Rocky Mountains Or Rockies Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

Rocky Mountains Or Rockies Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers Rocky Mountains Or Rockies Rocky Mountains or Rockies, great chain of rugged mountain ranges in western North America, extending from central New Mexico to northeastern British Columbia, a distance of about 3220 km (about 2000 mi). The Great Basin and the Rocky Mountain Trench, a valley running from northwestern Montana to northern British Columbia, border the Rockies on the east by the Great Plains and on the west. The Rocky Mountains form part of the Great, or Continental, Divide, which separates rivers draining into the Atlantic or Arctic oceans from those flowing toward the Pacific Ocean. The Arkansas, Colorado, Columbia, Missouri, Rio Grande, Saskatchewan, and Snake rivers rise in the Rockies. The Rockies may be divided into four principal sectionsSouthern, Central, Northern, and Canadian. The Southern Rockies, which include the system's broadest and highest regions, extend from central New Mexico, through Colorado, to the Great Divide, or Wyoming, Basin, in southern Wyoming. This section, which encompasses Rocky Mountain National Park, is composed chiefly of two northern-southern belts of mountain ranges with several basins, or parks, between the belts. The component parts include the Sanger de Crisco and Laramie mountains and the Front Range, in the east, and the San Juan Mountains and the Swatch and Park ranges, in the west. The Southern Rockies include the chain's loftiest point, Mount Elbert (4399 m/14,433 ft high), in central Colorado. More than 50 other peaks of the Rockies rising above 4267 m (14,000 ft) are in Colorado; these include Longs Peak (4345 m/14,255 ft high) and Pikes Peak (4301 m/14,110 ft high). The Central Rockies are in northeastern Utah, western Wyoming, eastern Idaho, and southern Montana. They encompass the Bighorn; Bear tooth, and Unite Mountains and the Absaroka, Wind River, Salt River, Teton, Snake River, and Wasatch ranges. The Unite Mountains are the only major portion of the Rockies that extends east west rather than north south. Among the peaks of the Central Rockies, which include Grand Eton and Yellowstone national parks, are Gannett Peak (4207 m/13,804 ft high), Grand Eton (4197 m/13,771 ft high), and Fremont Peak (4185 m/13,730 ft high). The Northern Rockies are in northern Idaho, western Montana, and northeastern Washington. They include the Saw tooth, Cabinet, Salmon River, and Clearwater Mountains and the Bitterroot Range. The loftiest points in the section, which includes Glacier National Park, are Granite Peak (3901 m/12,799 ft high) and Borax Peak (3859 m/12,662 ft high). The Canadian Rockies, located in southwestern Alberta and eastern British Columbia, are composed of a relatively narrow belt of mountain ranges that terminates at the Lizard River lowland in northeastern British Columbia. The peaks of the section, which takes in Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Waterton Lakes, and Yoho National Parks, include Mount Robson (3954 m/12,972 ft high), Mount Columbia (3747 m/12,294 ft high), and The Twins (3734 m/12,251 ft high). Slopes generally are very steep, and there are numerous glaciers. The Rocky Mountains are a geologically complex system with jagged peaks as well as almost flat-topped elevations. The Rockies were formed mainly by crustal uplifts in comparatively recent times, during the late Cretaceous and early Tertiary periods, and later were reshaped by glaciation during the Pleistocene Epoch. Today the Rockies receive moderate amounts of precipitation, most of which occurs in the winter. Lower levels are covered chiefly by grassland, which gives way to extensive forests, principally of conifers. Above the woodland is a zone of grasses and scattered shrubs. Most peaks have little vegetation around the summit, and some have a year-round cap of snow and ice. The Rockies are sparsely populated for the most part and contain few cities. The principal economic

