How to Get in the Flow
In a world in which there is no shortage of digital distractions it can be hard to get into the flow of working a project, studying, or simply sitting and thinking for a while. That’s why I like what Engageable is trying to do, why I appreciate the work of Cal Newport, and why I […]
Why We Have to Wear Sunscreen – Another Lesson Inspired by My Daughters
A couple of days ago I shared 22 lessons that have been inspired by my daughters’ questions. Here’s another one that popped-up yesterday, “why do we have to wear sunscreen?” It’s the question both of my daughters asked when I told them they had to wear sunscreen to play outside yesterday afternoon. The answer of […]
The Effects of Talking to Yourself
I spend a good deal of time talking to myself. I often do this while riding my bike. Sometimes I do it to motivate myself to get over a hill. Other times I do it because I’m puzzling through a problem and talking aloud to myself helps with that, I think. All that to say, […]
This is Why We Make Irrational Decisions
The Psychology Behind Irrational Decisions is the title of a TED-Ed lesson that I needed to rewatch this morning. The lesson focuses on the role of heuristics in our decision making processes. Of course, to understand the role of heuristics in making decisions students first need to understand heuristics. The lesson does a good job […]
“Why Does He Do So Much Sniffing?” – Another Question from My Daughters
If you read this blog regularly, you’ve probably picked up that I love dogs. So of course I was excited years ago when TED-Ed published a lesson about how dogs “see” with their noses. And I enjoyed it again this week after my youngest daughter asked me why our dog does so much sniffing. […]
What Are Carbohydrates and How Do They Impact Your Health?
One of my goals for early part of 2023 is to set a new personal best time at a bike race that I’m entered in for the third year in a row. To do that I’m watching my diet much more carefully than I typically do at this time of year. Like many people, foods […]
In Memory of Ed Webster – Resources for Teaching and Learning About Mount Everest
This morning I opened Facebook and saw the news that fellow Mainer, mountaineer, and author Ed Webster had passed away on Thanksgiving morning. He’s probably most famous for pioneering a new route up Mount Everest in 1988 which he chronicled with words and fascinating imagery in Snow in the Kingdom. I met Ed a few […]
Maps and Videos About Where Thanksgiving Foods Come From
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Dinner Come From? is an interactive storymap that I’ve shared in the past and still find interesting. The map displays where eight popular Thanksgiving foods are grown and harvested in the United States. The storymap includes a map for each ingredient. Each map shows the locations of commercial producers. Fun facts are […]
Why We Procrastinate and Tips to Stop Doing It
I meant to write about this a few days ago. TED-Ed recently published a new lesson that tackles an issue that most of us have dealt with at one time or another. That issue is procrastination. Why You Procrastinate Even When It Feels Bad is a TED-Ed lesson that explains why people procrastinate. It does […]
The Common Cold Is Still Here! – Why Is It So Hard to Cure?
If you watched the video that I published on Wednesday you can hear me beginning to lose my voice. That’s because like everyone else in my house and seemingly everyone in my neighborhood, I had a cold last week. Thankfully, none of us had COVID-19. But it was a reminder that the common cold is […]
TED-Ed Lessons With a Halloween Theme
Halloween is a little more than a week away. It is during the next week that a lot of students will be introduced to the work of Edgar Allan Poe. A TED-Ed lesson examines what made Poe’s macabre works timeless classics. In Why Should You Read Edgar Allan Poe? students can learn about Poe’s guiding principles for […]
How to Find TED-Ed Lessons by Grade Level
Yesterday, I received an email from someone who saw my post about TED-Ed’s The Writer’s Workshop. She was wondering if there is a way to search TED-Ed videos by grade level. That’s not a function available on YouTube, but it is a function available on the TED-Ed lessons website. To sort TED-Ed lessons by grade level go […]
A TED-Ed Lesson for Every Element on the Periodic Table
For years I have referred readers to the University of Nottingham’s Periodic Table of Videos. That table provides a video about every element that is in the Periodic Table. A few years ago the producers of the Periodic Table of Videos partnered with TED-Ed to create lessons about every element in the Periodic Table. TED-Ed’s Periodic Videos […]
A Cool Lesson for a Hot Spring Day – How the Popsicle Was Invented
It was 86F here in Maine yesterday. In the afternoon my kids had popsicles outside for the first time in 2022! That prompted my five-year-old to ask, “why are they called popsicles?” I didn’t have a good answer despite the fact that I did recall watching a TED-Ed lesson about popsicles a few years ago. […]
