Rude 5.2

These passages have been edited for coherence and cohesion, the first passage is from the text, the second is the edited version.

1. Vegetation covers the earth, except for those areas continuously covered with ice or utterly scorched by continual heat. Richly fertilized plains and river valleys are places where plants grow most richly, but also at the edge of perpetual snow in high mountains. The ocean and its edges as well as in and around lakes and swamps are densely vegetated. The cracks of busy city sidewalks have plants in them as well as in seemingly barren cliffs. Before humans existed, the earth was covered with vegetation, and the earth will have vegetation long after evolutionary history swallows us up.

Vegetation covers the earth, except for those areas continuously covered with ice or utterly scorched by continual heat. Plants grow most richly in richly fertilized plains and river valleys and also at the edge of perpetual snow in high mountains. Dense vegetation also grows in the ocean and on its edges as well as in and around lakes and swamps. Even the cracks of busy city sidewalks and seemingly barren cliffs have plants in them. The earth was covered with vegetation before humans existed, and the earth will have vegetation long after evolutionary history swallows us up.


2. The power to create and communicate a new message to fit a new experience is not a competence animals have in their natural states. Their genetic code limits the number and kind of messages that they can communicate. Information about distance, direction source, and richness of pollen in flowers constitutes the only information that can be communicated by bees, for example. A limited repertoire of messages delivered in the same way, for generation after generation, is characteristic of animals of the same species, in all significant respects.

In their natural states, animals do not have the power to create and communicate a new message to fit a new experience. For example, bees can only communicate information about distance, direction source, and richness of pollen in flowers. In all significant respects, animals of the same species only have a limited repertoire of messages delivered in the same way, for generation after generation.


3. The importance of language skills in children's problem-solving ability was stressed by Jones (1985) in his paper on children's thinking. Improvement in nonverbal problem solving was reported to have occurred as a result of improvements in language skills. The use of previously acquired language habits for problem articulation and activation of knowledge previously learned through language are thought to be the cause of better performance. Therefore, systematic practice in the verbal formulation of nonlinguistic problems prior to attempts at their solution might be an avenue for exploration in the enhancement of problem solving in general.

In his paper on children's thinking, Jones (1985) stressed the importance of language skills in children's problem-solving ability. He reported that improvement in nonverbal problem solving skills occurred as a result of improvements in language skills. Jones attributed this improved performance to previously acquired language habits for problem articulation and the activation of knowledge previously learned through language. Therefore, systematic practice in the verbal formulation of nonlinguistic problems prior to attempts at their solution might be an avenue for exploration in the enhancement of problem solving in general.