Special Blog Post #1

2.
On the website WolframAlpha I typed into the search engine, “Compare Populations of India, China and the United States.”   The results revealed that the population of India is 1.21 billion, and the population of China is 1.25 billion.  The United States, which is comprised of the smallest population, has 309 million people.

3.
On the WolframAlpha website I searched the phrase, “Compare the population of Mississippi and Alabama.”  The amount of people who live in Mississippi is 2.979 million, but the population of Alabama is 4.803 million.  On the website I also searched the Distance between California and New York,  which is 2444 miles.

4.
The website, WolframAlpha, is a wonderful resource to use in the classroom.  As a teacher I can use this website because it seems to be more beneficial than Google in certain ways. Google provides multiple websites to choose from, and many of these websites have little relevance to the original search topic; however, when conducting a search on WolframAlpha the search engine instructs the researcher to “enter what you want to calculate or know about.”  This instruction gives me the impression that the question asked will be answered directly, therefore the researcher will be directed to the exact answer that will be relevant to the question asked. The answers provided by WolframAlpha has an example tab that provides the researcher with examples to ensures comprehension of the content.  The website also provides pictures, and when you click on an icon a name, question, or some information about the topic will appear underneath. I consider this website to be a great resource because it provides students with a safe way to search facts about content such as history, science, music, art, and math among others.

6.
The Gary Hayes Social Media Count was created to inform the public about the amount of change which occurs in social media every second.  The site has listed many different modes of social activity with the number of usage per second.  Through viewing these statistics I realize the significant amount of people who visit social media  in a moments time, and even the amount of people who are  reading a newspaper.
For my professional career as a teacher it is important for me to learn about and be aware of new resources which are being created.  Teachers should be capable of using technology, and  should be aware of websites that are acceptable to be used  in the classroom.  Students will only learn from a teacher if the teacher is confident using and teaching with the technology he or she chooses. Before teaching students how to succeed in a technology driven world, it is important to be informed about new resources, websites and statistics.