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Translation Tools

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:29:33 +0000

For beginner especially in overseas country which are not using english as their mother tongue, its difficult to learn it from the beginning. But in the era’s of technology and internet everything is possible, with a software you could get your english grammar check. The benefit of software rather than a dictionary are its more thin, and easily to bring cause you could installed it on a portable computer or a handset.

Currently there were lots of Translation tools, and some are equipped with grammar checking. This tools became powerful cause it will help the user using the correct grammar. With this tools student in overseas or newbie english learner could maximize their potential in learning english.

If you want to improve your english skill, the first thing to start is fixing your grammar.
Here are some basic rules that need to be noticed in Grammar:
a. Capital letters only in use for nouns and the beginning of sentences. It could be a noun name of the person and place names.
b. Every sentence must end with a dot (.), An exclamation point (!) Or question mark (?) And provides a space before starting the next sentence.
c. A noun is a word that the good name of the person’s name or the name of the place. While the verb form of an activity or action to do something. In making a sentence, there must be at least one noun and a verb.
d. Only need to use a single punctuation, do not need too much, here is an example of making the wrong punctuation:

- It was great !!!!!
- How are you?.
- She said “I left it on the bench.”

e. Apostrophe proper use of symbols is as follows:

- To write ‘the boy Owned the book’, we can use the Apostrophe ‘the boy’s book’ sign Apostrophe in place after the owner and before the “s”. For exception words that have the suffix s is added only Apostrophe just behind those words.

example:

boy’s toy
(Boys who have a toy / owner of the toy)
boys’ bikes
(Some boys bicycle owners)

- In use for certain abbreviations
example:

I am>> I’m
He is>> He’s
We will of>> We’ll
You are>> you’re
They ate>> they’re

These Grammar basics is referring to facilitate you in forming a proper sentence.
Find the best tools to help you out in your english learning.

Technology in education

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:46:32 +0000

Technology has always had a place in the halls of education to help create and demonstrate the lessons being taught. As new technology and devices have been invented, they have quickly found their way into educational facilities to help aid the learning process. The first practical telescopes came into being in the early 17th Century and were soon a necessary tool for astronomy students. The teaching of chemistry has been greatly enhanced by use of the Bunsen burner created in the 1850’s. Only a few decades later, the typewriter changed education forever with a faster means to produce easily read instruction. Within just a few decades of their becoming publicly accessible, computers have become the premiere teaching tool of the 21st Century. more
The types of technology used in classrooms are as varied as the subjects being taught. As new knowledge builds upon older learning, a plethora of technological devices have been added to the arsenal of education. Of necessity, a great deal of these are only practical at a college level as people increase their knowledge of a selected field. In primary and secondary educational facilities, the use of technology is increasingly focused on computers and the various add-ons created for them.
In the last half of the 20th Century, the simple overhead projector was a staple in classrooms and conference rooms across the country. The ability to enlarge images for projection on a wall or movie screen helped educators show examples to an entire room of students. As computer imagery and technology has taken over, the overhead projector has been abandoned for clearer images and greater interactivity. Now educators have the option of using a large monitor, image projection systems, or document cameras to do the job better.
Of greatest use in the classroom of today is the use of computers to access the Internet. Educators are still exploring new ways to use this wealth of information for more ways to increase the learning potential for their students. Being able to research any given topic is only the beginning. It is possible for a teacher to have lessons connected to each child’s computer so they can follow along on their screens what the teacher is demonstrating on theirs. Information can be stored more safely in a digital form than on paper. Encyclopedias and other reference books no longer need to be bulky paper items, as online reference sources can be more comprehensive and interactive.
Audio and video can be integrated with computer technology so that students can create and share the projects they are working on. With the wide variety of functions that can be performed on computers, teachers are sometimes more like coaches helping direct students to knowledge rather than being the lecturers and presenters of the lessons. Through Internet connections, more classroom instruction can be channeled to the student wherever they are. Entire classes can be taught over the Internet. As the computer technology grows for classroom work, there may be less need even for the actual classroom.

Scientific Research: Evaluating

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:44:14 +0000

The success of research projects is evaluated mainly on the basis of number of publications and citations it produces. Soon, its social relevance will also be considered.

