[CALIBK12] FW: Literacy Strikes Again...

[Debra Bohnett]

Fantastic tool - but in my paranoia I wonder if (when) information will
be controlled with this kind of information source.  Sure - it will
solve an algebraic equation (but will students learn the process of
solving mathematical problems?)  Will we rely on the answer without
understanding or formulating the question?  Will we be able to search
for the answers that are different from the controlled answer?  Does
anyone remember the movie "Soylent Green?" information regarding food
for the masses was carefully constructed to not let people know they
were eating humans. . .

I see students google their history questions word for word for an
instant answer rather than critically think about what the question is
asking.  Shouldn't we be concerned about answers that being constructed
and fed to the populace?  Will history still repeat itself in the age of
information? (Holocaust, Salem Witch Hunts, etc.)

Debra Bohnett
Teacher Librarian (for a few more days and then. . .?)
Chavez High

-----Original Message-----
From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu
[mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On Behalf Of Magana. Darla
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 4:40 PM
To: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
Subject: [CALIBK12] FW: Literacy Strikes Again...

Hi Librarian Friends,
Have you seen this? The message below was forwarded from a teacher
colleague. I'm not sure where it originated.

Blows my mind.

Darla Magana
St. Margaret's Episcopal School
San Juan Capistrano, CA

-----Original Message-----


Hi -

Here's one for you...

- - - - - - - - - -

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2009

Things Just Changed. Again.

Do you teach math? Science? Geography? Economics? Health? Business?
Language Arts?

Wait, let me start over.

Do you teach?

Wait, let me start over again.

Are you alive, and curious?

Okay, that's better. I think this is worth 13 minutes of your time. Go
watch it, then come back.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html

I believe Wolfram Alpha is supposed to go live tomorrow. It's obviously
still very, very new (will they change its name to Wolfram Beta later?
That will mess up the URL's. Kidding.) It will be interesting to see
what kinds of searches lend themselves to this more computational
approach and what kinds don't, but I still think this is another big
step in how humans find, access, digest and repurpose information.
Designed to "compute answers to your specific questions," this once
again should make us examine what we are doing in our classrooms, and
how we should best prepare our students to be successful in an age with
this much computational firepower.

What facts (discrete pieces of information?) do we need to know in order
to develop deep understandings of important concepts, and what facts can
we just google or wolfram (or will the verb be alpha)? What previously
unknown relationships might be teased out of the data by the Wolfrom
Alpha algorithms, or what will humans looking at this data in new and
unique ways discover? What new questions will we learn to ask, or will
we learn to ask old questions in new ways? (You can also view a much
longer talk by Stephen Wolfram at the Berkman Center. No, I have not
watched it all yet.)

Also note that Google is evolving as well. Joyce Valenza has a good
summary post over at School Library Journal that discusses the new
features. I also thought this quote she shared from a Google presenter
was interesting,
If users can't spell, it's our problem. If they don't know how to form
the syntax, it's our problem. If there's not enough content, it's our
problem.
Hmm. I wonder whose problem it is if our students don't know how to
question, ask/search, find, evaluate, synthesize, repurpose, remix, and
solve problems using tools like Google and Wolfrom Alpha?

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