This past week, I found myself in a YouTube rabbit hole. Has that ever happened to you? You go to watch one video on YouTube and the next thing you know, it's 3-hours later and you're still watching, but something so wholly unrelated to what you started with that you couldn't explain the path you took to save your life!
The good news for you is that my binge-fest resulted in discovering some short, engaging, content-rich material for you and your students! So much of this makes for great mini-lessons, review, etc. And because it's on YouTube, you can easily link to your class website for absent students to review, or just to watch again for deeper understanding! I find I notice something new every time I watch a video!
Part of the great content I found, I have embedded below. (I also found plenty of less-than-awesome content, but that stuff didn't make the list! You don't know it, but I've saved you hours of time!)
Note: I don't have any connection to any of the content creators or their channels. I just really love what they're doing!
I've embedded my own YouTube video first, which is an introduction where I briefly give a quick introduction to several YouTube channels that span grades 2 - 12, focusing mostly on science, but not entirely. I'd definitely give that a watch first!
Spotlight Playlists
I've included two playlists for your viewing pleasure! The first set of videos is for you, and the second set is for you to introduce the engineering process to your class.
Failure is Important!
This set of videos is for you and potentially administrators and parents about the importance of teaching students to be creative, innovative, risk-taking, failure freaks!
Prepare Our Kids for Life, Not Standardized Tests
We Need to Teach Our Kids to be Makers: Marita Cheng at TEDxSydney
Why I Teach My Children to Fail | Jim Harshaw
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Engineering Videos for Your Class
The second set is for your students, covering topics in the Engineering Process in ~4 minute segments. The perfect amount for time for class starters/finishers!
Engineers for 2nd - 3rd graders:
Solve Problems: Be an Engineer!
Video description from YouTube:
Learn about engineers, who dream up a lot of the things you use every day, from toys to tools!
The Engineering Process for 4th - 6th graders:
The videos below brilliantly and simple describe the engineering process in small, easy chunks. The series was designed to meet 5th grade standards, but I think they'd be great to use with grades 4 - 6, and perhaps younger and older students. Give a few a watch to see for yourself!
And a cool thing to know if you're a 5th grade teacher: Click on the video descriptions within YouTube, and you'll find the linked 5th grade Next Generation Science Standards that the video explores! I think they're all great, but my favorites are "Succeed by Failing" and "Fixing Failure Points".
What's an Engineer? Crash Course Kids #12.1
Video description from YouTube:
You've heard of Engineers, I'm sure. But, what are Engineers? Well, it turns out that they're all kinds of people doing all kinds of neat work! Want to be one? Well, join Sabrina in this episode of Crash Course Kids where she talks about what they do and why they do it!
You've heard of Engineers, I'm sure. But, what are Engineers? Well, it turns out that they're all kinds of people doing all kinds of neat work! Want to be one? Well, join Sabrina in this episode of Crash Course Kids where she talks about what they do and why they do it!
The Engineering Process: Crash Course Kids #12.2
Video description from YouTube:
So, how do we go about being engineers? In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina talks to us about the Engineering Process and why we should do things in order, as well as many of the questions we should ask along the way.
Defining a Problem: Crash Course Kids #18.1
Video description from YouTube:
So, how do engineers even figure out what problem needs to get fixed? And what's the difference between identifying a problem and just complaining about something. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina talks about how we can all be better Engineers by understand what problems we want or need to solve.
So, how do engineers even figure out what problem needs to get fixed? And what's the difference between identifying a problem and just complaining about something. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina talks about how we can all be better Engineers by understand what problems we want or need to solve.
Defining Success: Crash Course Kids #18.2
Video description from YouTube:
In our last episode, Sabrina talked about how Engineers define the problems they need to solve. But how do you know when you've actually solved a problem? What do you expect to happen that would equal success? In this episode, Sabrina chats about how Engineers look at results to help them know when they've achieved success.
Got Some Solutions?: Crash Course Kids #26.1
Video description from YouTube:
So, there might not be just one solution to a problem. I know that may sound weird, but it's true. So, how do you come up with multiple solutions? In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Engineer Sabrina shows us how to do that.
So, there might not be just one solution to a problem. I know that may sound weird, but it's true. So, how do you come up with multiple solutions? In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Engineer Sabrina shows us how to do that.
Let's Fly!: Crash Course Kids 26.2
Video description from YouTube:
Selecting which solution is the best solution to a problem may seem difficult at first. But if you are patient and think about what you need an effective solution to be, you can do it. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina shows us how to do just that by going back to our original problem at the gorge.
