing popular revolts mainly in the Arab world. Destruction of property and deaths has been witnessed as governments use all means possible to suppress the uprising. Has Globalization Affected the System of Governance in the Contemporary World? Globalization has enabled people around the world to break ranks and combine efforts in solving the many challenges they continue to face every day, especially the young people. This can be seen to follow Castell historical theory of space. Castell’s, theory projects that major cities in the world like London will eventually merge with their neighbors, hence losing their initial conservative, monopoly identity (Castells End of Millennium: The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture 85). There will also be merging of cultures and eventually there will be standard interaction and death of specific culture trends. Social networks such as Twitter and Face Book have been the main interaction sites in the world. Youths around the world have become sensitized on their rights and the need for them to actively participate in government. This saw revolution occur in Tunisia which in turn sparked an even bigger revolution in Egypt. Egypt has experienced a dictatorial form of government for over thirty years. However, due to high levels of unemployment, poverty and human rights abuse, the people of Egypt decided to overthrow the then incumbent president Hosni Mubarak. To organize successive revolts, Twitter and Face Book were the main tools for the revolution leaders to link with the masses. Millions of users could be notified on the venues of the next demonstrations easily and efficiently. People from around the world encouraged the demonstrators to soldier on, some even making monetary aid. Twitter through the tweets and messages, was very effective as everybody could access and read the proceedings. Through the miniblogging, people were able to interact and share their views, emotions, console one another, keep in touch with the rest of the demonstrators even when there were curfews. When the then President Mubarak’s government realized how the internet especially the Twitter site was effective in inciting people, it blocked the Twitter website even operations from cell phones, a fact it profusely denied. This brought world wide condemnation because of violating people’s right on freedom of expression. This was witnessed even in the US where Senator Franken has been very vocal on the need for neutrality of the internet. Franken insist there should be no government interference in regulating the net as he views the net as the major force for world unity and sees it as an amendment of the 21 st century by the people in the realization of a commo