Best of 2021 – 27 Videos That Can Help Students Improve Their Writing
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year. Here’s one from March. The Writer’s Workshop is a playlist of twenty-seven TED-Ed video lessons about writing. The The Writer’s Workshop contains lessons on basic topics like how to use […]
Building the Hoover Dam – A New TED-Ed Lesson
Blood, Concrete, and Dynamite is a new TED-Ed lesson that tells the story of the building of the Hoover Dam. The lesson explains why the dam was built, the short-term economic impact of its construction (21,000 people employed by the project), the engineering of the dam, the environmental impact, and the human toll of its […]
My Updated List of Halloween-themed Activities and Resources
Halloween is just a couple of weeks away. My daughters are getting excited to wear their costumes (they’re going to be Winnie the Pooh and Tigger). Their excitement reminded me that it’s time for me to publish my annual list of Halloween-themed lesson activities and resources. This year’s list includes some of my old favorites […]
A Good Explanation of the Slippery Slope Fallacy
About a month ago I published a collection of resources for teaching students about logical fallacies and cognitive biases. Since then TED-Ed published another good video to add to that collection. The video is Can You Outsmart the Slippery Slope Fallacy? Can You Outsmart the Slippery Slope Fallacy? centers around the Vietnam War and makes […]
Short Lessons on Geothermal Energy and Volcanoes
Iceland is one my favorite places to visit. (I hope to take my daughters there to hike and camp when they’re a bit older). That’s why I was excited to see a new TED-Ed lesson about Iceland released last week. To say the lesson is about Iceland doesn’t tell the whole story. It’s really about […]
Superhero Science Lessons
Superhero Science is a playlist of science lessons published by TED-Ed. The lessons in the playlist feature explanations of what would happen in various scenarios if you had superhero powers like flight, strength, and speed. Each lessons explains the mathematics and science of scenarios frequently found in superhero stories. For example, in the lesson on […]
A Timeline of Mathematics and Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem
This week TED-Ed published a new video about Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem. This is the latest in a long list of mathematics video lessons produced by TED-Ed. The timing of the video was perfect for me as I had planned on writing about Mathigon’s Timeline of Mathematics this week. That timeline includes an entry about Gödel’s […]
Three Short Lessons About Algorithms That I Used This Week
This week in my Computer Science Principles course we’re talking about algorithms. We started the week with an introduction answering the question, “what is an algorithm?” Then we looked at examples of algorithms that students encounter on a daily basis (YouTube suggestions being the one they related to the most). Today, my students wrote their […]
48 Videos and a Poster About Critical Thinking and Logical Fallacies
Last week TED-Ed released a new video lesson titled This Tool Will Help You Improve Your Critical Thinking. As I wrote last week, I almost immediately used the lesson in one of my computer science classes. Writing that blog post and using that lesson inspired me to take a look back through my archives for […]
How Does Artificial Intelligence Learn? – A TED-Ed Lesson I’m Using Today
Every once in a while a new video pops-up at a time that perfectly coincides with where I am in my curriculum. That just happened this morning as I was planning to introduce the role of artificial intelligence in IoT (Internet of Things) to my Comp Tech I students. Yesterday, TED-Ed released a new video […]
Why Do Our Clocks Spring Forward Next Weekend?
It’s almost that time of year when when most of us in the northern hemisphere have to move our clocks forward by one hour. I never liked moving my clocks forward in the spring before I had kids. And now as the tired dad of two little kids who don’t like to sleep, I really […]
Daddy, What Are Hiccups?
My youngest daughter had hiccups twice this week. On Friday morning she asked, “what are hiccups?” Fortunately, I knew the answer. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a great way of explaining involuntary muscle contractions to a three-year-old. I did my best and told her that it’s part of her body’s way of growing and getting stronger […]
Why Do We Use Filler Words? – And a Tool to Help You Eliminate Them in Presentations
TED-Ed recently published a new video that addresses the question of why we say “like” and other filler words in our conversations. The video is full of interesting pieces of information about why we use filler words and how they can serve a purpose in conversations. For example, saying “like” is often serving the same […]
How Many People Does it Take to Make a Cup of Coffee?
