Many people already know what Alexa is for—a virtual assistant that, through voice commands and wifi or bluetooth, communicates with other devices, allowing us to ask it to turn on the light, set an alarm, or play a song. However, its functionalities go beyond that: Alexa can assist in the learning process, even during leisure time, whether for convenience or fun.
How does Alexa work?
The process of executing Alexa’s activities is based on machine learning (machine learning), meaning it ‘learns’ from the commands it receives. Additionally, it creates adaptations and functionalities according to users’ personal needs, such as telling jokes or even making a grocery list.
For this, the tool relies on an online database to perform its searches. Like any machine that can be trained, over time it becomes increasingly efficient in its responses, according to the user’s commands.
“Besides being an excellent personal assistant, Alexa brings a series of specific benefits to the teaching-learning process for both children and adults,” explains Victor Haony Ribeiro de Oliveira, pedagogical advisor at Mind Makers.
Benefits of Alexa for teaching and learning
Using this tool helps make the process of interacting with technology more organic in daily life, which can be useful even for those who usually fear technological tools. After all, by interacting with Alexa, the process becomes common for those who do it, incorporating it into their everyday activities.
Additionally, it has many educational and fun resources, such as games, interactive stories, and challenges that can help in learning various concepts in a playful way.
“Alexa can also help in the development of cognitive skills, such as problem-solving, logical reasoning, and vocabulary expansion, especially in environments where the assistant is used to aid in educational tasks,” explains Haony.
Considering these conveniences and benefits, the expert selected 5 Alexa activations that combine practicality and fun, to create amazing moments during vacations, holidays, and weekends. Check them out!
1. Weather and traffic information – very useful for preparing for car trips or beach outings.
2. Music playback – nothing like playing that playlist that livens up any Sunday barbecue using just a voice command. The same goes for that must-listen podcast, usually enjoyed during relaxing moments on the couch at home.
3. Book reading – reading a book is, for many people, a common habit. But how about gathering friends in the living room and asking Alexa to read a suspense book? Creating a setting for this activity can make it even more immersive, such as opting for dimmer lights and preparing some popcorn.
4. Question-and-answer games – By enabling the Daily Quiz, Alexa asks three questions of varying difficulty (easy, medium, and hard), and you can only access the next question by answering the previous one correctly. Another similar option is Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, a question-and-answer game based on Silvio Santos’ show, featuring general knowledge questions worth points.
5. Guessing game – Another fun activity to do with family and friends using Alexa is enabling the Akinator skill. Here, the virtual assistant will act as a ‘genie in a lamp,’ trying to guess which character, fictional or real, you’re thinking of, based on a series of questions.
Mind Makers – Born in Belo Horizonte, Mind Makers is an educational solution from the Somos Educação group that seeks to elevate the quality of teaching through innovative subjects, created using a unique methodology. Combining techniques from hybrid teaching, active learning, socio-emotional, and socio-interactionist approaches, it is a pioneer in Computational Thinking and Creative Entrepreneurship in Brazil, curricular subjects that encourage its over 95,000 students to get hands-on and bring their ideas to life, taking charge of their learning process. Currently, Mind Makers is the only Brazilian company to have its programming environments recognized for the globally promoted Hour of Code campaign by the NGO Code.org.
