I was trying to think of questions that I as a teacher could ask my students that an iPad could not. My example was asking a student to choose any topic. If they chose the topic of weather, I would ask "How could you limit the number of deaths caused by tornadoes". Then you could look and analyze there problem solving skills even if they did not come up with an exact answer. In thinking up that question I thought of a possible solution.
A Solution:
Cell phone towers connect to your cell phone even when you are not on them. When a Tornado Warning area set up by the weather service overlaps a cell phone tower, the tower should call all phones that are in the vicinity of that tower. A message like "This is the Weather Service. You are currently in a Tornado Warning Area. Take Shelter Immediately." would be played.
After the message is delivered, the cell phone GPS can be stored in a database and emergency personnel can know the exact last known locations of individuals in that area. That way they can have a better idea of where to start search and rescue.
Please let me know your opinions on this solution. I do understand that if the power to the Cell phone tower goes out it will be a useless system but if it is part of many other warning systems, it can be a major help to society in my opinion.
Update:
NOAA has implemented a system similar to this. It turns out they have been working on this for years. You can read a news story about it at this link: http://www.noaa.gov/features/03_protecting/wireless_emergency_alerts.html
I think that it would be a great idea, mostly for the people that travel a lot especially during tornado season. Most travels don't tune into local radio stations, with technology booming satellite radios, iPods, iPads, ect are the main source for entertainment In a vehicle. It would be effective in saving lives. The only thing that wouldn't work is that many people don't answer their phones when unknown numbers pop up. A way to help fix that is if texts could get sent out along with a phone call just to make sure that there is dangerous weathe in the area
ReplyDeleteThat is a great point to note about people not answering unknown numbers. They would have to send a text as well or have the caller id show Tornado Warning.
DeleteThanks for your input.
Good idea! It would be really sweet if it sounded like a tornado siren when the phone rang or sounded a text ;) Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent idea. A common ringtone could decrease the response time for an individual. If they were all different you would have the who is calling me now effect. I also wonder if you can push to a phone to turn on the volume if it is set to silent. I would only recommend this for emergencies because that would be annoying if you were in a meeting and your phone went from silent to loud for an unimportant reason.
Delete