Tag: Teach

Creative Home Business Ideas for Men and Women in 2021

In case you’re looking for creative home business ideas for men and women, you’ve gone to the correct spot, 30+ best small work in 2021. Making cash working from home is simpler than it’s consistently been. Also, It wasn’t such a long time ago that working from home implied providing menial helper administrations or working in client assistance.

30+ best Small work from Creative Home Business Ideas for Men and Women in 2021, here is the article to explain.

Times have definitely changed, however, and working from home doing what you love is within your scope. How amazing is it that you can begin a home business making cash from your leisure activities? You would now be able to bring in cash from your paintings, realistic plans, handmade gems, candles, and quite a lot more. In this article, we share 30+ work creative small business ideas from home for men and women;

Start a Website and Blog

Do you have a diversion that you might want to impart to the world? You can annal your diversion through a blog. Also, This is an extraordinary path for housewives to bring in cash as well. For instance, on the off chance that you appreciate cooking; you can begin a blog where you share your plans or tips and deceives in the kitchen.

You can adapt your blog through advertisements, subsidiary marketing, supported posts, or by offering your own items, (for example, digital books) or administrations. In case you’re prepared to begin your blog, Bluehost has an extraordinary arrangement! If you buy your hosting through Bluehost for just $3.95 every month, they’ll give you a free domain name. Also, Starting an own blog and website is the best own business for Men and Women, who want to Creative Home Small Business Ideas.

Start a YouTube Channel Online

If writing isn’t for you, and you’re comfortable with video, consider starting a YouTube channel online. Besides earning advertisement income through Google AdSense, you can likewise bring in cash using supported recordings, partner links, or by selling your own merchandise. Also, this is another best option to start your own business for Men and Women, who want to Small Business Ideas for youtube videos.

YouTube is a video share platform where you can share any sort of video seems like instruction, innovation, information, wellbeing and wellness, information and wellbeing, individuals, voyagers, news and media, and entertainment, music, film, and movement, and so on Huh. It is likewise the second-biggest web crawler on the planet. It comes after the Google web search tool on the planet.

Art Painting

You can sell your original work of art, or make custom pictures of individuals and their pets. Furthermore, you can transform your craft into great prints and sell them as physical or advanced merchandise.

Independent and freelance Writing

You can bring in cash as an independent and freelance essayist by submitting your work to lingering writing destinations, visitor posting on web journals that pay, selling prewritten article bundles, or writing your own digital books.

Also, Freelance writers or essayists will frequently ask me for the best independent writing locales to find paid work online. And while there is a huge load of destinations that can help you find independent work, for the most part, you’re better off looking to freelance writing locales explicitly.

Instead of playing the networking game, waiting for references, or playing the substance creation game and hoping something comes through in the long run, these freelance writing locales put thousands of online writing occupations at your fingertips today. Also, this is the best idea for start-ups for Men and Women, who want to Creative Home Small Business Ideas for writing skills.

Visual depiction or Graphic design

Utilize your visual depiction abilities and market to likely customers. Make and sell logos, delineations, and more in online commercial centers like FontBundles, DesignBundles, Creative Market, and more. You can likewise promote your administrations on sites like Upwork or Fiverr.

Also, the graphic design utilizes visual organizations to take care of issues and convey thoughts through typography, symbolism, shading, and structure. There’s nobody approach to do that, and that is the reason there are a few kinds of graphic design, each with its own space of specialization.

Even though they regularly cover, each kind of graphic design requires a particular arrangement of abilities and design strategies. Numerous designers work in a solitary kind; others center around a bunch of related, comparable sorts. But since the business is continually changing, designers should be versatile and long-lasting students so they can change or add specializations all through their vocations.

Photo, Pictures and Photography

What is Photography? Photography is the craft of catching the light with a camera, for the most part using a computerized sensor or film, to make a picture. With the correct camera hardware; also, you can even photo frequencies of light imperceptible to the natural eye, including UV, infrared, and radio.

You can sell your photos on stock photography sites. Some well-known choices are SmugMug, iStockphoto, and Shutterstock. Furthermore, you can set up a photo studio in your home and offer pictures to customers. You can likewise photo on the spot. Also, It is the best own start-up for Men and Women, who want to Creative Home Small Business Ideas for love photography.

Instruct and Teaching Courses

If you need to sell your abilities at a higher worth, creating an online course could be a decent alternative. Courses are commonly more top to bottom than digital books, and therefore can command a more prominent worth. The incredible thing about courses is that there’s no restriction to what you can educate. If you visit the Skillshare online course platform, you’ll see a wide scope of courses, for example, book of scriptures journaling, photography, activities, business, and more.

WEB Developer

Enormous organizations, private companies, and bloggers need useful sites and are looking for individuals to make them. If you have web development experience, go into business to create sites for customers. Also, You can likewise make premade site formats and sell them on your own site, or in a topic commercial center as I do here at Beautiful Dawn Designs. Also, It is the best own business for Men and Women, who want to Creative Home Small Business Ideas in 2021.

Since its beginnings toward the finish of the twentieth century, the web has developed dramatically. In the advanced world, an immense level of individuals utilizes the Internet and a wide range of websites consistently. Normally, a few groups choose to figure out how to make them, consequently “What is a web developer?” is an ordinarily posed inquiry. Also, Web advancement is rapidly getting perhaps the most appealing and best-paid vocation decisions in the cutting-edge world. Yet, what is a web developer and what precisely does one do?

Also, You may have considered learning a programming language or two and turning into a web developer. Fortunately for you, we comprehend that hopeful web developers will have inquiries concerning the calling, which is the reason we have assembled this complete guide, which intends to address the above questions and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Fiverr Gigs

Fiverr is a colossal commercial center for independent administrations. Administrations on Fiverr are evaluated starting a $5, thus the name. Also, You can offer Fiverr administrations, including music and sound, visual communication, advanced marketing, programming, and substantially more.

ONLINE Coaching

On the off chance that you love helping individuals arrive at their objectives, a home-based coaching business could be for you. Being a holistic mentor doesn’t need a permit, be that as it may, being ensured helps increase your odds of gaining customers and permits you to raise your rates. Also, It is the best own start-up of coaching for Men and Women, who want to Creative Home Business Ideas for teaching lovers.

Stitch, Crochet or Knitting

If you have an enthusiasm for stitch or knitting, you can sell your manifestations online. Regardless of whether it is an actual item or an advanced PDF design, there is a demand out there for sewed and stitched things.

Adornments or Jewelry

Handmade adornments things as accessories, wristbands, earrings, and rings are famous things to sell. Also, Etsy is an extraordinary commercial center for selling handmade adornments. Figure out how to begin your adornments business with the Fast Start Your Jewelry Business course.

Sell Thrifted Items and product

For any individual who appreciates thrifting, you can sell your finds on sites like Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, ThredUp, Etsy, and eBay.

Sale Merchandise

This goes in hand with visual depiction. Also, You can make novel plans and make them ready to move on items like mugs, shirts, handbags, and more. Besides, on the off chance that you don’t have visual computerization experience; you can employ somebody to make plans for you. Famous sites for selling your craftsmanship on items are Zazzle, Society 6, and TeeSpring.

