• Are Standardized Tests Just Standard?

    Posted on by Sierra Knapp

    Standardized Tests are the new normal in schools across the country. These tests are designed to make sure that the student is ready for the next grade and if they should be put into a remedial class. However, these tests are damaging our students early on in their educational career due to high stress, the chance of not getting into an elective

    Standardized Test Form

    class, and making students feel insignificant when not doing well on them.

     

    A standardized test is a test that schools do to ensure that the student can comprehend the material that they have learned that school year. To be more specific, it’s a “form of test that (1) requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way, and that (2) is scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance of individual students or groups of students” (Liberty).

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  • The Problems with Nuclear Waste Disposal in the U.S.

    Posted on by Sierra Knapp

    Nuclear waste, also known as radioactive waste, is disposed of to not harm nature, anyone, and anything because it is harmful. Electricity industries produce waste and therefore must be disposed of to safeguard the health of humans and lessen the impact of the environment. However, there are problems that come with the disposal of this waste and the importance of knowing these can benefit the environment and yourself. However, there are some solutions in the works as well.

    Nuclear reactors make waste, but what exactly entails that waste? Other than it causing a rise in getting cancers and other horrifying health concerns, “[n]uclear waste is the material that nuclear fuel becomes after it is used in reactor” (whatisnuclear). For now, the waste is kept underwater for a few years because water is a good shield from preventing toxicity to anything and then it is shielded by concrete in large storage casks. There are other options for a final disposal like “deep geologic storage and recycling” (whatisnuclear).

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  • Prisoners Entering Back Into the “Real World” – How to Help Them Adapt

    Posted on by Sierra Knapp

    Many prisoners re-commit crimes because they find it difficult to cope with “real world” after spending years in prison. What can be done to help them adapt to the new reality after leaving prison? Let’s look at what happens when they are released, why it’s possible for them to re-commit crimes, and what could be done to help inside and outside of prison.

    More than half of the prisoners in the world will re-commit crimes because they can’t adapt back into the “real world.” According to an article, “Each year more than 60,000 criminals are given sentences of less than a year for theft and violence ­offences. On average, they will have committed 16 crimes before going to jail” (Dore).

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  • Unconscious Bias and How It Affects Decision Making

    Posted on by Sierra Knapp

    Unconscious bias is something that affects everyone at some point. It’s something that can be controlled and challenged within yourself. What exactly is unconscious bias, how does it affect our decision-making process, and how do we deal with it? This is especially important in the work place because you don’t want your decision making to be affected by your bias and your leadership skills will suffer if not dealt with correctly.

    According to Dr. Renee Navarro, bias is “a prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another usually in a way that’s considered to be unfair. Biases may be help by an individual group, institution and can have negative or positive consequences” (Unconscious Bias). There are two types of biases: Conscious and Unconscious bias. “Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals from outside their own conscious awareness” and that everyone has these unconscious beliefs about social groups.

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  • Learning a Second Language Benefits and Importance

    Posted on by Sierra Knapp

    Learning a second language is beneficial in many ways. Schools of all grades start teaching another language early on to enhance memorability and fun. The number of people learning a second language is increasing. The benefits are there and are proof that everyone should learn a second language.

    Learning a second language, of any kind, at an early age, has major benefits. “Children who grow up learning a foreign language from an early age – starting as early as three years old- benefit tremendously” (Frontiers Academy). Frontier Academy has also listed five benefits of learning another language at an early age. They are: “Better Linguistics, Cognitive Benefits, Higher Academic Achievement, Cultural Enrichment and Societal Contributions” (Frontier Academy).

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  • Should Americans Acquire Stricter Gun Laws?

    Posted on by Sierra Knapp
    FOR RELEASE SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2016, AT 3:01 A.M. EDT.-This photo taken Nov. 19, 2015, shows Melissa Heisler looking at a H&K P2000sk . The store has seen the sale of compact pistols, which are easier to conceal, after the terror attacks in Paris. ( Jeremy Long/Lebanon Daily News via AP)

    Mass shootings are events that are, unfortunately, a common tragedy now. Every year, there seems to be a handful of these misfortunes that Americans ‘pray’ and pledge that ‘we aren’t afraid.’ Yet, it seems to continue, year after year, with an individual or some individuals, that rain down terror at an event to be of happiness and fun. I’ll examine the gun laws in some states that are upheld now, two tragic mass shooting events, and why I think America should get stricter gun laws considering these events.

