Microsoft’s Bing search property has a history of helping keep us informed and educated on a wide range of topics. Whether it’s TV and movies, the Presidential debates, or just about any other topic of interest, Bing makes a concerted effort to make it easy for us to learn new things.
Today, the Bing blog announced some new initiatives aimed at students looking to learn more about science and history. Here are a few topics that Bing will be focusing on as the school year progresses.
Constellations
Want to learn more about the various constellations? Then search for “constellations” for a localized information on how the nighttime sky looks to you, and you can easily specify a constellation to get targeted information (e.g., “Cassiopeia constellation“).
Molecules
If your current topic of interest is closer to home and more on the molecular level, then Bing has you covered as well. Search for a molecule (e.g., methane) and Bing will return relevant information for anyone learning chemistry.
Family tree
Geneology is a fascinating topic for just about anyone, and Bing can provide a wealth of information to help trace the lineage of historic figures. In particular, Bing is focusing on royal families, and so you can learn everything you want to know about the house of Tudor, for example.
Words
Next up is something that should be near and dear to everyone, namely enriching one’s vocabulary. Bing now responds to focused queries such as “words that start with a” to provide a word cloud that could help with improving vocabulary skills, writing poetry, or completing crossword puzzles.
Citation
Every student knows that pain of property citing sources in research papers, essays, and more. Bing wants to help, and a simple search on “apa citation book” will result in a tool to help in creating proper citations.
Rubik’s Cube solver
Finally, Bing wants to help you solve that pesky Rubik’s Cube, with a graphical solver that allows you to manipulate a 3D cube and access step-by-step instructions on solving it. While this particular tool might seem like it actually detracts from developing a student’s mind, there is some value in learning algorithms and tricks for application for general problem-solving.
Clearly, Bing is aimed at helping students learning in fun and instructive ways. Let us know in the comments if you’re a Bing user and if you think the search tool is a good resource for learning new things.