Invitations

Make and sell invitations for birthday celebrations, weddings, and more. Also, You can sell invitations discount, or make custom invitations for customers. Also, this is the best own business for Men and Women, who want to Creative Home Business Ideas for events.

Earthenware or Pottery

Making a living as a potter can be a rewarding encounter. Also, You can make handmade earthenware and sell it in your online store with Shopify, or an online commercial center like Etsy.

WOOD Working

Open an online store with Shopify or Etsy and bring in cash selling your wood projects. Well-known wood activities to sell online include signs, kids’ toys, growers, checkerboards, and liners.

Wreaths

Selling wreaths can be a great method to bring in cash. You can sell your wreaths at creating shows, on your own site, or in an online commercial center. Also, You may likewise have the option to sell them at a discount.

WEDDING Decorator

Run a home-based wedding decorating business. While you will do some traveling as a wedding decorator, this is a business that can be run from your home office.

Selling Prints

Transform your work of art into postcards, greeting cards, or outlined workmanship. Also, You can sell them in your own Shopify Store, or the Etsy commercial center.

Specialty and Craft Supplies

There is an appeal for making supplies. Purchase make supplies discount and exchange them. In case you’re looking for a spot to sell your art supplies, Etsy and Shopify are a decent decision. Look at Worldwide Brands for discount providers in each significant classification.

Catering

Do you appreciate cooking for other people? You can acquire a benefit for your energy by starting a home-based catering business. There are a ton of steps involved in running your own catering business, so ensure you do your exploration beforehand.

Travel Planner and Agent

As an at-home travel planner, you can help individuals plan their excursions. At the point when you telecommute, you can decide to work for an organization or go into business. Also, The Work from Home Wife has an incredible article featuring 30 Work-From-Home Travel Jobs to Consider.

Occasion or Event Planning

Do you get enjoyment from planning parties? Becoming an occasion organizer might be the ideal work-from-home business for you. Pursue the Event Planning Toolkit for apparatuses on learning how to design a fruitful occasion.

Sewing

Sewing is an excelling ability to present and is something numerous individuals don’t have insight into. In case you’re gifted at sewing, you can acquire a full-time income through an at-home sewing business. You can offer modification and repair, custom sewing projects, handmade artworks, (for example, extravagant toys, and sacks), and more.

Cosmetology

Is it true that you are an authorized beautician? However long you have the legitimate licenses, you can work a salon out of your home.

Start a Podcast

Digital recordings are large at present. If you have a point or specialty, you appreciate discussing, starting a digital recording might be a decent alternative for you. Digital broadcasts are by and large inexpensive to begin and as a podcaster, you can bring in cash through sponsorships, items, coaching, books, crowdfunding, offshoot marketing, and more.

Vinyl Sign CREATOR

I’m certain you’ve seen those beautiful vinyl signs around your town promoting deals, political candidates, businesses, and more. As your client base develops, you may even choose to expand by hiring workers. Make a vinyl sign shop can be an exceptionally rewarding business.

Sale Beats

Music makers throughout the planet are making cash by selling their beats online. As a music maker, you can procure thousands of dollars each month selling your own beats. Also, You can sell your beats on your own site, Airbit, and Bandcamp.

Start a Candle Making

Starting a candle-making business is a fun and creative approach to bring in cash. While costs change, the startup cost for a candle-making business is around $150-$250, making candle-making an affordable business to begin. Look at my post How to Make Money Selling Candles from Home to figure out how to begin your own candle business, creative business ideas to do from home.

Heated and Baked Goods

The heated merchandising industry has filled in fame throughout the long term. As a home-based baking business, you can sell an assortment of delectable treats like cupcakes, cakes, treats, pies, muffins, and more. Foodservice businesses are controlled by your Occupational Health and Safety Department. Also, Make certain to investigate the guidelines for your state if you need to begin your own pastry shop business.

Audiobook and Book recording Narrator

Do individuals at any point disclose to you that you have a pleasant voice? With a little practice, you can have a vocation as an independently employed book recording storyteller. Also, You can find independent work on destinations like Fiverr, Upwork, and Voices.com. As a book recording storyteller, you can procure around $20-$30 60 minutes.

Editorial and Publication Services

Get paid to peruse and alter stories and articles by working as an independent copyeditor or editor. There are a few independent destinations that you can offer your administrations on, similar to Guru or Get a Freelancer.

Bookmarks

Indeed, even with the prevalence of digital books, there are a lot of perusers out there that like to peruse actual books. That implies there’s definitely a market out there of individuals looking for novel bookmarks. For more information on starting your own bookmark business, look at my post How to Make Money Online Selling Bookmarks.

Tarot Card Readings

If you have a present for reading Tarot cards, you’ve most likely thought to be starting your own Tarot reading business. On the off chance that this sounds spot on, I have some uplifting news for you. You can definitely make low maintenance or even a full-time income by reading Tarot cards for your customers. If you need to additional upgrade your insight and intuition, I recommend checking out The Psychic School. Also, They have an incredible assortment of courses that will help bring clearness and attention to intuitive and energy healers.

Sale Pintable’s

Creating printables is a helpful ability for bloggers to have because you can utilize printables as an incentive for individuals to pursue your email list. You can likewise bring in cash online by selling your printables in your online store. Look at my post How to Make Money Online Selling Printables kick off your printable business.

30+ best small work from Creative Home Business Ideas for Men and Women in 2021; Image by Mudassar Iqbal from Pixabay.

May 9, 2021
What is the Self-Efficacy? Meaning, Definition, and Source

Self-Efficacy Meaning, Definition, and Source; Self-efficacy, also referred to as personal efficacy, is the extent or strength of one’s belief in one’s own ability to complete tasks and reach goals. Psychologists have studied self-efficacy from several perspectives, noting various paths in the development of self-efficacy; the dynamics of self-efficacy, and lack thereof, in many different settings; interactions between self-efficacy and self-concept; and habits of attribution that contribute to, or detract from, self-efficacy.

What is Self-Efficacy? also explain their topic Meaning, Definition, and Source.

Self-efficacy affects every area of human endeavor. By determining the beliefs, a person holds regarding his or her power to affect situations, strongly influences both the power a person actually has to face challenges competently and the choices a person is most likely to make. These effects are particularly apparent, and compelling, concerning behaviors affecting health.

Meaning and Definition of Self-Efficacy?

Perceived self-efficacy define as people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves, and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective, and selection processes.

A strong sense of efficacy enhances human accomplishment and personal well-being in many ways. People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to master rather than as threats to avoid. Such an efficacious outlook fosters intrinsic interest and deep engrossment in activities. They set themselves challenging goals and maintain a strong commitment to them. They heighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure. Also, They quickly recover their sense of efficacy after failures or setbacks.

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They attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge and skills which are acquirable. They approach threatening situations with assurance that they can exercise control over them. Such an efficacious outlook produces personal accomplishments, reduces stress, and lowers vulnerability to depression.

