Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

This is a Hercule Poirot mystery taking place after M. Poirot has retired. There is a small party held at an older actor’s country home. There is a strange mixture of guests and one of them is M. Poirot. The host fixes the cocktails and guests are served. The vicar sips his drink and drops dead. Is this a natural death or a murder? The host suggested uncomfortably that he is not convinced this was a natural death. His friend, a doctor, feels there was nothing untoward. M. Poirot also feels there was no foul play and departs. 

The actor decides to move away as he finds himself unable to live in this house and also near a young lady who he has come to love and who is too young for him. The second act of the tragedy sees the death of the doctor, in his home, during a dinner party with more or less the same guest list. The news reaches the continent where the actor is and he returns hastily to find out the truth, about the murder of his doctor friend. M. Poirot is also made aware of the second death and is forced to reconsider that he was wrong about the first death. Both the deaths were similar and so both have to be murders.

So begins the hunt for the murderer. All the people who were at the party are suspects. A young man from the first party had not been invited to the second one. Since he crashed into the wall of the doctor’s house, and so gate crashed the party, was he the perpetrator? What are the guests hiding? They all get interviewed by the actor, his young lady friend, another friend and M. Poirot. While all agree that the motive and the murderer will be clear if they examine the first murder, no one seems to fit the bill. After all, the second murder is most likely to have taken place only to cover the first one. 

Hercule Poirot, or should I say Agatha Christie is up to her usual standard of solving a wonderful murder mystery. The motive and so the murderer remains elusive right up to the last chapter of the book and so keeps you hooked. The answers are simple and the plot elegant. This also has been made into a TV movie but is less often shown when compared to other Poirot shows.

Portfolio - A Tool for Learning and Assessment

Portfolios are a fairly popular tool for assessment and also of learning. Many subject areas use this as a tool for presenting learning as it takes place. In the recent years, most professionals (particularly in the health and social care sector) are expected to keep a portfolio to prove their continuing professional development and therefore fitness for registration to the professional body and to practice the profession.

The students learn the skills of portfolio development while undertaking professional courses. Indeed some pre university courses and further education courses also include portfolio development. The tools I have identified in my earlier blogs – Learning Contract, Concept Map and Mind Map – could be included in the portfolio. Indeed the Learning Contract could be used as a framework for the development of the portfolio content.

An extract from –

Williams, M., 2003, ‘Assessment of portfolios in professional education’, Nursing Standard 18(8): 33-37.

“In view of the need to integrate theory and practice, assessment must relate to the monitoring of learners' mastery of a curriculum. According to Harris et al (2001) an educational portfolio is ‘a collection of, record or set of material or evidence that gives a picture of an individual’s experience in an educational or developmental situation’ (pp 278). Using portfolio as a tool can enhance the assessment process by revealing a depth and breadth of a range of skills and understandings on the part of the learner; support learning outcomes; reflect change and growth over a period of time; encourage reflection; and provide for continuity in education (Kemp and Toperoff 1998).

A portfolio can be defined as ". . . a systematic and organized collection of evidence used by the teacher and student to monitor growth of the student's knowledge, skills, and attitudes in a specific subject area. It must include student participation in selecting contents, the criteria for selection, the criteria for judging merit, and evidence of student self-reflection . . . (therefore, it is) a purposeful, collaborative, self-reflective collection of student work generated during the process of instruction" (San Diego County Office of Education 1997). Consequently as Marsh and Lasky (1984) suggest they will provide evidence of the concepts and principles being applied in practice, supporting the integration of theory and practice (Harris et al, 2001).

A portfolio can be described as a systematic and organized collection of evidence to monitor growth of the student's knowledge, skills, and attitudes in a relation to specific learning outcomes. Student generally participates in selecting the content, the criteria for selection and for judging merit, as well as evidence of reflection related to learning. Therefore, it is a purposeful, collaborative, self-reflective collection of student’s work generated during the process of instruction and can be presented for assessment. Consequently as Marsh and Lasky (1984) suggest it will provide evidence of the concepts and principles being applied in practice, supporting the integration of theory and practice (Harris et al, 2001).

Portfolios can consist of a wide variety of materials: classroom notes, student self-reflections, learning logs, sample journal pages or literature reviews, written summaries, audiotapes, videotapes of group projects, reflective diary, evidence of work carried out, witness testimonies and so forth (Valencia, 1990). However, a portfolio is not just random collection of information or student products; but is systematic in that information included relates to the learning outcomes. For example, reflective diary kept by learners over a period of time can serve as a reflection of the degree to which they are building positive professional attitudes, knowledge and skills, one of the crucial benefits of using a portfolio according to Harris et al (2001). Portfolios are multifaceted and begin to reflect the complex nature of professional practice especially in health care. Since the portfolio is developed over time, it serves as a record of growth and progress as commented by some of the students and the supervisors within the study. By asking learners to construct meaning from literature and their own practice, their level of development can be assessed against set standards (Lamme & Hysmith, 1991, Bruce & Middleton 1999).