Reinforcement in Applied Behavior Analysis

Reinforcement in Applied Behavior Analysis Reinforcement can mean lots of things to different people. In the science of Applied Behavior Analysis, it has a very specific and narrow definition. That it is narrowly defined by its function does not narrow the range of possibilities: it can be money, smiles, warm water or an infinite number of things. Reinforcement and ABA Reinforcement is any stimulus (something that a sensory organ can experience) that will increase the likelihood of a behavior reappearing. Can a high pitched noise be a reinforcer? Yes, if the organism finds it pleasurable. Can a punch in the face lead to reinforcement? Yes, if it eliminates some of the throbbing pain of a toothache. A practitioner of Applied Behavior Analysis will seek out the function of a behavior by questioning how a consequence of the behavior creates reinforcement for the client/patient/student. Reinforcement on a Continuum Reinforcement happens along a continuum from primary reinforcement ( food, water, other physical reinforcers ) to social reinforcers, such as social attention, praise or recognition. Many children with disabilities do not respond to secondary or social reinforcers since they dont actually function to provide reinforcement. A child who has spent money will find a quarter reinforcing whereas a child with severe autism or cognitive disabilities will not find a quarter reinforcing. Typical children and most adults generally respond to secondary and social reinforcement. We work long hours for monetary amounts that are deposited electrically into bank accounts we access online or with a credit card. The goal of ABA is to move children along the continuum to secondary reinforcers, so that they, too, will work for a paycheck and learn to make choices about how they use the result of their own labor. For many children with disabilities, that needs to be taught, and it is often learned by pairing primary reinforcers with social or secondary reinforcers. Choosing Reinforcement Once the replacement or target behavior is defined in an operational way, the ABA practitioner needs to find reinforcers that will drive the students/clients behavior. Children with significant disabilities may need to be reinforced with primary reinforcers, such as favorite foods, but unless this reinforcement is paired with social or secondary reinforcers, it can create an unhealthy and unsustainable reinforcement strategy. Many sensory reinforcers can be successful with children with significant disabilities, such as low functioning autism when you can discover what sort of sensory toy appeals to children. I have used buzzing toys, spinning toys, and even water play successfully as reinforcers with students with significant language and developmental disabilities. Some of these children like to play with musical toys. It is important to create a rich menu of reinforcers, and continuously add items into a childs reinforcement menu. Reinforcement, like all matters of taste, change. Also, students can sometimes become satiated by too much of a single reinforcer, whether its Blues Clues or Reeses Pieces. Often, practitioners will begin with a Reinforcer Assessment which can be done a number of different ways. A successful practitioner will ask parents or caregivers for the childs preferred foods, television shows or characters, activities, and toys. These are often a good place to start. Reinforcers can then be presented in a structured or unstructured way. Sometimes two or three items are placed in front of the child at a time, often pairing preferred items with new items. Sometimes you can present a child with a large number of reinforcers at one time, and eliminate items a child ignores. Reinforcement Schedules Research has evaluated regular reinforcement (on a schedule, from each correct response to every three or four responses) as well as variable reinforcement (within a range, such as every 3 to 5 correct behaviors.) It has shown that variable reinforcement is the most powerful. When a child/client discovers that they are reinforced for every third correct response, they rush to the third response. When they dont know exactly when they will be reinforced, they tend to have stronger responses, tend to generalize across environments and tend to retain the new behavior. The ratio is important: too high a ratio too early may not help the subject learn the target behavior, too low a ration may lead to reinforcement dependence. As a child/subject learns the target behavior, the practitioner can thin the reinforcement schedule, increasing the ratio, and spreading out the reinforcement over more correct responses. Discrete Trial Teaching Discrete Trial Training or Teaching (more acceptable now) is the principal delivery method for instruction in ABA, though ABA is increasingly employing more naturalistic methods, such as modeling and role-playing. Still, each trial is a three-step process: Instruction, Response, and Feedback. The reinforcement happens during the feedback part of the trial. During feedback, you want to name the target behavior ¸ and in initial trials, you want to begin with a one to one reinforcement schedule. You will reinforce every correct response in a one to one schedule, so your student understands that he/she gets the goodies every time they give you the behavior you want. Success in Reinforcement The most successful reinforcement is when a child/client begins to reinforce themselves. That is the intrinsic reinforcement that some of us receive for doing the things that we value or enjoy the most. But lets face it. None of us would go to work without the paycheck, though many of us accept a lower paycheck (as lowly teachers) because we do love what we do. Success, for many students with disabilities, is to learn to find social interaction, praise and appropriate social interaction as reinforcers, so that they acquire age-appropriate social skills and function. Our hope is that our students will gain the level of social and cognitive function that will give them full and meaningful lives. Appropriate reinforcement will help them achieve that.