In contrast, people who doubt their capabilities shy away from difficult tasks which they view as personal threats. Also, They have low aspirations and weak commitment to the goals they choose to pursue. When faced with difficult tasks, they dwell on their personal deficiencies, on the obstacles they will encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes rather than concentrate on how to perform successfully. They slacken their efforts and give up quickly in the face of difficulties. They are slow to recover their sense of efficacy following failure or setbacks. Because they view insufficient performance as deficient aptitude it does not require much failure for them to lose faith in their capabilities. They fall easy victim to stress and depression.

Source of Self-Efficacy

People’s beliefs about their efficacy can develop by four main sources of influence. The most effective way of creating a strong sense of efficacy is through mastery experiences. Successes build a robust belief in one’s personal efficacy. Failures undermine it, especially if failures occur before a sense of efficacy firmly establish.

If people experience only easy successes, they come to expect quick results and easily discourage by failure. A resilient sense of efficacy requires experience in overcoming obstacles through perseverant effort. Some setbacks and difficulties in human pursuits serve a useful purpose in teaching that success usually requires sustained effort. After people become convinced they have what it takes to succeed, they persevere in the face of adversity and quickly rebound from setbacks. By sticking it out through tough times, they emerge stronger from adversity.

Second way

The second way of creating and strengthening self-beliefs of efficacy is through the vicarious experiences provided by social models. Seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises observers’ beliefs that they too possess the capabilities to master comparable activities required to succeed. By the same token, observing others’ fail despite high effort lowers observers’ judgments of their own efficacy and undermines their efforts. The impact of modeling on perceived self-efficacy strongly influences by perceived similarity to the models. The greater the assumed similarity the more persuasive are the models’ successes and failures. If people, see the models as very different from themselves their perceived self-efficacy is not much influenced by the models’ behavior and the results it produces.

Modeling influences do more than provide a social standard against which to judge one’s own capabilities. People seek proficient models who possess the competencies to which they aspire. Through their behavior and expressed ways of thinking, competent models transmit knowledge and teach observers effective skills and strategies for managing environmental demands. Acquisition of better means raises perceived self-efficacy.

Third way

Social persuasion is a third way of strengthening people’s beliefs that they have what it takes to succeed. People who persuade verbally that they possess the capabilities to master gives activities are likely to mobilize greater effort and sustain it than if they harbor self-doubts and dwell on personal deficiencies when problems arise. To the extent that persuasive boosts in perceived self-efficacy lead people to try hard enough to succeed, they promote the development of skills and a sense of personal efficacy.

It is more difficult to instill high beliefs of personal efficacy by social persuasion alone than to undermine it. Unrealistic boosts in efficacy quickly dis-confirm by disappointing results of one’s efforts. But people who have been persuaded that they lack capabilities tend to avoid challenging activities that cultivate potentialities and give up quickly in the face of difficulties. By constricting activities and undermining motivation, disbelief in one’s capabilities creates its own behavioral validation.

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Successful efficacy builders do more than convey positive appraisals. In addition to raising people’s beliefs in their capabilities, they structure situations for them in ways that bring success and avoid placing people in situations prematurely where they are likely to fail often. They measure success in terms of self-improvement rather than by triumphs over others.

People also rely partly on their somatic and emotional states in judging their capabilities. They interpret their stress reactions and tension as signs of vulnerability to poor performance. In activities involving strength and stamina, people judge their fatigue, aches, and pains as signs of physical debility. Mood also affects people’s judgments of their personal efficacy. A positive mood enhances perceived self-efficacy, a despondent mood diminishes it. The fourth way of modifying self-beliefs of efficacy is to reduce people’s stress reactions and alter their negative emotional proclivities and is-interpretations of their physical states.

It is not the sheer intensity of emotional and physical reactions that is important but rather how they perceive and interpret. People who have a high sense of efficacy are likely to view their state of affective arousal as an energizing facilitator of performance, whereas those who are beset by self-doubts regard their arousal as a debilitator. Physiological indicators of efficacy play an especially influential role in health functioning and athletic and other physical activities.

What is the Self-Efficacy? Meaning, Definition, and Source; Image from Pixabay.

April 30, 2021
Increase Your Strengthening Self-Efficacy
What knows about strengthening self-efficacy? A range of strategies that can use by teachers to enhance self-efficacy has been identified. Strategies that teachers can use to influence self-efficacy include (a) goals and feedback, (b) rewards, (c) self-instruction for verbalization of strategies, (d) participant modeling, and (e) various combinations of these strategies.

How to Increase Your Strengthening Self-Efficacy? Here is the article to explain.

Keep in mind that self-efficacy, skill development, and strategy use go hand in hand; whether it be math problem solving, soccer skills, or expository writing. Students learn strategies that enable them to develop skills resulting in increased self-efficacy strengthening.

Goals, Feedback, Rewards, and Verbalization

Because task accomplishment is the most powerful source of self-efficacy information; an important approach is to use strategies that can strengthen task accomplishment. The strategies of goal setting, feedback, rewards, and self-talk or verbalization were used in various combinations to help students categorized as LD or remedial to strengthen self-efficacy.

Schunk and Cox (1986) investigated the combination of strategy verbalization; and, effort feedback on the performance and self-efficacy of students with LD. While solving subtraction problems, students verbalized or said the task steps aloud to themselves; they were then given feedback that their successes were due to their effort. The combination of verbalization and effort feedback led to problem-solving successes, higher self-efficacy, and subtraction skills. The authors believed that the two strategies verbalization and effort feedback serve different purposes. Verbalization was useful for training students to systematically use the task strategy.

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Giving students feedback that effort is responsible for success communicated that they are developing skills and that they can continue to perform well with hard work. The importance of feedback for enhancing self-efficacy may sometimes overlook by a teacher. Pajares and Johnson (1994) conducted a study in a language arts course for preservice teachers. The students received feedback from their teacher on attempting and completing writing tasks; but, they did not receive feedback on their specific writing skills.

The end-of-course assessment revealed that, although the students improved on writing skills; their self-efficacy judgments about their skills did not increase. The authors concluded that when teachers note a growth or decline in skills (in this case, writing); they must give the students feedback about their specific skill development. As emphasized earlier, students will make future judgments not just on their actual skills; but, also on their perception of their competence in using the skill. These perceptions of self-efficacy are more likely to increase with specific teacher feedback.

Participant Modeling

Vicarious experience is the second most powerful source of self-efficacy. The most frequent form of vicarious experience for students is seeing a model (another student or teacher) perform a skill they are attempting to learn. Who is a more effective model, a peer or teacher, or a mastery or coping model?

Peer or Teacher Model?

Schunk and Hanson (1985) had students, ages 8 to 10, observe either a peer or teacher model solving fractions on a videotape. Children who had observed a peer model had higher self-efficacy and achievement scores on the math assessment than did students who had observed the teacher model. The authors concluded that the increase may have been because the children saw themselves as more similar to the peer model. The use of peer models is especially recommended for enhancement of self-efficacy among low-achieving students who are more doubtful about attaining the level of competence demonstrated by the teacher.

