Colleen Young’s Mathematics, Learning and Web 2.0 is a good blog to subscribe to for practical, do-now mathematics instruction ideas. When you visit her blog make sure you click the “Wolfram Alpha” tab under which you will find seven slideshows containing examples of how students can use Wolfram Alpha. The examples correspond to questions posted on her mathematics blog for students.

If you haven’t used Wolfram Alpha before or you’re trying to introduce it to people who have not used, take a look at the following Planet Nutshell explanation of how Wolfram Alpha works and what makes it different from Google search.