Integrating Ict In Mathematics Teaching Education Essay

Integrating Ict In Mathematics Teaching Education Essay The purpose of this study is to study the barriers preventing the integration and adoption of information and communication technology in teaching mathematics in Bhubaneswar, India. The data were collected by means of questionnaires from secondary school mathematics teachers. Major barriers were identified: lack of time in the school schedule for projects involving ICT, insufficient teacher training opportunities for ICT projects, inadequate technical support for these projects, lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum, difficulty in integrating and using different ICT tools in a single lesson and unavailability of resources at home for the students to access the necessary educational materials. To overcome some of these barriers, this paper proposes an e-portal which is a collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics. Based on these findings, I propose the us e of several strategies that should enhance successful ICT integration. INTRODUCTION Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed our daily activities in many ways. One of the goals for integrating ICTs in education is to enhance teaching and learning practices thereby improving quality of education (Higgins, 2003). However, in most developing countries like India, the potential of ICT to support pedagogy is yet to be fully realised. Since these changes are evident amongst younger members of our society, they are evident on primary and secondary schools students. Considering that ICT plays an increasingly important role in society, especially if we take into account social, economic and cultural role of computers and the Internet, it is clear that the time has come for the actual entry of ICT in the field of education. The combination of ICT and the Internet certainly opens not only many opportunities for creativity and innovation, but also for approaching the teaching material to current generation of students. Researchers argued that with the introduc tion of technology, it is possible to de-emphasize algorithmic skills; the resulting void may be filled by an increased emphasis on the development of mathematical concepts. Technology saves time and gives students access to powerful new ways to explore concepts at a depth that has not been possible in the past. ICT enhances efficiency of mathematical thought, enables learners to make conjectures and immediately test them in non-threatening environment (Laborde, 2001). Abramovich (1999)s use of spreadsheets in generalizing Pythagorean Theorem demonstrates how computers may be used to learn concepts in geometry and algebra. Meanwhile researchers (Balacheff Kaput, 1996; Kilpatrick Davis, 1993) have discussed the impact of technological forces on learning and teaching mathematics. Internet is increasingly being used to enhance collaborative and interactive learning (Cazes, Gueudet,Hersant and Vandebrouck, 2006; Cress and Kimmerle, 2008; Resta and Rafferriere, 2007) also (Lavy andLero n, 2004). As the study and practice of facilitating learning and improving performance (Januszewski Molenda, 2008), the field of educational technology attempts to overcome challenges by developing new approaches and frameworks. In this context, information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent a new approach for enhancing the dissemination of information and helping to meet these challenges. For a successful integration of ICT into the mathematics curriculum, it is essential to have knowledge of the existing software that is used by mathematics teachers. A survey carried out by Forgasz Prince (2002) found that 61% of the respondents (teachers) used spreadsheets, 45% used word processing and 30% used Internet browsers. In a separate study, Jones (2004) found that seven barriers existed while integrating ICT into lessons. These barriers were (i) lack of confidence among teachers during integration(21.2% responses), (ii) lack of access to resources (20.8%), (iii) lack of t ime for the integration(16.4%), (iv) lack of effective training (15.0%), (v) facing technical problems while the software is in use (13.3%), (vi) lack of personal access during lesson preparation (4.9%) and (vii) the age of the teachers (1.8%). METHODOLOGY This research deployed a survey method to investigate the barriers of integrating ICT into the teaching of mathematics. A total of 50 responses were received and they were analysed using the SPSS statistical package. A questionnaire was adapted from the Teacher Technology Survey by the American Institute for Research (AIR, 1998). The questionnaire was divided into five areas, i.e., (A) the teachers profile, (B) how teachers use ICT, (C) the teachers ICT experience, (D) the barriers faced by teachers and (E) the proposed solution. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ICT applications in general In general, a total of 74.3% of the respondents used computers on a regular basis. Table 1 depicts the percentage of usage by teachers in the various ICT applications: word processing packages (76.8%), spreadsheets (50.3%), Internet activity (67.2%), search engines (56.5%) and multimedia (11.2%). These percentages show that the computer literacy rate among secondary school mathematics teachers has been high. TABLE 1: Common ICT Applications by Teachers Application Daily (%) Weekly (%) Monthly (%) 1 or 2 times a year (%) Never (%) NA (%) NR (%) Computers in general 22.3 25.2 26.8 12.5 6.2 4.2 2.8 Word processing packages 20.4 26.3 30.1 13.6 5.8 1.3 2.5 Spreadsheets 9.6 15.4 25.3 22.5 6.3 12.5 8.4 Any Internet activity 20.8 22.5 23.9 28.6 1.2 1.3 1.7 Search engines for Internet 14.4 19.8 22.3 26.9 11.5 3.6 1.5 Multimedia 2.5 3.6 5.1 15.8 40.1 19.5 13.4 NA Not Available NR No Response Uses of Internet The Internet was used for various purposes. 65.5% respondents used it for browsing, 42.3% used the e-mail facility, 5.5% used IRC, 6.3% used chat rooms, and 8.6% used it in discussion forums and4.5% for other purposes. 6.9% respondents did not use the Internet. Table 2: Use of Internet by Teachers Activity Browsing e-mail IRC Discussion forums Chat rooms Others None Response (%) 65.5 42.3 5.5 8.6 6.3 4.5 6.9 Professional development and training needs A total of 40.3% respondents indicated that they had received ICT training.60.2% of the respondents demonstrated that they had found the training to be generally useful while 64.9% said that they had not received training on how to integrate ICT into mathematics teaching. According to 46.3% of the respondents, mathematics teachers require training on how to integrate ICT into their teaching while 59.5% of them stated that they needed a combination of various types of training.. Table 3: ICT Training Needs ICT training needs General use Integrate ICT into Teaching Use of Internet Combination of needs Response (%) 10.1 64.9 5.5 59.5 Barriers faced by teachers during integration The six major barriers identified were lack of time in the school schedule for projects involving ICT (50.3%), lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum (49.5%), lack of adequate technical support for ICT projects (41.9%), inadequate teacher training opportunities for ICT projects (41.2%), integrating and using different ICT tools in a single lesson (34.8%) and the absence of access to the necessary technology at the homes of students (31.0%). Perception of mathematics teachers toward the proposed solution There is a very strong positive response to the proposed solution to develop a mathematics portal for teaching mathematics, wherein a collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics. 70.2% of the respondents considered it to be very useful and helpful and 27.3% viewed it as useful and helpful. Only 2.5% of the respondents considered that the portal would not be very useful and helpful. Table 4: Barriers Faced by Teachers Barriers % Response as not a barrier minor major Not enough or limited access to computer hardware 30.2 50.6 19.2 Availability of computer software 23.8 54.6 21.6 Lack of time in school schedule for projects involving ICT 11.3 38.4 50.3 Lack of adequate technical support for ICT projects 15.3 42.8 41.9 Not enough teacher training opportunities for ICT Projects 18.7 40.1 41.2 Lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance curriculum 10.2 40.3 49.5 ICT integration is not a school priority 31.4 45.2 23.4 Students do not have access to the necessary technology at home 22.8 46.2 31.0 Teachers do not have access to the necessary technology at home 24.9 55.2 19.9 Integrating and using different ICT tools in a single Lesson 16.5 48.7 34.8 Table 5: Perceptions towards the proposed solution % response as very useful and helpful % response as useful and helpful % response as not so useful and helpful % response as not at all Proposed solution to develop a mathematics portal for teaching 70.2 27.3 2.5 0 From this study, the following findings were found: The most popular application packages used by mathematics teachers were word processing packages (76.8%), spreadsheets (50.3%), internet activity (67.2%), and search engines (56.5%). However, it must be noted that the packages that have not been positively considered by the respondents may not be necessarily useless. . Mathematics teachers need more time to learn to use them -programmes like specific Java applets, Flash presentations, graphical applications and simulation programmes have great potential for the teaching of mathematics because they encourage explorations and higher order thinking. It is encouraging to learn that 65.5% of the respondents used the browser to gather information. It is timely that educators encourage mathematics teachers to use the Internet for online demonstrations like using Java applets on mathematics that are only available online. A large proportion (64.9%) did not have any training on how to integrate ICT into mathematics teaching. Such training should be an integral part of professional training. Moreover, 46.3% of the respondents requested to have training on how to integrate ICT into teaching. Some major barriers hindering the implementation of ICT in mathematics teaching were found to be lack of time in school schedule for projects involving ICT, insufficient teacher training opportunities for ICT projects, inadequate technical support for these projects, lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum, difficulty in integrating and using different ICT