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.
Food waste is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Strella Biotechnology is trying to solve the problem by introducing new technology to a business that's been around for generations -- farming. The 24-year-old CEO created hi-tech sensors that interpret the shelf life of produce and alert farmers when fruits and vegetables are ready to be sent to supermarkets. The company says the process can help farmers make money, reduce food waste and increase the quality of produce. Strella Biotechnology's co-founder and CEO Katherine Sizov and co-founder and COO Jay Jordan joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Hugh Odom, founder and president of Vertical Consultants, shared his expertise on telecommunications with Cheddar on the safety issue raised about 5G deployment by airlines. The installation was partially delayed again on Tuesday as the airlines warned of potentially catastrophic delays in a letter to the Biden administration. Later, both Verizon and AT&T relented and put a pause on some of the implementations. "The first thing the Biden administration needs to do is get everybody in the room and say, look, aviation industry, identify the problem — wireless industry, come up with a solution," said Odom.
Microsoft announced on Tuesday it's acquiring video game publisher Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion in cash, a company that's is known for big titles like "Call of Duty" and "World of Warcraft." Lyron Bentovim, Glimpse Group president and CEO, and Dan Ives, managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush, sat down to talk about what Ives called "a shot across the bow" towards the competition. "This is pretty exciting for the industry as a whole because another one of the big players is coming to the metaverse," said Bentovim. "Microsoft using metaverse in the quote from their CEO in their press release shows the importance of this deal."
Netflix may not be staying at the top of the streaming wars, according to some wary investors, as competition heats up and it raises prices yet again. Tuna Amobi, director and senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, spoke with Cheddar about what investors should be considering should they stick with the streaming pioneer or drop the investment. "I think it's always mostly about the subscriber growth for the Q4, which is going to be an indicator of how the company has been navigating the speed bumps that we saw early in the year," said Amobi.
L’Oréal is doubling down on its investment in tech. The French beauty giant unveiled two new high-tech products ahead of CES 2022, aimed at simplifying the hair coloring process. Guive Balooch, global vice president of L’Oréal Technology Incubator, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the company's innovations for hair coloring, including the Colorsonic application device and the Coloright AI diagnostic tool.
Walmart is one of the latest companies looking to adapt to the emerging digital economy by possibly establishing its own cryptocurrency. The retail giant filed at least seven applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, including one for blockchain assets.
Bitcoin plunged below the $40,000 mark on Monday, hitting its lowest price since September. The world's most valuable cryptocurrency has had months of hot and cold streaks, and the latest drop now has investors wondering just what 2022 will have in store for bitcoin and the crypto space as a whole. Ben McMillan, CIO at IDX Digital Assets, joined Cheddar Movers to discuss.
