Hisotry Paper

Primary Source Paper (10 percent) 

The student should select one of the primary sources from the publisher’s website to write an essay exploring its main points.  The essay should be written in a formal style, with a flowing narrative, and solid organization (introduction, body, and summary).  The student should develop a strong thesis statement that will guide the paper throughout.  For content, the essay should answer basic factual questions (who, what, where, when, why, and how) along with the student’s interpretation to its historical importance.  This paper should be no more than 300 words, using the University of Chicago Style Manual (Turabian) for citation and bibliographic style, and double-spaced.  See schedule for due date. 

BIO FEEDBACK

I learned from reading this that the skin color of human beings is dark or light color depending on how much sun that person is exposed to. Pedigrees are a chart that was created to track down certain types of genetics. Autosomal dominate genes are passed down in the family. Some of the genes are not passed down through genetic because some are weaker then others. Autosomal recessive pattern genes is only able to be passed down if both of the parents involved are both homozygous. When DNA misaligns and does not get deleted that is when dieseses and mutations occur. The deletion is in the chromosomes there is also an inversion that occurs as well as translocation. We are similar to chimps with our chromosomes and we have chromosomes that evolved from chimps and monkeys. Having to many chromosomes can be fatal and that is caused by nondisjuction, and that is when chromosomes do not separate properly during cell division. There are different combinations of the xy chromosomes that determines different things. Amniocentesis can test the fluid in the sac to see if there is anything wrong with the baby. It is extremely dangerous as the fluid may leak out.

99 percent of your DNA is identical to everyone else’s. Your DNA holds the key to what could be wrong with you and can guide you on how to live to make sure that doesn’t happen. Cloning is complicated but I do know they use restriction enzymes to splice DNA strains and combine them with other DNA. That is one step and the first step to cloning. There are automated DNA sequencing built to sequence the human genome. It used to take 15 years the sequence the human genome now it only takes less the a month. By studying genomes it helps us understand evolution in humans as well as animals. That one percent of the DNA is what is used to profiles you. Bacteria and yeast have been modified for medical purposes. There are genetically modified plants and bacteria that helps farmers produce food and helps them keeps up with the population. Animals that a genetically engineered have many benefits to man as well as the environment. Gene therapy can make us stronger and live longer but no on want to try it because most people feel that its wrong.

Rocks and asteroids give us an idea of what happened in the past. Animals and plants are related but are located in different parts of the world. Comparative morphology is the study of the way organisms look and what their body parts are used for. Lamarack thought evolution was when animals grew into their new body parts to adapt to the new place to survive better. Darwin felt that life works itself out with what is called natural selection. Survival of the fittest will cause species to live longer and be strong and smatter. Fossils helped to prove the evolution theory. They use the lava rock above and below fossils to find out their age beside carbon dating. The continents used to be only one mass called pangea. A old super continent is called gondwana in the southern hemisphere. Homologous are body parts that are the same structure built but have adapted to be formed differently to survive in a certain climate.

 

HISTORY FEEDBACK

1.      Discuss the Heroic Age of Greece (Crete/Minoan and Mycenaean civilization). When did this occur and what were the accomplishments of these civilizations. How does Homer and his epics relate to these? What happened to cause these societies to collapse (the Dark Ages)? Explain.

The Heroic Age in Greek history occurred prior to 1000 B.C. During this time, the Crete/ Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations flourished into sophisticated societies. The first Greek civilization was that of the Minoans. They were located on an island just south of Greece known as Crete. This society was very heavily influenced by two older Near Easter civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt. The term Minoans comes from Greek myths concerning a legendary king of Crete, Minos. Between 2000 and 1700 B.C.E., the Minoans had several main cities and they built a series of lavish palaces throughout the island. These cities were centered around the palace complexes which collected the island’s surplus wealth as taxes.  The largest of these was Knossos [1]

Minoan’s biggest accomplishment mainly had to do with the wealth of this civilization. Cretans were traveling aboard advanced sailing craft to Greece, Anatolia, Phoenicia and Egypt, where Cretan wine, olive oil, and wool were exchanged for grains, textiles, and manufactured goods. They were even able to transport wine and olive oil as far away as Sicily. After about 1600 B.C.E., Cretans were able to establish colonies on Cyprus and many islands in the Aegean Sea, further increasing their wealth and spreading their civilization [2]. 191 The Minoan were also able to establish a writing system known as Linear A, a numeration and measurement system, construction, and trade that deeply influenced inhabitants of nearby Greece.

