How Wastewater Gets Recycled
This morning my YouTube subscriptions included a notification of a new TED-Ed lesson that caught my attention. That lesson is titled How the Water You Flush Becomes the Water You Drink. As the titled implies, the lesson is all about how wastewater gets cleaned and put back into the water cycle where we’ll eventually drink […]
Don’t Let the Graphs Fool You
Tools like Canva, Adobe Express, and even good ol’ PowerPoint make it incredibly easy to quickly create good looking graphs. But as Randy Krum points out in his book, Cool Infographics, a graphic that looks good isn’t necessarily a good graphic. In fact, many times a graphic is made to look good in order to […]
All About Batteries – And How to Preserve Your Laptop’s Battery Life
This week TED-Ed published a new lesson that addresses a topic that just about everyone who owns a cell phone has wondered about at one time or another. That question is “why do phone batteries get worse over time?” Why Your Phone Battery Gets Worse Over Time explains how lithium ion batteries work, why they […]
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 […]
How Sound Is Created Through Brass Instruments
Music is my oldest daughter’s favorite special class at her elementary school. The other day when I picked her up from school we talked about music class and how I played the trumpet, trombone, and tuba in school. That prompted her to ask how to play those instruments which led to my impromptu explanation of […]
167 Math In “Real Life” Lessons
Math in Real Life is a series of 167 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 […]
Learning About Languages and The Mysteries of Vernacular
Last week I wrote a blog post titled Two Lessons for a Wicked Cold Day. After publishing that post it occurred to me that readers who are not familiar with New England may be wondering why I chose the word wicked. Sure enough, someone emailed me last night to ask what I meant by “wicked […]
Best of 2022 – How to Stop Procrastinating
As I do at this time every year, I’m taking the week off to ski and play with my kids, shovel snow, and generally not think about work. I have some of the most popular posts of the year scheduled to republish this week. New posts will resume in the new year. I meant to […]
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 […]
How to Read Music – And 17 Other Lessons About Music
Music Snippet is a Google Docs add-on that I’ve written about in the past. It’s handy tool for writing music in Google Docs. A reader recently asked me about it which prompted me to search my archives for other music-related resources. One that I came across was a TED-Ed lesson that explains the fundamentals of reading […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Writer’s Workshop – 29 Videos That Can Help Students Improve Their Writing
The Writer’s Workshop is a playlist of twenty-nine TED-Ed video lessons about writing. The The Writer’s Workshop contains lessons on basic topics like how to use punctuation and point of view. It also offers videos about more difficult topics like how to make your writing humorous. A few of the videos from The Writer’s Workshop playlist are embedded below. First, Second, and […]
Science Lesson – 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 […]
A Few Short Lessons About Labor Day
This coming weekend is Labor Day Weekend in the United States and Canada. For most of us it is a three day weekend. It is the traditional “end of summer” in the minds of many of us. If you’re planning to answer questions about Labor Day or teach any lessons about it, here are some […]
Why Do We Get Dizzy? – Another Question from My Daughters
We’re going to Storyland today for the sixth or seventh time this summer (it’s one of our favorite family activities). My daughters love to go on a ride called the Turtle Twirl. I don’t love it because it makes me quite dizzy and feel a bit of nausea. I’ve seen many other parents gingerly walk […]
Roller Coaster Physics
Tomorrow I’m taking my oldest daughter to Storyland for a daddy-daughter hangout day before she starts Kindergarten in a few weeks. Her favorite ride is the Polar Coaster which is a roller coaster that is perfect for kids her age (and for 40-something dads who can’t really handle big roller coasters anymore). Thinking about the Polar […]
A Short Lesson About Concussions
Yesterday morning I had the Tour de France playing in the background while working in my office. I looked up from my laptop when I heard the commentators mention Greg LeMond followed by highlights of the 1986 stage to Alpe d’Huez. One of the things that struck me from those highlights was the lack of […]
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 […]
Big Mistakes in Cartography
When I taught geography one of the first topics that I covered was map projections and how some of them can distort how we view the world. Of course, a good bit of attention was paid to the Mercator projection. Mercator’s world map is one of a handful featured in a new TED-Ed lesson titled […]
Electric Lessons – Energy 101
The ski mountain that is about ten miles down the road from where I live has a large array of solar panels. Their goal is to use as much renewable energy as possible. To that end, another solar array is being constructed about a mile down the road. I noticed the progress earlier this week […]
Seven Activities for National Poetry Month
A little Twitter conversation last week reminded me that the start of the baseball season is full of hope and for all but one team ends with heartbreak. There’s a lot of poetry in that. And so it’s fitting that the start of the baseball season is in April and that April is National Poetry […]
