Corporal Punishment and Its Effects on a Childs Behavior - Free Essay Example

Corporal Punishment and Its Effects on a Childs Behavior Historically, corporal punishment has been has been identified as whipping, flogging and branding. Recently, though, spanking children as punishment for misbehavior has become the definition of corporal punishment. Parents use corporal punishment to correct a childs behavior and to show authority. Traditionally, corporal punishment has been popular among Protestant Christians as a form of correction for their children because of its Biblical roots. Reverend Michael Pearl wrote his book To Train Up a Child based on the Biblical references to corporal punishment. Corporal punishment has become popular because it is an easy and quick form of discipline, and in todays fast paced society, parents do not want to take time to correct a childs behavior in a more time consuming way. Although corporal punishment is seen as a useful method by many parents, it has been proven to cause antisocial behavior, impulsive aggression and other behavioral problems and should not be used as a form of puni shment. Children who have been physically punished are more aggressive and antisocial than those children who have not been exposed to corporal punishment. Corporal punishment has been justified for thousands of years by Protestant Christians and their interpretation of the Old Testament. Versus in the book of Proverbs refer to physical punishment by use of a rod or other hitting device. One verse from Proverbs states, a path of life is his who heeds admonition, bet he who disregards reproof goes astray (Proverbs 10:17). This verse is saying that any person who does not use reproof of punishment will stray from the correct path of life. Parents have used versus such as this one to justify physical punishment to their children. Reverend Michael Pearl and his wife co-author a book entitled To Train Up a Child, which justifies the use of corporal punishment based on the biblical references. Several cases of childrens death and serious injury due to corporal punishment have been linked to Pearls book. An article written by Bryan Lowder tells the story of a couple from Washington was held accountable for the death of their 13-year-old adopted daughter. She was beaten with a plumbing tool, starved, made to sleep and go to the bathroom outside and was found 30 pounds underweight wrapped in a sheet in the backyard. The couple had read Pearls book and used it as a guide to punishing children. Other cases similar to this have been directly linked to Pearls evangelical book using biblical roots to justify harsh corporal punishment inflicted on children (Lowder). In Philip Grevens book Spare the Child he discusses the true message of the Bible regarding corporal punishment. He argues that in the New Testament, Jesus is loving and nurturing towards children and never advocates the use of physical punishment.  Ã‚   He states that parents have used corporal punishment because it is the will of God, and if they did not use corporal punishment they do not love their child and care about his well-being (Greven). The use of corporal punishment on children has shown to increase the amount of anti-social behavior and other behavioral problems in children. Murray A. Straus and Vera E. Mouradian conducted a study to show the relationship between the use of corporal punishment and the behavior of children. They interviewed 1,003 mothers over the phone to gather information about whether or not they used corporal punishment, how frequent the use was, if it was impulsive or not and if they were nurturing to their children all over the course of a six-month period. They also asked questions about the childrens behavior in order to correlate the use of CP and the childs behavior. They asked if children were acting out against other people including the childs family, teachers, and peers (Straus et. Al. 360) as well as if the child was cruel, mean, or destroyed possessions. These aggressive behaviors are categorized as anti-social behavior in Straus and Mouradians study. They found, after interviewing the mothers, that the more corporal punishment that was used by the mother, the more anti-social behavior the child exhibited. They also asked mothers how frequent temper tantrums were and if a child committed any unpredictable explosive acts, which were categorized as impulsive behavior. Similar to the result of anti-social behavior, the amount of impulsive behavior in children was directly related to greater amounts of corporal punishment. Straus and Mouradian not only looked at corporal punishment in general, but they broke it down into two categories of impulsive and controlled corporal punishment. The use of cororal punishment can also lead to another issue, impulsive corporal punishment. This occurs when a parent