After 1700 B.C.E., Minoan society experienced a series of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tidal waves that destroyed many of their buildings. Between1600 and 1450 B.C.E., the Minoan attempted to replace the structures that were destroyed by those natural disasters. However, the wealth of the Minoan society attracted a series of invaders and Crete fell under foreign domination [3].

The Mycenaeans were Greeks from the mainland. They were named after Mycenae, one of their most important settlements. From 1500 to 1100 B.C.E, the Mycenaeans expanded their influence beyond peninsular Greece and began to largely overpower the Minoan society. They took over the Cretan palaces and established craft workshops. They also established settlements in Anatolia, Sicily, and southern Italy [4] 191. The most significant Mycenaean achievement was the invention of a new writing system, Linear B, in which they took the Minoan Linear A and devised this new syllabic script.

About 1200 B.C.E, the Mycenaeans engaged in a conflict with the city of Troy in Anatolia. Homer, a Greek poet and the author of theIliad and Odyssey, recalled much of this Trojan war and the chaos that reigned throughout the eastern Mediterranean region. The Mycenaeans had a difficult time recovering from the aftermath of all the destruction. Reduced trade revenue caused more warfare between the city-states over the meager resources left in Greece [5]. Mycenaean palaces fell to ruin, the population sharply decline, and the people abandoned most settlements. Writing in both Linear A and Linear B disappeared. Through Homer’s work in the Iliad and Odyssey, the tumultuous centuries after 1100 B.C.E. are reflected.  Along with heroic bravery and courage that many recall from the works, the Iliad and Odyssey portray a society full of conflict and they recount innumerable episodes of aggression, treachery, and violence [6].

Notes:

1. Chris Butler, “Bronze Age Greece: the Minoans & Mycenaeans (c.2500-1100 BCE).” The Flow of History, accessed July 2, 2013, http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/birth/3/FC17

2.  Jerry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler, Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, 5th edition, (New York: McGraw Hill, 2011), 191

3.  Ibid, 191

4.  Ibid, 191

5. Butler, 1

6. Bentley and Ziegler,191

2)  

2. What is the polis and why is it so important for the development of classical Greek society and its politics? How did the polis and the requirements of citizenship affect political culture? Why is this period (roughly 800-336 B.C. (BCE)) called the Hellenic Age? Explain.

Since a centralized state or empire did not exist in Greek society after 1100 B.C.E., local governments were responsible for administering order and providing leadership to their citizens.  Polis is a term used to describe a Greek city-state.  Since disorder and chaos dominated Greece during this period Greeks welcomed the security and structure polis provided.  Poleis were instrumental in reestablishing successfully run cities that taxed their citizens.  Sparta was essentially a militaristically run society. 

Contrarily, Athens’ leadership sought to lead its citizens by considering their interests.  Athens even made public office available to any male citizen.  During 700 B.C.E. civil unrest in Athens between aristocratic landowners who held high level government positions and owners of small plots of land with no representation in government caused years of civil war in Athens.  Solon an Athenian aristocrat devised a plan that allowed aristocratic landowners to keep their lands while landless commoners were relieved of their debt.  Another policy initiated by Solon was to allow non-Athenian citizens that could financially support the burden of public life to participate in the polis political system.  Between 600 and 500 B.C.E. additional reforms by Athenian leaders allowed for commoners who were active in government positions to be paid so that an economic burden did not dissuade their participation in the Athenian governmental process.    

The period between 800-336 B.C.E. is called the Hellenic Age by historians due the spread of Greek influence outside Greece, which is also known as Hellas in Greek. During this era Hellenistic empires facilitated the spread of goods which helped assimilate economies from Egypt in the west to India in the east.  This exchange of goods and interaction of ideas and information helped strengthen empires of that era and expand their influence exponentially. 

