Characteristics of Renaissance Art in the Last Supper

Characteristics of Renaissance Art in the Last Supper It is agreed that the Renaissance was a period of great art and architectural feats and ingenuity, during which artists looked back to the classical art of Greece and Rome from which to draw inspiration. This influence can easily be seen in the many paintings and sculpture that came out of the Renaissance. However, the conservative nature of the period, the subject matter, and the restrictions imposed upon artists of that time kept the Renaissance from truly becoming a return to the classics of Greece and Rome. The most obvious factor in the difference between the two artistic periods is the predominant subject matter the artists of the time chose. In ancient Greece and Rome, the subject matter most popular among artists were depictions of myths, war, or intellectual figures: statues of the gods decorated nearly every significant architectural landmark of the time. Being a Christian society, the art of the Renaissance did not simply depict various bible stories, but also moral stories permeated with religious allusions and symbolism. The Sistine Chapel is just one example among the many depictions of the creation, Madonna figures, and religious icons that existed in that era. However, there were some artists, such as Botticelli who depicted mythological figures as religious icons such as Botticellis Birth of Venus, which put the Greek goddess into a Christian context. Artists from both periods experienced problem with completing and preserving works. In Ancient Greece and later Rome, because of frequent war and the threat of invasion, many of the bronze sculptures that existed were melted down so that the metal could be used for weaponry. In addition to that, the construction of the pieces was often so weak that they would break, usually at joints such as the ankles because they couldnt support the weight of the piece indefinitely, or other limbs that were too fragile to withstand any kinds of damages. Because artists of the Renaissance were often commissioned by wealthy patrons or the church, they had to work within the guidelines given by the patrons which limited the freedom with which they could compose a piece. Even for artists such as Michaelangelo, often times, funding for commissions would be limited or discontinued altogether, forcing the artist to either leave the piece unfinished or scale down the size of the original project. Although Renaissance art was based on Greek and Roman schools of thought and art, the subtle stylistic differences between the two periods are reflective of the ideals of beauty at the time. Greek sculpture often depicted highly idealized figures- usually young, athletic men and women- in extremely melodramatic poses, while figures of the Renaissance were more realistically rendered- such as van Eycks which even showed the flaws of those who posed for the pieces instead of beautifying them- but still remained slightly melodramatic in at least facial expression if not posture. Though it attempted to revive the classical art of Ancient Greece and Rome, the Renaissance instead simply modified the style and applied it to its own tastes. Artists of both times sought to appeal to the general public with what was popular at the time- war, myth and melodrama in Ancient Greece and Rome, religious icons and pleasing the patron in the Renaissance. Leonardos Last Supper is a priceless piece of art with much hidden meaning and obvious talents bestowed upon a wall. Under the study of Verrocchio as a painter and a sculptor, he was able to use his skills in creating a very detailed and a very naturalistic piece of work that would be remembered for hundreds of years. He was also able to create characters with amazing individuality. Not only was his portrayal of the characters magnificent, but the symbolism he used which emphasized the story being told in the Last Supper. Lodovico Sforza chose Leonardo to create The Last Supper in the refectory of the Dominican Church of S. Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The Abate of the S. Maria delle Grazie saw Leonardo work from morning until night on The Last Supper without eating. Although, there were times he would stop painting for days at a time; or, he would work on a specific character for just a few moments and then leave to continue working on it later. He worked on it from 1495 thru 1498 (Strauss, 27). Before Leonardo began painting the actual portrait, he put down a substance which was suppose to absorb the tempora and protect the tempora from the moisture on the wall. Unfortunately, the substance was proved unsuccessful, and by 1517 it began to deteriorate. In May 1556 a painter Giovanni Batista Armenini said that the painting was so badly affected that nothing is visible but a mass of blots'(Heydenreich, 18). The painting has continued to decay in the following centuries. It was further damaged by restorations made by careless artists and by the addition of a doorway put in the lower part of the painting. Yet even to this day his painting The Last Supper is widely known and visited by many tourists each year. The remembrance of the Last Supper could be due to the sacredness of the parting meal. It is quite obvious that the skill used in the creation of the Last Supper was