Google and the Muppets Tackle National Education Issues

Search leader Google is teaming up with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and Common Sense Media in a two-day conference focused on improving the national educational system by doing some reinvention.

The Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age forum, which kicked off yesterday and ends today, and is sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation, is pulling together 200 leaders in a wide range of expertise, from educational worlds to science, technology and even entertainment, for building a strategy to bolster teaching and learning models using technology.

A Google FAQ said the goal is building national initiatives and identifying digital-age solutions for promoting a new long-term strategy for breakthroughs in learning.

Forum leaders said the event will promote new research tied to why national education needs a refresher. Keynote speakers at the forum include Geoff Canada, who founded the Harlem Children's Zone, an educational, social and medical services program.

The United States is currently ranked 25th globally when it comes to math scores and 24th in science scores according to the PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World report.

And leave it to Google to ensure that the forum, discussion and debate on how to improve education isn't just limited to those at the event. You can jump in with suggestions, questions and insight, and get a close look at today's agenda right here. So far 98 questions have been posted online and today's topics include reversing the dropout rate, a chat between Google founder Sergey Brin and James Bennet, editor in chief of The Atlantic, and new teaching approaches that could make a difference.

"There's great hope for American education, as long as we can work toward innovative solutions that not only allow students distinct educational experiences tailored to their interests and abilities, but also drive toward a common goal of assessable success," according to Cristin Frodella, product marketing, Google Apps Education, in a blog post about the event.

"Most importantly, we need to support our teachers, principals and administrators — the true agents of change who tirelessly and passionately work to connect with each and every student that passes through their classrooms. The Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age forum is one step we're taking to address some of our most pressing national education system issues," Frodella explained.

Photo courtesy of Sesame Street Workshop