How Graphs Can Be Misleading
Tools like Canva and even good ol’ PowerPoint make it incredibly easy to quickly create good looking graphs. But as Randy Krum points out in his book, Cool Infographics, a graphic that looks good isn’t necessarily a good graphic. In fact, many times a graphic is made to look good in order to distract from […]
What’s Snoring? – Another Question from my Daughters
For nearly twenty years I’ve gone to an ice fishing camp every winter with the same group of guys (except for last winter). Some of them are rather loud snorers. In fact, the loud snorers have their own bunk room in the lodge. I was talking about this the other day when my daughter asked, […]
A Short Lesson on the Long History of Electric Cars
The Surprisingly Long History of Electric Cars is a new TED-Ed lesson that should be of interest to anyone who is curious about electric vehicles. The video begins with an explanation of the first electric cars and why they were overtaken by gasoline-powered internal combustion engines. The second half of the video explains the technological, […]
The Science of Cake! – And 83 Other Food Science Lessons
If you ask my five-year-old what she wants to be when she grows up she’ll say, “a cake maker!” She’s been helping decorate cookies and cakes since before her third birthday. She loves it when we let her watch clips of The Great British Baking Show. That’s why I was excited to come across an […]
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 […]
Three Short Lessons About Labor Day
Next Monday is Labor Day in the U.S. For most of us it is a three day weekend. It is the traditional “end of summer” in the minds of many of us. If you’re planning to answer questions about Labor Day or teach any lessons about it, here are some short videos to add to […]
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 […]
Short Lessons on the Value of Money
Last week TED-Ed published a new video lesson titled Why Can’t Governments Print an Unlimited Amount of Money? The purpose of the video is to explain how governments, particularly the United States federal government, were able to spend trillions of dollars on COVID-19 economic relief programs in the last year. The video explains the role of […]
DIY Wind Turbines and How They Work
Earlier this week TED-Ed published a new lesson titled How Do Wind Turbines Work? The video covers the basics of how the turbines harness the power of wind to generate electricity. The basic math of wind turbine design is also explained to viewers of the video. Overall, it’s a fine lesson but not the most detailed […]
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 […]
Improving Your Critical Thinking – A New TED-Ed Lesson
This Tool Will Help You Improve Your Critical Thinking is a new TED-Ed lesson that provides viewers with an introduction to the Socratic method. The video has two main purposes. The first is to explain what the Socratic method is. The second is to explain a bit of Socrates’ place in history. The video’s explanation […]
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 […]
27 Videos That Can Help Students Improve Their Writing
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 punctuation and point of view. It also offers videos about more difficult topics like how to make your writing humorous. A few of the videos from The Writer’s Workshop playlist are embedded below. First, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Short Lessons on the History of Labor Day
This coming Monday is Labor Day in the U.S. For most of us it is a three day weekend. It is the traditional “end of summer” in the minds of many of us. If you’re planning to answer questions about Labor Day or teach any lessons about it, here are some short videos to add […]
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 […]
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 […]
What’s Inside Your Computer – Three Introductory Lessons from TED-Ed
Much like cars, many of us use computers without knowing what really makes them go. And much like cars you don’t have to know what makes your computer run, but it can certainly be helpful to know the basics in order to make informed decisions about them. Of course, if you want to attempt to […]
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 […]
Kissing, Love, and Math – Three Valentine’s Day Lessons
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. It is also day of the Winter Carnival Dance at my school. In short, love and hormones will be flying all around the hallways of my school tomorrow. Perhaps the same will be happening in your middle school or high school. If you’re looking to work a little Valentine’s Day themed […]
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 […]
Cotton and the Life Cycle of a Tee Shirt
Last week TED-Ed published a new lesson titled Why Is Cotton In Everything? The lesson begins with an explanation of why cotton was used by the Inca in suits of armor. From there the lesson delves into the properties of cotton that make strong, soft, and flexible. The bulk of the lesson is then spent on […]
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 Thermometers and Barometers
Many moons ago when I was an undergrad I took a meteorology course. It was my favorite course outside of my major. I’m still fascinated by weather and weather forecasting. In fact, for my next career I might become a meteorologist. All that to say, I was naturally interested when I came across a Met […]
What Causes a Recession?
