In the article "Making Mona Lisa Smile" by Nick D'Alto, a new techonology known as the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) provides computers and devices to identify emotions in humans. The techonlogy does this through scanning facial muscle movements and with basic psychology knowldege. However, this new techonlogy is also being proposed to being used in schools to have more effective schooling based on the emotions of students. The using of FACS to determine the emotinos of students is valuable because it allows for more interactive lessons that are based off of non-verbal communication, which will help students succeed at a higher level.

With the inception of FACS, the interactions between humans and computers can become more efficient, and will allow for more streamlined communication. In the article, Dr. Huang, the creator of FACS, states that "Most human communication is nonverbal, inlcluding emotional communication" (6). If in a classroom situation, a computer trying to teach a lesson with students might not be able to understand if its pupils are getting the concepts, or it wouldn't be able to dectect whether the students are paying attention or being engaged. Since most human interactions are non-verbal, the computer would have a hard time communicating with the students to understand what was wrong. With FACS, however, the computer can analyze non-verbal cues and alter its teaching style. This in turn would allow the students to have a better time and have a higher understanding of the materials being learned.

Not only does the concept and development of FACS allow for more streamlined communcation between humans and computers in the classroom, it also removers barriers between humans and computers by allowing computers to act more like humans, creating a more effective learning environment. In the article, D'Alto states that like how FACS learns to interpret emotions based on non-verbal facial cues, "we humans perform this same impressive 'calculation' every day"(5). This means that by giving computers/teachers the ability to accuratley identify emotins (to some extent), we are lessening the difference between a physical and a digitial teacher by making the computer more "human". In an age where the world is becoming more and more digital, it is a neccesity that students and computers are able to communicate effectively. If Dr. Huang's quote "'The facial expressions for each emotion are universal'"(4), is true, this means that if a computer can analyze mixed human emotions in a classroom setting, it is possible that not only will the computer modify lesson plans to make teaching more interesting, it will also have an almost artificial empathy, allowing for students to be more accepting of a digitial counterpart.

In addition to streamlining communication and being more relatable to students, the usage of FACS system in a classroom computer can also be used to solve conflicts and make resolutions between students. In the article, D'Alto states that some facial muscle movements, showcase negative emotinos and false emotions as well. One of these muslces is the orbicularis oris, which tightens one's lips to show anger(3). Furthermore, certain muslce cues "even indicate the difference between a genuine smile and a forced one"(8). Since FACS is able to analyze these kinds of movements as well, it can detect when two students are angry at one another, or when a student is lying or being subtly disrepctful. By being able to recognize these situations, the FACS system can advise teachers on how to solve these various conflicts or negative scenarios and can be of use to better the general nature of the classroom.

Overall, throughout Nick D'Alto's article "Making Mona Lisa Smile", it is shown that by using the technology known as FACS, communcation between humans and computers can be streamlined. When placed in a school, FACS is valuble because it modify lessons to make teaching more effective, be more relatable and approachable to students, and can resolve conflicts in a classroom. In the future, with more and more systems such as FACS being implemented, it is possible that soon computers will devlop emotions of their own!