I drink a lot of coffee! Thanks to the timer on my coffee maker my day usually starts by smelling freshly brewed coffee at 4:47am. Making the coffee is pretty simple task in my house; pour in some water, add some ground beans into the filter, and set the timer. But getting the roasted coffee […]
When Will It End?
I’m tired, you’re tired, our students are tired, we’re all tired. I’m tired of switching from in-person classes, to online classes, to hybrid classes, back to in-person classes, back on online classes, back to hybrid classes, and starting every Friday wondering what the format for the next week will be. Yes, we’re all adapting and […]
A Couple of Lessons on the Origins of Thanksgiving Foods
A couple of weeks ago I published a blog post in which I shared an ESRI Story Map of where traditional Thanksgiving foods are grown today in the United States. That story map covers where food comes from today, but it doesn’t cover this historical origins of traditional Thanksgiving foods. That’s an interesting topic of […]
TED-Ed Explains the Basics of Stocks and Investing
TED-Ed has released a new lesson that should be of interest to anyone who has hopes of retiring some day. That lesson is titled How Do Investors Choose Stocks? Some of the highlights of the lesson include a basic explanation of what a stock and the stock market is, the differences between active and passive investing […]
How Batteries Work – And a Resource for Safely Experimenting With Circuits
From cell phones to laptops to toys we and our students rely on batteries for a lot of what we do in our daily lives. But have you ever stopped to think about how batteries actually work? Or have you asked your students to think about it? TED-Ed offers a good lesson that answers the […]
A TED-Ed Lesson Exploring the Pros and Cons of Types of Milk
TED-Ed released a new lesson this week. The lesson is all about milk. The title of the lesson, Which Kind of Milk is Best for You? doesn’t accurately portray the number of lessons and questions that can be raised when students watch the video. Which Kind of Milk is Best for You? explains the basics […]
Ten Resources for Learning About U.S. National Parks
Last week TED-Ed published a new lesson about national parks. The lesson explains the origins of the U.S. National Parks system and concludes with explanations of the challenges facing national parks managers around the world. The lesson also explains how parks managers try to balance access and conservation while also respecting the rights of indigenous […]
Think Like a Coder – The Final Episode!
Last spring my freshmen class enjoyed TED-Ed’s Think Like a Coder series of videos. The final episode of the series was released a few days ago. The last installment is called The World Machine. The World Machine follows the same format as the previous nine installments of Think Like a Coder. The episode features Ethic […]
A Dozen Lessons About Inventions That “Changed the World”
It was a hot and humid afternoon here in Maine. In fact, the weather app on my phone said that it was “oppressively humid.” I’d say that was right. The only good thing about the heat and humidity is that it provides the perfect reason to enjoy a popsicle with my toddlers. Having that popsicle […]
TED-Ed Has Released Episode 9 of Think Like a Coder
Think Like a Coder is a TED-Ed series of videos that my freshmen loved this this past year. The latest installment in the series was released yesterday. Episode 9 is titled The Factory. Episode 9 continues to follow the main characters Ethic and Hedge having to solve a puzzle using the logic that a coder […]
Why Should You Read Moby Dick – A New TED-Ed Lesson
A couple of years ago TED-Ed started producing a series of video lessons titled Why Should You Read… The videos in the series feature classic works of literature explained in about five minutes. The videos are more high level overviews of the books than they are book trailers. What I like best about the videos […]
The Tower of Epiphany – A New “Think Like a Coder” Lesson
A month ago I wrote about how much my freshmen computer science students are enjoying TED-Ed’s Think Like a Coder series. The latest installment in the series was published last week and my students watched it on Friday morning. They enjoyed it as much as the previous installments. Like the previous episodes of Think Like […]
Do Politics Make Us Irrational? – A TED-Ed Lesson
As the 2020 Presidential primaries and caucuses roll on more there is no avoiding political advertising unless you shut off your television, your radio, and never go on YouTube. Politics stir up all kinds of feelings in us. People who are otherwise very even-keeled sometimes get very passionate and perhaps irrational when it comes to […]
Think Like a Coder – My Freshmen Love These Videos!
