technology in education PK-20

If you thought that a search engine could be helpful to learning, just wait until you give Wolfram Alpha a try. Look at the examples and then put it to the test. How do you see this being beneficial in education?

This search engine is awesome and I could see it being used in hs and college classes or just by learners looking to learn. I found the Examples by Topic page to be helpful on how to use the search engine. http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/ The one thing that I worry a bit about is that students could use it to solve problems without ever knowing how the problems were solved. Brook

Yes- Brook. You are not the only one with this concern. There is a place in learning for showing basic problems and learning the basics of a new concept (in which this could be used to solve) but I am also a strong believer that on a regular basis, we need to be giving our students problems where the answers cannot be easy searched. Such as tweeting a picture of a popcorn container before the movie starts and asking them to create an equation involving volume. This checks for understanding at a higher level, forces them to generalize the knowledge and then provides them the opportunity to teach.