How to use WolframAlpha, the computational knowledge engine, and the implications for teaching and learning math in higher education.

1. WOLFRAM|ALPHAFacing the Future Fred Feldon, Coastline CCDenver, March 19, 2011

2. http://wolframalpha.com “computational knowledge engine” Introduced by Wolfram Research in May, 2009

3. $1.99 each

4. Is it controversial? Yes! WA shows the answer--and explains every step in English--to any math problem from any course at any level that we teach at the community college!

5. Will it change the way we teach? Yes! Teach for concepts, application and deep understanding!

6. Will it change the way we test? Yes! When it becomes pervasive exams can be open-book, open-Internet just like the real world!

11. How are you feeling about the latest in math, technology and education?

12. How are you feeling about the latest in math, technology and education?

13. “Mathematics is not a careful march down a well-cleared highway, but a journey into a strange wilderness, where the explorers often get lost.” -- W. S. Anglin, author of Mathematics: A Concise History and Philosophy, 1994

14. The problem isn’t that computers “dumb down” math; we have “dumbed down” problems! – Conrad Wolfram http://blog.ted.com/2010/11/15/teaching-kids-real-math-with-computers-conrad-wolfram-on-ted-com

15. “Math educators are spending 80% of their time teaching how to do calculations by hand. But math has been liberated from calculation. Instead we should be teaching how to ask the right questions, how to model the real world and how to verify our formulations.”

17. Old: Two Ways

18. New: Three Ways

19. 275 WolframAlpha IntermediateAlgebraActivities with Answers at http://scr.bi/bvrEV9

20. Where can you learn how to use WA? How do you keep up-to-date with the latest features?

21. Resources & Tools for Educators

22. The Community Forum

23. The Blog

24. SHOW ME THE MATH! From the basics to everything we teach in the two-year curriculum and beyond

29. Click on “Show Steps”

33. Note how WA automatically finds a nice viewing window for you!

40. Click on “Show Steps”

49. “Less is More”

52. Type in your students’ names

58. Thank You ffeldon@coastline.edu This presentation is available to download at http://www.slideshare.net