When evaluating the impact of scientific research, a common method used is counting the number of publications generated – for instance, in scientific magazines and conference proceedings – and the number of citations that other authors make to those publications.
However, in some disciplines the number of publications and citations by others is neither a fair nor an adequate metrics. In civil engineering the final product of an innovative research might not be an article but a building, for example.
Evaluation standards should then be wider, and take other indicators into account. One way to evaluate research projects and groups is looking at what they can bring into society in terms of knowledge and innovation: in other words, their social usefulness. But how can the social value of research be estimated? more
The ERiC Project
To meet this need of taking social relevance into account, the ERiC (Evaluating Research in Context) project was initiated. As stated in the ERiC website (eric-project.nl), the new evaluation protocol “no longer just assesses the scientific quality of research but also uses indicators to measure its social impact.” This is what has been recently presented.
In short, the aim of the ERiC project is to provide a broader description of research. The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (HBO-Raad), and Quality Assurance Netherlands Universities (QANU) have taken part in the project, and Hogeschool Utrecht, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and Rathenau Institute have been involved as observers.
Disciplines such as social sciences and humanities, health research, design-oriented research, and construction technologies are to profit from their developed evaluation approach. In the ERiC platform a number of different measuring methods can be considered. One of them is the so-called sci_Quest method.
The sci_Quest Method
In the sci_Quest method a number of social and scientific domains are considered:
• Science
• Education and training
• Innovation and professionals
• Management and policy
• Team-work and visibility
For each research group a number of those domains are chosen, according to the knowledge production and the activities undertaken by the group. The evaluation is then taken in four steps:
1. The research group’s image is evaluated, i.e., its members determine to which extent the group focuses on the various domains of interest, and what the group’s mission is
2. The research group’s profile is determined trough the assessment of research (its output and activities) and the embedding of the research group in its field
3. An overview of the quality of the research is obtained, i.e., “the perspective of those it serves” is examined, and observations over the social relevance of research summarised
4. Reflection, where the quantitative component (step2) and the qualitative component (step 3) are compared, and this is then matched to the research group’s mission (step 1).
How About Fundamental Research?
In principle, the ERiC approach should not negatively influence the evaluation of fundamental, purely theoretical research. It is primarily to take into account other aspects – such as social use or significance – inherent to certain streams of research. However, scientists involved in the topics which do not have a direct social application fear the path where the new protocols and metrics might lead.
The risk is to end up having that only research with an immediate social appeal will be considered as relevant. This would certainly restrict the range of developed knowledge. On the one hand, topics that attract media attention and have an explicit public interest are to be funded and encouraged. On the other hand, less opportunities and subsidies are to created for fundamental research.
Science has to be useful and we should be able to evaluate how useful it actually is. This seems to be the message. However, it has not always been like this. One example is Einstein’s special relativity, the theory of the structure of space-time. Its relevance is unquestionable, but at the time when it was postulated its applicability in precise measurement, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) so commonly used in modern auto navigation devices, or medical accelerators used in the treatment of cancers, could not have been foreseen.
It appears that it is not always possible to determine beforehand how useful certain theories will be. But this should not be a problem. In the end, knowledge in itself is already of great value. Or is it not?

Twins in school

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:39:33 +0000

School counselors recommend separating twins as young as three years old in school, believing that separation will have a positive impact on development.

Educational experts believed that to provide the best atmosphere for twin development, twins needed to be separated upon entering the school system. Parents ran with the idea of individualizing twins while many schools developed a strict policy about twin separation.
Twin Sibling Relationships and the Push for Individualization
Experts in twin relationships created a push towards individualizing twins that saw many parents begin to separate twins in the school system, either requesting different classroom placements or in some cases, completely different schools. The school system also embraced this theory by enacting strict separation policies for twins in some schools. more
Even now, a study by Nilsson et al, showed that of 65 school counselors questioned, most of them believed that separating twins would have a positive impact on personal development. Furthermore, counselors recommended that this separation should occur as young as kindergarten. Do other studies support these theories?
Was Individualization for Twins Pushed too Far?
Parents always wish to do what is best for their children and when experts make claims, parents tend to take the advice and hit the floor running. The idea of individualizing twins does make sense. Just because they look alike doesn’t mean they are alike, so parenting plans do need to cater to a child’s individual personality.
Although parents may individualize twins in the home setting, school however is a completely different environment. For many young children it can be a scary place where sibling support would be welcomed, particularly in very young children newly attending school.
The Clearing House on Early Education and Parenting, CEEP, reports that the National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs (NOMTC) responding in a 2000 summarization on survey research and summaries, suggested that 78% of parents favored separating twins because parents were “heavily influenced by “individualizing theories” read in books or heard in lectures or at meetings of twin organizations.”
Twins in School and Classroom Placement Studies
In terms of academics, a recent study in Amsterdam published in the Jan. 2010 edition of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health suggests academic scores were about the same for those twins separated and those not separated.
Of the 2,003 pairs of identical and fraternal twins in the study, 72% were in the same class; 19% were separated from a sibling and 9% partly shared a classroom. Of the three groups, there was no significant difference in test scores.
On an emotional level, parents should perhaps be the sole decision makers when it comes to separating twins, especially at an early stage such as kindergarten. Starting school can be a traumatic event for many children and having a confidant could ease the transition. Children once settled, become more comfortable and a natural independence will often develop by itself.
Certainly there is nothing to say that this decision cannot be reversed when the twins get older and are able to add their own thoughts to the decision. As teenagers, twins might very well welcome some time apart to develop individual identities even further.
Research into separating twins in school is still unfortunately sparse and is of little use to parents of multiples. Until further studies are undertaken, parents should use discretion with regard to the decision on separating twins in school. Parents know better than anyone, a child’s nature and what a child can handle emotionally.