Change starts with an idea. That was true of the American Revolution and the microchip. It's equally true of the big changes that the American public education system is just starting to make. And despite the headlines, some of the most exciting minds are focusing their attention on the world of education.

Take a look at some of the most innovative, surprising, intriguing, and inspiring ideas from some of the biggest thinkers Edutopia has featured.

NEW: Salman Khan
The founder of the Khan Academy, a free educational video library that features over two thousand titles

* Salman Khan on Liberating the Classroom for Creativity

Barnett Berry
The president and CEO of the advocacy organization Center for Teaching Quality

* Barnett Berry on Education Reform
* Teacher Preparation: Learn from the Masters

T. Berry Brazelton
Noted pediatrician, author, and Harvard School of Medicine Professor Emeritus

* T. Berry Brazelton on Parents as Partners in Education

Linda Darling-Hammond
Stanford University education professor and adviser to the U.S. Department of Education

* The Collaborative Classroom: Linda Darling-Hammond on SEL
* Linda Darling-Hammond on Becoming Internationally Competitive

Arne Duncan
The former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, now secretary of education for President Obama

* An Interview with Arne Duncan
* Reform Starts Now: Obama Picks Arne Duncan

Howard Gardner
Harvard University professor and author of twenty books, best known for his theory of multiple intelligences

* Q&A: An Interview with the Father of Multiple Intelligences
* Howard Gardner on Multiple Intelligences

James Paul Gee
Professor of literacy studies at Arizona State University and author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

*Grading with Games

Daniel Goleman
Psychologist, journalist, and the best-selling author of Emotional Intelligence and other books

* Daniel Goleman on Social Emotional Learning
* George Lucas and Daniel Goleman: Educating Hearts and Minds

Jane Goodall
Groundbreaking primate researcher and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute

* Kid Power: The Roots & Shoots Program

Mimi Ito
Cultural anthropologist studying new media use, particularly among young people in Japan and the United States

* Mimi Ito on Learning with New Media

George Lucas
Maker of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films and founder and chairman of the George Lucas Educational Foundation

* George Lucas at Dreamforce: Sharing His Hope for Education
* George Lucas on Teaching Communication
* Life on the Screen: Visual Literacy in Education

Wynton Marsalis
Artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and winner of a Pulitzer Prize in music for his work Blood on the Fields

* Keeping Time: Music Is a Core Subject

Randy Nelson
Former Dean of Pixar University, which provides employees of the animation company a broad fine-arts education

* Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age: A New Model for the Workplace

Sir Ken Robinson
International leader in creativity, innovation, and educational reform and the author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative

* Sir Ken Robinson on the Power of the Imaginative Mind
* Schools Must Validate Artistic Expression

Katie Salen
Executive Director of the Institute of Play and professor of design and technology at Parsons The New School for Design

* Katie Salen on Learning with Games

Martin Scorsese
Academy Award-winning director of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, the Departed, and many other films

* Martin Scorsese on the Importance of Visual Literacy
* Teaching Visual Literacy

Alvin Toffler
Futurist and co-author, with his wife, Heidi, of Future Shock and The Third Wave

* Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up

Alice Waters
The founder of the Chez Panisse Foundation, which promotes healthy school-lunch programs and runs the Edible Schoolyard projects.

* Learning Curves: Alice Waters
* Middle School Students Grow Their Own Lunch
* The Edible Schoolyard Yields Seed-to-Table Learning

Judy Willis
Neurologist turned educator with the University of California, Santa Barbara's graduate school of education

* Judy Willis on the Science of Learning
* Judy Willis' Blog for Edutopia