magnificent. Although, the way Leonardo allows its viewers to depict the scene from a specific point in the Bible adds to the importance and significance of the painting in which no other artist could even compare. He does allow the viewer to recognize this scene by the gestures of both the Lord and the Apostles. The Lord sits ever so quietly while the Apostles rise in reaction to what the Lord had just announced. It is rather obvious that Leonardo chose the critical moment after the Lord had stated, Verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me, because of the emotions that evolve in this specific scene (Matt. 26.21). He took much time to express every detail of each Apostle and the Lord. Leonardo had even wrote in one of his notebooks that A good painter has two chief objects to paint man and the intention of his soul. The former is easy, the latter hard because he has to represent it by the attitude and movement of the limbs(Heydenreich, 27). For example, the Lord is very relaxed with his arms resting on the table which adds to the portrayal of His greatness. He also emphasized the Lords greatness by giving Him a serious attitude and by presenting Him as untouchable with the space between Himself and the Apostles. The distance put between them is called the spacial perspective, which is one of the techniques Leonardo feels is important in naturalistic art. Although, the Apostles are painted in a more restless fashion. They are all facing different ways and seem to be jumping out of their seats. Even the grouping of the apostles in three was done intentionally. He used four groups of three Apostles in each group in order to symbolize the Holy Trinity which means three, and the  four groups were used to symbolize the Gospels and the Cardinal Virtues . He was very cautious in every aspect of his painting from the placement of the figures to the movement they each possessed. Leonardo had to create actions and various postures which would be appropriate for each figure in order to keep them from looking as if they were brothers. Monica Strauss stated that in her research she had found that for the first time in the history of the subject, Leonardo had distinguished each one by appearance and gesture(Strauss, 27). For each of the twelve Apostles he had to not only resort to the historical information on their names and on their appearances but also by the portrayal of their specific qualities as they are known to us from the Gospels. For instance, Judas was put outside the circle of the innocent Apostles and only his shadowed  profile can be found. He is the only one to be found sitting in the shadows and in solitude. This allows the viewer to see the guilt he had, for he knew he was the one who would betray the Lord Jesus. He is also frozen in shock, and he is an outcast in the group. The significance of the portrayal of Judas is very important because in earlier pictures of the Last Supper, no one had ever been able to show this (Heydenreich, 57). Peter and John, located at the sides of Judas, were both painted with bright heads and with outstretched hands to the Lord Jesus which signify their fateful connection with Him. Yet, he distinguishes their differences by showing Peter to be more stubborn and argumentative and John to be more gentle and submissive as the Bible has thoroughly explained. Philip, on the other hand, stands up in excitement; and, he puts his hands on his chest to express a tender loyalty towards Christ. Andrew is found next to his brother Peter. Then, there is James the Greater, the older brother of John, who  touches Peters shoulder and forms a link with Peter and John. These three are those who witnessed the Transfiguration and who accompanied Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 17.1; 26.36-37). Leonardo continued to distinguish each of the Apostles as he felt necessary. He placed James the Less, the Lords brother (Gal. 1.19), to the Lord Jesuss right where he is like Him in feature and with outstretched arms; but, his gesture is only a reaction and not an expression of a completed action like the Lord Jesuss. Behind James the Less stands the doubting Thomas who is known to share a common feast day . St. Matthew is next and finally comes St. Jude, who is the brother of James the Less and St.  Simon. James the Less and St. Simon were martyred together so they too have a common feast day. Leonardo not only arranged the Apostles in four groups according to kinship and the personal links they shared, but each of the twelve Apostles exhibit an emotional and temperamental reaction appropriate to the character attributed to him in the Gospels. Each disciple reacted in his own way, as men. Leonardo had said, Emotions move the face of man in different ways, for o! ne laughs, another weeps, one becomes gay, another sad, one shows anger, another pity, some are amazed, others reflective. In these the hands and the whole person should follow the expression of the face, (Heydenreich, 57). He made sure he portrayed this in his Last Supper. The Lord Jesus was also given qualities that distinguished Him from everyone else. The Lord Jesuss hands are laid in a resting fashion on the table. His hands lie between the filled cup and the unbroken bread, the symbols of sacrifice, as if pointing in a silent gesture towards them. He seems to relay