Mastery or Coping Model?

Which model do you think will be more effective in strengthening self-efficacy; an expert who demonstrates a high level of expertise or one who is competent, but demonstrates the strategies they used to acquire the skill? Previous research found that observer’s beliefs about competence influence by their perceived similarity incompetence to the model. Models can reflect either mastery or coping behaviors. A mastery model demonstrates a task at a high level of expertise with a high level of confidence. In contrast, a coping model demonstrates the task along with the difficulties students experienced and the strategies (e.g., effort) they used to overcome the difficulties. The effectiveness of coping versus mastery peer models was compared by Schunk et al.

Types of models

The two types of models demonstrated strategies as follows:
1. Peer coping model; Made errors at first and verbalized negative statements that reflected self-efficacy (e.g., “I’m not sure I can do this”). The teacher then gave a prompt (e.g., “What do you do when denominators are the same?”). Next, the coping model made statements about how they overcame failure (e.g., “I need to pay attention to what I’m doing”) and eventually performed at a mastery level.
2. Peer mastery models; Performed all problems correctly while working at the average rate. Verbalized high self-efficacy and ability (e.g., “I’m good at this.” “That was easy”).
The findings indicated that the subjects judged themselves as more similar to the peer coping model. Students who observed the peer coping model demonstrated higher self-efficacy for learning, greater post-test self-efficacy, and skill development compared with those who observed a peer mastery model.

Modeling is a resource that is readily available in the classroom. This is a case of positive social comparisons with others (Schunk, 2001). The important implication for teachers is to use caution in choosing peer models. An alert, the sensitive teacher can identify peer coping models in their classrooms and use them to strengthen the self-efficacy of many students.

Increase Your Strengthening Self-Efficacy; Image from Pixabay.
March 31, 2021
Strategy

What is Strategy?

A method or plan has chosen to bring about the desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a problem.

The art and science of planning and marshaling resources for their most efficient and effective use. The term is derived from the Greek word for generalship or leading an army. See also tactics.

A strategy is a high-level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the “art of the general”, which included several subsets of skills including “tactics”, siege craft, logistics etc., the term came into use in the 6th century C.E. in East Roman terminology and was translated into Western vernacular languages only in the 18th century. From then until the 20th century, the word “strategy” came to denote “a comprehensive way to try to pursue political ends, including the threat or actual use of force, in a dialectic of wills” in a military conflict, in which both adversaries interact.

Companies now face increasingly turbulent, complex and threatening environments. In the past, they could succeed by focusing virtually all management efforts on running their day to day affairs as efficiently as possible. Although such focusing is still important, adapting the firms to changing environmental conditions have become an essential gradient for success.

The strategic management perspective highlights the significance of devoting more attention to analyzing environments and formulating strategies that relate directly to environmental changes. The ultimate purpose of strategic management is to help the organization increase its performance through increased effectiveness, efficiency, and flexibility.

A strategy is a way of doing something. It usually includes the formulation of an objective and a set of action plans for the accomplishment of the objective.

Strategic management may be understood as the process of formulating, implementing and evaluating business strategies to achieve organizational objectives. It is a set of managerial decisions and actions that determine the long-term performance of a corporation. It involves environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, evaluation, and control.

The study of strategic management emphasizes on monitoring and evaluating environmental opportunities and threats in the light of corporation’s strengths and weaknesses.

Step 01: Analyze opportunities and threats or constraints that exist in the external environment.

Step 02: Formulate strategies that will match the organization’s strengths and weaknesses with opportunities and threats or constraints that exist in the external environment.

Step 03: Implement the strategies.

Step 04: Evaluate and control activities to ensure that organizations objectives are achieved.

It is important because the resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited. Generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources). This is generally tasked with determining strategy. The strategy can be intended or can emerge as a pattern of activity as the organization adapts to its environment or competes. It involves activities such as strategic planning and strategic thinking.

Henry Mintzberg from McGill University defined strategy as a pattern in a stream of decisions to contrast with a view of strategy as planning, while Max McKeown (2011) argues that “strategy is about shaping the future” and is the human attempt to get to “desirable ends with available means.” Dr. Vladimir Kvint defines strategy as “a system of finding, formulating, and developing a doctrine that will ensure long-term success if followed faithfully.”

Many Definitions of Strategy

In 1988, Henry Mintzberg described the many different definitions and perspectives on strategy reflected in both academic research and in practice. He examined the strategic process and concluded it was much more fluid and unpredictable than people had thought. Because of this, he could not point to one process that could be called strategic planning. Instead, Mintzberg concludes that there are five types of strategies:

As plan: A directed course of action to achieve an intended set of goals; similar to the strategic planning concept.

As pattern: A consistent pattern of past behavior, with a strategy realized over time rather than planned or intended. Where the realized pattern was different from the intent, he referred to the strategy as emergent.

As position: Locating brands, products, or companies within the market, based on the conceptual framework of consumers or other stakeholders; a strategy determined primarily by factors outside the firm.

As ploy: A specific maneuver intended to outwit a competitor; and

As perspective: Executing strategy based on a “theory of the business” or natural extension of the mindset or ideological perspective of the organization.

In 1998, Mintzberg developed these five types of management strategy into 10 “schools of thought” and grouped them into three categories. The first group is normative. It consists of the schools of informal design and conception, the formal planning, and analytical positioning. The second group, consisting of six schools, is more concerned with how strategic management is actually done, rather than prescribing optimal plans or positions. The six schools are entrepreneurial, visionary, cognitive, learning/adaptive/emergent, negotiation, corporate culture and business environment. The third and final group consists of one school, the configuration or transformation school, a hybrid of the other schools organized into stages, organizational life cycles, or “episodes”.

Michael Porter defined strategy in 1980 as the “Broad formula for how a business is going to compete, what its goals should be, and what policies will be needed to carry out those goals” and the “Combination of the ends (goals) for which the firm is striving and the means (policies) by which it is seeking to get there.” He continued that: “The essence of formulating the competitive strategy is relating a company to its environment.”

April 19, 2017
Mission Statement

What is Mission Statement?

A mission statement is a short statement of an organization’s purpose, identifying the scope of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation. It may include a short statement of such fundamental matters as the organization’s values or philosophies, a business’s main competitive advantages, or a desired future state the “vision”.

A mission statement is not simply a description of an organization by an external party, but an expression, made by its leaders, of their desires and intent for the organization. The purpose of a mission statement is to focus and direct the organization itself. It communicates primarily to the people who make up the organization its members or employees giving them a shared understanding of the organization’s intended direction. Organizations normally do not change their mission statements over time, since they define their continuous, ongoing purpose and focus.

According to Chris Bart, professor of strategy and governance at McMaster University, a commercial mission statement consists of three essential components:

Key Market: Who is your target client or customer (generalize if needed)?

Contribution: What product or service do you provide to that client?

Distinction: What makes your product or service unique, so that the client would choose you?

Bart estimates that in practice, only about ten percent of mission statements say something meaningful. For this reason, they are widely regarded with contempt.

