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"Growing up in L.A., Khalil Fuller was obsessed with basketball shoes. By age 13, he was running a sneaker company out of his closet, buying shoes low and selling them at a profit. In the process-as he calculated the profits that would eventually buy him a car-he also became obsessed with the real-world usefulness of math. By high school, it was clear that most of his friends didn't feel the same way about algebra or statistics. His two best friends, after falling far behind in math, eventually dropped out of school. Fuller started tutoring other kids and had an epiphany: If he could connect math to something that a ninth grader cared about, maybe they'd actually want to study. The idea eventually became NBA Math Hoops, a board game where kids play the part of basketball coaches, drafting players based on statistics and doing simple math to take each shot. Suddenly, math problems become interesting: Should the Warriors have Kevin Durant take a two-point shot within 15 feet of the basket, or Steph Curry pull up for a corner three?"

"Companies are starting to flock to Snapchat. McDonald's and Taco Bell are using it to get Snapchatters interested in their products. The NBA and MLS are giving behind-the-scenes footage from their sports worlds. CNN is reporting news content, and The Food Network is providing an extension to its programming. They're providing content that's interesting. They're surprising their audience. And they're having some fun along the way. If companies can do it, teachers and schools can, too … and we can learn some lessons about how to engage students by watching how they engage their customers."