    First, the gun law in Nebraska is that “open carry is legal … with a valid license to carry, and you can have a handgun in your vehicle without a permit so long as it is clearly visible” and the Nebraska Constitution states that “… the right to keep and bear arms for security or defense of self, family, home, and others, and for lawful common defense, hunting, recreational use, and all other lawful purposes, and such rights shall not be denied or infringed by the state or any subdivision thereof” (Ciyou). In contrast to North Dakota’s law: “Open carry is legal in North Dakota with a valid license to carry, but you can carry an unloaded handgun without a license during daylight hours, or at any time on your property” (Ciyou). And even contrasting with Arkansas: “Arkansas is a constitutional carry state, meaning that anyone legally allowed to possess a handgun may carry it open or concealed without a license’ (Ciyou).

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  • Is “Citizen Kane” the Best Film Ever Made?

    Posted on by Sierra Knapp

    Orson Welles directs and stars in a stunning film that came out in 1941 and is regarded as a ‘masterpiece’ and many critics claim it to be the ‘greatest film of all time.’ Let’s look at why it’s claimed as such and if I agree with this.

    Orson Welles Citizen Kane (1941) is about a newspaper tycoon named Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, who dies in the first 3 minutes of the film and whispers the word ‘rosebud.’ The whole film is a flashback, within flashbacks, on other characters point of views on Kane. A reporter trying to figure out who and why his last word was ‘rosebud.’ A look into Kane’s life as a publishing newspaper tycoon and how no one really knows what he wanted in life.

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  • Thermodynamics and Perpetual Motion Machines (Don’t Exist – Why?)

    Posted on by Sierra Knapp

    Physics is the type of science that deals with the laws of nature. Thermodynamics is a field in physics that we will focus on today as well as the basic understanding of what perpetual motion machines are and the why and how they can’t exist.

    Physics has a field in what is called “thermodynamics.” The field focuses on heat transfers between properties such as density, temperature, and pressure. Thermodynamics “focuses largely on how a heat transfer is related to various energy changes within a physical system undergoing a thermodynamic process,” usually guided by the laws of the field (Jones).

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  • Optical Resolutions and Seeing Through Regular Telescopes

    Posted on by Sierra Knapp

    With a normal telescope, or any telescope for that matter, we cannot see artifacts on the moon. Even the Hubble telescope cannot see the flag that was left on the moon from Apollo 11. With understanding what optical resolution is and the lunar landing artifacts, then we can understand why we cannot see them on the moon with a normal telescope.

    Telescopes get light from a large area and bring it into focus, but each focus depends on the light and the design (Optical). Resolution, in telescopes, “…determines how small a detail can be resolved in the image it forms” (Sacek). Or just to simply put it, “the sharpness of an image” (Optical). Would you like it if you’re looking out in the night sky, searching for a specific constellation or looking at the craters on the moon, and can’t seem to get a pleasant view of them because it’s so blurry? Therefore, the design of the telescope for resolution is important.

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  • What is Lucid Dreaming?

    Posted on by Sierra Knapp

    Have you ever had a dream where you are aware that you are dreaming? Lucid dreaming is exactly that. Sounds interesting, but it can become someone’s worst fear, especially when you are having a nightmare. This paper will discuss what lucid dreaming is, how this happens to some people, and why it can be so frightening.

    What exactly is lucid dreaming? It’s basically when you are dreaming and you become aware of it while you are still sleeping. When you do this, you can “Explore your dreamworld with total clarity. Everything you see, hear, touch, taste, and smell can be authentic as reality; Fulfill any fantasy. Fly over mountains, have dream sex, go base jumping, shapeshifting, [and/or] time traveling; Overcome persona psychological issues; Tap into your inner creativity” (Turner). It truly is an experience worth trying, if not already doing it.

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