Category: Research

What is Sociological Imagination? Well, Sociological Imagination is a phrase that came from C. Wright Mills. He described the sociological imagination as a way of thinking outside the box. It allows us to “think ourselves away” (Mills) from what you or others may think is normal because that’s how society sees it. It’s a way of thinking beyond just yourself and society’s norms, its a way of learning about a concept or routine by making connections from past and present and developing a more greater perspective on life.

Say for example television and entertainment. Television has completely taken over most of our lives. Whether it’s only for a short period, or all day long, some of us like to watch the news, sports, or favorite movie or tv show. You probably watch it on your tv at home, a cafe, on your phone, a tablet or even a laptop. We also have our reasons as to why we watch tv. Some of us watch because we want to escape from reality, or to be informed on whats going on in the world, or your neighborhood, sometimes we watch tv because we want a good laugh out of something, or we want something action-packed, dramatic, sad, or romantic or maybe you want to learn how to cook. I love watching tv because I like to escape from reality or any stress. I also love the drama, mystery, romance, and suspense; The characters and the storylines. Sometimes I find myself rooting for the good characters and even the bad ones. We all have different reasons as to why we watch tv. Also, television and entertainment have evolved and impacted our lives in many different ways. Anthony Giddens says that “In a media-dominated age, Baudrillard says, the meaning is created by the flow of images, as in TV programs. Much of our world has become a sort of make-believe universe in which we are responding to media images rather than to real persons or places”(Giddens 18). In a social perspective, Giddens statement by Baudrillard could also be another reason as to why we watch tv. Some of us tend to become so attached to tv and media, sometimes we forget to communicate with real people who aren’t on tv. I can personally say for myself that I have found myself in this kind of situation. Sometimes I find myself getting caught up with tv for hours and forget to go outside or text my friends back. This behavior can either reflect the society in a good or bad way.

Now from a sociological imaginative historic perspective, television and entertainment have evolved in so many ways throughout history. Back then people had to go out to watch some kind of show such as opera, or boxing, or any source of entertainment, then there was the early 1800’s, where we had the invention of the first black and white motion picture film that was displayed in public places such as theaters or outdoor places for everyone to see. Then among the next upcoming years, there were projectors, then the television was invented, and color, and high definition flat screen tv’s, and now electronic devices where we can watch anything, at any places at any time. Isn’t it crazy how much things have changed!? “In what period have so many people been so totally exposed at so fast a pace to such earthquakes of change? Americans have not known such catastrophic changes as have the men and women of other societies is due to historical facts that are now quickly becoming ‘merely history.’ The history that now affects every individual in world history” (The Promise 1). Mills describes how drastic things can change so fast along time and how much of an impact it has on society. This perfectly incorporates the idea of how fast and crazy television and entertainment has changed over time.

Television, entertainment, and the media have become such a huge part of society. It has consumed peoples lives, made peoples careers, and has also shaped our minds and imaginations as we grew up. If it weren’t for history’s invention, what would we be doing right now? Reading books or the local newspaper, or listen to the radio? Who knows?. If it weren’t for the creation of television and entertainment, society would not be where it is today. Kids can look up to their favorite hero and aspire to one day be like them, people can see themselves being represented on tv because they have something in common, whether its the color of your skin, your culture, gender or sexual orientation. Because of this creation, people all over the world can come together and watch something. Whether you’re with your parents and siblings or your significant other. You can either go to movies, or go see a live show, or just sit back and watch something on your tv or phone. There are just so many ways we can connect to this kind of technology. And there are many reasons as to why we watch what we watch. When we think from a sociological imagination, we can come to a more greater understanding of why certain things impact society in such a huge way. When we start to think about something by incorporating the past and present, we start to develop a greater understanding and how it has impacted peoples lives and how it has shaped society all over the world.

Have you ever wondered if you have a voice in society? Have you been troubled by Ameri-can issues and wondered how you can enact change? If so, the work of C. Wright Mills may be of interest to you. Mills was a doctor of sociology, well known for the development of several contro-versial social theories in the years following World War II. While Mills’ theories were undoubtedly inspirational, they were considered radical for their time. However, it appears they may have been quite prophetic.

Mills wrote several renown books before his death in 1962. Drawing inspiration from the ideologies of Carl Marx and Max Weber, among others (Domhoff, 2006), most of his writing cen-tered on contemporary issues such as politics, the war, and the state of the union. Two of his most influential publications were The Power Elite, written in 1956, and The Sociological Imagination, written in 1959. Despite the success of his books, some perceived Mills’ theories as troublesome or irrelevant, given how prosperous the economy was at the time; Why shake things up when they were running so smoothly? (Henslin, 2014).

The Power Elite focuses on the relationships between different social classes, and how those relationships affect American democracy. Mills identified America’s social structure as a hi-erarchy of power. At the top of the hierarchy is the upper class; a select few from the military, cor-porate, and political realms (i.e., those who control the majority of America’s wealth). At the bottom of the hierarchy is the lower class – or the common working people (Henslin, 2014). He argued that there is no real American democracy because those at the top hold so much power that those at the bottom cannot be heard. He viewed this as a threat to our freedom, suggesting that the economically dominant group would make decisions in their best interest – to protect their wealth and power – but these decisions would be biased and unbeneficial to the U.S. majority (Domhoff, 2006).

Personally, I find a lot of truth in Mills’ theory. I believe many of the coalitions that have formed between corporate America and our government are detrimental to middle and lower-class Americans. Take, for example, our healthcare system. As a result of private spending, the U.S. spends more of its gross domestic profit on healthcare than any other industrialized country (Squires, 2015). This is because major mergers among healthcare entities have virtually eliminated competition in healthcare. These monopolies allow companies to charge astronomical prices for medical services (“Health Care,” n.d.). In some instances, people die as a result of inability to af-ford treatment. One would think the logical solution would be to implement government mandated price controls, as most other developed countries do, yet this may never happen due to conflicts of interest within the government. To put it simply, money equals power. That means the more money healthcare corporations (or corporations in general) make, the more political power they have. They can use their revenue to push their agenda in ways like lobbying against legislation changes. This is the quintessence of Mills’ power elite theory.

Another interesting element of the power elite theory is the idea that people at the top of the hierarchy are able to move fluidly between positions in the three major realms (government, econ-omy, and military) (Elwell, 2013). I also find this to be true. For instance, Donald Trump, a suc-cessful entrepreneur, was elected president despite having zero political experience, practically mak-ing him a poster boy for the power elite.

Mills believed we needed social reform, and that change would be a result of awareness and critical thinking. He wanted people to become actively involved in the country’s agenda, rather than passively observing. This was the inspiration for The Sociological Imagination. He defined “socio-logical imagination” as, “an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider soci-ety” (Mills, 1959). It is the ability to connect your personal troubles to more complex, big picture issues. For instance, one individual may struggle with their weight, but when over 30 percent of the country is classified as obese, it has become a public issue. Mills stressed that there is an intricate relationship between a person and society, and believed that the better we understand these relation-ships, the more likely we are to become a catalyst for change (Geary, 2016).

Mills’ theory makes a lot of sense to me. I believe that in order to correctly identify the root of a problem, you often need to look at it from a different perspective. Going back to the obesity issue: One explanation would be to say that people are just lazy or lack self-control; that it is a per-sonal issue. However, if you employ sociological imagination, you see that factors such as the so-cial norm of eating at gatherings, lower cost and increased availability of unhealthy foods, bom-bardment by fast food advertisements, and our biologic drive to seek out high calorie foods are all major contributing factors. Once you understand that, you are more likely to recognize when you are being influenced by those factors, and consciously make healthier choices.

Learning about Mills’ theories was interesting to me because I have many similar thoughts. I share the sentiment that our country is in need of some fundamental changes, and it is up to the “everyday people” to educate ourselves, step up, and make our voices heard. I appreciate his inten-tion to empower us.

References

1. Domhoff, G. W. (2006). Mills’s The Power Elite 50 Years Later. Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 35(6), 547–550. doi:10.1177/009430610603500602
2. Elwell, F. W. (2013). C. Wright Mills on the Power Elite. Retrieved from http://fac ulty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Essays/Mills2.htm
3. Geary, D. (2016). Radical Ambition: C. Wright Mills, the Left, and American Social Thought. Seoul: Samcheolli.
4. Health Care Competition. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-re sources/mergers-competition/health-care-competition
5. Henslin, J. M. (2014). Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach (12th ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
6. Mills, C. W. (1959). The Sociological Imagination. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zJtpAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=%22sociological+imagination%22&ots=9dXZtL81Pt&sig=Qve60h62biMw13jLEgbvCwRL40g#v=onepage&q=%22sociological%20imagination%22&f=false
7. Squires, D. (2015, October 08). U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective: Spending, Use of Services, Prices, and Health in 13 Countries. Retrieved June 26, 2018, from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2015/oct/us-health-care-global-perspective

Corpus Analysis is a semantic approach to analyzing a corpus – a set of methodically or arbitrary collected and electronically stored ‘real-life’ language samples such as speeches, magazine articles, and texting messages – with a goal to discern certain rules of language use, grammatical or lexical patterns, for instance, that are pertinent to a particular genre or type of text, serving as a valuable source for dialectology, sociolinguistics and other related fields. Corpora are investigated through the use of dedicated software. For example, softwares like Antconc, Google’s N-gram Viewer. Corpus analysis can be regarded as a sophisticated method of finding answers to the kinds of questions linguists have always asked. A large corpus can be a test bed for hypotheses and can be used to add a quantitative dimension to many linguistic studies. It is also true, however, that softwares do present us researchers with language in a form that is not normally encountered and that this can highlight patterning that often goes unnoticed. Corpus analysis has also therefore led to a reappraisal of what language is like. Corpus analysis comprises of terms such as Collocation, Concordance, Wildcards, Tokens and Lemmatization.

Collocation refers to a sequence or pattern of words that appear together or co-occur. Concordance represents a word or a phrase and its immediate context. In Corpus Analysis, concordance is used to analyse different use of a single word, word frequency and phrases or idioms. Tokens refer to an occurrence of an individual word which plays an important role in the so-called tokenization that involves the division of text or collection of words into tokens. This method is often used in the study of languages which do not delimit words with space. Lemmatization derives its form from the word lemma which refers to a set of different forms of a single word such as sight and sighted for example. Lemmatization refers to the process of grouping words that have the same meaning. Wildcards refer to special characters such as hyphens (-) or commas (,) which can represent a character or a word.

Here, we shall detail my application of various corpus analysis techniques on my chosen corpus of Violence in Video Games to investigate how violence maybe shaped across video games and to also check for any similarities or differences if any. Now we shall deal with the application of the techniques to the corpus under investigation here and what might be concluded from the results.

We shall begin with Collocations first on our study which is Violence in Video Games. As mentioned before Collocation is a key concept in corpus investigation, and one that will be examined closely in this essay, is that of collocation. Collocation refers to the regular and predictable co-occurrence of words in a text or an utterance. We characterise collocation as a ‘marriage contract between words’ and points out that the ‘marriage’ is stronger between some words than others.

One possible starting point in the study of collocation is the use of concordances, which have ‘been the major tool for accessing corpora’. Concordances are lines of text of a given length featuring the word under investigation (the node) in the centre of the page and its surrounding context (collocates) from which information can be drawn about patterns of relationships between words. The expanded context of concordance lines is key because, as it maybe noted that collocates are sometimes separated by intervening words.

1. 20 minutes of playing a violent video game ‘can cause people to become less Violent Video Games – ProCon.org.txt
2. settings and circumstances’ that makes the game ‘more likely to influence the player’s 9.txt
3. if it is sanctioned within the game (e.g., killing children to gain energy). Game Studies – The “Moral Disengagement in Violent Videogames” Model.txt
4. ohemia Interactive, 2001), a first-person shooter game (FPS). All participants watched a cinematic Game Studies – The “Moral Disengagement in Violent Videogames” Model.txt
5. MiniGolf 3D), or a violent video game (Grand Theft Auto III or Grand Violent video games reduce teens’ self-control, study shows.txt
6. of participants to play the same game (Halo II) but gave them different Violent video games make children more violent _ Centre for Educational Neuroscience.txt
7. to play either a non-violent video game (Pinball 3D or MiniGolf 3D), or Violent video games reduce teens’ self-control, study shows.txt
8. take into account the type of game (violent vs. nonviolent) in the studies’ Metaanalysis of the relationship between violent video game play and physical aggression over time _ PNAS.txt
9. Minnesota passed the Minnesota Restricted Video Game Act, which made it illegal for Public policy and violence in video games _ ACM Interactions.txt
10. way to resolve con icts. Video game advocates contend that a majority of Violent Video Games – ProCon.org.txt
11. aggression after they played the video game against an unseen ‘partner,’ who actually Violent video games reduce teens’ self-control, study shows.txt
12. appropriate test of the violent video game → aggression hypothesis: longitudinal designs tha Metaanalysis of the relationship between violent video game play and physical aggression over time _ PNAS.txt
13. notable critic of the violent video game aggression literature conducted studies in primar Children’s violent video game play associated with increased physical aggressive behavior — ScienceDaily.txt
14. esearchers uncovered concerning issues with video game aggression studies’ methodologies. Specifically, EFGamesandViolence.txt
15. ‘diagnosis’: He could be in the game all day and all night. I Don’t Blame Violent Video Games for Monday’s Mass Shooting – The Atlantic.txt
16. the US Army released rst-person shooter game America’s Army to recruit soldiers and Violent Video Games – ProCon.org.txt
17. violence in the context of a game and appropriate behavior in the real Violent Video Games – ProCon.org.txt
18. nine 80-minute sessions playing a video game and found that the games help 19 Violent Video Games Pros and Cons – Vittana.org.txt
19. 8 * With regards to Postal 2 Demo Game and Postal 2 Share the Pain, the 9.txt
20. players control the action of the game and so become more ‘immersed and 9.txt

A second method employed would be to identify collocations is the use of wordlists. One option is to use a collocation listing which offers counts of all instances (tokens) of collocates (types) within a given result. Another way is by presenting columns of collocates on either side of the node; one column for one place to the right, one column for two places to right, and so on up to six places to the right or left. It is suggested that this type of information is a particularly good starting point for the investigation of very frequent words, but warn that results need to be assessed with caution since they ‘suggest’ rather than ‘tell’ us things. A small extract of the results generated from the WordList tool from AntConc is attached below:-

#Word Types: 8441

#Word Tokens: 72191

#Search Hits: 0

1. 3076 the
2. 2270 of
3. 1893 and
4. 1753 to
5. 1461 a
6. 1368 in
7. 1082 that
8. 1025 video
9. 1024 games
10. 779 violent
11. 634 is
12. 614 on
13. 611 for
14. 518 s
15. 462 game
16. 458 as
17. 442 violence
18. 396 are
19. 387 be
20. 386 or

The wordlists in the corpus can be sorted in three ways: by frequency, by t-score, and by mutual information score. Each of these measures of the strength of a collocation has its own considerations.

Lemmatization is the grouping together of different forms of the same word. In search queries, lemmatization allows end users to query any version of a base word and get relevant results. Because search engine algorithms use lemmatization, the user is free to query any inflectional form of a word and get relevant results. For example, if the user queries the plural form of a word (routers), the search engine knows to also return relevant content that uses the singular form of the same word (router). Here below is a small extract of the results showing lemmatized form of the words from the Violence in Video Games Corpus.

