Special Blog Post #1

WolframAlpha

This is the first time I have used this search engine and I love it. The WolframAlpha is an amazing way to find out facts for educational purposes or even fun random facts. The data from WolframAlpha is provided in such an organized and direct manner that it would be wonderful for using it in the classroom. The search engine could be used for many different purposes. I used it to compare populations in different countries and states, but in an elementary classroom the questions and possibilities could be endless!

After comparing the populations of India, China, and the United States I found the the populations of India and China are more than three times the size of the United States. These are my results:

India: 1.21 Billion
China: 1.35 Billion
United States: 309 Million

I also did two more comparative searches:

Population of Mobile, AL: 195,111
Population of New York City, New York: 8.175 Million

Number of people in the United States Army: 512,000
Number of people in the United States Marine Corps: 190,000

The Count

Gary Hayes Social Media Count is a count of things bought,

tweeted, posted, uploaded, sold and much much more in the media world. It is unbelievable how fast the numbers move constantly. The ipads sold "now" really caught my attention. There were about one iPad sold per second during the time that I was watching. I feel like that means that by the time I am teaching in my own classroom, most students will have access to at least one iPad in their home. Then hopefully the next step would to have them in most classrooms.

The most shocking part to me was the heritage tab. It was interesting to see how much money is exchanged due to music and movies. Music is especially important for me. It gets me going on a run, puts me in a good mood when I'm sad, and calms me down I need it! It is sad to see how much is lost through our generation stealing music and movies. The numbers for film piracy in the United States were going up at almost $1,000 per second! Hopefully our young students can learn the importance of being honest and paying for the music and moves they download.