tools in a single lesson and unavailability of resources at home for the students to access the necessary educational materials. Therefore, funding for new ICT resources should be increased in order to provide adequate ICT equipment and resources. It is also recommended that the contents of the subject be reduced so as to integrate ICT. teachers consider that inadequate time is a factor against teaching and learning effectiveness Therefore to encourage more teachers to integrate ICT into mathematics lessons, the devised programme must be user friendly. The e-portal proposed for this purpose is geared towards fulfilling such needs. This e-portal will be a collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics. CONCLUSION To create an environment of effective ICT integration, hence improving the quality of education for the youth in the province teacher education programs must focus on eliminating barriers. Based on the findings and discussions presented here, the several recommendations are suggested for practitioners. Technology plans for implementing ICT should be prepared and implemented. Training in ICTs for teacher educators should be improved in both quantity and quality. Every classroom should have at least one computer with Internet access and an LCD projector. Course content should be redesigned to acquire more benefit from ICT. More ICT-related courses for prospective teachers should be offered. Teacher educators and prospective teachers should be aware of the benefits of ICTs An e-portal, collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics should be constructed.

On the Size and Nature of the American Republic

After the American Revolution, a great debate ensued over the size and nature of the proposed American Republic. There were those who stressed a small republic constituted by 13 confederated states. There were also political thinkers who sought the establishment of a large, heterogeneous republic (comprised of different classes of people with different interests). To differentiate the specifics of the two contending views, there is a need to examine two prominent American figures who represented the differing views. Brutus represented those who want to establish a small confederated republic.James Madison represented the other group. Brutus on the Size of the American Republic For Brutus, a free republic would be unsuccessful if it was of immense extent (both geographically and politically). The increasing number of inhabitants as well as the increasing needs of a large republic put strains on the government. The consequence for him was clear: such large republic would, in time, fall to anarchy. He cited the argument of baron de Montesquieu as the basis of his view: â€Å"It is natural to a republic to have a small territory, otherwise it cannot lone subsist.In a large republic there are men of large fortunes, and consequently of less moderation; there are trusts too great to be placed in any single subject; he has interest of his own; he soon begins to think that he may be happy, great and glorious, by oppressing his fellow citizens; and that he may raise himself to grandeur on the ruins of his country†. For Brutus, the establishment of a large republic inevitably results to the concentration of power and wealth to the hands of the few. Because moderation is more or less absent in these people, their power and wealth are used to oppress the people.As time progresses, the oppression becomes more and more manifested in the deteriorating conditions of the people. The republic will soon bow to the power of the ruling and oppressive class of citizens. In add ition, because of the immense extent of the republic, the needs and demands (and dreams) of the people are lost in the myriads of a thousand interests. Some needs and views are sacrificed to the so-called â€Å"general will† which for Brutus was a vague concept. The negotiation of interests becomes a battle for power or authority.Those who occupy a significant position in government (or those who have contacts in the government) will have their views and interests magnified in the halls of the legislative branch. Thus, the true needs of the people are easily distorted. In addition, if the republic is small, the public good is easier taken into account by the government. It is easily comprehended by every citizen (subject to criticism). The interests, then, of the people are better protected because the abuses are of insignificant nature.Brutus cited the case of the Grecian and Roman republics as examples to strengthen his argument. In the beginning, these republics were of sm all size. Their governments were simple but democratic in form. Every need and view of citizens was taken into account, making governance a matter of citizen consent. In due time, however, these republics expanded their domains. Rome, for example, acquired territories from several wars against Carthage and some Asian kingdoms. The result was: their governments transformed from that of free government to those of tyrannical (and abusive) ones.Brutus on Authority The construction of a tyrannical government, with supreme authority vested on one person, would inevitably result to the destruction of the peoples’ authority. The people would not be