a message that His business has not yet been completed. Only the objects in front of Him remain in order, as does He remain calm, unlike the objects in front of the Apostles which are in disarray, as are the Apostles also in an unorderly emotional state of confusion. Leonardo uses the description of the  table to symbolize the state in which the Apostles and the Lord Jesus are in. For this reason, Leonardo not only uses the characters to portray the story but also the objects and the structures which encampeth around them. Leonardo used the beautiful background motif of the pedimented doorway, which was centered behind the Lord Jesus, in order to emphasize the Lord Jesuss greatness. It acted as a crown of glory hovering over His head. The surrounding walls and ceiling, where tapestries hung, were not in natural perspective but in an idealized one. The surroundings were unrelated to any spectator in the room. The same can be said of the characters in the portrait. Their scale and grandeur is other worldly, but their emotional distress is obviously human. He created the characters as if they were each on their own frontal plane. He also put a painted border around the painting which cut off most of the ceiling and the walls. These two modifying factors caused the characters to seem to leap out of the portrait. The Last Supper portrayed very individualistic characters which have made Leonardos piece of work stand out from all the others who also have tried to create the Last Supper; but, talented Leonardo was able to perfect his creation with his perspective of atmosphere and color. Leonardo had said, If we see that the true quality of colours is known through light, it is to be concluded that where there is more light, the true quality of the illuminated colour is better seen; and where there is more darkness, the colour is tinged with the colour of that darkness, (Heydenreich, 65). Later he concluded with, Nothing ever looks to be its real colour, if the light which strikes it is not all of that colour, (Heydenreich, 65). He used his theory in his painting to make it more realistic. He used two sources of light which came from the last gleams of the dying day which entered from behind the window with its charming view of the countryside and from the window in the refectory itself. He claimed to have painted in tones of light, when he created his Last Supper (Heydenreich, 66). Rosci had said that it is possible that he may have given the advice on the construction of the rectangular refectory because of the illusion the light gives the paint! ing (108). The two zones of light make it possible for Leonardo to give his characters a very finely graduated relief (Heydenreich, 70). Leonardo caused the colors of Christs garments, a red tunic and a blue cloak, to reflect in the pewter plate in front of him; and, similarly the plate in front of Philip reflects the red of his cloak. The colors of the Apostles robes are distributed across the painting in a wonderful array of colors. To the right of the Lord, the pale green tunic of James the Less forms a transition between the Lords blue cloak and the red robe of Philip, whose blue sleeves are just a shade brighter than the tone of Christs cloak. There is also a mixture of colors in the second group on the right of the Lord. Matthew is clothed in bright blue, which together with Judes ochre tunic and Simons violet cloak forms a perfect three note chord. Even in the group to the left of the Lord, consisting of John, Peter, and Judas; emphasizes the blending of colors. Judass greyish blue garment is the only one whose tone remains indefinite and dull which was formed from Johns dark, rust red cloak and bluish green tunic and Peters dark blue sleeve. In the outer left hand group, which stands in the darker background, Andrews green cloak over a yellow garment, James the Greaters reddish clothing, and Bartholomews violet blue tunic and dark olive cloak form a carefully equivalent to the outer right hand group, which stands in bright light. From one side of the Lord Jesus to the other the colors go from light primary tones to dark subtle blends. All of this coloration is due to the effect that light has o!n colors. Leonardo really believed that the perspective of light was important because it ensured to make the Last Supper as realistic as possible. Leonardo believed that naturalization was harmony between mental and physical motion. He accomplished the correspondence between physical movement and mental emotion by the pause between two great emotions which are the momentarily stiffening at an extreme point of excitement and at the horror of being startled out of tranquility (Heydenreich, 67). The painting portrays both expression and emotion. This combination complements each other. The expressions allow the viewers to see the emotions the characters are feeling. Their frozen movement allows one to see they are human. We can see both their outward and inward reactions. It is as if Leonardo had been there, and he had taken a picture of the marvelous meal. He definitely accomplished his goal in portraying his Last Supper as a realistic piece of art. The symbolism, the individualized personalities of the characters, and the skills such as the light perspective and spacial perspective blended together to fo!rm a photograph-like pai nting.