The next step is to prepare mission statements. If the vision is “WHAT” of life, then the mission is “WHY” and “HOW”. It identifies the roles and activities to which an individual is committed and provides the overall direction for achieving the vision. Mission focuses on what you want to be and what you want to do- contributions and achievements. Mission focuses on the values and principles upon which being and doing are based. A personal vision needs to be clearly developed so that the mission statement can be based on it.

I. These statements should clearly indicate the important roles and methodologies followed for fulfilling the vision.

II. Techniques and tools such as affinity diagram, brainstorming, fish-bone diagram, and surveys should be used.

III. Mission statements should realize the vision in action. Conduct a mind map to check whether it is really fulfilled.

IV. These statements will carry the information which needs to be fulfilled in the near future.

V. Time factor may be brought in to make it more systematic.

Mission statements are prepared to make the employees understand in clear terms “HOW” to achieve the vision and “WHY” all this has to be done. It is a ROAD MAP for achieving the vision. The mission statements act as a guiding force encouraging the individuals to work towards reaching the vision.

What is Purpose of Mission statement?

The sole purpose of a mission statement is to serve as your company’s goal/agenda, it outlines clearly what the goal of the company is. Some generic examples of mission statements would be, “To provide the best service possible within the banking sector for our customers.” or “To provide the best experience for all of our customers.” The reason why businesses make use of mission statements is to make it clear what they look to achieve as an organization, not only for themselves and their employees but to the customers and other people who are a part of the business, such as shareholders. As a company evolves, so will their mission statement, this is to make sure that the company remains on track and to ensure that the mission statement does not lose its touch and become boring or stale.

North American magazine and website that carries news stories about entrepreneurship, small business management, and business, Entrepreneur explains the purpose of a mission statement as the following:

“The mission statement reflects every facet of your business: the range and nature of the products you offer, pricing, quality, service, marketplace position, growth potential, use of technology, and your relationships with your customers, employees, suppliers, competitors and the community.”

It is important that a mission statement is not confused with a vision statement. As discussed earlier, the main purpose of a mission statement is to get across the ambitions of an organization in a short and simple fashion, it is not necessary to go into detail for the mission statement which is evident in examples given. The reason why it is important that a mission statement and vision statement are not confused is because they both serve different purposes. Vision statements tend to be more related to strategic planning and lean more towards discussing where a company aims to be in the future.

Here are what business leaders say a mission statement should do for a company:

“A good vision or mission statement will fill a few roles: It will be toothy enough to engage the media, analysts and other industry watchers. It will be aspirational enough to give employees something to reach for and bind them together in their day-to-day work. And it will be clear and specific enough to build the brand and affect public perception of the company. In an ideal world, it will even give your customers a sense that they’re buying into your vision when they purchase one of your products.” by Kyle Monson, a partner at Knock Twice hybrid creative agency.

“A company’s mission statement is the cornerstone on which it is built. Its strategic plan and its culture are directly tied to the vision the mission statement puts forth. It is important that a mission statement supports the overarching goals and purpose of the company and explain why you exist as a business in a way that can be understood internally within the company and externally to consumers.” by Gerry David, president, and CEO of healthy lifestyle company Celsius Holdings.

“Creating a mission statement takes time and a lot of decision making. It lays down expectations for how your customers and employees will interact with one another, so take your time with it. Clearly, write down your vision of the company and ask yourself, ‘What am I trying to accomplish?’ Think about how you want others to perceive your company, what’s important to you and your organization, and then prioritize it. Most importantly, make sure it’s clear, concise and easy for anyone to understand.” by Bobby Harris, president, and CEO of Blue Grace Logistics.

April 17, 2017
Help Seeking
What do you understand by Help Seeking?

Help seeking theory postulates that people follow a series of predictable steps to seek help for their inadequacies, it is a series of well-ordered and purposeful cognitive and behavioral steps, each leading to specific types of solutions.

Help seeking theory falls into two categories where some consider similarity in the process’ (e.g. Cepeda-Benito & Short, 1998) while others consider it as dependent upon the problem (e.g. Di Fabio & Bernaud, 2008). In general help seeking behaviors are dependent upon three categories, attitudes (beliefs and willingness) towards help-seeking, intention to seek help, and actual help-seeking behavior.

Do you ask for help when you need it or do you have the view, “I have to do it myself, no one can do it except me?” From a motivational perspective, help seeking is an adaptive cognitive strategy that indicates a striving for mastery and achievement (R. Ames, 1983; Karabenick, 1998; Newman, 1998) and a general problem-solving strategy (Nelson-Le Gall, 1985). If help seeking is an adaptive strategy, why do teachers observe that students

who are most in need of help are often the most reluctant to seek help? We have learned from research that seeking help from others can have negative connotations (Newman, 1990, 1991).

Help seeking may be seen as threatening if the student thinks it is a sign of low ability. In this case, there is a personal cost to seeking help: Students may feel incompetent. Help seeking is positive when students seek assistance in order to make a change in their learning. The attributional process is an important factor in whether help seeking is seen as positive or negative and consequently whether students attend academic help sessions. R. Ames and Lau (1982) identified factors that affected the extent that college students attend help sessions:
- Low-performing students were more likely to attend help sessions if they were given specific positive information about the effects of the sessions (e.g., “students who attended improved their performance”).
- Students who attributed success to effort were more likely to attend.
- Students who did not seek help used more external attributions for failure, such as “tricky test questions,” and used these external reasons as excuses.
Newman’s (1990, 1991) investigations of help seeking among children in Grades 3, 5, and 7 provided a fuller understanding of help seeking. For example, who seeks help, individuals with high or low self-esteem? For all grades, the higher the perceived competence of the children, the less they felt there were personal costs to help seeking (e.g., being thought of as low ability). Students with low self-esteem were especially unlikely to seek help, whereas those with high self-esteem were more likely to seek help. Similar results were obtained by Nelson-Le Gall and Jones (1990) for average-achieving African-American children. Newman (1991) also found differences between younger and older students in views about help seeking. Seventh graders were more aware than younger children that negative fallout might result from help seeking (e.g., embarrassment). However, older children were also more likely than younger ones to believe that smart classmates rather than “dumb” ones ask questions of the teacher. Help seeking by college students showed a pattern similar to that of children. Karabenick and Knapp (1991) found that students with low self-esteem were more threatened by seeking help.

One important and perhaps surprising finding was that students who use more learning strategies are more likely to seek help when needed, whereas students who use fewer strategies are less likely to seek help when needed. This attitude presents a double bind for those needing help. Not only do they lack the necessary strategies for success, but they do not seek the needed study assistance. The authors concluded that students need to learn to judge when they need help and that help seeking should be included in learning strategy and motivation programs. These findings on help seeking are important for teachers and counselors so that they can plan ways to get students to attend help sessions or seek help in counseling when needed. Nelson-Le Gall (1985) emphasized the need to think of help seeking as an adaptive coping strategy rather than as a self-threatening activity. Some ways to accomplish this are listed in Strategy.

