In the article "Making Mona Lisa Smile", the author describes how a new technology called the Facial Action Coding System (or FACS) enables computers to identify human emotions. In the paragraph below I will be explaining why I believe the technology presented in this article would be valuble by reading the emotional expressions of students in a classroom.

First, I believe that the use of this technology is valuble to be used for reading the emotional expressions of students in a classroom because like the article states it could, if used correctly, determine when a student is becoming "confused or bored". This could lead to modified lessons that engage and more effectively teach students the material without the need for so much individual attention from the teacher.

Also, connecting to my last statement this technology may not only aid in the students learning but also provide help to teachers. This is because with technology that can read the students emotions and possibly adapt lessons to the individual the teacher in the room won't have to worry about giving all the students their own individual attention to help them most effectively learn the same material with only a small amount of time to do it. This technology would almost be like having a dozen or so assistant teachers in the room leaving more time for the real teacher to attend to things like making lesson plans and grading.

Last but not least I feel that this technology would be useful in the classrom is because if a child was sad, hurting, depressed, or any other negative emotion and the student was hiding all that through a smile the technology may be able to help see behind the smile so that teachers or therapists can better help students through their problems and understand them better without spending so much time reading a childs confusing signals.

In conclusion, I believe that the Facial Action Coding System can be a valuable tool in the classroom for a variety of reasons including but not limited to the reasons I described in the above paragraphs.