Selecting which solution is the best solution to a problem may seem difficult at first. But if you are patient and think about what you need an effective solution to be, you can do it. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina shows us how to do just that by going back to our original problem at the gorge.
A Case of "What-Ifs": Crash Course Kids #29.1
Video description from YouTube:
Variables: What are they? In the case of engineering, variables are a condition or value that can change. Sometimes we control a variable, sometimes we don't. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina chats to us about how variables affect our choices as engineers.
Variables: What are they? In the case of engineering, variables are a condition or value that can change. Sometimes we control a variable, sometimes we don't. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina chats to us about how variables affect our choices as engineers.
Engineering Games: Crash Course Kids #29.2
Video description from YouTube:
So how can a game teach us about engineering? Pretty easily! When you're trying to solve a game, or a puzzle, or whatever, you will have a bunch of variables. The trick is knowing how to change one variable at a time to see what changes. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina plays a game with Catbot to show us how!
So how can a game teach us about engineering? Pretty easily! When you're trying to solve a game, or a puzzle, or whatever, you will have a bunch of variables. The trick is knowing how to change one variable at a time to see what changes. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina plays a game with Catbot to show us how!
Bowled Over - Isolating Variables: Crash Course Kids #39.1
Video description from YouTube:
So, variables. There are lots of them when trying to test an idea. The trick is to isolate one variable at a time to get reliable results every time. But, how do we do that? In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina shows us how to isolate variables at the bowling alley!
Video description from YouTube:
So, variables. There are lots of them when trying to test an idea. The trick is to isolate one variable at a time to get reliable results every time. But, how do we do that? In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina shows us how to isolate variables at the bowling alley!
Try Trials: Crash Course Kids #39.2
Video description from YouTube:
Video description from YouTube:
We've talked about variables and solving problems. But how do we keep working on a problem if the first solution doesn't fix it? Trials! In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina shows us how to use Trials to figure out what the problems are with our solutions.
Succeed by Failing: Crash Course Kids #42.1
Video description from YouTube:
We all know that failure is bad... but is it? Actually, Engineers need things to fail so they can understand how to make things better. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina chats to us about failure points and how they can help us find better solutions to problems.
Fixing Failure Points: Crash Course Kids #42.2
Video description from YouTube:
Now that we've talked about failure points, let's talk about how to fix them. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina shows us how to set up models and trails to find and fix failure points.
Designing a Trial: Crash Course Kids #44.1
Video description from YouTube:
It's time to design some trials. Sometimes engineers need to figure out how to test ideas. In order to do that, we need to design trials to find failure points and see how things are going to work in the real world (with gravity, wind, and human error all factored in). In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina takes us to the fair to help us design a trial.
Testing and Trials: Crash Course Kids #44.2
Video description from YouTube:
More trials! This time we need to figure out what to do if you don't have all the things you'd like to have to perform your tests. How do you isolate a variable across multiple tests? A good engineer will work to find a way to make it happen. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina shows us some ways to do just that.
The Robot Challenge: Crash Course Kids #47.1
Video description from YouTube:
Robots! They're everywhere. We use them for all kinds of things that we can't, or don't want to do. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina shares a problem with us that can probably be solved by building an awesome robot. So let's take the robot challenge!
Architecture Adventure: Crash Course Kids #47.2
Video description from YouTube:
If we want to build a place for us to live, or to hang out, or do eat dinner with our friends, we're going to need a special kind of engineering called architecture. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina gets us to help her build a place where she can have some alone time and rock out to Taylor Swift.
Let's Build a City: Crash Course Kids #48.1
Video description from YouTube:
So, we've built a lot of things over the last year and we've become awesome engineers in the process. But now it's time for a real challenge. Let's build a city! That's right, you heard me! In this episode, Sabrina shows us what we need to think about when we start engineering something as huge and full of problems as a city!
City-building challenges are a classic! They've been around for ages in many variations! If you like the idea of trying one for yourself, I created one called "New Earth City" in which students design a city on a distant planet at a time in he future when Earth has become uninhabitable. You can find it linked below.
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| CLICK HERE for NEW EARTH CITY |
I hope you'll find these videos as helpful and/or interesting as I did. If you head over to my YouTube channel, you'll can see some I'm subscribed to just a handful of channels. The clips for your classroom embedded above came from SciShow Kids and CrashCourse Kids, but there are other channels there you'll definitely want to check out, particularly for middle school students and above.
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