• Ashman, A. F., and Robert N. F. Conway. An Introduction To Cognitive Education : Theory And Applications. London: Routledge, 2002. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

This ebook is a source I found on EBSCO. Its about cognitive education by Adrian Ashman and Robert Conway. I read the section about memory and learned that in order to best understand the way cognitive development is learned, you must understand memory and how the brain allows people to learn. Without memory a person cannot learn “... if there is no memory, there can be no learning and without learning memory is an empty storehouse.” It also shows diagrams of how memory works by comparing it to holograms. This is different than my other sources because it is a book written by two professors of a psychology field and it is about memory while the other sources are about Jean Piaget and his theory. I believe the goal of this source is to help others learn more about cognitive development and to help parents and teachers understand how to help their children and others when teaching them something new. This source was very helpful to me, it made me think deeper into my capstone project. Especially when developing my tips for the children. I know more about memory and how to enhance a person’s learning ability. It hasn’t really changed much about what I think of my project. It made me think deeper into what i'm really trying to accomplish which is making effective study skills for elementary school aged children.

• Benaroch, Roy. "Piaget Cognitive Stages of Development." WebMD. WebMD, 06 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http://www.webmd.com/children/piaget-stages-of-development>.

This site is about Piaget’s cognitive stages of development. It goes more into details about what each stage of his theory says. It also says that Piaget acknowledged the children who did not go through this process accordingly because of other mental problems. The ages he has for each stage is the average ages of children he tested. I do think that this is a useful source, because it is not a blog, or a made up website. I think that website is reliable because it has who its by and when I search it the same information this website did. This website is different than the other I used because it elaborate more on the theory and what exactly does each stage of his theory is about. I think that it achieved its goal of informing others on Piaget’s theory. This information helped me think about how I am going to structure the test and teach the children my tips for better studying. Should I teach them visually, by writing on the board, or tell them something and make them repeat it?

• Bisignani, Dana, and Allen Brizee. "Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: Annotated Bibliographies. The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/1/>.

This website helped me better understand how to write an annotated bibliography. It has a lot of information on grammar questions, annotations, bibliographies, and many other issues or questions someone may have about english, or things you should know how to do when writing a paper. It teaches students to split it up into three categories summary, assess, and reflection. Each section has guided questions based on what the section is about. This site is very reliable, a lot of schools and teachers recommend it and they use it to show their students. I think that this source is objective, it is educational and explains the correct way to write papers and other help other with grammar issues. This source helped me write my annotated bibliography. I answered most of the questions in each section as it pertain to each source in all of my annotations.

• "Carol Dweck, Growth Mindsets and Motivation." YouTube. YouTube, 03 Oct. 2009. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPNeu07I52w>.

This video is about a psychologist who focuses on motivation and young children. This video explains her theory, that when you congratulate children on their success they will be more motivated to do it again and move on to harder challenges. When you do not congratulate them, they will either want to try it again or stick with what is easier for them. She studies the correct way to congratulate children because the way you congratulate them could have a positive effect or a negative effect on them. This source is useful because it gives me a visual explanation of who she is and what she does. It tells all about her theory and how she came to them from the tests she did. It helped me think more about how to keep the children motivated and wanted to learn more in order to keep them interested in what I am showing them. I learned the proper way to congratulate a child when they have done something right to make them want to do it again or move on to something harder.

• Cherry, Kendra. "Child Development Theories." Http://psychology.about.com/. About.com, 2014. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/childdevtheory.htm>.

This website was about the different theories made by psychologists about child development. It has the different theories and who they are by plus a link at the end about the theorist. This website helped me determine which theory I wanted to focus on because focusing on just child development was too broad. After reading the theory made by Jean Piaget, about cognitive learning, I became more interested and wanted to know more. I do think that this source is reliable because it is not opinionated. The goal of this source was to inform others on the different categories of child development and the theories that famous psychologists came up with that are also being used. This was helpful to me, it helped me determine what I wanted to do my capstone project on.

• "Cognitive Process." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://library.thinkquest.org/26618/en-5.5.3=cognitive%20learning.htm>.