able to exercise their rights and duties. They would not be able to force the government to account for its misdeeds. Public accountability would vanish; the person in power would project himself as an infallible leader, incapable of committing any mistakes while in office. Thus, the large republic would crumble.The remnants of democracy, made significant in democratic institutions, would vanish from history. The restoration of democracy, for Brutus, would be achieved through another bloody revolution, much greater in extent than the previous one. Brutus on Homogeneity With regard to homogeneity, in a free republic, â€Å"the manners, sentiments, and interests of the people should be similar†. If such was not the case, clashes would be unending. Antagonisms would develop among groups of people competing for power and wealth.This would inevitably result to the malfunctioning of the government. It would not be able to serve the people in its true capacity. The deadlock among competing groups would necessitate again the establishment of a despotic government, to which no citizen would proscribe to. Basis on Human Nature Thus, because the climate (social, political, and economic situation of states) of the United States was varied, there was a need to establish confederated states, governed by a nominal federal h ead of state.Here were the things that Brutus considered: 1) the interests of the states (correspondingly its people) were largely varied, 2) the customs and traditions of the states also varied, and 3) the states had differing opinions of the nature and extent of the proposed American republic. These considerations, for Brutus, were enough to justify the establishment of a small republic, for heterogeneous and discordant principles were clearly present. Brutus Fears on Some Provisions in the US Constitutions Brutus was well aware of some provisions in the US Constitutions which called for the establishment of a large republic.For example, the vesting of the power to draw and approve treaties on the president and the senate was an incursion to the rights of the states to determine foreign policies. The drawing of foreign policies of supra-legislative bodies was a characterization of legislative tyrannies (as in the case of France). The status of the president as commander in chief o f the armed forces was also questioned by Brutus. If the president held the power to unquestionably command the army, then there was a high chance that he would use it to maintain his position.For Brutus, these powers of the â€Å"national government† were vestiges of tyrannical governments; governments established to preserve order to a large state. Madison on the Size of the American Republic Before Madison presented his arguments as to the proper size and nature of the American Republic, he drew a sharp distinction between a democracy and a republic. Democracy is a state governed by direct democracy; that is, the decisions of the government are directed by the people. Its actions are based on the needs and demands of the sovereign will of the citizens.Thus, every citizen is required to participate in the affairs of the state. Political participation is therefore maximized in democracies. A republic, on the other hand, is characterized by the delegation or representation of the will of the people to elected delegates. The election of delegates will allow the people to choose the person who can best discern the public good. In addition, a large republic will usually offer the citizens more choices, so there will be a greater chance for quality candidates to be chosen to represent the public. Thus, Madison favored the establishment of a large republic that would govern the 13 states.Madison’s Rejection of Homogeneity as the Basis of the Republic Madison rejected homogeneity as the basis for the establishment of a republic. According to him, even pure democracies like Athens became avenues of torment and clashes of opinion. A pure democracy, such as that proposed by Brutus was not a guarantee to the protection and advancement of citizens’ interests. He believed that homogeneity existed in a vacuum; that is, it was no guarantee that a general reduction in the extent of a state (population) would inevitably to the perfection and assimilation of beliefs, passions, and interests (Madison, 1787).Even in a small republic, passions and interest were highly varied. Thus, human nature could not be rearranged by arranging the political atmosphere to which a human being is situated. A state, small or large, would be comprised of citizens having different opinions, interests, and passions. Madison also discussed the nature of factions in a state. For Madison, factions destroy the liberty of the individual to participate in the affairs of the state. Factions retard the functioning of the government, thus inefficiently delivering services to the people.Factions could be disastrous if the majority belong to a faction (the tyranny of the majority). If the majority succumbed to the will of the unreasonable passions, then the state would become a tool of oppression of the minority. Even if the minority presented strong arguments (reasonable) of a particular policy and the majority refused to allow such policy to be implemented, then