Types of Help Seeking

Help seeking behavior is divided into two types, adaptive behavior and non-adaptive behavior. It is adaptive when exercised to overcome a difficulty and it depends upon the person’s recognition, insight and dimension of the problem and resources for solving the same, this is valued as an active strategy. It is non-adaptive when the behavior persists even after understanding and experiencing the problem solving mechanism and when used for avoidance. Dynamic barriers in seeking help can also affect active process (e.g.: culture, ego, classism, etc.). Nelson-Le Gall (1981) distinguished between instrumental help-seeking, which she regarded as being essential for learning, and passive dependency.

Strategy of Help Seeking
- The overriding task is to have students view help seeking, when needed, as a smart move instead of a dumb one.
- Establish a classroom climate where students are encouraged to ask questions.
- Document attendance and improved performance as a result of the help sessions and show this to students.
- Be sure students who have improved after attending help sessions attribute the improvement to the help sessions.
- Teach students a self-talk script to practice asking teachers for help in classes where they were having problems, as one middle school teacher did.
March 31, 2017
Helpless
What is a meaning of Helpless?

Meaning of helpless: “Unable to defend oneself or to act without help.” A student who has a history of failure and does not expect this to change will attribute failure to ability an internal and stable factor. This pattern is characteristic of students classified as having learned helplessness. These individuals expect that their actions will be futile in affecting future outcomes. Consequently, they give up. Learned helplessness was first investigated in young animals who had been presented with inescapable electric shocks in one situation; when placed in a different situation, they failed to try to escape or avoid the shock (Seligman & Maier, 1967). Animals that demonstrated no connection between their activity and avoiding the shock had learned to be helpless. It was further hypothesized that humans responded the same way: they were passive in situations where they believed their actions would have no effect on what happens to them. In this original explanation, helplessness was viewed as global affecting all domains of one’s life. Later research found that people may experience helplessness in one situation and not in others (Alloy, Abramson, Peterson, & Seligman, 1984). This means that a student may feel helpless in learning math but not in learning history.

Helplessness exists in achievement situations when students do not see a connection between their actions and their performance and grades. The important aspect of learned helplessness is how it affects the motivational behavior of students in the face of failure. The attributions a student makes for failure act as a bridge between a student’s willingness to try again and the student’s tendency to give up.

Helpless and Mastery Orientation

In a now-classic study, Diener and Dweck (1978) identified two patterns of responses to failure following success in problem-solving tasks: a maladaptive-helpless orientation and an adaptive-mastery orientation. Children showed different response patterns to failure in their thinking, self-talk, affect, and actions. Keep in mind that the students in the study had the same failure experience while performing the tasks, but there were two different patterns of response to the failure outcome. The thinking, self-talk, and actions of the helpless-oriented children formed a self-defeating pattern. When failure is attributed to lack of ability, there is a decline in performance. Attribution to lack of effort does not show this decline (Dweck & Goetz, 1978).

Are there ability differences in learned helplessness? Butkowsky and Willows (1980) compared good, average, and poor readers. They found that poor readers had lower expectancies of success on a reading task. Poor readers overwhelmingly attributed their failures to lack of ability (68% compared with 13% for average readers and 12% for good readers). They took less responsibility for success, attributing success more to task ease an external cause than did the good and average readers. In the face of difficulty, poor readers became less persistent a self-defeating behavior. Helplessness was also found when children studied new material that required them to read passages with confusing concepts.

In a study by Licht and Dweck (1984), half the children received material with a clear passage, and the other half received a confusing passage. There were no differences between mastery orientation and helpless orientation when the passage was clearly written. In contrast, when the passage was not clear, most of the mastery children reached the learning criterion, whereas only one third of the helpless children did. This investigation is important because some academic subjects, like math, are characterized by constant new learning, which may be initially confusing to students. Mastery students will not be discouraged by the initial difficulty, whereas helpless students immediately lose confidence although they may be equally competent. When teaching new material, teachers can be especially alert for this pattern of helplessness in the face of initial difficulty.

Learned Helplessness and Students with Learning Disabilities

Are some students more prone to experience a sense of helplessness? Students particularly susceptible to the pattern of learned helplessness are those students who are identified as having learning disabilities (LD) (Licht, 1983). Children with LD experience much failure over a long period of time on a variety of school tasks. As a result, these children come to doubt their academic abilities, with the accompanying belief that nothing they can do will help them be successful. This is followed by the self-defeating response of decreasing effort. Children with LD have been found to exhibit the following characteristics of the learned helplessness pattern (Licht, 1983):
- Score lower than non-LD children on measures of self-esteem and perceptions of ability,
- Are more likely to attribute difficulty with tasks to lack of ability,
- Are less likely to attribute failure to insufficient effort, and
- Lower their expectations for future success and display greater decline in expectation following failure.
It is important for teachers to be aware of the characteristics of helplessness because learned helplessness may explain the students’ apparent lack of motivation. How can a teacher identify a helpless pattern? What can a teacher do to lessen the likelihood of helplessness and help students who have this tendency? Butkowsky and Willows (1980) suggested that educators must begin to rethink failure as a necessary component of the learning process and not as a damaging experience to be avoided.

Does the pattern of learned helplessness show up in young children? Dweck and Sorich (1999) concluded that there is clear evidence of a helplessness pattern in children younger than age 8. After experiencing failure or criticism, they show signs of helplessness like self-blame, lowered persistence, and lack of constructive strategies. Mastery-oriented children, in contrast, assumed they were still good even when their work had errors, and believed they could improve through effort. An important implication for parents and teachers, according to the authors, is to be very cautious when giving feedback to children. Extremely positive or negative feedback can be detrimental to children’s beliefs about their competence.
March 30, 2017
Attribution and Motivation Among Ethnicity

Understanding of Attribution and Motivation Among Ethnicity?

What is Ethnicity? Meaning of Ethnicity “The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.” Some about of Ethnic; Relating to a population subgroup (within a larger or dominant national or cultural group) with a common national or cultural tradition. Relating to national and cultural origins. Denoting origin by birth or descent rather than by present nationality. Characteristic of or belonging to a non-Western cultural tradition.

An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups (wealth, age, hobbies), ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives. In some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, origin myth, history, homeland, language or dialect, symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art, and physical appearance.

Ethnic groups, derived from the same historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages and share a similar gene pool. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is sometimes possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group and become part of another (except for ethnic groups emphasizing racial purity as a key membership criterion).

Ethnicity is often used synonymously with ambiguous terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic (cf. “White ethnic”, “ethnic restaurant”, etc.), generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, who arrived after the founding population of an area was established.

Now reading – Attribution and Motivation Among Ethnicity; Do attributional explanations for success and failure act as an important motivational force in different ethnic groups? According to Graham (1989,1994), because attributional theory considers the role of thought in determining behavior, it is particularly fruitful in examining motivation in different cultures and ethnic groups.