This website talks about what cognitive learning is and how do we learn. We learn cognitive by experience something, processing it, and remembering it. This source is based on something that I must know in order to complete by capstone. I think that I should know what cognitive learning is, and this website gave me a lot of information about it. I think that it is reliable because it isn’t made of others opinions, and it has facts that I can look up and confirm. This fits into my capstone by allowing me to have the ability to better explain what cognitive learning is. I will be able to inform others about how memory is a big part of cognitive learning, and it enables us to communicate with each other, and understand what others are talking about.

• Elkind, David. "Piaget’s Developmental Theory: An Overview(Davidson Films)." YouTube. YouTube, 02 Mar. 2009. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEam9lpa6TQ>.

This video is a documentary about Jean Piaget and he theory. It shows actual clips of him testing his theories on children of different ages, from infants to teenagers. It gives an overview of his life from when he was a young child till his death. This is reliable because the man who made the video knew him personally, and he had actual evidence of Piaget working on his theory. I think the goal of this source was to inform an audience on who Jean Piaget was, and to show how his theory came to be. This source helped me in my capstone by better understanding his theory so that I could give the audience more about him and have the ability to answer any questions about how he came up with his theory and what made him interested in it.

• Ferlazzo, Larry. "Eight Things Skilled Teachers Think, Say, and Do." Educational Leadership:Students Who Challenge Us:Eight Things Skilled Teachers Think, Say, and Do. ASCD, Oct. 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. <http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct12/vol70/num02/Eight-Things-Skilled-Teachers-Think%2C-Say%2C-and-Do.aspx>.

This website is about what a student teacher learned while teaching at an elementary school. I will use these eight skills she learned when teaching the children at Sayre. It says that each student is different and they each have different potential. As a teacher you must push them to do the best they can. This source is credible because I know where and who the information is coming from, it also has other link to topics similar to it and it is coming from a personal experience. I will use this in my capstone by have a slide that will include how to explain things to some students and to remind my audience that each child is different and they do not think in the same way the teacher does so things may seem harder to them than they actually are. This source was very useful when learning how to make connections with the students to get them to better cooperate.

• "Growth Mindset and Why It Matters." What Kids Can Do. What Kids Can Do, Inc., 23 Oct. 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://whatkidscando.org/resources/spec_growthmindset.html>.

This website is about mindset and how Carol Dweck tested her theory with blocks. It introduces what a “fixed” mindset and a “growth mindset” is. Also how “gifted” children could avoid challenges because they are afraid of losing their status. This is a great source, it goes into more detail about Carol Dweck’s theory. It gave me more of an open mind about what else I should know when doing my capstone. This is different than the other sources in my bibliography because it is based on the mindset of humans. Also it talks about how the environment and the way a child is treated while growing up either gives them a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. This fits into my capstone by allowing me to better explain to other what is the difference between telling a child good feedback that will allow them to have a growth mindset, and feedback that will leave a child with their fixed mindset. It helped me think about how I should refrain the praises I say when they get something right or understand what I am teaching them.

• McLeod, Saul. "Jean Piaget." Simply Psychology. Saul, 2012. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html>.

This website is a biography of Jean Piaget, and it explains every theory he ever had, about developmental psychology each of them based on cognitive child development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and a series of simple but ingenious tests to reveal different cognitive abilities. It also informs us that before Piaget’s theory, children were just people with less sense and ability. No one really thought about how and why children act the way they did. Piaget showed that children have a completely different mindset than adults. This source was very useful, it also helped me realize that children really do not think the way adults do, which makes me start thinking about the brian development of children. I think I should further my research and look at the brain of children and adults and compare them.

         Hello everyone, it is once again Ian Fay here for my final blog post. Last time, I talked about my own opinions on the issue I am covering. I also discussed the original research I had conducted in the form of a survey. If you did not see that blog you can access it in the links at the bottom of this blog. Now, it is time to make one last blog because now I have even more stuff to talk about. So let us get to my Final Post for Change!

         In my last blog post I talked about how I was to do my Agent of Change action. Since then that part of my project has passed and now I’m here to tell you about it. For my action, I did a presentation for my advisory. I went over the many things I have shown in my other blogs such as the identity theft, web restriction and discrimination, and the one murder charge discussed in my first blog. I feel like the presentation went well and I did a good job at informing the class of my issue.  

