Friday, June 22, 2018

Human senses- Identification of six senses in the human

Six human senses

I would like to share my immense happiness on the publication of research "Identification of sixth sense" and getting attention in other countries too. 

Aristotle (390 BCE-350 BCE), the Greek philosopher has viewed that human has five senses-vision, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. In our current research project (2014-2018), we were able to draw that human has six senses. 

(How to cite this article: Jobin, P., Siva, R., Sudha, R., & Hema, V.H. (2018). Intersensory Perception Model: Integrating the sixth sense in providing Nursing care. Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences, 4(1), 8-17.)

The paper defines the sense or sensing is an ability of a human being for identifying and interpreting the stimulus from the external environment through five sensory organs includes eye, nose, ear, tongue, and skin with six senses such as vision, smell, hearing, taste, touch, and auto-thermoception. 

The sensing is categorized into three:

On sight sensing

It is an ability of a human being to see and interpret the surrounding environment in the visible light through the sensory organ called eyes and the response of the nervous system is known as ophthalmoception.

Abut sensing

The word 'abut' is the Anglo-Latin origin, which means 'touch'. It is an ability of the human being to identify and interpret the surrounding environment by making physical contact through sensory organs such as skin and tongue. The response of the nervous system through tongue is called as gustaoception (taste- for example, ability to interpret taste with the contact between tongue and food) and through the skin with the contact of items is called as thermoception (temperature- for instance, ability to differentiate the high and low temperature with the contact between skin and thermal conductor), nociception (pain - for instance, ability to respond to pain with the contact between skin and needle) and mechanoreception (vibration- for example, ability to identify the vibration with the contact between skin and vibrating material).

Remote sensing

Remote sensing is an ability of the human being to acquire and interpret the surrounding environment without making physical contact and out of sight through sensory organs such as ear, nose, and skin. The response of the nervous system through ear is known as audioception (hearing- for instance, the ability of the human ears to acquire the sound waves from the surrounding) and through nose is olfacception (smell- for instance, ability of the human nose to acquire the smell of the particles from the surrounding). The body is covered with skin, which is normally sensitive to heat and cold. The ability of the skin to identify the level of room temperature in the surrounding environment without touching called auto-thermoception.

The figure explains the three modalities of sensing and highlights five sensory organs and six senses.

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Curriculum- Functions, features and types

Curriculum- Functions, features, and types
Functions of a curriculum
  • It states objectives to modify the behavior of the students
  • It offers the subject matter to teach the students
  • It is a platform of learning experiences planned by the school for the students
  • It gives opportunities to the students to mold and to grow in the society
  • It is flexible based on the needs of the society
A nursing curriculum is planned based on the health needs and issues of the society. It is influenced by the policy decisions based on the national health programs.

Features of an outstanding curriculum
  • It should describe theory and way of putting theory into practice
  • It should be able to cope up with the scientific advancements
  • It should deliver knowledge in an efficient and economical way
  • It helps the students to utilize knowledge to live in reality
  • It facilitates the professional and personal growth of students
  • It gives a space for students to think, develop and contribute to the existing body of knowledge
Types of curriculum
Based on philosophical, psychological and sociological principles, there are a few types of curriculum. 
  • Subject-centered curriculum- More emphasis on subjects rather than on children. The students are expected to gain mastery of subject matters that have been predetermined by a panel of experts.
  • Child-centered curriculum- The students determine the direction of their learning following their natural curiosities, interests, and passions. The teacher's role is to facilitate the child's learning by providing a comfortable environment for them. 
  • Activity curriculum- It is also called as a project or experience curriculum. The curriculum is designed based on the interests and purposes of the children being planned cooperatively by the teacher and students. This method is just opposite to passive learning through lectures and observation.
  • Experience curriculum- The child learns from the events, people, the social and emotional environment of the classroom. It also considers that the social experience of the child has an educational value.
  • Undifferentiated curriculum- It aims the development of all-around personality fo the child through integrated experiences by the unification of the subjects. 
  • Basic education curriculum- The purpose is to provide a comprehensive conceptualization of reforms in basic education; pre-primary, primary, secondary and inclusive education.
  • Life centered curriculum- It is designed for students with learning disabilities, aiming to teach the basic life skills to live in the society.
  • Correlated curriculum- It means the establishment of relationships among the various subjects by planning a serious sequence of experiences in one subject field.
  • Integrated curriculum- It means the unification of two or more subjects together to improve student achievements.
  • Official curriculum- In which, the course of the study, duration and aims are officially or traditionally understood by everyone.
  • Institutional curriculum- This curriculum had designed based on the needs of the institution.