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Top Stories: North Texans Take In The Eclipse; Teaching History With Augmented Reality

Krystina Martinez
/
KERA News
A Perot Museum volunteer helps kids assemble a pinhole viewer to catch the eclipse.

The top local stories this evening from KERA News:

North Texans had a severe case of eclipse fever today. The eclipse fell on the first day of school for many North Texas students. The National Weather Service reports temperatures across Dallas-Fort Worth dropped a few degrees as the eclipse was peaking locally. 

  Other stories this evening:

  • There's been a growing debate in Dallas -- and other cities in Texas and across the country --  about whether to remove Confederate statues and symbols. President Trump has warned removing Confederate statues could be a "slippery slope" to eliminating monuments of Thomas Jefferson and other leaders. Today on Think, Krys Boyd talked with historian Ibram X. Kendi, who says it's time we consider all of America's monuments.  

  • How do you get students to get more interested in history? Make history interactive like using elements inspired from PokemonGo. As Ana Perez reports, one North Texas professor says the popular augmented reality game inspired her to help teach students about the history of Denton. 

  • Earlier this year, KERA sponsored an essay contest for high school students across North Texas. The assignment: Draw inspiration from a poem by Maya Angelou to talk about race relations in the U.S. The winner? Lauren Moore, who's heading into her sophomore year at Guyer High School in Denton. She chose the Maya Angelou poem "Equality" and wrote about her experience as a young black women.

You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.

Gus Contreras is a digital producer and reporter at KERA News. Gus produces the local All Things Considered segment and reports on a variety of topics from, sports to immigration. He was an intern and production assistant for All Things Considered in Washington D.C.