Best Practices & Most effective strategies for Curriculum Design in K-12 education in America Essay

Curriculum is a plan for learning that includes targeting a student population, conducting a needs assessment, and writing a mission statement. It includes developing goals, objectives, content, teaching strategies, and assessment tools. Alignment is critical in curriculum development from purpose and philosophy, to goals and objectives, to content and activities, and to assessment and evaluation. Working through a process of asking and answering who, what, where, why, when, how questions is essential in designing and developing curriculum. A curriculum serves several purposes that include: †¢ Explicit statements of ideology underlying the instruction (why are you teaching it, and why is the teaching the way it is? †¢ General long-term aims (what are students intended to gain from following the course? †¢ Specific, testable, short-term objectives (what will they be able to do as a result of following the course? ) †¢ Resources to be used (what is needed to deliver the course? ) †¢ The delivery methods to be employed (how is it to be taught? ) †¢ Timing of the units and their sequencing (when is it to be taught and in what order? ) †¢ Assessment procedures and the balance of assessments to be made (how, when and why will it be examined? ) †¢ A methodology for evaluating how well the course has been received (how will instructor acquire feedback from the students about the course? ). K-12 education is defined as educational technology in United States, Canada and other countries for publicly supported grades prior to college. The K stands for kindergarten and 12 denotes 1st to 12th grade before the 13th that is the first year of college. Curricular Theory and Theorists The word curriculum has its origins in the running/chariot tracks of Greece. It was, literally, a course. In Latin curriculum was a racing chariot; currere was to run. A useful starting point for us here might be the definition offered by John Kerr and taken up by Vic Kelly in his standard work on the subject. Kerr defines curriculum as, ‘All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school. [1] This gives us some basis to move on. For the moment all we need to do is highlight two of the key features: †¢ Learning is planned and guided. We have to specify in advance what we are seeking to achieve and how we are to go about it. †¢ The definition refers to schooling. We should recognize that our current appreciation of curriculum theory and practice emerged in the school and in relation to other schooling ideas such as subject and lesson. In what follows we are going to look at four ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice: †¢ Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted. †¢ Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students – product. †¢ Curriculum as process. †¢ Curriculum as praxis. Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted Many people still equate a curriculum with a syllabus. Syllabus, naturally, originates from the Greek. Basically it means a concise statement or table of the heads of a discourse, the contents of a treatise, the subjects of a series of lectures. In the form that many of us will have been familiar with it is connected with courses leading to examinations. For example, when teachers talk of the syllabus associated with, say, the Cambridge GSCE exam. What we can see in such documents is a series of headings with some additional notes which set out the areas that may be examined. A syllabus will not generally indicate the relative importance of its topics or the order in which they are to be studied. Those who compile a syllabus tend to follow the traditional textbook approach of an ‘order of contents’, or a pattern prescribed by a ‘logical’ approach to the subject, or the shape of a university course in which they may have participated. Thus, an approach to curriculum theory and practice which focuses on syllabus is only really concerned with content. Curriculum is a body of knowledge-content and/or subjects. Education in this sense is the process by which these are transmitted or ‘delivered’ to students by the most effective methods that can be devised [3]. Where people still equate curriculum with a syllabus they are likely to limit their planning to a consideration of the content or the body of knowledge that they wish to transmit. ‘It is also because this view of curriculum has been adopted that many teachers in primary schools, have regarded issues of curriculum as of no concern to them, since they have not regarded their task as being to transmit bodies of knowledge in this manner’. Curriculum as product The dominant modes of describing and managing education are today couched in the productive form. Education is most often seen as a technical exercise. Objectives are set, a plan drawn up, and then applied, and the outcomes (products) measured. In the late 1980s and the 1990s many of the debates about the National Curriculum for schools did not so much concern how the curriculum was thought about as to what its objectives and content might be. It is the work of two American writers Franklin Bobbitt, 1928 and Ralph W. Tyler, 1949 that dominate theory and practice within this tradition. In The Curriculum Bobbitt writes as follows: The central theory is simple. Human life, however varied, consists in the performance of specific activities. Education that prepares for life is one that prepares definitely and adequately for these specific activities. However numerous and diverse they may be for any social class they can be discovered. This requires only that one go out into the world of affairs and discover the particulars of which their affairs consist. These will show the abilities, attitudes, habits, appreciations and forms of knowledge that men need. These will be the objectives of the curriculum. They will be numerous, definite and particularized. The curriculum will then be that series of experiences which children and youth must have by way of obtaining those objectives. This way of thinking about curriculum theory and practice was heavily influenced by the development of management thinking and practice. The rise of ‘scientific management’ is often associated with the name of its main advocate F. W. Taylor. Basically what he proposed was greater division of labor with jobs being simplified; an extension of managerial control over all elements of the workplace; and