#Lemma Types: 10957

#Lemma Tokens: 48494

#Search Hits: 0

1. 1165 game game 393 games 772
2. 1012 video video 1004 videos 8
3. 725 violent violent 725
4. 680 . . 680
5. 458 ( ( 458
6. 408 play play 177 played 75 playing 152 plays 4
7. 309 , , 309
8. 297 study studied 4 studies 153 study 137 studying 3
9. 280 violence violence 280
10. 247 ) ) 247
11. 216 ). ). 216
12. 196 may may 196
13. 182 – – 182
14. 177 & & 177
15. 171 medium media 164 medium 7
16. 165 aggression aggression 165
17. 155 aggressive aggressive 155
18. 154 effect effect 76 effected 1 effects 77
19. 153 use use 70 used 38 uses 3 using 42
20. 149 new new 146 newer 3

We can readily state that ‘the simplest way to identify collocate pairs is by their relative frequency’ which ‘can give a perception of the most common collocational associations’. The drawback here is that many high frequency collocates of a given node will also be high frequency words in general, and therefore likely to collocate frequently with many words other than the ones being examined simply by chance.

An alternative to straight frequency counts is to use what is known as a mutual information (MI) score. Mutual information calculates the appeal between two words, or the prospect that if one appears the other will appear in close presence to it. The corpus that we have chosen employs both positive and negative MI scores; the higher the score, the higher the mutual appeal between words. The major drawback of MI scores is that they tend to ‘compile uncommon words’ leading to highrankings for some uncommon combinations that may be exclusive to any particular corpus.

Another alternative measure of strength is t-score, which measures the likelihood of a word appearing as a collocate of one word rather than another. Unlike MI, t-score only measures the appeal of the collocate to the node and not vice versa, so lists tend to include many grammatical words which are important to the functioning of the node. The node, on the other hand, is not important to the functioning of the grammatical word.

No one of the above measures can be said to be to provide the best information about a particular collocate, so it may be best to use some or all of them in combination to ‘take advantage of the different perspectives provided’ in assessing the significance of a collocation.

The total number of tokens found in the corpus chosen is 72191. Further investigating, we draw out conclusions based on our results while trying to search for violence in video games.

Using concordance samples, one feasible starting point for corpus analysis is a random sample of concordance lines, which allow repeated collocation patterns to emerge. 20 line samples were attached for all our results. Genereally, concordance lines would select from ‘every nth example of the word’ entered in the initial query.

It is clear from the analysis presented here in this essay that corpus study has much to offer in revealing detailed information about the types and frequency of collocations of a given word/words in the Violence in Video Games corpus. There is reasonable evidence in the study that: violence is prevalent when people play violent games, which ultimately would lead to strong aggresion shown towards other people. What could be revealed in a deeper and larger-scale corpus study of the similarities and differences in checking for violence in video games is certainly much more than what was able to be revealed here. While my understanding of the similarities and differences has deepened somewhat, I remain uncertain of the actual usage of violence in video games and how drastic the results would be when larger corpus would be considered.

References

1. Kennedy, G. (1991) ‘Between and through: The company they keep and the functions they serve’. In Aijmer, K. and Altenberg, B. (Eds.) (1991) English Corpus Linguistics. Longman Group UK Limited.
2. Kennedy, G. (1998) An Introduction to Corpus Linguistics. Addison Wesley Longman Limited.
3. McCarthy, M. (1990) Vocabulary. Oxford University Press.
4. Sinclair, J. (1991) Corpus, concordance, collocation. Oxford University Press.
5. Sinclair, J. (Ed.) (1996) Collins COBUILD Learner’s Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
6. Stubbs, M. (1996) Text and Corpus Analysis. Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

We all have imagination. Let us be reactive and envision life in a new way. There is something called sociological imagination. In sociology to understand one’s own self, we must understand the relationship between self and society. The concept of the sociological imagination was presented in 1959 by C.Wright Mills in his famous book of the same title where he states the sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. The concept is to understand the distinction between a person’s troubles and public issues at what point does something such as unemployment or trouble finding a job. If one person is unemployed then that is a personal problem but if one million out of 10 million people cannot find employment that is a public issue.

According to Mills, there is an intricate relationship between the individual and society. Whatever a person does is not just because it is of their own choice or personal preference. A behaviour as simple as exercise can be looked at from multiple perspectives. For example, exercise can provide health benefits such as lowering blood pressure and maintaining a healthy weight or send endorphins to help alleviate stress. It can also be social activity as taking a walk with a group of friends or plane on a sports team. It can increase productivity at work and benefit the company. It can also inspire communities to take action by building walking, biking and running’s trails. So, while exercise benefit the individual, it also has a larger purpose in the social world. A person benefits from being surrounded by a community that encourages exercise but there are also some persons that does not emphasize exercise. Therefore, any personal behaviour can be looked at with sociological imagination.

There are multiple dimensions of social issues. A few examples are systemic racism, health and wage disparities among racial, ethnic, and gender minorities, and social power hierarchies, childcare, human trafficking, animals right. We probably experience them in everyday day encounters without even knowing it. But, one of the most neglected social issues is – pollution and reckless consumption of natural resources. Many people would not classify this as a ‘social issue’ but it is probably the most important one for everyone. If we do not have an environment where people can live, then how important are the other issues, really? World population is expected to reach about 9 billion by 2050, 86% of this in other word almost eight billion people will be in the developing world. The actual number of people is not itself an issue expect on some very densely settled countries. In world population terms what really matters is a simple ratio 32:1. It represents consumption, and this is where our problem begins. The average rates in which we consume resources such oil and metals and produce waste like plastic in greenhouse gases are 32 times higher in North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia than they are in the developing world. 32:1 captures the difference in consumption between the first world and the third world. So, the poor of the world logically want to have our standards of living, but the fact is the planet simply does not have enough resource to support such a dream. And so, we are left with a fundamental problem. Therefore, what we should be trying to do is to make consumption rates and living standards more equal around the world and to do it at a level the planet can sustain. Hence, its very important save our natural resources to living a standards life. But, watching how the current use and management of natural resources is affecting the environment around us by changing ecosystem and impacting biodiversity.

My understanding of the reading is that the sociological imagination is a person’s ability to imagine and allows them to grasp history and biography which he states can be viewed as if two roads were both leading to a roundabout, with the roundabout being the sociological imagination.

The sociological imagination are the connections between a person’s private life and societal life. The private life (or biography) of most people generally involves being a member of a small group such as their family, the people they work will, other students and neighbors yet these small groups are a part of larger networks or social institutions, the societal part or historical part of a person’s life. These social institutions are created through social constructions over time.

These patterns of behavior are normal and routine to people and it is suggested that society are conditioned and accept the conditions under which they for example work. People do not tend to question management why it is they are working longer hours for fear of losing our job or students do not ask why their place of study is structured in such a way they, it is what it is and just get on with it.

What we consider as private aspects of our life are not private and actually stem from society as a whole and it is to see the world as other people see the world. The sociological reality of everyday life. An example of this is when a person loses their job. They may suffer from depression and think that they are the only one suffering however people lose their job every day and it is the sociological reality of everyday life. Food is another example as not only do we need food to survive but it also forms part of one’s identity and has sociological meaning, for example vegetarians.

The quote that I feel exemplifies Mills’ main argument is: “What ordinary people are directly aware of and what they try to do are bounded by the private orbits in which they live; their visions and their powers are limited to the close-up scenes of job, family, neighborhood; in other milieux, they move vicariously and remain spectators. And the more aware they become, however vaguely, of ambitions and of threats which transcend their immediate locales, the more trapped they seem to feel” (Wright-Mills, 1959 p.1).

I feel this this quote does relate to the main argument and refers to the small groups in which people live in and that they feel trapped in a society which may treat them unfairly and which are uncontrollable. However, through the sociological imagination a person may understand that this is just society continuing its cycle and is just a circumstance of life.

References

1. Wright-Mills, C. (1959) Sociological Imagination, UK: Oxford University Press.

The aim of this essay is to critically analyze the impact of sports mega-events on the societies that host them, whether it was positive, negative or beneficial in the short term and long term for their society. It will be focusing on the South Africa 2010 World Cup. It will also concentrate on critical sensitivity and legacy.