su ch policy would not be implemented. If this was the case of the state, then the government would be inefficiently and ineffectively ruled by an oppressive group of people. Madison’s Solution to the Problem of FactionsMadison presented two solutions for the â€Å"factions† problem. The first solution was to destroy the conditions which were essential to the establishment of factions. The second solution was to give every citizen the same view, passions, and interests. For Madison, only the first solution was feasible. By establishment safety nets in governance (there were some provisions in the US constitution that guarantee the rights and interests of the minority), the effects of factionalism would be minimized (it would be impossible to totally eradicate factionalism in a diverse nation).These safety nets took the form of negotiated mediums; that is, avenues where interests could be aggregated. Madison as the First Pluralist Madison proposed the establishment of seco nd-in-importance agencies to take note of the interests of the minority. Even in supra-legislative bodies like the House of Representatives and the Senate, Madison proposed the institutionalization of lobbying methods. The purpose of which was to give every citizen (or group of citizens) the chance to air their views and interests.For Madison, aggregation of interests was the key to maintaining a large heterogeneous republic. Thus, Madison was usually called the â€Å"first pluralist. † In recent years, however, the so-called interplay between federalist and anti-federalist perspectives was essentially rooted from the increasing powers of the â€Å"national government. † Some people wanted a less strong central government to effectively serve the needs of the citizens. There are those who argued that a strong central government is essential to procure the best services for the people.

Impact of Sociology and Psychology Factors on Leisure/Tourism Activity Essay

Dyer, Gursoy, Sharma & Carter (2007, p. 409) argued that tourism is prominent in Australia’s economic restructuring, particularly in regional and coastal areas. There are many aspects such as history, attitudes and culture to contemplate when defining the meaning of leisure, though it is essential the participation of recreational activities free from any other obligations or responsibilities (Lynch & Veal 2006, p. 25). The issues statement provided for discussion through this essay is: â€Å"Australian governments, industry bodies and organizations work to promote leisure participation through a range of event, sport, tourism or hospitality experiences. All individuals have the opportunity to participate in these leisure experiences and can benefit from them if they make the effort†. This essay embodies psychological and sociological concepts to evaluate tourism experience. Following the essay, it will analyse two areas separately. It is divided into three parts in sociological aspect which are time, socio-economic and gender. In psychology aspect, it will emphasise on motivation and satisfaction. Through the conveyance of our study and research, the perspective held throughout this essay will agree with the statement that â€Å"All individuals have the opportunity to participate in these leisure experiences and can benefit from them if they make the effort†. Sociology Sociology is the study of the social lives of humans, groups, and societies, sometimes defined as the study of social interactions (Osborne & Van Loon 1998, p. 3). That means all social activity is not only just individuals’, but also connects with members of groups and institution. For tourism, tourists are usually stratified by geography, age, sex and socio-economic status (Dann 1977, p. 185). While this essay will discuss the aspect of time, socio-economic and gender. Time is one of the key elements in a tourist’s decision-making and people must adapt themselves to the amount of time the tourist has available at destination (Martinez-Garcia & Josep 2008, p. 1064). Leisure time is an important factor affecting tourism activities and a tourist will consider how much leisure time to save for the future, because leisure time has its price (Gu 1995, p.239). Gu (1995, p. 239) argued that â€Å"leisure time given up today can be transformed into additional discretionary income and saved for tomorrow, because non-regular working opportunities such as overtime work, second job and summer teaching always exist, and individual has the flexibility of allocating his or her leisure time between today and tomorrow†. Stockhausen (1998, p. 1676) argued that people may be deprived of leisure as there are no time left after work and family obligations. If people have too much work or housework then they will not go to participate in tourism. Martinez-Garcia & Josep (2008, p. 1067) argued the amount of time available is limited and must be distributed, among other things, between the time dedicated to travel and the time spent for work. That means how much time people can spend for tourism depend how much time they left after work. The socio-economic also impact of tourism on destinations (Martinez-Garcia & Josep 2008, p. 1064). Tourism consumption not only requires amount of time but also requires a significant amount of money (Gu 1995, p. 242). There are some negative socio-economic impact tourism, such as high spending tourists are likely to negatively affect people’s way of living; it is likely to change our precious traditional culture; it is likely to result in unpleasantly overcrowded beaches, hiking trails, parks and other outdoor places in people’s community; it is likely to put more pressure on local services such as police and fire protection, utilities and roads; the price of goods and services are likely to increase because of tourism and construction of hotels and other tourist facilities are likely to destroy the natural environment (Dyer, Gursoy, Sharma & Carter 2006, p. 414). The role of gender, and the inequalities correlated with this ideology, is most apparent in how a particular culture perceives the role of tourism as a leisure activity (Dunning 1999, p. 222). The women’s recreation is constrained by patriarchy-the pervasive power of men in society. It is so easy to force women have no time to engage in recreation. Women always consider a range of social or environmental factors before participate in the leisure activities such as safety, their behaviour and level of control (Lynch & Veal 2006, p. 377). Tourism is one of recreation activities, so before join in it, they will consider where they will go, who they go with, there is safe for them and so on. Also, women always play the role as wife and mother, and then they should do the housework and look after children even if they got a job. In general, women lack of access to appropriate space for leisure, they usually have less leisure time than men, especially for those in paid employment, and then women have less chance to participate in tourism activities. On the other hand, men have more time and more chance to go to travel than women. Overall, gender influences individuals to participate in tourism activity. Psychology This section discusses psychological factors of tourism activities. In terms of psychology, tourism is indication of tourists’ ideas and opinions about going on trips, about where to go and what to do, and about how to relate to other tourists, locals, service personnel. (Leiper, cited in Richardson & Fluker 2008, p. 6). Nowadays, there are various choices of tourism experience which people can choose and enjoy, fulfilling their satisfaction. To explain the facts related to psychological perspective such as why people look for tour and why tourists revisit the same destination, this section discusses tourists’ motivation and needs, and cognition next. Tourists’ motivations play an important role in understanding their behaviour. According to Iso-Ahola (cited in Ryan 2003, p. 84), motivation happens when people want to satisfy their needs and achieve psychological rewards with travel. As tourists’ needs are assorted, they can meet their satisfaction in different experiences. So, their preferences of tourism choices are also different. In general, People need to escape and seek, for instance, they want to escape from routine such as home or work environment and want to experience new place (McCabe 2000). In addition, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be applied to tourists’ needs for tourism; physical needs at base (rest, relaxation and exercise), safety/security needs (friendship groups and youth subcultures), love/affiliation needs (family leisure activities related to sexual partnering and team sports), social and self-esteem needs (exercise of skills in sport and cultural activities) and self-actualisation at the highest level (engaged in for their own sake) (Lynch & Veal 2006). For example, some individuals travel to relax and rest in order to escape their daily life; however, others travel to gain enjoyment from tourism experiences. In short, travellers can have different goals to achieve if they tour same place. There are two factors that influence tourists’ motivations; push and pull factors (Richardson & Fluker 2008). While push factors refer to socio-psychological motives, pull factors are not from tourists themselves but the destination itself (safety, attraction, climate etc. ) (Goossens 2000). McGehee et al. (cited in Meng & Uysal 2008, p. 448) stated that male and female tourists are influenced by push and pull factors in different degrees. In Australia, women tend to be affected by society, status and opportunities for family bonding, while men regard sports and adventure as more significant when they choose their trip. According to Burnett-Wolle and Godbey (2007), there are differences and similarities of tourism motivation between young and old people; older adults are not likely to be affected by acquiring career related experience and understanding others. However, both young and old people tend to be motivated by enhancing self-esteem, reducing negative affect, exercising values, and making friends. All individuals have their own characteristics so they feel differently when they visit same destination based on their tastes. There is a satisfaction process which can be affected by expectation and disconfirmation. According to Bosque and Martin (2008, p.553), satisfaction is defined as ‘an individual’s cognitive-affective state derived from a tourist experience’. Previous destination image, past