The U.S. stock market has been on a historic bull run over the last decade. That has a lot of people asking and a lot of talking heads on CNBC speculating about when the next recession will hit. Fittingly, TED-Ed has a new lesson titled What Causes an Economic Recession? By watching What Causes an […]
Poe Animations and Lessons
It wouldn’t be October without language arts that mention Edgar Allan Poe. It seems that October is the time that a lot of students are introduced to the work of Edgar Allan Poe. If that describes your classroom and you’re looking for a few Poe resources, take a look at the following three videos. In […]
7 TED-Ed Lessons for Constitution Day
Tomorrow is Constitution Day in the United States. As I shared last week, C-SPAN and DocsTeach have lots of free lesson plans and online activities. TED-Ed also has a bunch of lessons that are appropriate for Constitution Day. The Making of the American Constitution. Why is the US Constitution So Hard to Amend? Why Wasn’t […]
Fossils 101 – And How Scientists Know What Color Dinosaurs Were
National Geographic’s YouTube channel has a great series called 101 Videos. The series contains 115 videos that provide five minute introductions to a wide variety of science topics. Fossils 101 is one of the recent additions to the series. Fossils 101 explains to viewers what fossils are, fossil types, how fossils are formed, and what […]
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 […]
Three Good Resources for Shark Week
This Sunday is the start of Discovery’s annual Shark Week. A couple of weeks ago I shared SciShow Kids’ Super Sharks lesson. That’s a nice lesson for elementary school students. If you’re looking for something for older students, take a look at the following resources. The Global Fishing Watch map includes an animated layer that displays the […]
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 […]
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 […]
Three Good Resources to Help Students Become Discerning News Consumers
Earlier this week TED-Ed published a new lesson titled Can You Spot the Problem With These Headlines? The short video lesson walks students through dissecting a couple of hypothetical news headlines. By watching the video students can begin to understand how headlines are written to entice readers and how misleading headlines are created. Here are a […]
How the Stock Market Works
Playing a stock market simulation game is one of the popular ways to teach the basic concepts of stock markets. I played one when I was in fifth grade and decades later teachers still use the same concept. In fact, I did a stock market simulation game with my own high school students. Before jumping […]
What Is Turbulence? – A Physics Lesson You Can Feel
At the end of 2018 I shared a half-dozen resources for learning about the science of flight. This morning I watched a new TED-Ed lesson that will make a nice addition to my list of resources about aviation. Turbulence: One of the Great Unsolved Mysteries of Physics is a new TED-Ed lesson that explains what […]
There’s a Poem for That! – Lessons for National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month. Earlier this week I shared a couple of Read Write Think poetry activities that you can use in elementary school. For those who teach middle school and high school language arts, I recommend taking a look at TED-Ed’s playlist of poetry lessons. There’s a Poem for That is a series […]
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 […]
Spring Forward This Weekend!