Think Like a Coder is a series that TED-Ed started publishing last September. They’re cartoons that present a riddle or puzzle that is solved by using the logic that one would use to create a computer program. The basic premise of the series is that the main characters Ethic and Hedge have to collect artifacts […]
The Origins of the English Language
This morning I had a student ask me “what does ‘the’ mean?” It’s was one of those classic teenager moments of trying to distract me/ waste time at the start of class. I indulged him for a minute then got on with the plan for the day. The interaction did remind me that there was […]
Why Should You Read Lord of the Flies – A New TED-Ed Lesson
Why You Should Read Lord of the Flies is the latest video added to TED-Ed’s “why should you read…” series. There are now more than thirty videos in that series. Why You Should Read Lord of the Flies follows the same pattern as the other videos in the series. The video covers the major plot […]
The History of Corn – A TED-Ed Lesson
Pictures of corn like the one in this blog post have become symbols of fall harvest and Thanksgiving. Corn and many products made with it are a staple of the diets of many of us today. How did corn become a staple of our diets? What has enabled it to become one of the most […]
Fall Back! – Lessons on the End of Daylight Saving Time
Fall is full of great things like colorful leaves, fresh apple pies, and Halloween candy! But there is one thing that I don’t like about fall in Maine. That is the lack of sunlight in the morning. As I write this at 6:37am it is still dark outside and I have to leave for school […]
Why Do Whales Sing? – A Lesson Prompted by My Daughters
As you may know, I have two toddler-age daughters. So as you might guess, our bathtub is full of bath toys. One of those toys is a water scoop that is made to look like a whale. Tonight, during bath time my oldest asked, “what’s a whale say?” Not being able to make a whale […]
Ginger Ale, Stomach Aches, and Placebos
Over the weekend and through the first part of this week I was stricken with a flu-like bug that had me doing nothing more than sleeping and occasionally throwing up. As you might guess, I ate a lot of saltines and drank a lot of ginger ale to settle my stomach. It worked, but it […]
Eight TED-Ed Lessons for Music Appreciation
One of my favorite extra-curricular activities in elementary school was learning to play the violin and the trumpet. Three+ decades later I can still read music. I’m looking forward to my daughters being old enough to learn to read and play music too. Thinking about that reminded me of a TED-Ed lesson that I found […]
Why Should You Read Hamlet – A New TED-Ed Lesson
Last year TED-Ed started publishing a series of video lessons titled Why Should You Read…? Each lesson is about a classic work of literature that many of us have read and have made our students read. When making our students read those classics we’ve all been asked, “why do we have to read this?” This […]
Two Lessons About Invasive Species and the Threats They Pose
My favorite bike training ride goes through a portion of the White Mountains National Forest on the Maine-New Hampshire border. As you enter the forest you’ll see reminders about not bringing in firewood from outside of the area. The reason for the reminders is to prevent the spread of invasive insects that can damage the […]
This is Clickbait – A Lesson on Being a Discerning News Consumer
A couple of weeks ago TED-Ed released a video about spotting misleading headlines. I quickly added that lesson to my list of resources for helping students become discerning news consumers. This week TED-Ed released another video that I’m adding to that list of resources. This One Weird Trick Will Help You Spot Clickbait is a […]
Five Resources for Teaching & Learning About Mount Everest
April and May is the peak of the climbing season in the Himalaya Mountains. In May many mountaineers will be making their summit attempts on Mount Everest. Long-time readers of this blog may recall, one of my bucket list items is seeing Mount Everest in person. Until then I have to entertain myself with books, […]
Six Good Lessons About Man’s Best Friend