cost accounting based on systematic time-and-motion study. All three elements were involved in this conception of curriculum theory and practice. For example, one of the attractions of this approach to curriculum theory was that it involved detailed attention to what people needed to know in order to work, live their lives and so on. A familiar, and more restricted, example of this approach can be found in many training programs, where particular tasks or jobs have been analyzed and broken down into their component elements and lists of competencies drawn up. In other words, the curriculum was not to be the result of ‘armchair speculation’ but the product of systematic study. Bobbitt’s work and theory met with mixed responses. As it stands it is a technical exercise. However, it wasn’t criticisms such as this which initially limited the impact of such curriculum theory in the late 1920s and 1930s. Rather, the growing influence of ‘progressive’, child-centred approaches shifted the ground to more romantic notions of education. Bobbitt’s long lists of objectives and his emphasis on order and structure hardly sat comfortably with such forms. The Progressive movement lost much of its momentum in the late 1940s in the United States and from that period the work of Ralph W. Tyler, in particular, has made a lasting impression on curriculum theory and practice. He shared Bobbitt’s emphasis on rationality and relative simplicity. His theory was based on four fundamental questions: 1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain? 2. What educational experience can be provided that is likely to attain these purposes? 3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized? 4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained? Like Bobbitt he also placed an emphasis on the formulation of behavioural objectives. Since the real purpose of education is not to have the instructor perform certain activities but to bring about significant changes in the students’ pattern of behaviour, it becomes important to recognize that any statements of objectives of the school should be a statement of changes to take place in the students. We can see how these concerns translate into an ordered procedure and is very similar to the technical or productive thinking steps set out below. 1. Diagnosis of need 2. Formulation of objectives 3. Selection of content 4. Organization of content 5. Selection of learning experiences 6. Organization of learning experiences There are a number of issues with this approach to curriculum theory and practice. The first is that the plan or programme assumes great importance. For example, we might look at a more recent definition of curriculum as: ‘A program of activities by teachers designed so that pupils will attain so far as possible certain educational and other schooling ends or objectives [4]. The problem here is that such programmes inevitably exist prior to and outside the learning experiences. This takes much away from learners. They can end up with little or no voice. They are told what they must learn and how they will do it. The success or failure of both the program and the individual learners is judged on the basis of whether pre-specified changes occur in the behaviour and person of the learner. If the plan is tightly adhered to, there can only be limited opportunity for educators to make use of the interactions that occur. It also can deskill educators in another way. For example, a number of curriculum programs, particularly in the USA, have attempted to make the student experience ‘teacher proof’. The logic of this approach is for the curriculum to be designed outside of the classroom or school. Educators then apply programs and are judged by the products of their actions. It turns educators into technicians. Second, there are questions around the nature of objectives. This model is hot on measurability. It implies that behaviour can be objectively, mechanistically measured. There are obvious dangers here: there always has to be some uncertainty about what is being measured. We only have to reflect on questions of success in our work. It is often very difficult to judge what the impact of particular experiences has been. Sometimes it is years after the event that we come to appreciate something of what has happened. For example, most informal educators who have been around a few years will have had the experience of an ex-participant telling them in great detail about how some forgotten event brought about some fundamental change. Yet there is something more. In order to measure, things have to be broken down into smaller and smaller units. The result, as many of you will have experienced, can be long lists of often trivial skills or competencies. This can lead to a focus in this approach to curriculum theory and practice on the parts rather than the whole; on the trivial, rather than the significant. It can lead to an approach to education and assessment which resembles a shopping list. When all the items are ticked, the person has passed the course or has learnt something. The role of overall judgment is somehow sidelined. Third, there is a real problem when we come to examine what educators actually do in the classroom, for example. Much of the research concerning teacher thinking and classroom interaction, and curriculum innovation has pointed to the lack of impact on actual pedagogic practice of objectives. One way of viewing this is that teachers simply get it wrong as they do not work with objectives. The difficulties that educators experience with objectives in the classroom may point to something inherently wrong with the approach, that it is not grounded in the study of educational exchanges. It is a model of curriculum theory and practice largely imported from technological and industrial settings. Fourth, there is the problem of unanticipated results. The focus on pre-specified goals may lead both educators and learners to overlook learning that is occurring as a result of their interactions, but which is not listed as an objective. The apparent simplicity and rationality of this approach to curriculum theory and practice, and the way in which it mimics industrial management have been powerful factors in its success. A further appeal has been the ability of academics to use the model to attack teachers. There is a tendency, recurrent enough to suggest that it may be endemic in the approach, for academics in education to use the objectives model as a stick