It is significant to understand the importance of sociological imagination because it helps us dive deeper into a certain topic and analyze from different points of view. “The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. That is, its task and its promise” (Wright Mills, 2000, p.6). Within Charles Wright Mills book ‘The Sociological Imagination’ it determines that by arguing several sensibilities or components to the sociological imagination which together provide a mean for proceeding in the sociological quest for understanding. When discussing sociological imagination there are three main elements: critical sensitivity, comparative sensitivity and historical sensitivity. Critical sensitivity is the most important one to note as it is crucial when analyzing topics in a different way than normal while also gaining a greater understanding. Wills (2011, p.72) explains that the “term critical is not being used as negative towards something, but rather the term critical is used in sociology in the sense of being reflexive or sceptical about the social world”. Wills goes onto state that it aims to narrow down as much doubt as possible (p.72). Critical sensitivity is useful when looking at sports mega-events as it evaluates the positives and negatives in society while questioning claims that have been made and digging more specific in studies. Max Weber argued that “sociology can and should be value free, dealing only with what is rather than what should be” (p.74).

Sports mega-events are “large scale cultural (including commercial and sporting) events, which have a dramatic character, mass popular appeal and international significance” (Roche, 2000, p.1). Some examples of sports mega-events are the Olympics and The World Cup as they are global and commercialized around the world. With the Olympics and The World Cup held every four years, this shows their significance as it is a long period of time till the next one. These events are also opportunities to gain greater international recognition and to promote national identity.

In the book ‘Tourism Management’, it defines a sport mega-event as a “significant national or global competitions that produce extensive levels of participation and media coverage and that often require large public investments into both event infrastructure, for example stadiums to hold the events and general infrastructure, such as roadways, housing or mass transit system” (Mills and Rosentraub, 2013, p.239). This is a more in-depth explanation that also provides specifics that are needed to host a mega event which not many people often think of.

An article by Chappelet (2012, p.76) wrote “Legacy is living in the present and building for the future. A legacy of something can be remembered in different ways, such as good, bad, beneficial and many more. The legacy of mega sporting events can be perceived in several ways. Such as, tangible or intangible, territorial or personal, intentional or unintentional, global or local, short- or long-term and can also be seen from the various event stakeholders’ perspectives”. Chappelet goes into detail about how legacy can be remembered in different ways whether good or bad, positive or negative. These details are beneficial as they need to be recollected regarding and analyzing sport mega-events.

In sport mega-events, the term legacy is used a great deal. “The concerns that came to be expressed over the need to provide the host city with a variety of ‘legacies’ from hosting the games can be traced back to the mid-1950s” (Gold and Gold, 2007, p.159). However, there has been continuous debate about the impact, value and legacy of mega events and whether it leaves a positive impact long term. “The Montreal Olympics of 1976 were a sporting success, but the citizens of that city did not pay off the debt until 2006” (Holt and Ruta, 2015, p.2). This shows that the hopeful positive legacy through the event can be discolored by the absence of a long-term plan for financially funding the event. South Africa had won the bid to host the 2010 World Cup. Kgalema Motlanthe, the president of South Africa at the time, said “we are confident that working together, we (South Africa) will host the best FIFA world cup ever” (Ngonyama, 2009, p.168). The south African government has established a campaign uniting public support for the world cup.

Mbembe (2006) asserts that “South Africa will win the 2010 world cup if we organize it in such a way that it powerfully contributes to changing the terms of Africa’s recognition in the world” (Pillay, Tomlinson and Bass, 2009, p.248). Mbembe is sure that with the correct plans and teamwork, they will have a positive long-term legacy after the world cup. Of course, hosting a mega-event includes an incredible amount of support, construction work, and an immense funding towards stadiums, transport and tourism. The National Treasury has committed close to R33 billion towards stadium construction and refurbishment and tournament related infrastructural development (Ngonyama, 2009, p.168). In the journal ‘Development and Dreams’ Pillay, Tomlinson and Bass (2009, p. 115-116) touch on the positives and negatives of infrastructural projects. They also state that “The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions argues that although the staging of mega events can have a range of positive impacts, it can have the opposite impact, especially in relation to infrastructural projects which can result in human violations in the form of evictions”. They explain that it is 50/50 impact with infrastructures and with consequences if it does not go well. Mbembe goes on to say that “if the 2010 world cup succeeds in fundamentally altering the ways in which Africa’s voice is expressed and heard and Africa’s face is seen in the world, then this and this alone will morally justify the colossal amount of public money spent on the very postcolonial and megalomaniac venture” (Pillay, Tomlinson and Bass, 2009 p.248).

South Africa invested heavily in building and renovating state of the art stadiums ahead of the 2010 World Cup. The SA government had plans for infrastructural legacy, these included the modernization of basic services such as, electricity, waste treatment and water (Holt and Ruta, 2015, p.71). Research in the journal ‘Handbook of Sport and Legacy’ states that as well as having a legacy to remember, the SA government plans for practical legacies that will benefit the community well.

One of the most popular stadiums for the 2010 world cup was Cape Town stadium. This new stadium was not only constructed for football but for community assets and multipurpose. This stadium seemed to have a lot of potential and benefits long term. However, Holt and Ruta (2015, p.74) outline that “the stadium costs 4 million (rands) a month to keep it up even though nothing happens there”. With the stadium being multipurpose and for the community, it struggled for investments and events. A total of 5 new stadiums were constructed ahead of the 2010 world cup costing 9 billion (rands) (Pillay, Tomlinson and Bass, 2009, p.231). Costing 7 billion more than the projected 2 billion. 10 stadiums were used for this world cup, whether new or renovated. These stadiums attracted tourists, created jobs and overall were in pristine condition for the footballers and fans, it was a positive outlook. However, funding so much money on infrastructure can impact the communities, in which this case, it did. In the journal of soccer and society, the movement’s president, S’bu Zikode explained that “the soccer World Cup is a threat to our communities, in a sense, because it is putting pressure on the city to get rid of shacks…” (Ngonyama, 2009, p.173). Further research in this journal and the R20 billion budgeted for refurbishments and construction over a period of four years equals the cost to an additional 90,000 low-cost house a year (Ngonyama, 2009, p.173). Breaking the figures down and reading what the funding of the infrastructures could have brought instead is eye opening. Political economist Stephen Gelb believes the people of South Africa need to start debating whether the country’s priority is 90,000 houses a year for four years or the 2010 World Cup (Ngonyama, 2009, p.173). 90,000 house a year for four years is colossal and would’ve been much more beneficial for the people and community as the stadiums in South Africa are turning into ‘white elephants’.

One of the main factors that come with hosting a mega-event is tourism. With tourism, comes attractions, events and legacy. Pillay, Tomlinson and Bass (2009, p.132) explains in ‘Development and Dreams’, that sport tourism focuses on how the foundation of sport development could be provided by the existence of tourism sites or infrastructures and how sport events may stimulate tourism actively. They touch on with the presences of stadiums, buildings and tourism sites, sport can still be built and continued after the event, held with not just the legacy of infrastructures but legacy of the actual sport being put into practice. Further research into ‘Development and Dreams’, visitor numbers had predicted during the 2010 world cup. A total of 860,000 visitors were predicted, these numbers included visitors with and without tickets to matches, visitors from other African countries and South African residents traveling regionally to attend matches (Pillay, Tomlinson and Bass, 2009, p.140).

With so much expected visitors, many things needed to be up to standard and ‘national level’, such as transport and infrastructure. This was the case for the 2010 world cup. FIFA had development on loads of their new stadiums, and some needing specific plans like tourist projects and themes just to accommodate the many tourists that were predicted (Pillay, Tomlinson and Bass, 2009, p.144). more specific research on this showed that one of the host cities, Pretoria, had approximately R245 million spent on just tourism related projects. These projects were building for the future, but it may struggle to find use when the mega event is over and there are significantly less tourists.