As long-time readers of this blog know, I love dogs. Small dogs, big dogs, skinny dogs, and fat dogs, I love them all. And I have a particularly soft spot for older dogs in shelters (I’ve adopted three in the last decade). So it was with much interest that I watched the latest TED-Ed lesson […]
The Science of Surfing
The Physics of Surfing is a new TED-Ed lesson that was released this morning. The short lesson explains how waves are formed, why they get bigger as they approach shore, and the geological influences that make waves bigger in some areas than others. The lesson also covers how surfboard shapes affect the way surfers ride […]
Two More Lessons in TED-Ed’s “Why Should You Read…” Series
Last fall TED-Ed started publishing a series of lessons titled “Why Should You Read…” The series features TED-Ed lessons that explain the significance of classic works of literature. When I last wrote about the series it contained seven lessons. The series is now up to nine lessons. The latest lessons are about Fahrenheit 451 and […]
How to Handle Stage Fright
The winter concert season is upon us in many schools. For some students the experience of being on stage is truly frightening. For others it isn’t so scary. This is a good time to bring up this TED-Ed lesson that explains why people get stage fright and how to deal with it. Applications for Education […]
This TED-Ed Lesson Explains What Causes Heartburn – No, It’s Not Your Kids
At one time or another we’ve all suffered from a bout of heartburn. It usually happens to me if I drink soda pop (sometime the allure of a cold can of Coke on a hot day is too strong to resist). What else can cause heartburn? And what is actually happening in your body when […]
TED-Ed Adds More Videos to the “Why Should You Read…” Series
About six weeks ago I published a post about TED-Ed’s series of videos that explain why students should read the classics. When I published that post there were five videos in the series. The series is now up to seven videos. Those videos are listed and embedded below. Why Should You Read MacBeth? Why Should […]
11 Halloween Lesson Resources
Halloween is just two days away. If you’re looking for some Halloween-themed lessons, take a look at the following resources that I featured earlier this month. All About Poe In Why Should You Read Edgar Allan Poe? students can learn about Poe’s guiding principles for writing, the recurring themes of his work, and the personal factors in […]
TED-Ed Explains Why Students Should Read Classics
A few weeks ago TED-Ed published a lesson titled Why Should You Read Edgar Allan Poe? It now appears that lesson was the first in a series of lessons designed to explain and encourage students to read some classics. Since the Poe lesson was published TED-Ed has published similar lessons about Don Quixote, Waiting for […]
Why Should You Read Poe? – A TED-Ed Lesson
Halloween is a little more than a month away. It is during these next five weeks that a lot of students will be introduced to the work of Edgar Allan Poe. A new TED-Ed lesson examines what made Poe’s macabre work timeless classics. In Why Should You Read Edgar Allan Poe? students can learn about […]
Making Sense of Spelling – A TED-Ed Lesson
The Vox video about why we say “OK” raises the question of whether you should write “OK,” “okay,” or “O.K.” That’s just one of many tricky aspects of spelling in English. The TED-Ed video Making Sense of Spelling explains why some words are spelled the way they are and why some words have multiple spellings. […]
A Soccer Physics Lesson
If you watch the World Cup or any other professional soccer game you’re bound to see some incredible kicks that make the ball curve through the air. Football Physics: The “Impossible” Free Kick is a TED-Ed lesson that illustrates and explains how soccer players make the ball curve when they kick it on a free […]
The Myth of the Giant’s Causeway Explained
The Giant’s Causeway is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites that I have had the privilege to see in person. It can be seen in Google Maps Street View too. It’s a unique geological site created by molten basalt. That’s interesting but not as interesting as the myth of its creation. The myth of […]
New TED-Ed Lesson – What Causes Constipation?