         Other than what I have done to raise awareness of the issue, many other campaigns and people have decided to do the same. If you read my last blog, then you may remember me talking about a video with a man by the name of Eli Pariser. He was talking about how certain websites that use algorithms to supposedly suit a user’s likes can create “Filter Bubbles” which can effectively restrict you from numerous amount of websites. Also there is a campaign called Save The Internet which helps to give net neutrality a secure foothold in our online society. There are other campaigns like this one which could really use a donation or even taking action in these campaigns. These are some of the few ways that awareness of this issue is being spread.

         In this whole process, there were some things I wish I could’ve done a better job in doing. One example is getting my survey that I created to more people to get a much wider opinion on my topic. Also I wish I could have done something more for my Agent of Change action. However, due to the complexity of this issue, I do not see any alternatives as of right now. Maybe there will be a solution sometime in the future but, as of right now there seems to be little to do unfortunately.

         Throughout this process,I have learned many things about not only my issue but, also myself and those around me. When it comes to this issue, there is a lot of mistrust, differing opinions, and other things that complicate it even more. There are many other problems like this were there doesn’t really seem to be a solution. Only time seems to tell how it ends. It’s hard to find out how to fix things like this and it takes years or even decades to solve. RIght now, all we can do is combat internet privacy issues. Eventually we may find a solution to keep our online society at peace once and for all, but until then we have to combat it and hope it will come soon.

         Thank you very much for reading my blogs. I hope I have informed you enough to where you can make change happen yourself. If you check out the bottom, then there are many different links to my past blogs, websites, videos, many other things for you to be aware of. This is Ian Fay here for the last time.

Blog #1

Blog #2

Eli Pariser “The Filter Bubble”

Save The Internet Campaign

a. What is one thing that your learned specifically that you did not know before?

One thing I learned from this project is what drawing something really takes. It takes time. It takes countless eraser strokes and even more pencil lines. The lesson is not about the end result, but like in life, learning from your mistakes. The one point perspective makes it look like you are standing in the classroom taking a picture.   

b. How did leaning this thing make your drawings better?

Learning this made my drawing better because I was not afraid of making a mistake. Since I was little, I was scared of messing up my drawing. I knew that  I could easily erase, but  I wanted to be like professionals, never knowing that they messed up too.

c. If you did this assignment again, what would you do differently?

If I did this assignment again, I would  start with a 12 inch horizontal line 5-7 inches from the top of the paper. When I messed up  it was usually when I started the drawing. I take a long time to draw something so I would also organize better.

d. What is your advice to someone who has never drawn a one point perspective drawing before?

My advice to someone who has never drawn a one point perspective drawing before is: before you draw an object figure out which line is which (horizontal, vertical, or perspective lines).

e. What resource helped you the most and why?

The resource that helped me the most  is this site:

http://www.bramhaa.com/draw-it-all-%E2%80%93-one-point-perspective-for-beginners-in-animation/691

Hey, It’s Ona  I’m back for the last phase of my You and the World project. In my previous blogs, I expressed to you my concern about musical  therapy. In my first blog I told you a little about what I was doing and why I was concerned about my topic Click here.  Blog Post 1. In my second blog post I explained how music was therapeutic. How music affects the brain and our mood. Click here  Blog Post 2 .  

This is my agent of change blog. This project has gave me a broader view on the world. It showed me that just because I’m an adolescent doesn't mean I can’t do anything to change the world. You don’t have to have money or be famous to contribute to the world. If someone does a little, no one has to do a lot and that’s how change starts. I was concerned about a certain topic, and I went out and did something about it. It made me feel important, like I was in control. I didn't have to wait on anybody else. I speak for my whole class when I say we went above our self imposed limitations. This project didn't allow us to be lazy, it was very hands on. This project also help further my knowledge about the brain and how music affects it.  I got to learn how the brain works and the different parts of it. I came out of this project with knowledge, a new look on responsibility and independence.

For my agent of change I knew I wanted to do something with kids. Whether it was reading a book to them, entertaining or playing music/dancing. I wanted to volunteer at Children's Hospital. But I was unable to do that because they don’t let unauthorized people interact with the kids, I needed  specialized training. So I decided to go volunteer in July. I would be able to feed, and nurse the babies. I’m still able to help in some type of way. Just because the project is over, doesn’t mean I have to stop caring about my issue, I still want to keep doing. Along with volunteering I decided to present a slide deck to the Dunda and Herman advisory, Showing them how music is therapeutic. I asked my classmates questions after I gave them background information on my issue. I played several songs and got feedback on how it made them feel. In the slide I gave a brief overview and went into detail while speaking.  Click here. Is Music therapeutic ?  Music

Is It Therapeutic ?