“Bentley and Ziegler, 191-194, 199-200”

 

Pete

 

ENGLISH FEEDBACK

THIS IS FEEDBACK 1

• Research Question: How do we solve the problem of student’s educational disengagement?

Possible answers: Make learning fun, stop teaching to the test, bridge the digital divide, and the SOLE method.

                                                         Synthesis Grid – II

 

Make learning fun

Don’t teach the test

Digital divide

SOLE method

Arora, P

. Hope-in-the-Wall? A digital promise for free learning.

N/A

SOLE teaches students how to arrive at an answer, not the answer itself.

Poor areas have less student/teacher interaction than affluent areas.

Not a replacement for trained teachers

Dangwal, R. & Sharma, K.

Impact of HiWEL learning stations on women living in shelter homes.

 Women users reported a higher feeling of self-worth

N/A

Brought computers to people and places that didn’t have access before.

 N/A

Mitra, S. 

For schools where children teach themselves.

Students did not know they were doing “school work”.

Groups of children researched answers, remembered the answers months later (unlike rote learning).

N/A

Children determine their own learning outcomes.

Morgan, P. & Ritter, S. 

An experimental study of the effects of Cognitive Tutor Algebra on student knowledge and attitude.

Students learning via the cognitive tutor method reported higher confidence in math skills.

N/A
 N/A
N/A
 

THIS IS FEEDBACK 2

Research Question: How is technology changing the way the human brain works?

Possible answers:
1. Blogging is providing students a medium for participating/interacting in class discussion they normally would not because of disengagement or shyness.
2. Reading online helps the brain solve problems and make quick decisions but it fails to exercise the brain’s long term memory or its ability to make deep connections.
3. “Brain Fitness” online games may help to increase the brain’s reserve and delay mental retardation through entertaining activities designed to educate.
4. Excessive video game play leads to addiction; addicts suffer from psychological disorders such as depression, loneliness, low self-esteem.

Synthesis Grid

 
Possible Answer 1

 
Positive Effects
Possible Answer 2

 
Negative Effects
Possible Answer 3Observed changes in behavior
Possible Answer 4Observed changes in learning
Source A
“Assessing the effects of interactive blogging on student attitudes towards peer interaction, learning motivation, and academic achievements.”
 
Yang, C. C., & Chang, Y. S. (2012)
Critical reflection is observed in education based blogging. Composing blog comments required the student to pause and analyze their response before submitting their comment.
None were reported in this study.
There is a change in interaction: shy students could participate freely in class discussions via blogs. Also, disengaged students have time to think and are more likely to respond to a class question in a blog than in the classroom.
Students can teach and learn simultaneously with education based blogs. Students share valuable comments (teach) and they benefit from peer observations in return (learn).
Source B
“Web of deceit: Is the internet making your students dumb?”
 
Taylor, D. (2011)
Brain activity is focused on decision making and problem solving. “Skimming” skills, handling of large amounts of stimuli, and efficiency are noted.
Brain activity that exercises memory, language, and visual processing is largely disengaged. The brain cannot retain information, make connections in long-term memory, or distinguish from relevant/irrelevant information.
Teachers have to change the way they teach. One Ivy league teacher noted how her students could not read whole books anymore.
A study of 6,000 child students identified that they would not read an article online from left to right (top to bottom) but rather scanning for pertinent information.
Source C
“Brain Health and Online Gaming”
 
Baxter, M. (2011)
“Brain Fitness Games” aim to increase “brain reserve” and delay the onset of mental deterioration.
No negative effects were noted in this article.
Video game technology can make daily aspects of human life more accessible and engaging, leading to a change in daily behavior.
“Serious games” are interactive content that use entertainment as the conduit that enables education or training.
Source D
“A case study of Internet Game Addiction.”
 
Lee, E. (2011)
None were noted in the study.
Related factors of game addiction include hostility, little or no self-confidence, depression, loneliness, low self-esteem, stress, impulsiveness, and low self-control.
Game addiction has negative effects such as loss of interpersonal
relationships, failure to address responsibilities, distraction
from other aspects of life, and poor health (Steward, 2004)
The subject had difficulty learning new, healthy behaviors. Furthermore, the subject could not learn to deal with boredom at home.