In conclusion, sociological imagination helps with analyzing sports mega-events critically as it narrows down the claims made, while gaining a better perspective from different angles. Furthermore, sports mega-events generally have a short-term positive affect, as it can be discolored by the unspoken negative long-term legacy it leaves. The 2010 world cup had 10 states of the art stadiums, some of which were built for multipurpose and for the community. These stadiums had potential to regenerate sports development and host community events, but the lack of investments saw them turn into ‘white elephants’. The legacy of sports mega events is spoken positively, however, so much funding into mega events come to almost nothing years after and leaves a burden. which is worth thinking, are mega events worth it. Chappelet (2012, p.84) talks on how legacies are difficult to secure and that there is bridge between dreams and realities. This is clear because, before hosting events, they are dreams in relation to better facilities, infrastructures, and tourist attractions that will leave a positive legacy in the host city, but when in reality, the dreams end negatively due to the amount of funding and support unable to keep up. Chappelet concludes his journal buy saying that “legacy is essentially is a dream to be pursued rather than a certainty to be achieved”.

“The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society” – C. Wright Mills, ‘The Sociological Imagination’.

C. Wright Mills defined the sociological imagination as “the vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society”. When he published his book in 1959, his attempt was to connect these two seemingly unrelated and abstract concepts of life- the ‘individual’ and the ‘society’. For most people, their ‘universe’ is made up of relatively small groups like their families, friends, colleagues, neighbors and so on. Their understanding of the world is also derived almost entirely from this understanding of their ‘universe’. However, what Mill attempted to illustrate was that our personal experiences, the people we interact with and the way in which we interact, the positions we occupy in life, our goals and ambitions are all related to larger, complex patterns in society that have been historically created and maintained by the people who came into this world before us. To understand this better, he offered insight into the relationship between structure (social institutions) and agency (personal experience) by explaining that often what we consider to be our ‘personal troubles’ – like not having enough money to buy food or pay bills – is actually a ‘public issue’- the result of a larger social problem that affects many, like systematic economic inequality and poverty. Thus, what/who we are and where we come from (our biography) is related to the larger world that exists beyond our existence (historically created social constructs) and sociological imagination enables us to think in terms of this relationship and practicing this thinking is the essence of ‘thinking sociologically’.

This seems pretty simple to grasp and one might assume that everybody thinks in such a manner already. However, that is not really the case. I will further elaborate upon what makes such thinking so distinctly ‘sociological’. And also, what doesn’t.

Understanding sociology in terms of being ‘about’ social life is problematic, since it encourages the tendency to confuse common sensical thinking with sociological thinking. Both Allan Johnson and Andre Beteille have stressed on the gravity of this misconception since it promotes the viewpoint that when anyone comments on something ‘social’, they’re thinking sociologically. When Beteille mentions, “sociology seems by contrast to be grist to everybody’s mill”, he is referring to this general misbelief that there is no distinction between sociological thinking and common sense and then, he proceeds to challenge this misconception.

Common sensical thinking, by its very nature, is localized, personal and informal. It is localized because it is constrained by time and space and the degree of an individual’s integration and interaction with the society. Hence, we can say that ‘common sense is not so common’ since what is common sense for someone from a particular vantage point may turn out to be either not-so-common for another from a different geographical, cultural and historical background. It is personal because it is dependent on the individual and restricted to the individual’s surroundings. It is informal because common sense lacks technical resources-good knowledge in concepts, methods, approach, techniques, schools of thought – that cannot be substituted with even a very well-informed and articulate kind of common sensical thinking.

In contrast, sociological thinking is general, external and disciplined. It is general and external because sociological thinking demands thinking in terms of the whole of human society. The greatest contribution to this approach was done by Emile Durkheim, Max weber and Karl Marx- the builders of modern sociology. Sociological thinking is not restricted to an individual’s belief but it is rather about ‘where’ and ‘how’ the individual participates with the larger world and ‘why’ their participation unfolds in a particular manner and not in another. As Allan Johnson states, “We are always participating in something larger than ourselves, and if we want to understand social life and what happens to people in it, we have to understand what it is that we’re participating in and how we participate in it” when he elaborates upon what he considers to be the ‘one thing’ that sociology could teach everyone, henceforth the ‘one thing’ that is integral to thinking sociologically as well. It is essential to think in terms of not just the individual or just the collective but both the collective and the individual, the relation between them, how they influence and are influenced by each other – it is truly about the ‘forest and the trees. Sociological thinking makes us realize that for all that we think we know about the world, beneath that is all that we don’t know as well.

Furthermore, sociological thinking is disciplined since it is grounded in empirical reasoning, careful observations and extensively requires the systematic use of the comparisons. These aid a sociologist to think in terms of the wider human society and find interconnections between different domains of social life. Meaningful and unsuspected connections are often reached only by sifting through stacks of connections that are ‘trivial and easily accessible to common sense’. As a sociologist, one’s thinking and understanding of the world goes beyond the common-sense point of view which is highly variable. All these factors therefore, make sociological thinking anti-fatalistic and anti-utopian in its approach and differentiates its empirical, generalized, critical knowledge from localized common-sense. Durkheim believed that the disciplined application of the sociological method and thinking would help an individual to understand their society better, and this understanding would be nourished and expanded by the use of systematic comparisons between their own and other societies. To illustrate on this, it would be useful to mention Durkheim’s classic work on ‘Suicide’, which contributed much to expose the ‘illusion of understanding created by common sense’. Durkheim thought beyond the common-sense prevailing at his time which looked at suicide as a highly individual act and instead treated suicide as a ‘social fact’- as ‘general, external and coercive’ – by studying suicide rates. Through his research he was able to show that suicide rates depend more on an individual’s degree of social integration and that the difference in suicide rates across countries, gender, race, and other contexts is not merely just the sum total of individual suicides but actually a reflection of the society they live in.

However, it should be mentioned that the distinction between sociological and common-sense thinking is not to deliberately make the former seem superior and esoteric in nature with the use of sophisticated jargon and ‘technical virtuosity’. According to NK Bose, “there are two kinds of scientists, those who make complex things simple and those who make simple things complex, and that his preference was for the former”. Although, Beteille argues that common sense by itself is insufficient and often unsuccessful in making complex things simple but it shouldn’t be entirely overlooked since common sense is also an element of our social life. Thus, sociological thinking must be alert and reflective in order to identify an individual’s own biases when they’re studying their own society and also be able to identify other knowledge that was created from a common sensical point of view. Thus, sociological thinking must strike a balance in the ‘inter-penetration’ of common sense with the technical virtuosity of the discipline by moderating the fatalistic and utopian elements of the former. In some cases, it has actually been able to contribute to common sensical thinking on topics such as education, politics, class and inequality.

Allan Johnson has stressed upon the distinction between sociological thinking and the individualistic model of thinking. The individualistic way of thinking tends to see everything only in terms of individuals- this reduces the society to only a collection of individuals existing independently of each other, in a given time and place. This not only affects how we choose to participate in society but also how we think about social life and the larger world. The ‘Individualistic model’ has only existed for a few centuries and its roots date back to the 19th century and the United States, where the work of William James- influenced by the age of ‘European Enlightenment’ and ‘modernist thinking’- and later the unconventional insights of Sigmund Freud-discovery of the psyche and levels of consciousness- influenced people to think increasingly in terms of individual experience with greater ‘self-awareness’ than before. Johnson has illustrated upon the problems of this mode of thinking by explaining that when members of privileged groups react negatively – by reacting aggressively or avoid talking about it- to the consequences of their membership resulting in the oppression of the prejudiced group, they’re thinking from an individualistic perspective which shows them as being ‘flawed’ and having a ‘personal need’ to behave in oppressive way. The individualistic solution to social problems such as inequality or natural disasters or terrorism then becomes “a matter not of collective solutions but of an accumulation of individual solutions. If we want to have less poverty in the world, the individualistic answer lies in raising people out of poverty or keeping them from becoming poor by changing what sort of people they are, one person at a time”.

