Communication Skills: Types and Usage

Types of Communication Skills

• Formal communication, known as "official communication," covers verbal expressions for formal needs.
• Informal communication, also known as "the (unofficial) grapevine," is often word-of-mouth, providing unofficial information.
• Face-to-face oral communication is a recognized type, where expression comes directly from speech, and can be formal or informal with friends, family, or in professional settings.
• Distance oral communication uses mobile phones, VOIP, video-conferencing, and webinars, with tone and pace taking priority.
• Non-verbal communication uses physical postures, gestures, tone of voice, and attitude to communicate subtly yet powerfully.
• Written communication has evolved from traditional mail to dominating all aspects of modern life.
• Kinesics involves communication via body movements, also known as 'body language'.
• Proxemics studies space and its effects on comfort levels, including intimate space within one foot.
• Haptic communication uses the sense of touch, considered the most sophisticated sense.
• Vocalics studies paralanguage, like pitch and verbal fillers.
• Chronemics studies the use of time in nonverbal communication, affecting lifestyles.
• Setting in a story represents the physical location, time, and socio-cultural conditions for characters.

Journalism

• Social journalism is a hybrid of professional journalism, contributor and reader content, which relies on community involvement.
• Citizen journalism involves public citizens collecting, reporting, and analyzing news.
• Yellow journalism uses eye-catching headlines and exaggeration to increase sales, even without legitimate research.
• Adversarial journalism seeks to uncover wrongdoings of public officials.

Media and Learning

• Manipulatives are physical or digital tools used to aid hands-on learning, such as Abacus, Jigsaw Puzzles, Lego, and Rubik's Cubes.
• Interactive media allows users to control and combine media like text, sound, and video.

Ages of Technology

• In the Pre-Industrial Age, fire was learned, paper was developed, and tools were forged from stone, bronze, copper and iron.
• In the Industrial Age (1700s-1930s), people discovered power steam, developed machine tools etc.
• In the Electronic Age (1930s-1980s), the transistor led to transistor radios, and long distance communication became more efficient.
• The Information Age (1900s-2000s) saw the Internet, social networks accelerated communication, and increasing use of microelectronics.

Elements of storytelling

• The character is a person, animal, or anything personified that carries out the actions in the story.
• The plot consists of the events that happen in the story, often represented as an arc.
• Conflict is the challenge that defines the plot's purpose.
• The theme is the central idea or lesson the author conveys.
• Point-of-view defines "who" is telling the story and from what perspective.
• Tone is the overall emotional meaning conveyed, influencing the narrative.
• Style involves word choices and structure, enhancing the tone.

Belief Systems

• Confucianism, is an ancient Chinese belief system about personal ethics.
• Buddhism, founded by Siddhartha Gautama over 2,500 years ago in India with about 470 million followers.

Historical Classifications

• Indios were native indigenous peoples in Spanish colonies in America and Asia that were ranked as the lowest group.

The Study of Evolution

• Evolution is gradual changes from simple life forms.
• Natural selection says that evolution occurs through a series of natural selections which emphasizes variation and survival of the fittest.
• Mutation is the outcome of the interaction amongst evolution.
• Five processes that are outcomes of the interaction amongst evolution are; Mutation, Genetic Recombination, Chromosomal Abnormalities, Reproductive isolation, & Natural Selection.

Evolution Of man

• Dryopithecus are ancestors to man and apes that lived in China, Africa, Europe and India.
• Dryopithecus were herbivores because they lived in tropical lowlands with a dense forest.
• The first remains of Ramapithecus, ancestors to man and apes, were discovered from the Shivalik range, Punjab and later in Africa and Saudi Arabia.
• Ramapithecus were hominids as confirmed by their thickened tooth enamel, robust jaws and shorter canines who lived in open grasslands.
• The first fossil of the Australopithecus, ancestors to man, was discovered in 1924, South Africa who used stones as weapons and walked erect
• First fossil of Homo Erectus ( Java, 1891) was considered missing link between man and apes.
• Peking man specimen had large cranial capacities of Homo Erectus.
• First remains of Homo Sapiens were discovered in Europe and named Cro-Magnon with reduced jaws which gathered food through hunting and introduced art.

Literacy and Media

• Media literacy is correctly identifying the type of media and the context of the messages they are sending
• Information literacy is finding the right information for problem solving.
• Technology literacy is effectively using the technology tools to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate information.