Beliefs About Effort and Ability

Are attributional belief patterns similar among different ethnic groups? A comparison of poor African-American, Hispanic, Indo-Chinese, and White fifth- and sixth-grade students found similar attribution patterns for all groups (Bempechat, Nakkula, Wu, & Ginsberg, 1996). All groups rated ability as the most important factor for success in math. In a subsequent study comparing African-American, Hispanic, Indo-Chinese, and White fifthand sixth-graders, Bempechat, Graham, and Jimenez (1999) found cultural similarities as well as cultural specifics. For all ethnic groups, failure was attributed to lack of ability and success to external factors. In contrast, Indo-Chinese students had stronger beliefs that failure was due to lack of effort. Attribution for failure due to lack of ability is a problem for all students because it is believed to be uncontrollable.

Graham (1984) compared middle- and low-SES African-American and White students on attributions for failure following a problem-solving task. The middle-class children in both ethnic groups were more likely to attribute failure to lack of effort and maintained consistently higher expectancies for success after experiencing failure. For both groups, this is indicative of an adaptive attributional pattern following failure, similar to that found in research by Diener and Dweck (1978). The findings of this research are important because they demonstrate the positive motivation pattern of African-American students—a pattern that has received little attention.

Stevenson and Lee (1990) compared beliefs of American and Asian students concerning the role of effort and ability for success in mathematics. They asked mothers in Minnesota, Japan, and Taiwan to assign 10 points among ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck to rank their importance in academic success and school performance. All the mothers assigned the points in the same rank order: (1) effort, (2) ability, (3) task, and (4) luck. American mothers scored ability and effort as about equal. In contrast, Taiwanese and Japanese mothers assigned effort a higher value than ability. Peak (1993) noted that, in Japanese elementary schools, ability is rarely mentioned, whereas effort is consistently portrayed as key to success. In contrast, in the United States, students who try very hard are often labeled nerd or grind.

These perceptions of effort and ability take on increased importance when homework is considered in the context of effort. Japanese and Chinese students spend at least twice the amount of time and effort on homework than do American students (Stevenson & Lee, 1990). American teachers assign less and consider it less valuable. Peak (1993) pointed out that homework reflects teachers’ beliefs on whether extra practice makes a difference and whether students are willing to engage in extra effort on behalf of their studies. American parents do not appear to consider good study habits as critical to academic success as do Asian parents.

Implications for Teachers

What can teachers draw from the attributional beliefs among different ethnic groups in terms of classroom practice? The important issue is to understand the motivational processes, such as attribution, operating within a particular ethnic group (Bempechat et al., 1996; Graham, 1994). When similarities are found across ethnic groups, educational interventions do not necessarily have to be targeted to children differentially based on their ethnic group membership.

Graham (1989) emphasized the importance of teacher feedback in influencing concepts of ability and expectations of minority, low-SES students. Recall the previous discussion of indirect attributional cues. It is important to be aware of feedback that may indirectly convey to students that they have low ability. Graham (1994) suggested that in view of the number of African- American children in negative educational situations, it is especially important to be sensitive to how minorities feel, think, and act in response to non-attainment of goals.

March 30, 2017
What are Source of Attributional Information?

What are Source of Attributional Information?

How do we decide what caused our success and failure? What cues do we use to explain whether an outcome was influenced by our ability, effort, or some other factor? Information comes from direct and indirect cues (Graham, 1991). Some information comes from direct cues, like failing a test when other students succeeded. Information is also obtained from more indirect cues, often conveyed unintentionally, such as when a teacher communicates pity to a student who failed a test. In addition, there may be a bias toward causes (Weiner, 1992).

Direct Attributional Cues

One of the most important informational cues is the outcome of the task. Here students have a direct cue as to their performance. Another source of attributional information comes from comparing one’s performance to that of others (Weiner, 1992). When most of the class fails a test, students are likely to attribute the failure to the difficulty of the task, not to their ability. However, if Sam failed and everyone else in the class made an A or B, he is likely to believe the failure was due to his low ability. If Sarah fails a test and a peer says, “I didn’t study at all and I made an A,” Sarah may take this as a cue that failure must be due to her ability. When a teacher sees students comparing grades on a test, information other than the test score is being communicated. An important role of the teacher is to help students interpret the possible reasons for test scores and make an adaptive attribution.

Indirect Attributional Cues

In school, feedback that students receive from teachers is a source of much information about ability. Students’ attributional interpretations may be based on the attributions that teachers communicated to them (Reyna, 2000). Graham (1991) identified three groups of feedback as sources of indirect cues: praise versus blame, sympathy versus anger, and help versus neglect.

Praise Versus Blame: The praise or blame a student receives from a teacher can function as an indirect low-ability cue (Graham, 1991). The cue provided by praise or blame interacts with the difficulty of the task and effort expended by a student. Praise acts as a low-ability cue when a student is praised for completing an easy task. A low-ability cue is also conveyed when a student fails a task but receives no blame, like lack of effort. The student can interpret this to mean, “There’s nothing I can do about the failure.”

Sympathy Versus Anger: Did it ever occur to you that communicating sympathy to a student could be interpreted as evidence that he or she has the low ability? Graham (1984) found that when teachers conveyed sympathy following poor student performance, the failing students took this as a cue that they had low ability. Obviously a statement like “I feel sorry for you because you made such a low score” would be a low-ability cue. What might a teacher say that unintentionally conveys a message of low ability to a student? One student remembers a class being told, “All students have to do this except Holly and Ramon.” Holly took her omission as a cue that she would not be able to do the task. In contrast, mild anger for failure can provide an indirect cue that one is capable. For example, “You can do better than this. You handed this paper in with no editing,” provides a cue to the student that he or she is capable of more.

Unsolicited Help: Another low-ability cue for students is unsolicited help by the teacher (Graham & Barker, 1990). Graham and Barker found that, regardless of whether a helper was a peer or teacher, other students judged the student who received unsolicited help as lower in ability than non-helped peers. The important factor in this example is unsolicited. When the teacher consistently gives help to Sylvia before she requests it, this suggests that the teacher knows that she will not be able to do it.

Ability Grouping: One powerful cue for ability that affects large groups of students are tracking according to ability groups. Students in both high and low tracks are defined by labels such as high ability, honors, low-achieving, slow, and average (Oakes, 1985). These labels are powerful cues about one’s ability. Oakes observed that students in the lower track are usually seen by others as dumb and also see themselves in this way. A label may have an adverse effect on students in the high-achieving class as well. Students in a high-track class may take this label as a cue that they naturally have high ability and then assume inflated self-concepts. This belief can interfere with students working to develop their academic skills.

It is important that teachers be aware of the subtle cues that may have unintentional effects on students’ perception of ability. Commonly accepted practices of generous praise, minimal blame, sympathy, and unsolicited help can sometimes be interpreted by students as they have the low ability (M. D. Clark, 1997; Graham, 1991). M. D. Clark found that responses given to students with LD are often interpreted as low-ability cues. Graham further suggested that these cues raise important questions pertinent to the motivation of minority students such as African-Americans. For example, are minority students more likely to be targeted for feedback that conveys sympathy—thus receiving a cue for low ability? Reyna (2000) took this a step further, stating that labeling and indirect cues can lead to stable beliefs about ability and have the negative effect of stereotyping.

