Protests Against Dakota Access Pipeline, How Innovation Can Transform Education And Addressing Lead Contamination In WI Water Pipes

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• Dakota Access Pipeline Protests Continue

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  Over the last few weeks, environmental groups and an unprecedented number of Native American tribes from around the country have gathered to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Our guest talks to us about the pipeline, the protests around it, and a lawsuit against federal regulators.

• Imagining The Classroom Of The Future

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  A new generation of educators and entrepreneurs are turning the classroom concept on its head by adapting it to our new digital world. A look at the classroom of the future with Sal Khan, whose work Bill Gates has called an education revolution.

• Online Education Tools Serve As Supplement To Today's Classrooms

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  A new generation of educators and entrepreneurs are turning the classroom concept on its head by adapting it to the digital world, ushering in a new era of innovative ways to teach and learn.

  One of the organizations at the forefront of the transformation is the nonprofit Khan Academy, a free online education platform delivered on computers and mobile phones offering software, tutorials and video lessons on academic subjects from kindergarten through college.

  Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy, said his company started modestly back in 2004 when he was an analyst for an investment firm. When he found out his younger cousin, who lived hundreds of miles away, was having trouble with her math assignments, he offered some tutoring over the phone and through instant messaging.

  Word soon got around the family that free tutoring was going on. It wasn’t long before Khan was providing this virtual style of instruction from afar to more than a dozen of his relatives and friends. He wrote some software to help provide online exercises, and then began posting tutorial videos online. Soon an audience amassed beyond those he knew.

  “Those videos kind of took on a life of their own,” Khan said. “My cousins said they liked me better on YouTube than in person. It soon became clear people who weren’t my cousins were watching.”

  By 2008, Khan Academy launched in earnest. Today it has 42 million registered users around the world who use the online resources for free, Khan said.

  While many are excited about technology’s capacity to offer educational resources to millions of people, particularly those in poor countries where there’s little access to public schools, the notion of a online-oriented classroom brings anxiety to others. Khan said his platform isn’t meant to replace schools as we know it. Instead, it’s a supplement.

  “We never imagined that somehow virtual tools should replace the physical classroom,” Khan said. “It’s not like an Amazon.com versus Barnes & Noble thing. What we imagine is if students can get on demand explanations from their phone or from a computer, if they can get practice problems, especially ones that give them immediate feedback that adapts to their needs, then it really frees up the class for more human interaction, where a teacher can better differentiate instruction.”

  The virtual tools might be just scratching the surface of integrating tech and learning. Khan said the technology will advance to create tailored instruction for individual students, replacing an outdated “one-size fits all” lecture style of teaching that moves along at one pace.

  One of the challenges Khan faces is accessibility. While internet access might seem ubiquitous, research shows about 30 percent of families in the United States don’t have broadband access in their household, leading to educational disparities.

  While Khan Academy might, at the moment, be a relatively small organization, Khan said he’s talked with Internet providers and government agencies to advocate for more public access to the world wide web. Fortunately, many more Americans have access to smartphones, where these educational tools are also available.

  Khan and other education innovations will be featured on the new PBS television series, TED Talks: Education Revolution. It premieres Tuesday as part of the networks Spotlight Education week.

• Officials Vow To Remove Lead Pipes Across Wisconsin

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  State and local officials yesterday called for the removal of thousands of lead water pipes across the state, to address high levels of lead contamination found among children in Milwaukee and elsewhere. An investigative reporter shares details about the plan and what it will cost.