This weekend those of us in North America who observe Daylight Saving Time have to move our clocks forward by one hour. This time around it is especially annoying for me because I have an early morning flight on Sunday. And, of course, my dogs and my toddlers don’t observe Daylight Saving Time. If you […]
How Ocean Currents Work – And 24 Other Lessons About Oceans
How Do Ocean Currents Work? is a TED-Ed lesson that makes a fantastic addition to TED-Ed’s list of lessons about oceans. The list now has 25 lessons covering a range of ocean-related topics including how waves are formed, the depths of oceans, and lessons about marine life. In How Do Ocean Currents Work? viewers learn […]
A Handful of Resources and Ideas for Valentine’s Day Lessons
Valentine’s Day is only a couple of days away. If you’re looking for some last minute activities to do in your classroom, take a look at these resources. Why Do We Love? is a TED-Ed lesson that explores some philosophies on why people love. The lesson won’t provide you with any clear answers, but it […]
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 […]
Nearly 900 Free Art History Books – And an Art Lesson
Around this time five years ago I discovered that the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts free online art history texts. A recent Tweet from Open Culture reminded me of that collection. Today, I revisited that collection and discovered that it has expanded to 569 volumes. All of the books can be read online or downloaded […]
It’s Time to Change the Clocks
I’m one of those rare people who actually likes turning the clocks back in the fall. Sure, it means that it gets dark earlier, but I’m an early riser and like seeing the sun in the morning. This weekend we’re changing our clocks and if you are too, your students might have some questions about […]
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 You Need a Flu Shot Every Year – A TED-Ed Science Lesson
This morning Lifehacker ran an article encouraging people to get a flu shot (the title of the article is not school-appropriate so I won’t link to it). The point of the article was to remind people that getting the flu shot isn’t just about them, it’s also about helping to keep your community healthy. Reading […]
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 […]
Math in Real Life – Why Airlines Overbook Flights
I’m currently flying home the ESC-20 Library Resource Roundup in San Antonio, Texas. Before I boarded the flight the gate agent was looking for volunteers to take an alternate flight due to overbooking. This seems like a good time to share the TED-Ed lesson Why Do Airlines Sell Too Many Tickets? In Why Do Airlines […]
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. […]
7 TED-Ed Food Science Lessons
Like many people, I probably drink more coffee and eat a few more carbs than I should. That combination can lead to some serious swings in my energy levels during the day. Caffeine and carbohydrates are just a couple of the topics covered in TED-Ed lessons about the science of food. Here are seven TED-Ed […]
82 Math in Real Life Lessons
Years ago TED-Ed started a playlist of video lessons called Math in Real Life. That playlist that started out with just a couple dozen lessons has now grown to include 82 lessons. The “real life” context in these lessons isn’t things like “how calculating percentages helps you be a frugal shopper.” The “real life” context […]
Two Lessons on Cloud Types and Their Names
Meteorology is a science topic that affects all of us whether you like it or not. Look up at the clouds and you’re making a science observation. But what exactly are you looking at when you look at the clouds? And what kind of clouds are you seeing? Those questions are answered in a National […]
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 […]
The Science of Cookies
I love cookies! In fact, I just had two warm chocolate chip cookies for dessert tonight. I bet that you have a student or twenty that enjoys cookies too. TED-Ed has a fun lesson that you can use to teach some science concepts through cookies. In the TED-Ed lesson about the chemistry of cookies students learn why you […]
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 […]
5 Good Resources for Teaching & Learning About Mount Everest
April and May is considered to be the peak climbing season in the Himalaya Mountains. Of course, the most famous of those mountains is Everest. As 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, videos, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Role of Bird Migration in the Ecosystem
When I let my dogs out this morning I heard some birds chirping that I hadn’t heard in a few months. That’s a sure sign that spring can’t be too far away. The sounds of the birds this morning reminded me of a TED-Ed lesson that was published a few years ago. Bird Migration, A […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