The Communication Process

• The sender initiates the conversation.
• Encoding translates information into a message using words, symbols, or gestures.
• The message is written, oral, or non-verbal, triggering a response.
• The communication channel is the medium chosen to send the message.
• The receiver tries to comprehend the message, depending on their knowledge and relationship with the sender.
• Decoding requires the receiver to interpret the message.
• Feedback ensures the message was received and interpreted correctly.
• Noise represents barriers in communication.

Mathematical Logic

• Modus ponens is a deductive argument.
• Modus tollens is a valid argument form with indirect proof.
• A direct proof is a straightforward combination of established facts.
• An indirect proof uses contradiction to prove a conjecture.

Mathematical statistics

• A normal distribution, also called the bell curve, is a distribution that occurs naturally in many situations.
• The inverse is shown with an exponent of -1, f-1(y).
• Standard deviation measures how spread out numbers are from the average.
• Confidence intervals provide a range of values around a statistic that likely contains the true value.

Geometric Equations

• Diameter of a Circle = 2 × r
• Circumference of a Circle = 2 × π × r
• Area of a Circle = π × r^2
• Area of a Square = 4 × side
• Area of a Rectangle = 2 × (length + width)
• Area of a Parallelogram = 2 × (side1 + side2)
• Area of a Triangle = side1 + side2 + side3
• Area of a Regular n-polygon = n × side
• Area of a Trapezoid = height × (base1 + base2) / 2
• Area of a Trapezoid = base1 + base2 + height × [csc(theta1) + csc(theta2)]
• Area of a Square = side^2
• Area of a Rectangle = length × width
• Area of a Parallelogram = base × height
• Area of a Triangle = base × height / 2
• Area of a Regular n-polygon = (1/4) × n × side^2 × cot(pi/n)
• Area of a Trapezoid = height × (base1 + base2) / 2
• Volume of a Cube = side^3
• Volume of a Rectangular Prism = side1 × side2 × side3

Geometry Terms

• Mathematicians use two-valued logic, where every statement is either True or False.
• This is the Law of the Excluded Middle.
• Truth tables show how truth or falsity of compound statement depends on the truth/falsity of its component.

Financial Terms

• A bond is a contract where companies borrow money and repay investors with interest.
• Amortization is the process of spreading out a loan payments.
• An annuity is an agreement where you accumulate funds for payouts
• Shares are units of ownership, providing a share of dividends and capital gains.
• A stock is an ownership certificate, where a share refers to a certificate of a particular company.

Statistical Hypothesis

• null hypothesis (H0) either is believed to be true, can be shown to be incorrect and uses the symbols equal, greater than or equal to or less than or equal to.
• alternative hypothesis (Ha) population that is contradictory to H0 and uses the symbols not equal to, greater than or less than.

Functions

• An asymptote is a line that the graph of a function approaches.
• Vertical asymptote is a vertical line, x=a.
• Horizontal asymptote is a horizontal line, y=a.

Study of the Ocean

• Oceans cover more than 70% of Earth, half being over 1.86 miles deep and averages 12,1000 feet deep.
• Organisms in the bathypelagic zone do not see sunlight.
• 99 percent of the Earth's inhabitable space is in the open ocean.
• The ocean is divided into five zones: epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic, abyssopelagic, and hadopelagic.
• The ocean produces over 50% of the air we breathe but only 5% of the ocean has been explored, humans have impacted every part of the ocean with waste and pollution.

Terminology for Space objects

• Comet nuclei consist of ice, dust, and small rocky particles.
• Meteors "shooting stars" occur when meteoroids burn up in the atmosphere.
• Meteorites occur when meteoroids hit the ground.

Science Terms

• An ecosystem is a community of organisms interacting in a specific environment.
• Skin is the largest organ, a barrier for physical, chemical, and biological agents that prevents water loss and regulates body temperature.
• The skeletal system supports and protects the body’s internal organs and is is made up of 206 bones
• The muscular system consist of cardiac, smooth, and skeletal muscles that allow actions and movements

Systems of the body

• The Lymphatic System transports fluids and drains excess fluids and debris
• The Respiratory System maintains breathing to supply body with oxygen
• The Digestive system absorbs nutrients and eliminates waste.
• The Nervous System controls digestion and cardiac rhythm
• The Endocrine System secretes hormones
• The Cardiovascular (Circulatory) System pumps blood

Geological Terms

• The urinary system eliminates waste products, maintains fluid volume and regulates the amount of water and electrolyte levels

Geochemical makeup

• Two types of igneous form from solidification of molten rock material named intrusive and extrusive.
• The Reproductive systems create human life through reproductive organs
• Sedimentary rocks form from sediment accumulation.
• Metamorphic rocks are altered by heat, pressure, and chemical processes.