Attribution Bias

Attribution bias or Attributional bias is a predisposition to make certain attributional judgments that may be in error (Weiner, 1985). Several variations of attributional bias have been identified that are relevant to achievement settings. A common misjudgment is a hedonic bias, the tendency to attribute success to self rather than to attribute failure to self (Weiner, 2000).

Previous knowledge can also lead to attributions that are erroneous (Frieze, 1980). Potential sources of errors in attributional judgments can be found in stereotypes about certain groups (Reyna, 2000). These preconceptions about certain groups can serve as ready-made explanations for why a student achieves or does not achieve. There is a danger that the stable, uncontrollable attribution for low performance will lead to lower expectations.

The implication for educators is to recognize that a number of possible causes may explain any given success or failure. Thus, it is important to be aware of potential stereotypical attributional biases. Explore other possible causes by gathering more information when bias may be a factor (see Strategy).

Strategy of Collect Attributional Information

Simply ask students why they succeeded, failed, or improved.

Some teachers elicit information by having students give their reasons for how well they did after assignments or exams.

Attribution information can be obtained through the use of learning logs, in which students keep records and write about their goals, successes, and failures.

Conduct an attributional task analysis of student performance. Is it because the student cannot or will not? A teacher may believe that a student is not performing well because he or she has the low ability or is lazy. Instead, the student may be performing low because he or she does not have the essential skills.

Look for clues that will enable you to determine if the student has the essential skills. Does the student have prerequisite knowledge or skills? Does the task require formal reasoning whereas the student is functioning at the concrete reasoning level? Does the student have the necessary learning or memory strategies?

If the student cannot, then teach the prerequisite skill or guide student to the appropriate source of help.

March 30, 2017
DNA Structure

What is DNA Structure?

What do a human, a rose, and a bacterium have in common? Each of these things along with every other organism on Earth contains the molecular instructions for life, called deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. Encoded within this DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) are the directions for traits as diverse as the color of a person’s eyes, the scent of a rose, and the way in which bacteria infect a lung cell.

DNA is found in nearly all living cells. However, its exact location within a cell depends on whether that cell possesses a special membrane-bound organelle called a nucleus. Organisms composed of cells that contain nuclei are classified as eukaryotes, whereas organisms composed of cells that lack nuclei are classified as prokaryotes. In eukaryotes, DNA is housed within the nucleus, but in prokaryotes, DNA is located directly within the cellular cytoplasm, as there is no nucleus available.

But what, exactly, is DNA? In short, DNA is a complex molecule that consists of many components, a portion of which are passed from parent organisms to their offspring during the process of reproduction. Although each organism’s DNA is unique, all DNA is composed of the same nitrogen-based molecules. So how does DNA differ from organism to organism? It is simply the order in which these smaller molecules are arranged that differs among individuals. In turn, this pattern of arrangement ultimately determines each organism’s unique characteristics, thanks to another set of molecules that “read” the pattern and stimulate the chemical and physical processes it calls for.

DNA is made up of molecules called nucleotides. Each nucleotide contains a phosphate group, a sugar group, and a nitrogen base. The four types of nitrogen bases are adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C). The order of these bases is what determines DNA’s instructions, or genetic code. Similar to the way the order of letters in the alphabet can be used to form a word, the order of nitrogen bases in a DNA sequence forms genes, which in the language of the cell, tells cells how to make proteins. Another type of nucleic acid, ribonucleic acid, or RNA, translates genetic information from DNA into proteins.

The entire human genome contains about 3 billion bases and about 20,000 genes. Nucleotides are attached together to form two long strands that spiral to create a structure called a double helix. If you think of the double helix structure as a ladder, the phosphate and sugar molecules would be the sides, while the bases would be the rungs. The bases on one strand pair with the bases on another strand: adenine pairs with thymine, and guanine pairs with cytosine.

DNA molecules are long so long, in fact, that they can’t fit into cells without the right packaging. To fit inside cells, DNA is coiled tightly to form structures we call chromosomes. Each chromosome contains a single DNA molecule. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, which are found inside the cell’s nucleus.

Why does a DNA molecule consist of two strands? The primary function of DNA is to store and transmit genetic information. To accomplish this function DNA must have two properties. It must be chemically stable so as to reduce the possibility of damage. DNA must also be capable of copying the information it contains. The two-stranded structure of DNA gives it both of these properties. The nucleotide sequence contains the information found in DNA. The nucleotides connect the two strands through hydrogen bonds. Because each nucleotide has a unique complementary nucleotide, each strand contains all the information required to synthesize a new DNA molecule. The double-stranded structure also makes the molecule more stable.

DNA is the information molecule. It stores instructions for making other large molecules, called proteins. These instructions are stored inside each of your cells, distributed among 46 long structures called chromosomes. These chromosomes are made up of thousands of shorter segments of DNA, called genes. Each gene stores the directions for making protein fragments, whole proteins, or multiple specific proteins.

DNA is well-suited to perform this biological function because of its molecular structure, and because of the development of a series of high-performance enzymes that are fine-tuned to interact with this molecular structure in specific ways. The match between DNA structure and the activities of these enzymes is so effective and well-refined that DNA has become, over evolutionary time, the universal information-storage molecule for all forms of life. Nature has yet to find a better solution than DNA for storing, expressing, and passing along instructions for making proteins.

Alternative DNA structures

DNA Structure A-DNA B-DNA and Z-DNA

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) exists in many possible conformations that include A-DNA, B-DNA, and Z-DNA forms, although, only B-DNA and Z-DNA have been directly observed in functional organisms. The conformation that DNA adopts depends on the hydration level, DNA sequence, the amount and direction of supercoiling, chemical modifications of the bases, the type and concentration of metal ions, and the presence of polyamines in solution.

The first published reports of A-DNA X-ray diffraction patterns—and also B-DNA—used analyses based on Patterson transforms that provided only a limited amount of structural information for oriented fibers of DNA. An alternative analysis was then proposed by Wilkins et al., in 1953, for the in vivo B-DNA X-ray diffraction scattering patterns of highly hydrated DNA fibers in terms of squares of Bessel functions. In the same journal, James Watson and Francis Crick presented their molecular modeling analysis of the DNA X-ray diffraction patterns to suggest that the structure was a double-helix.

Although the B-DNA form is most common under the conditions found in cells, it is not a well-defined conformation but a family of related DNA conformations that occur at the high hydration levels present in living cells. Their corresponding X-ray diffraction and scattering patterns are characteristic of molecular para crystals with a significant degree of disorder.

Compared to B-DNA, the A-DNA form is a wider right-handed spiral, with a shallow, wide minor groove and a narrower, deeper major groove. The A form occurs under non-physiological conditions in partly dehydrated samples of DNA, while in the cell it may be produced in hybrid pairings of DNA and RNA strands, and in enzyme-DNA complexes. Segments of DNA where the bases have been chemically modified by methylation may undergo a larger change in conformation and adopt the Z form. Here, the strands turn about the helical axis in a left-handed spiral, the opposite of the more common B form. These unusual structures can be recognized by specific Z-DNA binding proteins and may be involved in the regulation of transcription.

March 28, 2017