An introduction to Junior High School students…..
Wolfram|Alpha introduces a fundamentally new way to get knowledge and answers— not by searching the web, but by doing dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods.
Wolfram|Alpha’s long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone and to create something that will stand as a major milestone of 21st century intellectual achievement.
Click this link http://www.wolframalpha.com/about.html to read more information about the usage of wolfram|alpha.
What is my reasons to use it in the classroom?
- The possibilities are endless. In addition to helping students understand the steps involved in solving algebra equations problems. I also believe that with students’ multiple intelligence, some of them will enjoy the process of learning by themselves through website.
- Wolfram|Alpha generates answers to questions using its own internally curated data sources. As a result, you do not have to worry about inadvertently displaying inappropriate web content while using Wolfram|Alpha.
Can students use it to study both in classroom and home?
- Yes, of course. In my opinion, teachers shouldn’t get afraid of students who will find the correct answer from many resources, as long as we are still their mentor or fascilitator.
Are there any difficulty of having students bring laptop or gadget in classroom during the lesson?
- Yes, of course. Actually, it can be difficult to handle the situation 🙂 (honestly). This is why when school have the opportunity to access internet for their students’ lesson, ideally, school must provide the computer lab with internet access and classroom management softwareto watch over the computer, so teachers have the ability to supervise and control all the computers used by the students.
- If somehow, school can’t provide those kind of computer lab, and allow their students to bring their own laptop (or gadget), make sure that we as the teachers must check and control their monitor quite often.
Below is the screen capture of the “Simultaneous Linear Equations” appearance in Wolfram|Alpha:
