Teacher’s Questions for “Watson a game-changer for science”

By Science News Explores

 SCIENCE

Before Reading:

  1. Do you think computers can understand human speech? Give an example of a computer understanding simple human speech. (Hint: Think of what often happens when you call an 800 or 888 telephone number.)

 

During Reading:

  1. Who is Watson? What did Watson achieve that no computer had achieved before?

  2. What is “natural language”?

  3. Name another high-profile game-winning supercomputer. How are Deep Blue and Watson different?

  4. What did David Ferrucci’s team create to “teach” Watson to put words into context?

  5. How are Watson’s search capabilities different from an online search engine’s capabilities?

  6. Name the method that scientists used to help Watson learn from its own training.

  7. Give one example of how scientists are using Watson’s technology outside of Jeopardy!

After Reading:

  1. List some differences between Watson and the computer you use at home or at school.

  2. Can Watson become smarter? How does Watson do this?

  3. What kinds of things can computers teach humans about themselves?

 

SOCIAL STUDIES 

1.  List a few examples of how computers help humans in everyday ways. Now list a few examples of things that you would like to see computers help humans with in the future.