experience and fellow tourists can affect tourists’ expectation. According to Maddux (cited in Larsen 2007, p. 9), an expectation can be defined as ‘the individual’s ability to anticipate, to form beliefs about and to predict future events and states’. In pre-purchase stage, people develop their expectation based on not only the image of destination (made by previous experience) but also fellow tourists’ opinions (Neal & Gursoy 2008). A positive image of the place will have an optimistic effect on the individual’s beliefs of a future experience. Tourists are likely to rely on their beliefs or expectations. As tours are intangible, evaluations are too difficult. In post-purchase stage, travellers tend to compare the actual performance with their expectation. If the actual performance exceeds tourists’ expectation, it is possible for them to have positive disconfirmation. Conversely, they are likely to have negative disconfirmation when their actual performance does not meet their expectation (Neal & Gursoy 2008). The satisfaction is affected by disconfirmation, emotion and comparing costs with rewards. Positive disconfirmation makes tourist satisfied with their travel. And emotion can affect their satisfaction independently. The emotional states will determine tourists’ response in satisfaction process because individuals’ enjoyment is based on their own experiences (Bosque & Martin 2008). Furthermore, Oliver and Swan (cited in Neal & Gursoy 2008, p. 54) argued that tourist’ satisfaction is formed by comparing costs (price, time and efforts) with rewards (benefits from tour). If they feel their benefits exceed costs they spend, they are likely to evaluate their experiences positively. Consequently, the higher level of tourist satisfaction causes the stronger loyalty to the destination. They are willing to revisit that places and recommend to other tourists by word-of-mouth (Bosque & Martin 2008; Chi & Qu 2008). In conclusion, our society has been aware of leisure importance recently. Especially, governments and organisations are trying to help all individuals to participate in tourism activities. A number of people enjoy their tourism because they are affected by psychology and sociology factors. When people travel, they need to spend amount of time and money. People should manage their time between work and leisure, and they can afford to go on a tour as well. In addition, gender inequality of opportunities in tourism exists even though the awareness has been improved. Because women are likely to consider social factors and perform domestic responsibility. While tourists can be motivated by external factors, internal factors also affect decision-making of tourism activities. Tourists meet their needs through tourism experiences. And all individuals have different needs and motivation, so the types of tourism they pursue are diverse. Generally, tourists are satisfied with their tourism experiences based on their cognition processes, which are affected by their previous experiences and expectation. Governments and organisations need to not only motivate tourists to take part in tourism but also support all individuals to enjoy their tourism activities in society when they are willing to participate in tourism. 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Stereotypes in Our School - 637 Words

We have done research at our school that supports the idea that many people experience stereotypes, and are affected by them. Author and Scientific Journalist, Shankar Vedantam, in his article â€Å"How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† Explains that If people are stereotyped, they can start to embody the stereotypes made about them without realizing it, which could lead to a degradation in their performance, because of the negative self image caused by these stereotypes. He supports this claim by giving a few real world examples of surveys and tests taken on african-americans and people of different races, all of the people who took these tests had one thing in common, they were all victims of intelligence stereotypes. He goes on to explain how these subjects performed worse on the same tests they had taken before, after being reminded of their race by the researchers giving them the test. Vedantam’s purpose in this article is to inform people of the major consequences that stereotyping can have on people’s self image, and how this can lead to their performance taking a turn for the worse, I believe that by writing this article, Vedantam was taking a serious issue in society today, and looking at it from a scientific perspective to attain more clear idea of what is causing it. For use in the research process for our essays, Mrs. Roberts gave us an article about stereotypes, by Shankar Vedantam, to review and reflect on. This article was essential inShow MoreRelatedHow Stereotypes Affect Teens699 Words   |  3 PagesStereotypes can be a problem in our society, but they are especially a problem for teenagers. At my school stereotypes impact a wide range of students. My class read â€Å"How a Self Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† by Writer and novelist, Shankar Vedantam. In his article he argues that telling people about their race before an exam will hurt their