with which to beat teachers. ‘What are your objectives? ‘ is more often asked in a tone of challenge than one of interested and helpful inquiry. The demand for objectives is a demand for justification rather than a description of ends. It is not about curriculum design, but rather an expression of irritation in the problems of accountability in education. [5] Curriculum as process We have seen that the curriculum as product model is heavily dependent on the setting of behavioural objectives. The curriculum, essentially, is a set of documents for implementation. Another way of looking at curriculum theory and practice is via process. In this sense curriculum is not a physical thing, but rather the interaction of teachers, students and knowledge. In other words, curriculum is what actually happens in the classroom and what people do to prepare and evaluate. What we have in this model is a number of elements in constant interaction. It is an active process and links with the practical form of reasoning set out by Aristotle, which is as follows: Teachers enter particular schooling and situations with an ability to think critically in action and with an understanding of their role and the expectations others have of them, and a proposal for action which sets out essential principles and features of the educational encounter. Guided by these, they encourage conversations between, and with, people in the situation out of which may become thinking and action. They continually evaluate the process and what they can see of outcomes. Curriculum as praxis Curriculum as praxis is, in many respects, a development of the process model. While the process model is driven by general principles and places an emphasis on judgment and meaning making, it does not make explicit statements about the interests it serves. It may, for example, be used in such a way that does not make continual reference to collective human well-being and to the emancipation of the human spirit. The praxis model of curriculum theory and practice brings these to the centre of the process and makes an explicit commitment to emancipation. Thus action is not simply informed, it is also committed. It is praxis. Critical pedagogy goes beyond situating the learning experience within the experience of the learner: it is a process which takes the experiences of both the learner and the teacher and, through dialogue and negotiation, recognizes them both as problematic. It allows, indeed encourages, students and teachers together to confront the real problems of their existence and relationships. When students confront the real problems of their existence they will soon also be faced with their own oppression. The process model is modified to fit the praxis model, which is as follows: Teachers enter particular schooling and situations with a personal, but shared idea of the good and a commitment to human emancipation, an ability to think critically in action, an understanding of their role and the expectations others have of them, and a proposal for action which sets out essential principles and features of the educational encounter. Guided by these, they encourage conversations between, and with, people in the situation out of which may become informed and committed action. They continually evaluate the process and what they can see of outcomes. Proposed Curriculum Design: A curriculum prepared for the targeted students of K-12 education must be tailored to meet their needs for a fast and productive mental growth. Therefore a curriculum for k-12 education must be prepared so that it supports all children and young people from 3 – 18 to develop as successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors, ready to play a full part in society now and in the future. As part of the review process we need to develop clear guidance which sets out expectations of what children and young people should learn and also promotes flexibility and space so that teachers can use their professional judgment creatively to meet children’s needs. Therefore, before beginning to design a curriculum for k-12 education, one must capture the essence of what young people will learn over the course of their schooling and express this through the experience and outcome statements. Curriculum Designing Guidelines Purpose The construction of experiences and outcomes that effectively provide progression in each curriculum area and convey the values, principles and purposes of A Curriculum for Excellence is central to the success of the program. In particular, it is important that you reflect relevant aspects of the four capacities in your work. If we can get this right these outcomes and experiences will have a significant, positive, impact on classroom practice and hence on the learning experience of all children and young people. It is an exciting prospect. Starting point In phase 1 each early review group should be asked to simplify and prioritise the curriculum (from age 3 to 15 in the first instance) retaining what currently works well and making changes where these were justified by research evidence. The output from phase 1 of the review process and the rationale for your curriculum area, research and other national and international comparators are your starting points. Your work will be based on the relevant parts of the Curriculum Frameworks: for Children 3 – 5, 5 – 14 guidelines, Standard Grade, and National Qualifications. It is important that experience and outcome statements you write at each Curriculum for Excellence level provide appropriate cognitive demand. The framework for outcomes The experiences and outcomes will sit within a framework of advice to teachers. Curriculum Area The eight curriculum areas are: Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Languages, Maths, Religious and Moral Education, Science, Social Studies and Technologies. Rationale The rationale provides an overview of the curriculum area states its main purposes and describes its contribution to the values and purposes. Subsets of the curriculum area Each curriculum area is subdivided either into fields of learning – or ‘subjects’ (e. g. Expressive Arts into art, drama, dance and music) or into aspects of learning in that area (e. g. Languages into listening and talking, reading and writing) Lines of development These identify learning tracks in each subset of the curriculum area. They are expressed in different ways in each area of the curriculum. For example within expressive arts they