Sunday, February 16, 2020

Exploring parents views on their roles in their childrens creativity Dissertation

Exploring parents views on their roles in their childrens creativity development - Dissertation Example In today’s world,creativity is a quality that is becoming of great demand.In response to this, the NACCCE has advocated the incorporation of creativity in the curriculum of schools,knowing its significance in children’s growth and development and its value in helping them develop the necessary skills for their future. NACCCE claims that when children are exposed to environments where teachers’ creative abilities are engaged, these children are likely to develop creative abilities themselves (Jeffrey & Craft, 2001). In view of this, provision of environments or opportunities for creativity development also extends to the home setting. This paper intends to explore parental views on their children’s creativity development in both school and home settings. Literature Review Malaguzzi (1998), prominent educator and founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach in education, most appropriately expressed: Creativity seems to emerge from multiple experiences, coupled wit h a well-supported development of personal resources, including a sense of freedom to venture beyond the known. Creativity seems to express itself though cognitive, affective and imaginative processes (p. 76). Some other accepted definitions of Creativity are as follows: the ability to see things in new ways; boundary breaking and going beyond the information given; thinking unconventionally; making something unique or original; and combining unrelated things into something new (Schirrmacher, 1988). Torrance (1965), a proponent in creativity research, defines creativity as the â€Å"process of sensing problems or gaps in information, forming ideas or hypotheses and communicating the results.† Schirrmacher (1988) explains that creativity may be explained in terms of product, process, skill set of personality traits or set of environmental conditions. As a product, it is viewed as a new invention, creation or thought, like the works of creative geniuses such as Mozart, Plato, G alileo, Newton and Einstein, among others. In this explanation, creativity seems to be elitist difficult to achieve for ordinary people (Schirrmacher, 1988). As a process, creativity is more inclusive, as coming up with a product is not a requirement and everyone can do creative processing that includes â€Å"thinking, speaking, playing, writing, dancing, singing, playing a musical instrument, experimenting with objects, transforming materials and manipulating ideas and objects.† (Schirrmacher, 1988). Engaging in the creative process brings a feeling of fulfillment to the person even if the creative expression does not result in a product. Creative individuals are identified by a set of personality traits. Researchers on creativity have come up with their own lists basing from their own research. Torrance (1962) has identified seven indicators of creativity as follows: curiosity, flexibility, sensitivity to problems, redefinition, self-feeling, originality and insight. Origin ally, these indicators were given to identify highly creative children. However, upon further analysis, such indicators likewise describe highly creative adults. Johnson (1972) has compiled a number of research in the field of creativity, and has come up with the main dimensions of creative achievement as intellectual leadership; sensitivity to problems; originality, ingenuity, unusualness; usefulness, appropriateness; and breadth. In terms of explaining creativity developing from a set of environmental conditions, it may be concluded that the greater one’s background of experiences with people, places, objects and life, in general, the greater the scope of possibilities to draw from in the expression of creativity. On the other hand, if one is naive and is not exposed to a variety of life experiences, his creative thinking may be limited to the small environment

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Culturally competent care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Culturally competent care - Essay Example This means that the department of veteran affairs is forced to meet with the needs of many soldiers over a prolonged time period- something which has forced it to expand in order to cater for the needs of various ex-soldiers from different ethnic backgrounds. There is a reason why army veterans require specialized care. Military service members do not face the same challenges as other members of the society. Their very job requires them to put their lives in danger constantly whenever the country is engaged in a conflict with a different nation. Many times, the challenges that soldiers face are life-threatening and require immediate specialized care. Some of these injuries include gunshot wounds, lost limbs, wounds caused by shrapnel and head injuries that affect a soldier’s daily functions or even speech and thought patterns. Military service members may also be exposed to environmental pollutants like harmful chemicals used by the opposing army, contaminated water and biolog ical weapons. There are also the mental stresses of being in a war. Being separated from one’s family and friends for an extended period of time is a difficult thing for any ordinary human being. It becomes harder for both the soldier and his or her family when both parties are aware that the soldier might never return home. Many times, the families of soldiers have sought counseling services to help them to cope with such possibilities. Another cause of mental anguish is the act of war. Killing and maiming other human beings is a difficult undertaking for even the most hard-hearted individual. Soldiers are required to do it repeatedly and automatically when ordered to do so by their commanding officers. They are also expected to ignore their fears and constantly put themselves in the way of danger. This causes mental problems such as post traumatic stress disorder and depression- which are conditions that the soldiers carry home with them even after the war is over (Jakupcak , Luterek, Hunt, Conbeare and McFall, 2008). According to (Erbes, Westermeyer, Engdahl and Johnsen (2007), more than ten war veterans commit suicide every day due to their inability to handle mental states of depressions and post traumatic stress disorder. There have also recently been reports of war veterans who took their own lives after eliminating their whole families. When they return from war situations, soldiers require healthcare benefits that will enable them to live with some measure of peace and comfort. They also usually require a lot of mental support so that they can process through the horrifying things that they may have witnessed during the war. The department of Veteran Affairs has successfully established a 24-hour suicide hot-line that helps soldiers to deal with issues they may be experiencing but feel unable to tell even family members. Standards of cultural competence that appear to be met and any that are not met The Department of Veteran Affairs defines mino rity veterans as ex-soldiers who are of Asian American, African Americans, Pacific Islander, Native American, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian, or Alaska Native origin. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), roughly 20% of the country’s 23.5 million veterans are from these ethnic backgrounds (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2013). Similar to other racial minority populations