performance. He supports his claim by providing statistics on the average test scores of blacks compared to whites. He then explains thatRead MoreStereotypes in Schools953 Words   |  4 PagesStereotypes in school can affect students in their confidence and education. Writer, Shankar Vedantam, in his article, â€Å"How A Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance ,† argues that reminding people of their race before a test or quiz can be the reason they dont score as high on a test. He supports his claim by first explaining things that Sociologist Min-Hsiung Huang discovered. He then explains how whites have been scoring higher than other races this affects chances of them gettingRead MoreHow a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance by Shankar Vedantam657 Words   |  3 Pages Shankar Vedantam, author of Hidden Brain and NPR science correspondent informs and advocates for equality in the education system in his article â€Å"How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance† published in the Washington Post (2009). Vedantam begins his article by interacting with the audience while he asks a question,and he cites Sociologist Min-Hsuing Huang’s research on the influence that the environment has on a minority. Huang found out that: reminding minorities of their raceRead MoreStereotypes at my school649 Words   |  3 PagesStereotypes in school can affect students and their education. We did some research about stereotypes at our school, Point Loma High, but first we read â€Å"How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† by Shankar Vedantam. He argues that how being a stereotype can bring down someones work performance. He supports his claim by first explaining that on a standardized vocabulary test, black peopl e on average scored a 5.49 out of 10 questions correctly and white people answered 6.33 correctlyRead MoreSocial Media, School, And Family Essay1564 Words   |  7 PagesUnfortunately, in our world, people form stereotypes, but how is social media, schooling and family life affecting those stereotypes? For many, stereotypes are automatic and unwavering mental pictures, of a certain group. Most of the time we never take into account any of their Individual differences in their personality. This is because most of the time our stereotypes are so hard and grounded, we tend to ignore or discard most, if not all information that is not compliant with the stereotype that we haveRead MoreGender Roles And Stereotypes1719 Words   |  7 PagesWhether it is consciously or unconsciously, we humans tend to characterize people by their gender. â€Å"Often, gender expectations or stereotypes shape our thoughts and interactions with others in subtle yet perceptible ways† (Block 1). When children enter the school environment, they will likely experience a number of issues relating to gender. They will continue to encounter gender issues throughout their lifetime, so it is important that we teach them to address these issues appropriately. TeachersRead MoreStereotyping : Stereotypes And Stereotyping1494 Words   |  6 Pages In everyday life Stereotypes are used, they are directed towards ethnicity, gender, and education. â€Å"In ethnicity, we have the ideas that each race is a certain way† (Aronson. The impact of stereotypes). Here are a couple of examples for blacks, they all can run fast, and that they are all about the welfare system. â€Å"For Hispanics they are stereotyped as being crazy, loud, lazy, drug dealers, illegal immigrants, and slutty† (Typical stereotypes of Hispanics). The stereotypes of ethnicity is causingRead MoreEssay on Anti-Gay Bullying Stereotypes and Suicides825 Words   |  4 Pages Anti-Gay Bullying Stereotypes and Suicides HU300: Art and Humanities: Twentieth Century and Beyond Anti-Gay Bullying 2 Anti-Gay Bullying Stereotypes and Suicides Anti-gay bulling has increased over the years. There are more gays and lesbians committing suicide as a result. Asher Brown, a 13-year-old Houston, Texas teen committed suicide because he could not take the daily ridiculing of being bullied at school for years. Asher was being picked on becauseRead MoreThe Threat of a Stereotype1383 Words   |  6 PagesStereotype threat is present in our everyday lives and it prevents people from doing things to their fullest abilities. It is the fear of confirming a negative stereotype about you resulting in weaker performance. An example where stereotype threat exists is in the case where African Americans do poorly on tests compared to Caucasian individuals. This occurs because the stereotype is that African Americans are intellectually inferior to Caucasian people. In a setting where the negative stereotypeRead MoreTalcott Parson s Theory Of Pattern Variables1490 Words   |  6 Pages Individuals often utilize stereotypes as an easy mechanism to organize and understand different people. Many of these stereotypes are unfortunately negative and are degrading toward a group of people. Further, stereotypes not only overgeneralize this, but can improperly evaluate the group based on ascribed traits (i.e. race, gender, age) and the impact it has on other areas of life, such as academics or work ethic. For example, African Americans are frequently stereotyped as having a lower IQ, performing