identify the skills to be developed: creating, presenting and evaluating in art, drama, dance and music; within science they describe broad areas of knowledge and understanding to be developed; biodiversity, being human and cells in Our Living World. Experiences and outcomes Within each line of development, experiences and outcomes describe the expected progression in learning for children and young people. Essential outcomes Essential outcomes are a small number of high level statements, derived from the main purposes described in the rationale, that encapsulate what learning in that curriculum area provides for all children and young people. Taken together, the essential outcomes are intended to sum up the expectations for the broad general education of all young people. The focus of your work will be writing the experiences and outcomes for your curriculum area. It is likely that there will be interplay between what you produce and the ‘essential outcomes’ , which are the ones helping to shape and refine the other in an iterative manner. Outcomes should be written in the clearest possible English. Where possible these should be accessible to children and young people, but not at the expense of clarity. It is also important to try to write lively and engaging experiences and outcomes. Best Practices of Writing the Curriculum Ultimately the intention is to produce streamlined guidance for the entire curriculum in a single document. We also intend to make the outcomes available in electronic format to allow curriculum leaders and teachers to identify and blend outcomes from both within and beyond curriculum areas. Several stages will be required to achieve this. Curriculum for Excellence Achievement framework In the first stage of work the aim is to produce experience and outcome statements up to Third level with provisional work done to Fourth level. Both Third and Fourth level have particular significance. Third level is important because it defines the point at which a young person has experienced a broad general education and has satisfied the essential outcomes in all curriculum areas. At this point there may be opportunities to choose what she or he wishes to study, typically with a greater degree of speciality and in greater depth to Fourth level and possibly beyond. For some pupils, their choices will result in continued, lateral progression, in curriculum areas at Third level. Fourth level is important because it will enable transition into the formal qualifications system. Experiences and outcomes at this level will tend to be more specific than those for earlier levels. The outcomes and experiences written during this stage will be subject to refinement through the engagement process. Writing an excellent outcome Always remember that the experiences and outcomes should have an impact on classroom practice and learning. The outcomes should not be written in the form of assessment criteria, nor should they constrain learning. Every outcome should therefore be tested against the following criteria: 1. It should express learning that is clear to the teacher, and where possible the young person. This will promote the application of formative assessment strategies. 2. It should indicate the purpose of the outcome and/or direct the selection of learning activities for all children and young people. 3. It should allow evaluation of the outcome. In other words, it should be clear from the outcome what evidence might be observed to demonstrate progress by the child or young person. Also bear in mind that there is no intention to produce an elaborated curriculum. Outcomes should therefore offer and support opportunities for enrichment and development for those young people with additional support needs who may not progress beyond the first levels. As you complete blocks of work a further test is to consider the extent to which you have prioritised and simplified existing guidance and to ask yourself if any changes are robust and justifiable. As a general rule outcomes should begin with the ‘I can’ stem. Experiences describe purposeful and worthwhile tasks, activities or events that contribute to motivation, personal development and learning. As a general rule they should be signalled using the ‘I have’ stem. The following additional general parameters will help you get started. †¢ Simplification and prioritisation should result in time and space being made to operate the seven principles of curriculum design. For example, teachers should have time for greater depth of study, to introduce topics or ideas in a relevant context or to respond to local events or circumstances and to ensure progression. †¢ Assume your outcomes can be taught within the time allocations typically applied in schools at present.

The application of SMS Notification-Based Library

A library management system, also known as an automated library system is software that has been developed to handle basic housekeeping functions of a library. A Library is a temple of learning which plays a pivotal role in the overall development of a society. But, it is a known fact that libraries are not always safe and secure places and they are facing a variety of security concerns which includes the theft, mutilation of library materials and other unethical losses.But, it is the duty of the librarian to pep the library buildings, shelves and stacks open and free without losing items to make available or putting individuals at unacceptable risk from the malicious, avaricious or senseless acts of others. This study aims to develop a Library Management System which is more flexible and less time consuming. According to Manhandling et. Al (201 1), Libraries and information centers are very important in the development of any country,Manhandling(2011). Longitudinal spend on the ALMS is relatively small compared to other core corporate systems.There is an increasing drive for cost reduction through institutional workflow review, yester integration and the streamlining of corporate functions, recognition that the world is changing and that libraries need to change too, taking full account of the complex systems ecology within which they operate ,changing perceptions of what a library collection is and does, including collection and circulation, resource discovery, changes in ownership and control, personalization and seamless access to resources, Veronica, A. T. Al (2008). Comprehensive, flexible and more automated ALMS is yet to be recognized by the