As the coronavirus pandemic exposes educational inequality throughout the United States, LEGO is looking to revamp the way digitally disadvantaged elementary and middle school students learn via a new 'purposeful play' program funded by leaders in tech and education.
Esben Staerk, LEGO Education president, explained that the toy company division has joined the 'Creating Learning Connections' initiative meant to ensure every student has "access to quality devices and quality internet connection."
In partnership with CDW-G, GE, Intel, and First Book, the initiative poured $7 million into the fund to develop tools and products that guide teachers and entice students to engage with their learning materials.
"The pandemic has exacerbated the divide. A recent study by First Book actually indicates that around 40 percent of students lack access to quality devices and almost 40 percent lack access to quality internet connections," Staerk said.
The physical aspect of LEGO Education's learning tools, according to Staerk, makes learning fun and is a better source for information retention.
"All the LEGO Education solutions are based around hands-on learning, and they're based around a playful learning or learning to play approach," he explained.
As parents and teachers express having difficulties with children learning from home, Staerk said the purposeful play program isn't just meant to level the educational playing field but also to "make sure that these communities and these students are engaged in their learning."
For Staerk, the choice to join an equal education initiative was easy since the importance of access to quality education is essential for the ability to be "life-long learners," he noted.
"It's important that we spark student creativity, their problem solving, their critical thinking, but not least, also build their confidence in learning and their resilience," Staerk added.
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama are set to begin voting to unionize for a second time after workers at the facility in the town of Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against forming a union during an election early last year; but in November, the National Labor Relations Board overturned the vote, upholding a union challenge of the results which argued that Amazon undermined the conditions for a fair election. Another round of ballots will now be mailed out to works at the warehouse for a so-called re-run election. Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University John Logan and National Field Director for Our Revolution Mike Oles joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
February 8 is Safer Internet Day, and Google has partnered with online education organization Khan Academy to release a courseload focused on internet safety. The partnership includes a $5 million donation towards content development from Google, with modules to be made available in various languages throughout 2022. Founder of Khan Academy, Sal Khan, joined Cheddar News to discuss the partnership. "We need to get to a world where everyone of all ages has a chance to learn and practice and feel good that they can navigate the internet in a safe way,” said Khan.
Big tech companies such as Amazon and Google are garnering criticism for failing at their proposed climate pledges, most of which rely on carbon offsets — a potential loophole where companies pay others to address their omissions. Gilles Dufrasne, policy officer at Carbon Market Watch, joined Cheddar News to explain the organization's negative evaluation. "The objective here is not to bash companies and say everybody is doing the wrong thing," he said. "The objective is to also provide lessons, and there are some companies that are doing the right thing."
U.S. markets opened lower as disappointing Meta earnings dragged down the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Today, investors will be watching for Amazon's Q4 earnings report set for release after the market close. Greg Swenson, Founding Partner, Brigg Macadam joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Markets opened mostly higher led by gains in the tech sector on strong Q4 earnings. It comes after a tumultuous January which saw stocks suffer one of their worst months since the early days of the pandemic. Jim Worden, Chief Investment Officer, Wealth Consulting Group joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss early market activity.
CLMBR is hoping to become the next big thing in connected fitness. The brand offers a high intensity, low impact workout with on-demand, instructor-led classes. Avrum Elmakis, CLMBR's CEO and founder, joined Cheddar to discuss where the company is heading next.
