Additional Assignment #1

This week I was introduced to two new tools, Google Squared and Wolfram Alpha. Before this assignment, I had never heard of either of these tools. Google Squared is great for searches because it takes your topic and organizes it into a table. You can customize the table by adding or taking away aspects of the table itself. It even provides sources for the information it gives. This is great for any type of search if you want organization and sources. Wolfram Alpha takes your topic and gives you all types of information instead of just the basic stuff. It expands your search. Both of these search tools are simple and easy for anyone to use.

I did some searches on both Google Squared and Wolfram Alpha. Using Google Squared, I searched for things like populations, capitols, and languages of different countries. Using Wolfram Alpha, I searched for things like my birth date and the city and state in which I was born. You can search for just about anything on these sites and get more than enough information.

As for my thoughts on the video, "Did You Know? 3.0" by Karl Fisch, they have changed. Dr. Strange pointed out that we have have to look at things in terms of population. China and India are approximately 4 times the size of the U.S. When the video tells me that China will be the number one English speaking country in the world, I have to remember that the U.S. makes up only about 25% of China. Therefore, China only needs 25% of their people to speak English in order to outnumber the English speakers of the U.S. As far as statistics go, I realize that we can't just read statistics. We must look at them and then understand why they are the way they are. I would like to thank Dr. Strange for redirecting my thoughts.

I also read "The Stable Boy and the iPad" by Michael Noer. I really do believe that this article does a fantastic job in showing that children are interested in learning and actually want to learn. Children are very perceptive, and we, as educators and future educators, must remember that.