The main issue that arises from the individualistic way of thinking, is that it fails to understand the difference between people and social systems – it misses ‘the forest for the trees’. People and social systems are not one and the same but they’re closely related to one another and influenced by how the individual chooses to participate in them. Social systems are made up of several different elements that exist in a particular relation to one another and form a distinct pattern that makes it function as a whole, for example, the family system is made up of certain roles such as that of mother, father, son, daughter etc. and also of certain ‘ideas’ that are collectively accepted in a society such as ‘being obedient to your parents’ and so on. Understanding what makes up a system, how they function and differ from one another is crucial to understanding the consequences that result when people follow without questioning its legitimacy i.e. the path of least resistance. Social systems are strengthened by attaching positive and negative sanctions that ensure adherence to it. This path of least resistance hence, makes common sensical thinking so utopian and fatalistic in nature as there is a tendency to take everything for granted and attach ‘personal reasons’ to ‘public problems’ for example, blaming your ‘luck’ for being born into a ‘poor’ family.

The sociological imagination is the ability to see how social factors and structures influence our lives socially and individually when we live in a society. It is basically the connection between an individual and society on a whole. Our social relationships are divided between micro and macro level, and sociological imagination helps us to understand the dilemma and connection between the two divisions has between each other. As a social being we are bound to take part in the social positions we hold in a society and fulfil those duties accordingly. Social imagination has played an important role in making individuals participate in their roles and duty in a society.

When we live in a society, we have to mold ourselves with the norms and ideologies of the society we are born and brought up to. Socialization is what connects us with the people and it’s norms of the society. There are many key agents in effective socialization. Such as – family, school, peer groups, mass media, ethnicity and religion. These social elements influence our lives on a border scale if we look closely. For instance, ethnicity and religion of a person can impact their micro and macro level social relations on a larger scale. I myself have faced many stereotypes of the society in the past to till now because of certain sociological standard. When I was on a connecting flight to USA in 2019, I was looked down, humiliated, interrogated and treated differently than other on boarders in the airport only because I was a brown Muslim girl. My ethnicity and religion were considered a threat to the airport security. Therefore, the higher authorities from the airport judged me based on a wrong categorization of the society of today. If we go through many news articles on colorism and islamophobia, we can see that thousands of people are being mistreated in airports every other day or in any social gatherings because of their ethnicity and religion like me. For example, I read in a news article that a young girl and her mother were being treated differently and shouted at than the other fairer skin people in the airport. As a result, the little girl developed a fear of airport security in general. Would a white person be treated the same way as the rest of the minority at a foreign airport? No, they would not, instead they would be treated like royalties and more specifically like humans. However, was it right to do the racist profiling? No, it was not. Nonetheless, the security checking was not the issue, it is the government policies and institutions based on fear and misconception, as well as the history has made the social relations between humans so complicated in present-day. Racial profiling and certain typecast has always been there in terms of various social concepts. Our history of socialization has made social relations and constructions biased based on gender, race, ethnicity, class and religion over the years. Furthermore, the burden of our history has to be carried throughout all generations.

However, we have to clear our minds from every type of stereotypes, expectations, opinions and claims to have a better understanding of what needs to be done for a clean society. We have to put ourselves in other shoes and experience a different life to be more receptive of our decisions and concepts as a member of a society. Basically, we have to think in an alternative point of view to change the social phenomenon. This is when mass media comes into the view, mass media creates a bridge between reality and perceptions of the society. It is because of the media we get to see the reality of sociological relations amid the society we live in currently. If not for the media, the world would not have been able to see the social injustice people face in every other sector around the world.

Social imagination has helped us to make sense of our own lives and responsibilities as a social being. Nevertheless, it is the 21st century now and instead of going backwards, people should adapt to the new changes of society and accept every human as equal. If the society does not evolve through time, unfortunately there would not be any escape from the stereotypes as well.

Effective teaching of arithmetic

Arithmetic is the study of using numbers and working things out with them. Over the recent decades the meaning of ‘arithmetic’ has changed from being limited to achievement in standard procedures without full understanding to the one that establishes logical structures behind the numbers and their operations. Individuals living in the current century are required to take the initiative in making connections between mathematical representations and real-life problems. They also need to find appropriate ways of solving problems by working flexibly. These expectations have warranted teaching children arithmetic effectively through making connections, investigating number patterns, and identifying numerical relationships (Anghileri, 2006)

The aims of the current national curriculum in mathematics require pupils to become fluent (through frequent and varied practice) and develop conceptual understanding, reason mathematically along with being able to solve problems in a variety of situations. It also recognizes mathematics as an interconnected subject whereby pupils should be able to move fluently amongst different representations of mathematical ideas. The expectations are that the majority of pupils should be moving through the curriculum stages at the same pace. Children who have grasped a concept should be provided with enriching challenges through sophisticated problems (DfE, 2013). These principles have been reflective of teaching for ‘mastery’ approaches in high-scoring education systems of East and south-east Asia (NCETM 2014). Their high performance in the program for international student assessments (PISA) in 2009 and 2012, provided the rationale for introducing teaching for mastery in mathematics and other initiatives to deliver the national curriculum in England (DfE, 2019)

There is no precise definition of ‘mastery’, mention skemp- relational understanding and mike askew making connections there are various initiatives, groups, and organizations who have taken a lead in promoting mastery. Among these, are two high-profile Singapore-inspired initiatives called: Mathematics Mastery and Maths No Problem. These are based on the textbooks in Singapore and also provide professional development activities for educators (Boylan et. al. 2018).

School X (my first placement) was a two-form mixed community school with approximately 440 pupils on the roll between the ages of 3-11. The school has a very low percentage of pupil-premium children as compared to the national average. The majority of the pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing, and mathematics however, the percentage of pupils achieving higher standards in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics is well below the national average. The school in recent years has not made sufficient progress in Mathematics and therefore under the initiative of the Maths leader, it has recently invested and rolled out the Singapore-based Maths No Problem scheme across the year groups.

Mathematics education in Singapore places importance on high expectations of all learners, covering the curriculum in depth allowing sufficient time, and giving every child the opportunity to develop conceptual understanding and skills. This is usually achieved through the use of mathematical models, high-quality mathematical talk, and thinking (Drury, 2014). However, School X still has a lot of inconsistency in teaching mathematics across the year groups; from some classes having mixed-ability seating to only some use of concrete resources or other forms of manipulatives.

For the purpose of this essay, I am going to look at using manipulatives, representations, and a Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach along with mixed-ability seating along with planning carefully crafted lessons as means to achieve effective teaching of arithmetic within the classrooms.

Using manipulatives, representations, and the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach

The EEF report (EEF, 2017) identifies manipulative as “a physical object that pupils or teachers can touch and move which is used to support teaching and learning in mathematics.” They provide hands-on experiences in representing abstract mathematical ideas explicitly and concretely (Moyer, 2001) and mental images that pupils can use to contextualize mathematical ideas (Askew and William, 1995). Their usage in promoting mathematical understanding in order to make learning permanent is derived from works of researchers such as Zoltan Dienes (Dienes, 1969) who suggested the use of multiple representations of a concept as means of supporting pupil understanding, and Piaget (Piaget, 1952), who recommended that due to the lack of mental maturity in childhood to grasp abstract symbolic mathematical concepts, children need many hand-on experiences with concrete resources and pictorials for learning to take place. Skemp’s (Skemp, 1987) theory also favors the belief that pupils’ early interactions and experiences with concrete objects laid the foundations of abstract-level learning at later stages.

For instance, in the reception class of my Special Interest Placement school, we used multilink cubes to make staircases for numbers. We then used a puppet to jump one step up and one step down. The use of concrete resources in this scenario helped the children understand the concept of one more and one less from any given number and identify the pattern with regard to cardinal numbers.

Nonetheless, using manipulatives doesn’t often lead to an understanding of a mathematical concept. Sometimes pupils could use them in a rote manner with insufficient comprehension of the concepts underpinning the procedures (Hiebert and Wearne, 1992). Other times there is an inability in establishing the link of actions while using manipulatives to the abstract symbols (Thompson and Thompson, 1990). Manipulatives are merely tools and therefore their use within a lesson need to be purposeful, meaningful, and appropriate to create an impact (Carbonneau, 2013 & Askew, 2016). There are several important pedagogic principles for the effective use of manipulatives within the lessons. These are:

• Both manipulatives and the activities for their usage should be matched carefully to the mathematical focus.
• Pupils should be allowed to get familiarised with the manipulatives through play
• Children should still be encouraged to make their own recordings on a whiteboard or paper, visualize and link the manipulatives to the abstract symbols.
• The teaching around using manipulatives should involve discussions, comparisons, and appropriate usage of vocabulary to engage children with reasoning (Griffiths et. al., 2017)

Pupils of all ages can be supported through manipulatives. They should be used as a ‘scaffold’ to learning which could be removed to avoid pupil reliance on them (EEF, 2017).

By contrast, the usage of manipulatives was restricted to KS1 in school X. Nonetheless, I used colored counters to introduce a formal written (column) method of calculation for addition. I used these as each color could represent the individual column and the children could physically count and move them around to exchange when carrying out regrouping. In the first two lessons, having exposed the pupils to place value counters and charts for the first time, I modeled what I would like the pupils to do by using the counters at the beginning of the lesson. I then involved them in the activity through discussions around what I had done, and why regrouped using key vocabulary related to ones, tens, etc. In the next part of each lesson, a link was then made between what was done with the counters to the column method. This unpicking of the mathematical structure of addition with regrouping using the counters helped them develop a procedural understanding of the column method and they were able to justify how and why regrouping was involved in developing the conceptual understanding of the operation.

Representations

There is considerable evidence that concrete objects don’t become tools for thinking with ease (Askew, 2016). This is mainly because the mental images of numbers are linked with ordinal aspects whereby numbers are placed on a number line in order (Dehaene, 1999). The EEF report identifies number lines as “effective representations for teaching across both Key stages 2 and 3” (EEF, 2017). Although there is no specific guidance regarding the use of representations, as in the case of manipulatives, there is strong evidence that comparing and discussing a variety of representations can help pupils develop conceptual understanding and impact positively attainment (Ainsworth, 2006). The School X calculation policy has considerable emphasis placed on using number lines across the year groups however, was unable to see it being used within the lessons that were observed (School X calculation policy). Bar models, part-whole models, and arrays are some other forms of pictorial representation used widely across schools. The former two particularly in Singapore education and the Maths No Problem scheme. The versatility and flexibility around using a bar model in different areas of arithmetic and problem-solving across different year groups make it a really effective representation (Maths No Problem- Bar Modelling). My use of them to show the division

Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach

The bar model also draws on the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach which has come to be recognized as an essential mastery concept in teaching arithmetic.

The approach stems from the work of Bruner on the development of children (Bruner, 1966). In his research, he proposed the importance of using concrete based on actions (enactive), pictorial with imagery (iconic), and abstract which is language-based (symbolic) representations for learning. Based on these, Singaporean education promoted the CPA approach whereby a concept is introduced with the help of concrete resources, it is then presented with the help of models or images, and lastly with the abstract notations of symbols (Maths No Problem- Bar Modelling and CPA approach). This approach to learning mathematics is at the heart of the Maths No Problem textbook scheme. The movement across the stages provides an overarching structure to the lessons and detailed attention is given to developing abstract understanding gradually through linking the stages (Hoong et. al. 2015). The aim for teachers is to help pupils become fluent in the symbolic mode which is at the heart of mathematics and students who merely work in the concrete and representational mode over the long term can hardly be doing mathematics (Ma, 1999).

Nonetheless, the fluidity expressed with regard to moving across the stages is something the Maths No Problem scheme of lessons does not make explicit. According to Hoong’s interpretation of Bruner’s theory (Hoong et. al. 2015), students who understand the abstract concept shouldn’t be always required to start their learning from the concrete stages. For instance, I have used concrete objects and pictorial representations as means of deducing reasoning of the abstract understanding among pupils rather than starting the lesson with the stages of the CPA approach. This however was not the practice among the other classes in the school who followed the Maths No Problem textbook lesson structure.

To summarise, incorporating the CPA approach flexibly meeting the needs of the learners in the classroom, and establishing connections between different manipulatives, representations and abstract ideas (Askew, 2010) would form an effective mechanism of teaching arithmetic for understanding.

Mixed-ability grouping

“Teaching in small peer-based groups has been used widely to enhance the active participation of pupils in educational settings for many years” (Ambreen, 2017). The relationship between group work and learning evolves from the theories proposed by Piaget and Vygotsky (Fawcett and Garton, 2005). The importance of peer interaction in the cognitive development of a child was a striking feature of Piaget’s learning theory. He believed that in group work, children can explain and verbalize an activity to each other and therefore get a greater insight into the problem through shared learning experiences (Gray and MacBlain 2015). According to Vygotsky (Vygotsky, 1978), the social and individual processes are interdependent in the construction of knowledge also called the sociocultural approach to learning. This approach of interactive learning enhances pupils’ cognitive development when takes place between more and less competent. This process of interactional change that occurs in cognitive development is termed as “the Zone of Proximal development” in the sociocultural approach (Cole, 1985).

These principles are applied through various forms of collaborative and cooperative learning opportunities in the educational system (Jarvis, 2005). However, until recently, these groups for learning were primarily based on the ability of the pupils. This was mainly due to the notion, that teachers could then offer work to children which was more appropriate for their level (Boaler, 2015). The 2008 review of research on grouping strategies in Primary schools drew unequivocal conclusions that showed the absence of academic benefits and rather negative consequences on child development (Blatchford et al. 2008). This ability grouping indirectly sends out a message that ‘ability’ is permanent and therefore develops a fixed mindset that relies on the belief that either pupils are smart or not (Boaler, 2015). Many other types of research have pointed to similar detrimental effects of ability grouping to both the lower and higher groups whereby the higher groups become fearful to make mistakes. This could also prevent them from attempting more challenging work (Boaler, 1997; Boaler, 2013a; Boaler and William, 2001; Boaler, William, and Brown, 2001).

This practice was still prevalent in School X, where children were either grouped within their class into tables of higher ability and lower ability, or pupils were grouped into top and bottom sets dividing them between two classes of the same year group. The Ofsted report for School X has identified the next steps as promoting pupil progress in mathematics, especially achieving higher standards for the more able pupils (School X Ofsted report). Based on the evidence from the previously mentioned research, it is probable to concur that ability grouping could be playing some part in hindering pupils making progress in mathematics in School X.

Researchers have consistently found that providing ‘Opportunity to learn’ plays a crucial part in school success and student achievement. When all students are provided opportunities to be exposed to advanced maths within classes regularly, the achievement outcomes improved for both the low and high-achieving students (Burris, Heubert, and Levin, 2006). This in turn promotes the idea of a ‘growth mindset’ whereby pupils believe that the harder they work, the smarter they get (Dweck, 1999, 2006)- paper on Singapore approach

With the strong drive in the new national curriculum promoting learning for all, there is now less emphasis on ‘ability’ grouping and greater on teaching the whole class. Whilst teaching for mastery it is vital to accept that with individual differences there will be variety in learning outcomes. These differences in outcomes will be with regard to the depth of learning achieved by pupils rather than the quantity they have learned (Askew, 2016).

One way of effective teaching in a mixed ability class at a whole class level requires providing the children with multi-level open-ended tasks also called ‘Low floor, high ceiling tasks. (For example, while teaching in School X, I would often give a number to children in their table groups, and each group had to show me different ways that they could make that number using the four operations of arithmetic). The teacher’s role within these lessons would be to facilitate high-end discussions by guiding the pupils to extend their thinking through the appropriate usage of key vocabulary. In addition, students should be offered choices of various tasks that address different levels of mathematics and the flexibility that doesn’t require them to always work on the same tasks (Boaler, 2016). In light of this, I introduced the chili challenge within my mathematics lessons. For every question, students were given choices of different tasks based on the heat of the chili. They could choose which tasks they would like to attempt. An example of this would be for the anchor task word problem, the pupils were given options of mild chili (which would be representing the problem in at least one way and then solving it), medium hot chili (which would be showing different ways of representing the problem, and different ways of solving it if any) and red-hot chili (which would be solving the problem and then using manipulatives to explain how they solved it). This provided opportunities for all children regardless of their abilities to be involved with the learning.