While there are various methods of portfolio development, majority of research and literature on portfolios emphasize (according to Kemp & Toperoff 1998) that a portfolio needs to clearly reflect learning outcomes identified in the curriculum that learners are expected to study. It must focus upon performance-based learning experiences as well as the acquisition of key knowledge, skills, and attitudes. It should contain samples of work from the entire time of study, rather than single points in time. It is a composite of a variety of different assessment tools with inclusions and evaluations of that work by the learner, peers, mentors and teachers.”

Resources

Introduction to portfolios

Professional Portfolio Development

Portfolios as a tool for assessment

Why use portfolio for assessment?

Fernsten, L. & Fernsten, J., 2005, Portfolio assessment and reflection: enhancing learning through effective practice, Reflective Practice, 6 (2): 303 – 309.

Lewis, K.O. & Baker, R. C., 2007, The Development of an Electronic Educational Portfolio: An outline for Medical Education Professionals, Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 19 (2): 139 – 147.

Grant, A. J., Vermunt, J. D., Kinnersley, P. & Houston, H., 2007, Exploring students' perceptions on the use of significant event analysis, as part of a portfolio assessment process in general practice, as a tool for learning how to use reflection in learning, BMC Medical Education. (Online article)

McCready, T., 2007, Portfolio and the assessment of competence in nursing: A literature review, International Journal of Nursing Studies, 44 (1): 143 – 151.

Liu, E. Z., 2007, Developing a personal and group-based learning portfolio system, British Journal of Educational Technology, 38 (6): 1117 – 1121.

Davis, M. H., Gominda, G. & Ponnamperuma, J.S., 2009, Student perceptions of a portfolio assessment process, Medical Education, 43 (1): 88 – 98.

Skills of Essay Writing

 

Essays are a common method of assessment at all levels of education. This allows students to show their skills and knowledge in relation to the topic being written about. Within the readings about study skills you will have gone through the section on essay writing. Here we will focus a little more on this activity and I will provide you with some further resources that can widen your knowledge about essay writing.

First step in essay writing is choosing a topic. This may or may not be provided by the tutor. Generally most modules in a course will have specific topic area or even the title of the essay. However, there is often the element of choice when only the broad topic area is identified. There are many modules that are developed to allow students to develop the particular aspect of the subject they wish to learn; in this case they will be able to choose their own topic for the essay.

The next step is to outline your ideas. This will mean brainstorming the issues relating to the topic and forming a plan that outlines the way you wish to approach your writing. Here you can use the support from making a Mind Map or a Concept Map which have been discussed in previous blogs.

Next you will have to write up the statement that indicates the outline you have developed to show what the essay is going to be about. This should form part of the introduction to your essay. After the introduction, comes the main body of the essay which should be written out in succinct paragraphs. Finally you conclude the essay with a few clear statements summarising your topic.

Once the draft is complete you need to review and edit the work to ensure that you have kept to the guidelines of the essay; that grammar and flow of writing is correct; references are accurate and presentation is as per the guidelines.

Hounsell (1997) in his book The Experience of Learning has a whole chapter about essay writing. While the research is on essays in the subject of History, it does give a clear understanding of the purpose of essays and their construction.

North, S., 2005, Different values, different skills? A comparison of essay writing by students from arts and science backgrounds, Studies in Higher Education, 30 (5): 517 – 533.

Green, W., 2009, Write on or write off: approaches taken by Asian international students to essay writing in an Australian university, Higher Education Research & Development, 26 (3): 329 – 344.

Redman, P., 2006, Good essay writing: a social sciences guide, Sage publication, London.

Essay Writing for ESL/EFL Students a video worth looking at, as it is aimed at students who have English as a second language.

Nine steps to Writing a Successful College essay is another short video.

How to Write an Effective Essay – a YouTube clip essentially showing the steps we have gone through in this blog..

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

This book starts with someone planning a murder in the prologue. This person plans on the theory that people can be manipulated to behave in ways which will bring about a perfect murder. The main story starts with various characters going about their daily life. The police man, Battle, goes off to rescue his daughter from school where she has been unjustly accused to stealing. Another unrelated individual who is introduced at the start is a man who survived a suicide attempt.

The young tennis player and his new wife are discussing travel and holidays at his relative’s home. The new wife is unhappy about this, as she is sure that the old lady does not like her and also because the ex-wife is also going to be there at the same time. There are other people introduced from the old lady’s household and visitors who gather at this particular time. Everything seems normal but there are undercurrents in the atmosphere that make everyone feel on edge. The ex-wife seems to be holding herself in tight control. A distant relative has come from abroad for a short while and is in love with the ex-wife. The old lady’s companion, who is efficient at running the household and caring for her aunt, seems worried. There are a couple of people staying at the local hotels but are invited for dinner. Then one morning there is news that an elderly gentleman from last night dinner party was found dead in his hotel room. Was it natural causes as the doctor says? After all he had been hinting at recognising a murderer at the party.