community. Libraries are increasingly aware of the need to ‘liberate' their data to allow users to rate new and innovative services and applications. To do so their platforms will require easy-to-use and accessible services for discovery and delivery. It is evident from the cited studies that a Library Managem ent System (ALMS) is very important in the development of any country.This study proposes to make use of a biometric device using a biometric, students can now easily transact in the library as compared to the manual process. This study is expected to contribute positively to establishing a way forward for Library Management. A significant part of the study focuses on the roles librarians lay in support of the research process, and the related expectations of researchers. Librarians believe their current role of providing expert advice and teaching on information literacy will continue to be important in the future.But while many researchers agree with this, libraries will need to ensure that effort is put into securing significant take-up of their expertise and advice by the research community. There are some significant differences between researchers' and librarians' views as to the future role of libraries in supporting research, and there is a need for dialogue teen them to ens ure that library services and expertise are developed and deployed in the most effective way. References: Veronica, A. Et. Al (2008).But the last decade has brought a sea-change in relationships between researchers and libraries. Technological developments and the availability of information resources online have changed how research is done, and also the services that academic libraries provide to their research communities. Both researchers and librarians have welcomed the benefits these changes have brought, adapting rapidly o them and seeking to exploit their potential to the full. And they both look forward to further change in the coming years.Figure 1 – Conceptual Framework of SMS Notification-Based Library Management with Biometric With the help of this system there are new features and process that a user will face in order to manage a Library in a fast and flexible way of working such as in borrowing books and in the process of getting information of the applicant f or registration purpose. Here, we developed LMS foALMShe sake of the user and the applicant in order to reduce the requirements that are manually brought. In Figure 1 above you'll see the new concept of borrowing and registering a mobile user in a private or a public library.This system is designed not Just in a one directed field of service the said system is developed to be a generic Library service. a) We'Ae chose to develop this system in order to make it more helpful and easy to use in a Library station whether it is a public or a private library usage. Here we've included a mobile user applicant in order to make his/her notified by the system automatically when the due date comes after borrowing books in the Library. b) In Bhere there can be no oubt tboutmuch of the literature in this area speculates on the future role oflibrbilberriese of which is particularly clear.Since 1995, or what TenopiTenor the â€Å"postweposted†, libraries have been seen as in danger of  "substitution†, HofmanHofmann. The web is becoming â€Å"a ubiquitous source of information† giving an â€Å"illusion ofdeptoptedomprehensiveness†, GriffiGriffith) that leads to a questioning of the valueovalueries and their collections. This review will not speculate on these future roles, butwilbobtail instead on the certainty of changing technology, increasingly digital nformaunpretentiousnessocietal shifts that have changed user expectations of library services.

Essay on Role of Happiness in Ethical Decisions - 1209 Words

â€Å"All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason† (Kant 1). The usage of reason as a representation of one’s intellect is a common trait in the 21st century. Happiness, a positive emotion, tends to blur one’s judgement and coerces philosophers to look upon its relevance when formulating ethical decisions. When considering the role of emotion in ethical decisions, one must consider the contrasting views of Immanuel Kant, an 18th Prussian philosopher that focussed his philosophies around the doctrine of reason, in comparison to that of John Stewart Mill, a 19th century British philosopher that followed the doctrine of happiness through the ideology of†¦show more content†¦Happiness to Mill is defined through his ideology of utilitarianism, which states that one must make decisions to bring about the greatest amount of happiness for the most amounts of people. Essen tially, morality is defined by the decrease in pain and the increase in happiness. Unlike Kantian ethics, Mill does not discriminate between the doctrines of reason and happiness, and believes of the existence of universal happiness. . Many argue that Kant’s exclusion of happiness from his ethical theories is a call for concern. John Steward Mill, a utilitarian, follows a theory that is in direct contrast to that of Kant since he concentrates on the consequences on actions. Utilitarianism seeks to provide happiness to the greatest amount while being fair and considering everyone equal. People are said to be happiest if they can do what they want; however, if everyone did what they wanted, then a lot of people would be unhappy. In order to promote happiness, people should be able to do what they want as long it has an overall positive impact. Theoretically speaking, a utilitarian would say that it is acceptable to pass a red light if no one is looking and if you know it wouldn t hurt anyone. This is because it would increase your happiness without causing any unhappiness. Another example of this theory in work is in a situation where an individual out of 10 people must be thrown out of a boat. In thisShow MoreRelatedIs It Feasible To Find A Method Which We Can Use To Evaluate1632 Words   |  7 PagesIs it feasible to find a method which we can use to evaluate moral decisions and prove whether a person acted morally right or wrong? Philosophers have come up with a number of unique views which attempt to be the universal standard for evaluating these decisions, yet others tend to think that cultural relativism is the only answer to this issue. Cultural relativism is the idea that moral rights and wrongs change based on the culture that you are immersed in. 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