In late March TED-Ed answered “why isn’t the world covered in poop?” Last week they published a lesson answering the related question, “what causes constipation?“ What Causes Constipation? teaches viewers about the roles of the large intestine and pelvic floor muscles in the process of expelling stool. The lesson also teaches viewers about the dietary […]
Glue vs. tape – A TED-Ed Science Lesson
The back windshield in my truck is currently being held in place by some clear packaging tape. There’s a big crack in it and my local glass shop can’t fix it until Tuesday. Tape was my “fix” because super glue would not only make a mess, but that mess could end up dripping onto the […]
TED-Ed Lessons About Every Element on the Periodic Table
For years I have referred readers to the University of Nottingham’s Periodic Table of Videos. That table provides a video about every element that is in the Periodic Table. Recently, via Lifehacker, I learned that the producers of the Periodic Table of Videos partnered with TED-Ed to create lessons about every element in the Periodic […]
The Origins of the London Underground
Fun fact: I once got terribly lost in London when the Tube line that I was on unexpectedly (to me, anyway) went out of service and I had to find an alternate route back to my hotel. I’m telling you that only as a way to introduce a new TED-Ed lesson about the world’s first […]
What Causes Body Odor? – A TED-Ed Lesson
What Causes Body Odor? is a new TED-Ed lesson that every middle school health teacher will want to bookmark. The lesson explains where body odor comes from, the processes that and contribute to body odor, and how antiperspirants work. What Causes Body Odor? is part of TED-Ed playlist called Gross Science. Gross Science includes video […]
The Lives of Teenagers and Soldiers in Ancient Rome
One of the earliest TED-Ed lessons was about teenage life in Ancient Rome.The video and its associated questions feature the story of seventeen year old Lucius Popidius Secundus. Last week TED-Ed published a new lesson about life in Ancient Rome. In A Day In the Life of a Roman Soldier students learn about a soldier […]
This TED-Ed Lesson Is Full of …!
Why Isn’t the World Covered In Poop? is the latest video lesson published by TED-Ed. With a title like that, how could you not be curious enough to spend five minutes watching the video? And that’s exactly what I just did. Why Isn’t the World Covered In Poop? is really a lesson about dung beetles […]
5 TED-Ed Lessons About How the Food We Eat Affects Our Bodies
This morning while my daughter was napping I went down the rabbit hole of YouTube related videos. It started out as a simple search for some new cycling workout videos and ended up with this TED-Ed lesson about carbohydrates. That lesson goes nicely with some other TED-Ed lessons that I have bookmarked about how the […]
How Inventions Change History
This evening I was looking back at some resources that I have for teaching about Eli Whitney and the cotton gin. Included in that list was a YouTube video that demonstrated how the cotton gin worked. Next to that video I found a TED-Ed lesson titled How Inventions Change History (For Better or Worse). The […]
The Metamorphosis of Butterflies
My oldest daughter’s favorite book right now is The Very Hungry Caterpillar (she’s a toddler so this is subject to change in three minutes). That’s why I was recently drawn to a TED-Ed lesson titled The Weird and Wonderful Metamorphosis of the Butterfly. The lesson teaches students the stages of a butterfly’s life cycle, why […]
Ancient Rome 101 and Life as a Roman Teenager
National Geographic has a great series of YouTube videos called National Geographic 101. The most recent addition to that series is Ancient Rome 101. The video provides an excellent introduction to the origin, rise, and fall of the Roman Empire. The length and substance of the video makes it an ideal candidate for inclusion in […]
How Birds Learn to Sing
Spring isn’t too far away and soon we’ll start to see and hear the songs of more birds around my home here in Maine. If you also live in a cold, northern climate the sounds of the birds is a welcome sign of spring. Why do birds sing? And how do they learn the songs […]
79 Math In “Real Life” Lessons
Math in Real Life is a series of 79 TED-Ed lessons and TED Talks. The “real life” context in these lessons isn’t things like “how calculating percentages helps you be a frugal shopper.” The “real life” context found in the videos in the Math in Real Life series is broad in nature. For example, you will […]
Five Good Educational Resources to Use Before the Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is this coming Sunday. Just like last year, I predict that the Patriots will win. The odds are good that you have some students who are also interested in the game. Try one of the following resources to turn your students’ enthusiasm for the Super Bowl into a fun lesson. The Superb […]
22 Videos That Can Help Students Improve Their Writing – Best of 2017
