Special Blog Assignment #1

Compare the Population of India, China, and the United States:

When I searched for the populations of India, China, and the United States; I was shown many different ways  the population is charted and graphed. I was not very surprised but the population different between the three countries. India has 1.21 billion people, China has 1.35 billion, and the United States has 309 million people. Like I said, this number was not very shocking because these countries are very large. This a specific chart that I really enjoyed reading and that was the Demographic Chart. This chart contained information such as: population, population density, population growth, life expectancy, and median age. I learned a lot of cool facts about these specific places! The United States has the highest age, 78.1, for life expectancy and median age, 36.7. I thought that this information was very interesting considering we are one of the most obese countries and we have some other health problems.

Alabama vs. New York

 I did a population search on Alabama and New York. I chose to do New York because it has a larger population than Alabama. I found out that Alabama has 4.803 million and New York has 19.47 million people. This search also provided me annual births and deaths in both states. Alabama has a total of 63,232 births per year and 46,977 deaths per year. New York has 250,104 births and 148,806 deaths per year.

Poverty Rates: Alabama vs. Mississippi

I chose to do poverty rates of Alabama and Mississippi because they are southern states that are very similar. I learned that Alabama's poverty rate is 17.1% compared to Mississippi's 21.2%. There is a specific chart that put the rates of poverty for Alabama and Mississippi by age. I found out that the most poverty is at the ages from 0-17 years old. I feel this is because these children still depend on their parents for support and if their parents are in poverty; the children are associated with poverty as well.

How I can use WolframAlpha in my classroom:

This was the first time I have ever used this specific search engine. I thought it was a very easy tool to use. It navigated me straight to the information; rather than me searching for it. I think this would be very easy for elementary students to use because of that great feature. It does not any related searches; it just takes you straight to the information you are looking for. I would definitely recommend this to students when they do informational/research projects for school. I think this would be great for me to use inside the classroom to show the students specific information about topics we are discussing in the classroom. I think it would be informative because I could show them how to properly search for information.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count:

I really enjoyed seeing all the different rates of  social media, games, etc. It really shows how fast we are moving through technology. I do not think this is a bad circumstance for my career as a teacher. In my opinion, there will always be a need for educators. Even if we are seen on a computer screen rather than in a classroom; someone is going to have to teach children everything they need to know to help them succeed in life. I think it will definitely make teaching more "cut-throat" because space will, more than likely, be very limited because every room will not have to be filled with a teacher. I think our future students will only grow from being pushed to learn more by themselves; than someone constantly standing over them in a classroom. It will also make for a "greener" schools. There will be more access to books, worksheets, and etc online. I think technology is a wonderful thing!