loses control while punishing a child, causing the parent to exceed the necessary amount of punishment. This could simply be acting out of anger instead of intent to correct behavior. Straus and Mouradian wanted to test if impulsive corporal punishment had a larger effect on children than controlled corporal punishment. Mothers were asked if they ever lost control or came close to losing control and the data showed that the more frequently corporal punishment was used, the more impulsive it became and the heavier the effects were on the child. The end result of this study showed that the more corporal punishment is used and the more impulsive it is, the more anti-social behavior and the more impulsive behavior by children (Straus et. al. 372). Corporal punishment has a direct correlation with increased amounts of impulsive aggression and anti-social behavior in child ren. A childs genetic and cultural surroundings could increase the negative effects on children and cause them to be more distinct. A study conducted by Brian B. Boutwell et al. looks at the effects of several different genetic and cultural risk factors that could also be playing a role in childrens behavior. Instead of just looking at the correlation between corporal punishment and a childs behavior, like the study done by Straus and Mouradian, this study looks at the several genetic risk factors such as race, sex, maternal depression , family adversity, the use of corporal punishment and self-control and their relationship to a childs behavior problems. Each child was given a score by adding up the scores given to each factor and its intensity. For example, for the factor of family adversity mothers were asked how often they argued with their spouses, and the more frequent the arguing, the higher the score given to the child in that environment. This study concluded that both corporal p unishment and genetic risk increased behavior problems individually. When comparing the statistics of corporal punishment and behavioral problems and genetic risk factors and behavioral problems this study discovered that corporal punishment has a more pronounced effect for children with greater genetic risk (Boutwell et.al 565). This study confirms that corporal punishment increases behavioral problems in children, but it also shows that a childs surroundings can increase the impact of the use of corporal punishment on children. A study done by Andrew Grogan-Kaylor discusses the relationship between corporal punishment and childrens behavior. Similar to the studies by Stratus and Mouradian and Boutwell et. al, this study asked parents questions about the frequency of both their use of corporal punishment and specific behavioral problems exhibited by the child. They also looked at the relationship of age, race and sex and antisocial behavior. One conclusion they came to was that childrens age had an effect on levels of anti-social behavior, in that older children exhibited higher levels of anti-social behavior (Grogan-Kaylor 158) They found that older children, over the age of 10, exhibited more antisocial behavior than younger children. Race and sex, however, did not have any effect on the behavior of the children. Through all of the testing that was conducted, it was found that corporal punishment increased the anti-social behavior in children. In fact, the study showed that low levels of corporal punishmen t impacted behavior just as much as higher levels of corporal punishement. Other studies, such as the ones done by Straus and Mouradian and Bouwtell et. al, studied to find a direct correlation between increased corporal punishment and increased antisocial behavior. These two studies confirmed that increased levels of corporal punishment result in increased anti-social behavior. However, the study done by Grogan-Kaylor found that the effect of of corporal punishment on antisocial behavior is nonlinear (Grogan-Kaylor 161). According to this study, small amounts of corporal punishment increase the amount of antisocial behavior in children just as much as higher levels of corporal punishment. It is understandable as to why parents would use corporal punishment, justified by the bible or simply to keep children in line. Never is it understandable to beat a child, but a spanking as punishment is quick and easy. But, knowing the impact of this type of physical punishment on a child changes things. As a parent one should know that corporal punishment can cause anti-social and impulsive behavior. If a parent stops and thinks about the long term effects instead of the short term expediency of spanking, they very well may look at the other options. Options such as rewarding positive behavior, talking about the issue, time outs, et cetera. Corporal punishment has been found to have negative effects on children, and therefore it should simply not be used.

