Facebook to Introduce Features for Breakups

Facebook Will Erase Your Ex

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/facebook-break-up-features/

1)  What evidence does Facebook use to indicate the end of a relationship?  Which numbers would be most convincing that this is a valuable resource?  Whose opinion on this matter would give the most credence?    

2)  In what ways would a divorce lawyer and a marriage counselor differ in opinion?  Why might Mark Zuckerberg and an artist have different opinions?  Whose perspective is left out of this article?

3)  In what ways is this connected to health?  To what degree is this connected to geography?  How might we view connections between this update and Facebook's new logo redesign?    

4)  In what ways would this story be different if Facebook made you pay for this service?  How might this be different if it was paired with news that Facebook was acquiring an online dating website?  

5)  What assumptions does the article make about modern dating?  What are the short-term implications for psychology?  What are the long-term implications for Facebook's finances as a result of this issue?  

Extension Activities:

1)  Students can draw comparisons to this article and the Pope poem "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and design a Venn diagram showing contrasts and comparisons.  

2)  Students can write an advertisement for the new service.  

AoK:  Human Sciences
WoK:  Emotion, Ethics

Zebras Flee Philly Circus

Animals Run Through the Streets in One of America's Largest Cities

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/real-time/Zebras-escape-from-circus-roam-West-Philly-streets.html

1)  In what ways are tweets better evidence of current events than traditional media?  What is the relationship between truth and the number of followers a social media user has?

2)  In what ways might an animal rights activist view this positively?  A hunter?  Why might a police officer feel differently about this than a 9 year old?  

3)  In what ways is this connected sports?  How might this be connected to your daily commute to school?  In which class would this story be most appropriate to study?  

4)   How might this have been different if elephants had escaped?  Lions?  What might happen if circuses were banned?  

5)  What are some basic assumptions about circuses?  zoos?  Farms?  What might be the long-term consequences of this situation?

Extension Activities:

1)  Students can research the claims made in the film "Blackfish" about the treatment of orcas and write a defense of animal-focused attractions.

2)  Students can write a new section of the driver's handbook to include appropriate actions when wild animals are running through the streets.

AoK:  Human Sciences

WoK:  Imagination