What Happens to Your Brain When You Get a Concussion
As the return of football season approaches we hear more stories about professional and student athletes dealing with concussions. TED-Ed recently published a timely lesson about what happens to our brains when we have concussions. The six minute video explains what a concussion is, the short-term and long-term effects of concussions, and myths about concussions. […]
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 Human Body Processes Medicine
As some of you may have seen on Instagram, I injured my right hand on Friday evening. After looking at the cuts on my hand, the emergency room doctor prescribed a round of antibiotics and a mild pain reliever. So it was with some extra interest that I watched a new TED-Ed lesson titled How […]
5 Good Resources for National Poetry Month
April is Poetry Month. Whether you’re trying to help students understand and interpret the meaning of poems or you’re trying to help them write their own poems, the following five resources are worth exploring. (By the way, I always wonder who gets to declare the something is “national X month?” That might be a good, […]
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 […]
A Short Lesson About the Great Lakes
In the fall of 2012 I crisscrossed my way across Michigan’s upper peninsula. In doing so I was able to experience some of the magnitude of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron. I was along the shore of Lake Superior during a storm that created waves the size of those we see on Maine’s […]
The Evolution and Disappearance of Languages
Last week I shared an interactive map of languages. That map is crowd-sourced and unfiltered which is why I recommended only using it to find recordings that you play for your students rather than letting them browse the map on their own. For interactive maps of languages spoken around the world, take a look at […]
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 New TED-Ed Lesson Explains Why There Are So Many Types of Apples
It is apple picking season here in New England. Take a stroll through a local orchard and you’re likely to see a bunch of different types of apples. In fact, you might even find a type of apple that you haven’t previously seen. The reason for this is explained in a new TED-Ed lesson titled […]
21 TED-Ed Lessons About Animals
Writing yesterday’s post about how animals see in the dark inspired me to look through the TED-Ed catalog for more interesting lessons about animals. As I browsed through the catalog I found lessons about how dogs “see” with their noses, why blue whales are so big, how ant colonies work, and eighteen other interesting lessons […]
How Do Animals See In the Dark?
How Do Animals See In the Dark? is a TED-Ed lesson that can help your students understand why their pet cats and other animals are more active at night than during the day. In the video students learn how the eyes of various animals have adapted to provide them with night vision that is far […]
Remember to Sleep – A Lesson for Students
As the new school year gets going there will be plenty of students and teachers who are adjusting to a new sleeping schedule. It can be tempting to stay up late to get “just one more thing” done. We’re actually better off going to bed and getting up early than we are if stay up […]
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 […]
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 […]
Why We Make Irrational Decisions
The Psychology Behind Irrational Decisions is the title of a relatively new TED-Ed lesson that I watched over the weekend. 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 […]
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 […]
Another Great Resource for Learning About Mount Everest
On Wednesday I shared my list of resources for teaching and learning about Mount Everest. This afternoon, thanks to Larry Ferlazzo, I learned about another good resource for learning about Mount Everest. Why is Mount Everest so Tall? is a new TED-Ed lesson in which students learn why the peak of Everest is so high, […]
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 […]
Why Do We Love? – One More Valentine’s Day Lesson
Earlier this week I shared some resources for teaching about science and statistics related to Valentine’s Day. This morning I noticed a new TED-Ed lesson that is appropriate for the last school day before Valentine’s Day, 2016. Why Do We Love? is a TED-Ed lesson that explores some philosophies on why people love. The lesson […]
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 […]
How Do We Know What Color Dinosaurs Were?
How Do We Know What Color Dinosaurs Were? is a new TED-Ed lesson that answers a question I often had in school. In the lesson we learn how scientists examine the melanosomes of fossilized feathers to determine the colors of some dinosaurs. The lesson explains how the physics of light and color eventually lead scientists […]