As I do during this week every year, I am taking some time off to relax and prepare for the new year. Every day this week I will be featuring the most popular blog posts of the year. This was one of the most popular posts in March. The Writer’s Workshop is a playlist of twenty-two TED-Ed lessons. […]
Why Should You Read Charles Dickens? – A TED-Ed Lesson
Why Should You Read Charles Dickens? is a new TED-Ed lesson released to coincide with Christmas. The lesson provides a bit of background on his life and the influences on his writing and the elements of his stories that made them popular at the time of their publication and continue to make his stories popular […]
How Your Digestive System Works – A TED-Ed Lesson
How Your Digestive System Works is a new TED-Ed lesson. Like all TED-Ed lessons the graphics in the video are great. The content itself is rather basic and best suited for a middle school science classroom. If you want to extend the lesson I would recommend taking a look at Sponge Lab Biology’s Interactive Build […]
The Science of Snowflakes
Here in western Maine we’re expecting our second real snowstorm of the winter to arrive tonight. This has reminded me of a couple of educational videos that explain the science of snowflakes. The Science of Snowflakes is a TED-Ed video lesson that explains how snowflakes are formed, why they’re all different, and why seem to […]
Why You Should Get a Flu Shot Every Year
I was at my local pharmacy yesterday and they had a sign encouraging people to get a flu shot. The small print on the sign pointed that you should get a flu shot every year. Your students might be wondering, “why do I have to get a flu vaccine shot again this year?” If that’s […]
Go To Sleep or Cram? – The Benefits of a Good Night’s Sleep
With two children under 16 months old, in my house we’re well aware of the value of a good night’s sleep. That’s why I favor getting up early before the kids to work on projects than to try work late after they go to bed. As this TED-Ed lesson explains, students could benefit from adopting […]
A Health and Science Lesson – What Is Fat?
Now that we’re into the holiday season, many of us may be concerned about our intake of fats through our favorite holiday treats. But, as students can learn in What is Fat? not all fats are the same. What is Fat? is a TED-Ed lesson that explores the differences between the types of fats that we find […]
Why Americans and Canadians Celebrate Labor Day
Next Monday is Labor Day. For most of us in the U.S. and Canada this marks the unofficial end of summer. If your students are wondering why they don’t have school on Monday, consider having them complete the TED-Ed lesson Why do Americans and Canadians Celebrate Labor Day? Through this lesson students can learn about the […]
The Berlin Job – And the Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall is a TED-Ed lesson that was released last week. It’s a fine primer on the basics of the Berlin Wall, but it is not anything that on its own is going to wow a history teacher. After watching the TED-Ed video I went back into my archives to […]
12 Lessons About Inventions That Kind of Changed the World
TED-Ed has a series of twelve video lessons called Moments of Vision. The videos in the series teach short lessons about inventions that may or may not have changed the world. For example, the invention of the stethoscope did change health care. The invention of the Popsicle, however, just makes summer days a little more […]
How the Popsicle Was Invented – A Tasty TED-Ed Lesson
How the Popsicle Was Invented is the title of a recently released TED-Ed video. The short video explains the origin of the tasty treat itself as well as the name “Popsicle.” This TED-Ed lesson doesn’t include any multiple choice or discussion questions. It’s just a fun little lesson for students to think about as the […]
22 Videos That Can Help Students Improve Their Writing
The Writer’s Workshop is a playlist of twenty-two TED-Ed lessons. The The Writer’s Workshop contains lessons on basic topics like how to use punctuation and videos on more complex topics like how to make your writing humorous. The Writer’s Workshop playlist is embedded below. Applications for Education TED-Ed’s The Writer’s Workshop is a good place for students to find some […]
Why We Feel Attached to Our Stuff – A TED-Ed Lesson
A few years ago I realized that somewhere along the line I started to collect coffee mugs. I never set out to collect coffee mugs, it just kind of happened. Now I have a few favorite mugs that I won’t part with even as I start packing my house (I sold it last month) and […]
Five Lessons On How Computers Work
We use them every day. Our students do the same. But do we ever stop and wonder how computers work? The latest Sci Show Kids episode explains in simple terms how computers work. The video contains fine explanations for elementary school students albeit a bit too fast-paced for my liking. Watching the video sent me […]
A Short Introduction to the French Revolution