Driving Higher-order Thinking and Project-based Learning with Design

How do you help four secondary schools and 250 teachers incorporate technology into the classroom? It's a question that Joseph Martin and Diana Allison, Technology Integration Coaches at East Stroudsburg Area School District, are constantly trying to answer for 6th-12th grade classes in their school district. Joseph and Diana rotate between multiple schools to coach teachers from any content area on finding ways to deepen learning with technology. Related: Quick guide to scientific research poster presentations One of the technologies that Joseph and Diana use to increase higher-order thinking without overcomplicating the learning process is Lucidpress, a cloud-based design platform. Learn how teachers and students use Lucidpress's intuitive user experience and robust feature set to collaborate on assignments that increase complex judgmental skills such as critical thinking and problem solving from home or at school. Design that drives higher-order thinking Time and again, Joseph and Diana have seen Lucidpress help students take the concepts they're learning and put them in their own words, infusing class material with their unique personalities. Whether they create and present an interactive lab report or publish a magazine about a historical event in social studies class, students practice higher-order thinking as they decide what to include and how to design the piece. These projects also help students become more emotionally and personally invested in the learning process. In addition to increasing personal investment, completing design-oriented assignments also helps students ask critical questions about the visual elements needed to communicate a message effectively. For example, visual design can affect credibility—you probably wouldn't want to present a science report in garish colors. Adding design encourages students to become more sensitive to audience and context as they convey information. In Joseph's own words: "Tying in visual literacy and media literacy along with the content students are learning allows them to think deeper about the material. They need to be able to justify why they include visual elements, such as an embedded YouTube video. The ability to add new layers to content in and of itself allows them to go much deeper than they would if they were creating a simple poster." Whether they're creating a trifold brochure or poster, and whether they're starting with a template or designing from scratch, students at East Stroudsburg Area School District have become more invested in lesson content as they use Lucidpress to embed videos, integrate images, and select colors to express classroom content in their own way. Robust technology that's easy to use Looking to standardize and streamline technology and software across high schools and middle schools in the district, Brian Borosh needed a design solution that was easy enough for middle school students to learn but robust enough for complex high school projects. Once again, Lucidpress was able to deliver. "Teachers in the district love Lucidpress for the ease of use," Brian says. Because Lucidpress is so intuitive, students and teachers from a variety of age groups and technological familiarity were able to start designing right away. In addition to being easy to use, Lucidpress provided all of the essential design features: "As a former desktop publishing teacher, I needed to be able to teach all of the elements of layout, design and templates. I needed to be able to talk about objects. I can do all of that in Lucidpress." With the robust features and an intuitive interface, high school students use Lucidpress to create and publish a school newspaper. Middle schools create lab reports, trifolds and brochures for science classes. In fact, even the administrative team has inquired about using Lucidpress to create curriculum directories they can distribute to parents to inform them about their program of study. How to use Lucidpress with Google Classroom Here are a couple examples of student designs in Lucidpress: 7th grade - Social media / digital footprint brochure High school - Cavalier Times newspaper Technology conference - Spring into Technology program Cloud-based software that saves class time One challenge with other design solutions the school district tried in the past is that students didn't have access to the design software from home. Teachers had to spend valuable class time on design assignments instead of asking students to work on incomplete assignments after school. Joseph explains: "When students worked on a design at school, they often could not work on it at home. We needed a design solution that students could access anywhere, anytime. We needed to eliminate excuses that students didn't have enough class time to finish projects. We could finally tell students that they could finish outside the school day, which allowed teachers more time to do other things in their class. Lucidpress was a huge classroom time saver." Collaboration that drives project-based learning The East Stroudsburg Area School District wants to give students ample opportunities to learn collaboratively, and Lucidpress delivers: "We like our students to work collaboratively together, whether it be in the classroom or after-school clubs. The collaborative nature of Lucid products enabled students to work on a shared document and to provide each other with constructive feedback during the creation process." With Lucidpress EDU Premium, it was easy to set up collaboration between classes—even between schools. Cross-curricular projects helped students to create deeper connections with the subject matter and collaborate with their classmates on a variety of projects: "Lucidpress EDU Premium made sense because we could set up an enrollment via their district Gmail account, and it was easy to share with everyone. Having everyone's account in the same container made things much easier to manage. With so many cross-building clubs that are from our north and south high schools and our extensive cross-curricular projects, seamless collaboration and easy account management were essential." What do cross-curricular, project-based assignments look like? Joseph provided a quick example: "If a 9th-grade science class wanted to do a project with a social studies class, students could create one document and they can work simultaneously." With innovative, cross-curricular assignments that encourage higher-order thinking and project-based learning, East Stroudsburg Area School District is bringing students, teachers and administrators together to communicate visually. What could Lucidpress do for your school? Bonus: Printable case study View, download & print this case study here. Do your students #learnvisually? See how Lucidpress provides schools with powerful publishing tools at free & discounted rates.