(This is the title of my presentation the link for it is above.)

At childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, musical organizational groups are coming and teaching the children how to play instruments, and playing music for entertainment. They’re using the music as therapy for the children, to help take their minds off their situations and pain they’re going through. Also, at some hospitals chronically ill patients that are undergoing surgery are being prescribed anti-anxiety drugs along with being assigned to listen to certain music to calm them down. At temple college there is an ongoing study on how Mozart and classical music helps the brain think better. All of these examples are of things that are currently being done in the world about my issue. Hospitals are using music as therapy and conducting studies on how music really affects the brain. I think this is the next step up and it’s really good to bring attention to.  

I’ve always struggled with time management, that is one thing that I wish I could've handled better on my “Agent of Change”. If I timed things correctly I would've been able to volunteer at the hospital before the project was over instead of July. Also, for my presentation I think I should have used more songs that people didn't know about, because they would not have preconceived notions about the songs. So, it wouldn't affect how they felt about the song. I’m looking forward to continuing my project in the summer by volunteering at Children's Hospital. I would like to acknowledge Ms.Dunn for her handwork and dedication. She laid everything out for us, all we had to do is follow the steps. She checked in daily with us to see how we were doing. She offered her time during lunch, and her space. Thank you Ms. Dunn. I would also like to acknowledge my classmates. Getting through this project wasn't easy. It took a great deal of hard work and devotion.

Hello, My name is Niah Lombo and I am a ninth grader at Science Leadership Academy. I am doing a project for my English class about an issue that concerns me, and I have to write three blogs about it, I am back for my third and final blog post.  For my YATW (You And The World) project I choose to raise awareness for the shortage of donors for Hispanic, African american, and mixed people.  If you would like to read more about my issue in my past blog posts please click here for blog post 1 and click here for blog post 2. After learning more about my issue it was time for me to take action and get my hands dirty (literally) and step up to help my cause.

I knew that for my agent of change I wanted to do more than just bring in stuff because people will most likely forget. That was too much of a hassle to do, I wanted to do something that will get a lot of teenagers excited and for them to learn something. Then I had an idea! What better way to draw in a crowd then Food! So on May 15, 2014 I sold food at lunch to raise money and donate it a charity that helps support my cause. My main goal was to draw people in with the food so I could inform them about my cause and collect money for the donation. My lunch periods are longer than usual schools lunch periods are (1 hour and 5 minutes) so that gave me a lot of time to get to talk to everyone about my cause and how I am trying to take action. What shocked me the most is that 95% of the people that had asked what I was selling food for (Hispanic rice, baked chicken, and salad) was not aware of the shortage of donors for Hispanics, African Americans. After I told them what I was doing they wanted to learn more about what I was doing, so I showed them to my blog post 1 and 2.

I felt good to know that I was already making a change and that was getting the people aware of what is happening that you wouldn't see on the news or in the newspaper. I wish I could have done more for my agent of change , but I did raise a lot of money for the foundation I am planing on doing it again.  My hopes were to raise money and inform/aware people of the shortage of donors for African Americans, Hispanics, and mixed people; and I am glad to say that I did exactly that. I had raised $76 and I plan on holding on to that Intel I do my second agent of change and donate everything all together.

There are a few things I wish I could have done better. I wish I would have started my agent of change earlier so I could have done more. I also wish I would have done a little gathering that would inform/aware more people on what my issue is. Now all I need to do is give donate the money and I will have completed my YATW project (not exactly). Even though school is almost over and I will be going into the next grade this issue is important to me and my family and I plan on continuing my effort to aware people. Overall, I am so glad that this project was given to my class and if I got the chance to do it again I would. It was a fantastic experience and I felt like I learned more about me and others doing this project. Thank you for reading and I hope you all learned something even if it was from my blog or my classmates blog.

