• 14 November 2012 //
• Posted by Logan Smalley
• No Comments

Today’s publication of Jill Bolte Taylor’s classic TEDTalk, Stroke of insight, marks the first public posting of a TEDTalk to the TED-Ed YouTube Channel.

But why this Talk? Why re-upload to the TED-Ed YouTube channel? Why start posting TEDTalks now? And what’s with the new intro?

In this blog post, we’ll work backwards through each of the questions above, and we’ll do our best to explain how we envision TEDTalks fitting into the overall TED-Ed initiative.

• 5 November 2012 //
• Posted by Logan Smalley
• No Comments

Today is November 6, 2012–Election Day in the United States. Four years ago American citizens over the age of eighteen elected President Barack Obama. But what did the first election look like over 200 hundred years ago? How have voting rights changed over the years? How are the lines of voting district lines drawn? How are those lines sometimes manipulated by the parties in power to gain a political advantage? How exactly does the Electoral College work? And why in the world do we vote on Tuesdays?

A group of political scientists, activists and historians (and the animators that brought their words to life) explore nuanced answers to each of those questions in this TED-Ed election playlist…

• 1 November 2012 //
• Posted by Stephanie Lo
• No Comments

Here at TED-Ed, we have been incredibly fortunate to work with talented and innovative animators from all over the world. But the TED-Ed lesson by materials scientist, Ainissa Ramirez, marks a first for TED-Ed. The animation uses bologna – yes, the meat found in your sandwiches – doubling as atoms in a TED-Ed animation. The creative animator behind the lesson, Andy London, is a Brooklyn-based animator. He and his wife, Carolyn, are known for their 2004 short film “Backbrace,” that won Best Animation at the New York Television Festival and honorable mentions at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and the Woodstock Film Festival. 

So how did you land on using bologna as atoms in your TED-Ed lesson? 

Well I went to a family dollar store and obsessively looked through candy–Reese’s, Smarties, Skittles, etc. Everything was too small or just didn’t work as atoms. So we went to the frozen food section of the family dollar store and found bologna. It was big enough and plain enough!

And I actually ate the bologna afterwards. Everybody got mad at me because everyone thought I’d get sick from it since it was from the dollar store…

• 1 November 2012 //
• Posted by Logan Smalley
• No Comments

The TED-Ed team feels lucky to have created the first live-action TED-Ed Lesson with five-time Grammy winner, and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones bassist, Victor Wooten.

The shoot took place on a Saturday, and while the ten-person camera, lighting and sound crew primed the cello-riddled second level of Manhattan’s David Gage’s Repair Shop, a few of us decided to try our hand at documenting the creative process of each artist in the room. These pictures, taken with our cell phones, tell the story behind the “one-shoot” TED-Ed Lesson entitled, Victor Wooten: Music as a language.

• 1 November 2012 //
• Posted by Stephanie Lo
• No Comments

Paul Andersen, creator of the “The Five Fingers of Evolution” and a seasoned AP Biology teacher at Bozeman High School in Montana, talks to TED-Ed about his life as a teacher and how he integrates videos into his teaching.

You have been teaching for the past 18 years–that’s a long time. Do you remember what you thought on your first day?
I will never forget my first day of teaching. I started my career teaching all sciences in a rural Montana school. The average class size was about ten. I can remember the names of the students and where most of them were sitting in the classroom. I also remember being nervous and incredibly excited. As a teacher you have the ability to create your own environment from scratch. This is incredibly freeing but it is also a great responsibility.

I still get a little nervous and excited before my first class each morning…

• 1 November 2012 //
• Posted by Stephanie Lo
• 1 Comment

Shakespearean insults, mind-boggling numbers, universal mysteries, and microscopic battles–these topics are just hint of the intellectual expanse covered by the educators and animators in the top ten most viewed Lessons on ed.ted.com. Click any image to view the full Lesson.

• 1 November 2012 //
• Posted by Stephanie Lo
• No Comments

In celebration of the summer Olympics, TED-Ed got the chance to work with Olympic gold-medalist, Steve Mesler, on a personal Lesson about two decisions that  put him on the path to Olympic glory. The Lesson, which was visualized by Augenblick Studios, was designed to complement Steve’s work at Classroom Champions—an inspiring program created by Steve and his fellow Olympians to connect students in high-need schools with top performing athletes. The athletes work with individual classes around the world, in person and via Skype, to support students in recognizing their potential, setting goals and dreaming big.

A huge bonus in spending a day creating a lesson with an Olympian is the opportunity to try on a gold medal!

[Pictured: Jordan, Logan, Steve, & Bedirhan. Steve is the one who looks like he has competed in the Olympics.]

• 1 November 2012 //
• Posted by tededucation
• 2 Comments

Dear World,

It’s been a thrilling few months since the launch of both TED-Ed BETA and the TED-Ed YouTube Channel. Today we’re excited to launch a new area of the site: The TED-Ed Blog!

The TED-Ed Blog is intended to be an extension of our video-based lessons that educators and animators, nominated in the get involved section of the site, have helped our small team produce since launch.  To date, across time and geography, our three respective communities have come together to build 75+ original lessons.

The videos featured in the TED-Ed library have been viewed over 10,000,000 times, and using the “Flip This Lesson” functionality on the website, they have served as a centerpiece in thousands of individualized lessons made by members of the TED-Ed community. Because of the nature of TED-Ed originals—audio from educators in one part of the world + visuals from an animator from somewhere else—nearly every Lesson has an incredible story behind it. This blog will tell those stories and more….