Wolfram Alpha
Wolfram Alpha is a computational knowledge engine designed to allow anyone to enter the
information that want computed or just to know about, and it will give the
output. A simple example search would be as follows:
What is the population of India? Answer: 1.21 billion
What is the population of the United States? Answer: 309 million
What is the population of China? Answer: 1.35 billion
Because I am going to be a high school math teacher,
hopefully of precal and/or calculus, then I did some more example searches
related to what I might use in my own classroom.
Search: “What is the derivative of e^x?” Answer: “d/dx (e^x)
= e^x.” If you have taken calculus then you understand that this answer is true
and extremely helpful in case you forget while doing practice problems. Not to
mention that there is also a full page of definitions of the derivative and integral
and graphs of your question.
Another search: “How do you find the surface area of a
cylinder?” Answer: “2πa
(axh).” Under the answer to this question Wolfram Alpha gives pictures that
show the 3-D cylinders and explain how the answer came about and ways to help
you remember it. It also lists variations of the formula and examples of using
it.
This website is such a great resource for students who haven’t
quite memorized all their formulas, trig, processes, etc. It gives pictures and
examples of every question you ask it to help the students visualize the
problem and make connection between the numbers and the figures. My college
Calculus II professor recommends this site to our class for homework help. It
works great for the simplest of math problems and the most difficult.
Although Wolfram Alpha is a wonderful tool for Math, it is
also great for all other subjects. I did some additional searches such as, “Who
was the 16th president?”, “Who wrote Lord of the Flies?”, and “What
element is Fe?” These questions, stretching from History to Literature to
Science, all have correct answers that appear and give extra detail about each.
Students could use this website in every subject to help them recall
information and store it in their brains!
Gray Hayes Social Media Chart
Gray Hayes Social Media Chart has changing charts that update a couple
times a second. There are 4 categories: 1) Social: Facebook, Youtube, Twitter,
Apps, Pinterest, Instagram, Netflix, etc. 2) Mobile: smart phones activated,
mobile games played, sms messages sent, iPhones sold, etc. 3) Games: Zynga,
World of Warcraft, games sold, game unit sold, etc. 4) Heritage: money made at
post office, newspapers read, music download, DVDs sold, physical books sold,
concerts, etc. Then each of these categories have 5 pages: Now, +1 day, +1 week,
+1 month, and +1 year. These pages show the amount of the progress going on in
that instant.
The thought of how fast everything is all changing is crazy.
I think about how when I was young, everyone was still using cassettes and VHS
tapes. Then everyone began using CDs and DVDs. Now everyone is using iPods and
live streaming movies such as Netflix. All this progress and I’m only 21!! In
the next 40 years there will be probably more than 10 times this much
advancement. My students surely will know way more than I will. This means for
me, as a professional teacher, that I will need to stay ahead of the students
and learn as they learn and keep my head in with the craziness of the changing
of technology.
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