Hi! My name is Katarina Backo and I am a ninth grader at Science Leadership Academy. I am doing a project for my English class about an issue that concerns
me, and I have to write three blogs about it. Here is the link to my first blog, second  blog link and this is my third blog in this series. My issue involves play time, and how technology impacts children’s activity and therefore their lives. I am an artistic, athletic person connected with my family and happy about it. I wish that everybody could have the happiness I have, but I think that wrong use of technology prevents that. Hope you’ll enjoy reading my ideas.

In my Blog #1 my focus was on balance (“I love technology as well, but I think that everything should be balanced.”-Blog #1). My concern was that nowaday teens will choose to play with technology rather than going outside to play.

In my previous blog my focus was on how “ I went to all my activities and still didn’t notice new teens making use of abundant free teen programs that exist in Philadelphia. Besides working on this project I  had the opportunity and luck to do a research on how technology affects people for my technology class. For my Science Fair Project I have decided to dig deeper into how teens tell time and that helped me understand how I could resolve my issue.”(-Blog #2)

For the past few weeks, I was aware of how friends around as well as myself, were totally out of order and organization for our school work. It’s not that we can’t do other things, its just that when we are playing a game, listening to music, on facebook, on twitter, we lose the sense of time and end up not being able to finish things. If people heard about and tried the programs Philadelphia offers, then there would be enough human interaction. They would be able to experience what people used to do for fun, before electronics were there. If we do that it will help us not depend on technology so much.

As an agent of change I would like to show what is happening in Philadelphia and I hope that my peers will join me in my endeavours. As I was talking about in the last 2 blogs, I have a lot of activities and I want to share my experiences in order to increase the visibility of programs for teens.   

I was happy to volunteer at my old Mural Arts Program location (Southwark), where anime photoshoot took place. For the past couple of weeks teen artists have been working on creating costumes of anime characters they created to present some of the world problems. For example one of the issues mentioned was littering, and I helped the issue come alive by being involved in finalizing this costume:

Litter anime character

The students first decided which issue they wanted to take. Next, they designed their costumes, which later they made themselves, with the help of teachers from Mural Arts, and volunteers like me. Mural Arts Program also provided all the materials teen artists needed.

The day of the shoot there was one photographer, professional makeup artists and volunteers. Even though there were professionals at the scene, teen artists took pictures, and everyone was involved in creating the wonderful environment. It was a really fun experience and I hope you will enjoy the pictures!!!!

The photo shoot

Makeup for all the models (even the guys)

Preparations

Later those photos were displayed in a gallery with other art projects of the other locations of Mural Arts. From the experience teen artists had, I think they learned a lot about design, making and modeling. Events and projects are happening at Mural Arts all the time, throughout the city of Philadelphia. Murals, sculptures, drawings, photos, are not the only things students in the Mural Arts Program make, there is also memories, friendships and important life lessons.

I volunteered at the Christian Street  YMCA. My YMCA has a lot of holiday parties with lots of activities and food for different holidays.The YMCA provides lots of sports, activities and workouts, but my favorite part is the pool. I am the part of the swimming team and our team has a lot of swim meets, which are competitions against other teams from other YMCAs. When I did not swim on those I helped on the deck. Also I helped with swim lessons for little kids.

25 yard pool at the Christian street YMCA

At the Whitman branch of the Free Library of  Philadelphia, where I always volunteer, there are a lot of different sections, and teen section one of them. There is a lot of clubs in the library, scrabble club, chess club, games club, and they have a relaxing yoga class. I volunteered at the Science in the summer program and it is a 2 day course with different labs. They also needed volunteers for Summer Reading Program, to help them inform and deal out prizes. This time I volunteered at the activity for little kids called “Story time”, where kids listened to stories, made bracelets, mixed colors, and made collages.  

The teen section at the Whitman branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia

I asked the librarian to give me a few words about things they offer for teens in the library:

Throughout this project my opinion changed, evolved, and grew. It helped me see things around me clearer and with more understanding. Maybe, I could have made posters, flyers, and other advertisements, to represent the programs, to show people that they can do something interesting in their spare time. However, I think that this way everyone can get first hand personal experience from me.

The way I was an agent of change was not just volunteering. I also took my friends to those places and after they experience the atmosphere, activities and fun they stayed and started to go there more often. There is only one thing left to say and that is: Instead of staying inside, go out and enjoy the world around you!!!!