Earth Surface

• Erosion is geological process in which Earth's materials are worn away and transported by natural forces such as wind or water.
• Weathering rocks and minerals dissolving on Earth's surface as bits of rock and minerals are transported away and changes in temperature are agents of weathering or erosion.

Geography Terms

• Earth's two hemispheres are receiving the sun's rays equally at the equinox; Day and night are equal in length
• At the winter solstice the day is the year's shortest, and at the summer solstice it is the year's longest

Atmosphere

• Nitrogen accounts for 78% of atmosphere, oxygen 21% and argon 0.9%
• Carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane and ozone are trace gases that account for about a tenth of one percent of the atmosphere

Cell Reproduction

• Fission occurs when a parent cell splits into two identical daughter cells of the same size such as Bacteria, Protists & Unicellular Fungi
• Fragmentation occurs when a parent organism breaks into fragments where each fragment develops into a new organism such as Starfish, worms, fungi, plants & lichens
• Budding occurs when a parent cell forms a bubble-like buds which will break away such as Yeast or Hydra
• Vegetative Reproduction occurs when new individuals are formed with the production of seeds and spores (plants)
• Agamogenesis is a form of reproduction that does not involve a male gamete such as plants and animals
• Terms related to asexuality are agamogenesis, asexual reproduction, budding, clone & fragmentation

Asexual reproduction

• asexual reproduction: only ONE parent without fusion of gametes (offspring genetically identical)
• budding: a new organism from an outgrowth / bud on another ONE.
• clone: genetically identical copy may be a gene, cell or organism; organism genetically identical.
• fragmentation: body breaks several fragements -> complete organisms.

Diploid vs Haploid

• diploid: cell w/ TWO sets of chromosomes: in human somatic = 46 (23 pairs) chromosomes, 2n.
• haploid: cell w/ ONE set of chromosomes; in human gametes, is 23 chromosomes, n. Meiosis vs Other reproduction
• reproduction sexual involcing joining of haploid gametes, producing genetically diverse INdividuals.
• meiosis: a type of cell division that halves chromosomes AND forms gametes. spore : reproductive cell in plants/algae/some protists - develop without fused w/ another.
• vegetative reproduction: asexual found in plants where new individuals formed whithout seeds/spores.
• zygote: fertilized egg.
• parthenogenesis: asexual: growth that develops without fertilization.

Studying Storm Terminology

• Tropical Wave is an inverted trough or cyclonic curvature that leads to tropical cyclone.
• Tropical Disturbance a weather system origin with organizing and having a detectable perturbation of the wind field.
• Tropical Cyclone is a a front that develops into low pressure and deep convection
• Extratropical Cyclone is a cyclone of any baroclinic (results from the temperature contrast between warm & cold air masses).
• Post-Tropical Cyclone no longer possesses sufficient tropical characteristics
• Remnant Low post-tropical cyclone with max winds of less than 34 knots.
• Subtropical Cyclone non-frontal low pressure system with characteristics of both tropical and extratropical cyclones occurs relatively far from the center.
• Tropical Depression is tropical that has maximum sustained surface winds average of 38 mph (33 knots) or less.
• Tropical Storm has surface ranging from 39-73 mph (34 to 63 knots).
• Hurricane has maximum sustained surface winds of 74 mph or greater (64 knots or greater).

Storm Watch/Warning

• Tropical Storm Watch: Issued when winds from 39-73 mph, within a specified time (48 hrs)
• Tropical Storm Warning: Issued when winds from 39-73 mph, within as specified coastal area (36 hrs or less)
• Hurricane Watch: possible when sustained winds of 74 mph or higher area where as wind and storm preparations become difficult, 48 hrs
• Hurricane Warning: when sustained winds of 74 mph or higher are expected hurricane, 36 hours, wind and storm preparations difficult!
• Hurricane Warning can remain in effect -high waves and tides or combination continue...even after under hurricane
• Eye Wall: Clouds surrounding the center of a topical storm
• Storm Surge -Sea level is higher than would, surge
• Storm Tide- Storm surge and the astronomical tide combine

Principles of classification of organisms

• Order or hierachy classification of the animal kingdom
• Domain
• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species

Altering of organisms

• Genetic engineering alter genetic makeup of an organism with selecting offspring with desired traits.

• fermentation (metabolic process) creates desirable change by increase flavor/preserve food or health benefit

Lactic Acid fermentation is a chemical process

Ethanol fermentation/alcohol fermentation Yeasts break pyruvate molecules

Acetic acid Starches ferment into sour wine tasting vinegat

Pyruvic acid supplies energy to living cells

Ethanol A alcohol, ingredients in beverage like beer