What Caused the French Revolution? is the title and topic of a new TED-Ed lesson. Like most TED-Ed lessons, the video provides a brief overview of the key points you’d find in a typical middle school or high school history textbook. The lesson introduces students to the three Estates of pre-revolution France, the National Assembly, […]
The Threat of Invasive Species
When you drive into my home state of Maine two of the first signs you’ll notice are a sign to watch for moose and a sign banning the importation of firewood. The reason for the moose crossing sign is fairly self-explanatory. The reason for the ban on importing firewood may not be so obvious. Importing […]
How Does a Canyon Become Grand? – And Other Lessons on the Shaping of North America
Earlier this month TED-Ed published a new lesson about how the physical geography of North America has changed over time. The lesson, titled How North America Got Its Shape, includes brief explanations of the roles of shifting tectonic plates, erosion, and volcanic activity in shaping North America. The lesson includes the Grand Canyon as an […]
Why the Metric System Matters – And How It Confounds Americans
Why the Metric System Matters is the title of the latest TED-Ed lesson. The lesson explains how measurement systems evolved through history including the historical event that hastened the adoption of the metric system throughout most of the world. The lesson also explains why the United States doesn’t use the metric system. As is noted […]
How Playing Sports Benefits the Brain and Body
How Playing Sports Benefits Your Body and Your Brain is the title of a recently released TED-Ed lesson. The video in the lesson teaches viewers about the psychology benefits of teamwork and overcoming defeat. Students watching the video can also learn how playing sports can help a person avoid or overcome feelings of depression. The […]
A TED-Ed Lesson on the Bill of Rights
The latest lesson published by TED-Ed explains to students why the Bill of Rights was added to the US Constitution. In the lesson students learn about the positions of Federalists and Anti-Federalists, which states pushed for a Bill of Rights, and why the Bill of Rights was added as a set of amendments to the […]
Nearly 100 TED-Ed Lessons About Nature
In recent weeks I have featured some neat National Geographic videos about cool things in nature like birds that eat dirt and animal migrations in Yellowstone. While those videos are great, they are a bit short. For longer lessons about interesting things in nature, take a look at the TED-ED playlist called Awesome Nature. 96 […]
Riddle Me This – 7 TED-Ed Lessons Based on Riddles
Earlier this week I shared a playlist of TED-Ed lessons about how the human body works. In responses to that playlist Lisa Winer sent me the suggestion to check out a TED-Ed lesson that she contributed to creating. That lesson is the Locker Riddle. In that lesson students have to use mathematics and logical reasoning […]
What Would Happen if You Didn’t Drink Water? – And 12 Other TED-Ed Lessons About the Human Body
What Would Happen if You Didn’t Drink Water? is the title of latest TED-Ed lesson. The lesson addresses items like how much water should a person drink, how much water a body loses during an average day, and the effects of dehydration. The lesson also addresses what can happen when you consume too much water. […]
Three TED-Ed Lessons About Stress
The weekend is here and hopefully you have some relaxing things planned for yourself. Taking time to reduce stress has many benefits to our health. From zits to headaches to colds TED-Ed has three lessons about how stress can affect your body. How stress can make you sick. Does stress cause pimples? How stress affects […]
5 Tips to Improve Critical Thinking Skills – A TED-Ed Lesson
5 Tips to Improve Your Critical Thinking is the latest TED-Ed lesson. The introduction to the lesson is a bit long for my liking but once you get past that the tips are solid. The lesson presents critical thinking as a process of five steps. The last step is the one that students will probably […]
How to Make Your Writing Funnier – And 21 Other Writing Lessons
The Writer’s Workshop is a TED-Ed playlist featuring short lessons on writing. Some of the lessons are on basic things like When to Use Me, Myself, or I while other lessons are of a more conceptual nature like How to Build a Fictional World. The latest lesson added to The Writer’s Workshop is How to […]
12 Lessons on How the Human Body Works
Last winter I started a playlist of TED-Ed video lessons about how the human body works. I started the playlist because I wanted a list that was a bit more refined than what I was finding on the TED-Ed website. The playlist started with five videos and with today’s addition of the lesson on carbohydrates […]
What Are Carbohydrates and How Do They Impact Your Health? – TED-Ed Lesson
How Do Carbohydrates Impact Your Health? is the focus of the latest TED-Ed lesson added to my playlist of TED-Ed Lessons about the human body. How Do Carbohydrates Impact Your Health? explains what carbohydrates are, common food sources of carbohydrates, and how are bodies use carbohydrates. The lesson also explains what can happen to our […]