In a couple of days, the old lady is found murdered in her room. The maid had been drugged so she cannot be summoned. The police are called in and Battle, who is staying with his nephew the local policeman, gets roped in to help out. There is a lot of routine tedious work of inspecting the scene, going over the house for clues and talking to each one who was at the house the evening before, explained in detail. So all the clues point to the tennis player but he was supposed to be across the bay at a hotel. Is he being framed? If so who is the real killer? Who has a motive? Is someone in need of the money that is bequeathed by the dead woman? Who had the opportunity to commit the murder? It is clear this was an inside job, as an outsider would not be aware of certain things involved in the committing of this murder.

The plot is based on the psychology that people can be manipulated. Given the right circumstances a perfect murder can be committed or at least get someone else blamed. You are kept wondering right up to the end as to who could have done it and why? Help comes from unexpected quarters to give Battle the right answers.

I enjoyed this book but kept waiting for Miss Marple, as in the TV series this role of Battle has been replaced by Miss Marple, who is shown to be the old lady’s friend. She has been asked there by the old lady who was concerned about the meeting up of the various people as guests in her home. The story works well with Battle in charge of the investigations and so not sure why it became a Miss Marple story. However, I have enjoyed both versions and am sure if you will too.

Concept Map - A Tool for Learning and Assessment

A concept map is ‘a schematic device for representing a set of concepts meanings embedded in a framework of propositions.’(Novak & Gowan 1984, pp.15) The concept is usually enclosed in a circle or square and a connecting line and linking words showing the relationship between two concepts. Novak & Cañas (2008) go on to state that most concept maps are hierarchical and thus have the general concepts on top with specific ones situated below. There are cross links to show connections between different parts of the concept map. This cross linking allows for development of new knowledge by making new connections.

A concept map allows prior experience and knowledge to be taken into consideration when integrating new concepts into the knowledge structure. This allows the concept to be externalised and encourages the learner to link old concepts to the new and in so doing promotes learning at a deeper level (Irvin1995, Rideout 2001, Atherton 2002). Consequently, the learning progresses from the known to the unknown. Concept mapping is a particularly good way to organise information, for it helps the learner to pull together information already known about a subject and comprehend new information making learning more meaningful. This also allows the learning process to become transparent and affords the learners with crucial schematic framework to help them relate concrete examples to the conceptual structures and arguments within the subject area explored. (Williams, 2004)

It clarifies for learner and teacher, the key ideas to be focused on for any specific learning task and is intended to represent meaningful relationships between concepts in the form of propositions. A concept map can be likened to a visual road map showing some of the pathways the student may take to connect meanings of concepts using propositions (Shavellson et al, 1994). Post completion of a learning task, the concept map will provide a schematic summary of new learning because meaningful learning proceeds most easily when new perceptions are subsumed under a broader concept, maps ought be hierarchical; that is, from general to specific (Martin, 1994).  However, students are allowed to be innovative. The main concept can be the core of the design without taking away the true meaning of concept mapping, and allow the learner to explore different visual graphic formats which help in retaining the information to be learned. (Abrams, 1997) 

 Visual learning is essential for the learner to clarify the thinking plus process, organise and prioritise new information, and so stimulating creative thinking allowing for understanding of the concept in greater depth. Concept maps are ideal for measuring the growth of individual’s learning as she will reiterate ideas using her own words and any inaccuracies or incorrect links can alert the tutor to what the learner does not understand. An awareness of the explicit role language plays in the exchange of information is vital to appreciating the value and purpose of concept mapping. And, indeed, central to learning and assessing, (Novak & Gowan, 1984) particularly since it is a way of demonstrating and organising knowledge showing relationships between concepts, including bi-directional relationships (Martin 1994). Concept maps are also effective in identifying both valid and invalid ideas held by students.

Nevertheless, there may be some learners who will have difficulty in developing concept maps, as Abrams (1997) suggests ‘not everyone may be able to do it’ as concept mapping lends itself to mainly the constructivist approach to learning. Cicognani (2000) agrees that this method of learning is best suited to individuals who are visual learners as well as to those who have developed skills of synthesis. This seems to be a major disadvantage in using concept maps.

 Concept Map from Williams (2004)

Some useful reading-

Akinsanya CY and Williams M, 2004, ‘Concept Mapping for Meaningful Learning’, Nurse Education Today, 24(1), 41 – 46

Harpaz, I., Balik, C. & Ehrenfeld, M., 2004, Concept Mapping: An Educational Strategy for Advancing Nursing Education, Nursing Forum, 39 (2): 27 – 36.

Williams, M., 2004, Concept mapping – a strategy for assessment, Nursing Standard, 19 (9): 33 – 38.

How to Make a Nursing Concept Map

An online tool called Cmap to develop Concept map