‘Complex Instruction’ is another effective strategy recommended for teaching a mixed-ability class (Boaler, 2016 Cohen and Lotan, 2014). This strategy involves assigning roles to each member of the group and encourages pupils the importance of group talks through good questioning, valuing different ideas and approaches, connecting a variety of methods, and calculating and evaluating solutions (Boaler, 2008).

The Singaporean textbook approach, which was used at School X, recommends the whole class moving at broadly the same pace within the lessons. The beginning of the lesson is usually a contextualized open-ended problem that requires whole class engagement and participation. The collaborative work within the groups involves the use of manipulatives, representations, and conversations around possible solutions. This helps develop a classroom whereby there are opportunities for discussions amongst children of all abilities enhancing their understanding of the mathematics on hand. The scheme has some positive impact on developing growth mindsets for effective whole-class teaching. It further gives the basis for teachers to spend more time exploring Maths as every lesson follows the same structure of exploration, reflection, and practice (Boyd, 2017). This scheme approach does not place emphasis on task or content differentiation thereby avoiding in-class grouping through prior attainment (DfE, 2014).

Along with the ones discussed in depth within this essay, there are other aspects that contribute to the effective teaching of arithmetic. Some of those are planning lessons in a sequential manner (planning for progression) in order to cover the smaller steps needed to introduce the big ideas, within each such lesson using carefully selected few examples that extend pupils thinking rather than lots of different ones (variation theory) and the teacher talk within the lesson which facilitates learning through questioning and verbal reasoning. In addition to the teaching practices, creating a classroom environment that promotes challenges, and embraces struggle and mistakes is equally important to ensure good mathematics learning for all.

References

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Smoking is defined by Healthofchildren (2020), as the inhalation of smoke by smoldering tobacco mostly used in three forms such as cigars, pipes, and cigarettes. The most preventable death in the United Kingdom is caused by smoking according to the World Health Organization (WHO 2005). The purpose of this assignment is to discuss statistics, the impact on health of the patients and others caused by passive smoking, interventions, and the effect on NHS, environmental, economic, and social factors at a national level.

In England, roughly two million people quit smoking by 2018 contrasting 2011 and the smoking prevalence in adults is persisting to decrease and reached 14.4% in 2018 in comparison with 14.9% in 2017 which represents a decline of nearly 175,000 people and 19.8% in 2013 (Selbie, 2018).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS 2018), and Public Health England (PHE 2019), indicate that adult smoking behavior in the UK has changed taking the expected smokers figure to an estimated 6 million in England. The greatest decrease in smoking prevalence is among people aged between 18 to 24-year-old, attaining 17.8% in 2017 contrasted with 25.7% in 2011. People of ages 25 to 34-year-old, remain of specific concern as in spite of attempts to reduce differences, the rates persist in the top ratio at 19.7% of existing smokers while people of age 65 and above stay on at the lowest prevalence rate of 8.1% representing almost 914,000 people.

Smoking behaviors are influenced by many factors. The environment of habitation, and neighborhood influence smoking behaviors. Besides, socio-economic factors are important in smoking behaviors. According to Moor et al. (2015; p. 462) and PHE (2019) statistics, people from low-income families were more likely to smoke where one in four are smokers, than those from more affluent backgrounds where one in ten people smoke, out of work people are prone to smoke nearly twice as individuals who work and smoking prevalence in people with a serious psychological disorder is mainly two and a half times higher than the nationwide average. Many social factors affect the tendency towards smoking but family factors such as the relationship between teens and their parents and the satisfaction they have in schools affect their tendency towards smoking (Bjerregaard and Larsen, 2018; p. 5).

Also, there are social impacts of tobacco smoking on both active smokers and their close circle of family and friends, in teenagers, for instance, the onset of cigarette smoking is encouraged or discouraged by the type of neighborhoods surrounding teenagers (Cambron et al., 2018; p. 374).

Allender et al (2009), state that smoking has a health burden on the smoker both in the short-run and in the long run causing severe illnesses and some can be fatal. Smoking causes over fifty diseases such as stroke, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and heart disease, plus nearly every organ of the body is damaged triggering a decrease in quality of life and life expectancy (Ewles, 2005). Smoking has been identified by Cho et al. (2016, p. 112), as a risk factor in the development of dementia and as well as the associated decline in the cognitive function of the victims.

In a study by Cho et al. (2016, p.114), 977 participants were sorted into three categories based on their history of smoking. It was identified that cognitive function declined when the length of smoking was used as a continuous variable. Besides, smoking has particular impacts on coronary heart ailments. In a study that used over 25 cohorts in a Cox regression analysis and over 50,000 participants, over 75% of the participants died from coronary heart diseases caused by prolonged smoking (Mons et al., 2015; p. 1551).

Smoking impacts the recovery of patients after undergoing treatments such as surgery. It was found that smokers had a higher rate of postoperative complications than non-smokers (Schmid et al., 2015; p. 223). Complications such as premature birth, stillbirth, a low birth weight baby, or even miscarriages are caused by smoking during pregnancy and put the mother’s health at risk as well as the health of the unborn baby. To illustrate the impact of smoking on passive smokers, studies on the exposure to tobacco smoke of pregnant women have been conducted with interesting results. In one study, pregnant women were screened using the cotinine test of their saliva coupled with a personal declaration of exposure to tobacco smoke (Salihu et al., 2015; p.205). The research identified that although the expectant mothers were not active smokers, passive exposure to tobacco is lethal to the developing fetus.

Public Health England (PHE, 2019) reveals that on average 10 years of life are lost by smoking people and about 78,000 deaths occur yearly in the UK which symbolizes 16% of mortalities are caused by smoking. NHS and the wider economy and society are also substantially affected by smoking. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS, 2018), around 485,000 hospital admissions due to smoking-related diseases were assessed in England in 2016 and 2017, with the total cost reaching £851.6 million. In 2010/2011 in England were dispensed 2.56 million prescriptions compared to 0.86 million in 2017/2018, with a cost estimate of £144.8 million. In 2015 the cost of NHS to smoking-related care was a total of £2.6 billion, from which £1.1 billion was for primary care according to GOV.UK (2017).

Due to the increased number of smoking people, in England a smoking ban was introduced as the effect of the Health Act 2006, making it illegal to smoke in all sheltered places all over the country, and came into force on 1 July 2007 (GOV.UK, 2015). More rules and regulations regarding smoking, and tobacco end e-cigarettes followed to help decrease the number of smoking people and to protect children and young people from being harmed (GOV.UK, 2015). For example, smoking in a private vehicle that is carrying a person under 18 years of age, but the same rule does not apply to e-cigarettes according to GOV.UK, (2015)

Feasible strategies include Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) where smokers are encouraged to slowly quit smoking by consuming nicotine through other ways (chewing gum and inhalers) other than smoking (NHS, 2019). There are medications such as varenicline, and bupropion that removes the craving withdrawal symptoms related to stopping smoking. E-cigarettes have also been used to help quit smoking with better results posted than patches and gums (NHS, 2019). In recent years, there have emerged behavioral support programs that minimize the desire to smoke. Other methods include education, training, and campaigns NICE, (2018).

Smoking is a public health concern because not only active smokers get affected by tobacco smoke but also non-smokers who are exposed to smoking through a range of risk factors including passive smoking and air pollution. Therefore, the importance of the joint obligation that the smoker has toward society is undeniable. Consequently, advising smokers and supporting them to quit and avert them to exhibit their smoking habits in public is essential.

References:

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