TED-Ed

TED-Ed is a website featuring a curated series of educational videos and lesson plans on a huge variety of subjects. From the folks at TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), whose TED Talks have featured some of the world's brightest minds, TED-Ed is a place where students can get some of that same inspiration. Students can use keyword searches to find content or browse by theme, including some ongoing video series, such as Math in Real Life and Superhero Science. There's also the Earth School "immersive learning adventure." Lessons are available for students of all ages, and the library is extensive enough to have something for practically any subject focus. In addition to each video (the Watch section), lessons include Think, where students answer some questions about the video; Dig Deeper, which is a listing of additional related resources; and Discuss, which includes guided and open-ended discussion questions.

Registered teachers and students can take any existing lesson and easily customize it for their own educational purposes. Or, they can create their own video lesson from scratch, based on a video in TED-Ed's library or from a YouTube link. Teachers and students are then walked through each step of how to create the lesson, and there's a management area for students to keep tabs on their lessons and discussions. The site also includes a conduit for students to create their own TED-style videos, and educators can register for a program to give their own talks, sharing their unique knowledge.

Full Disclosure: TED-Ed and Common Sense Education share a funder; however, that relationship does not impact Common Sense Education's editorial independence and this learning rating.

Between the high-quality videos and the extensive collection of lesson plans, TED-Ed is a great resource for students and teachers looking for inspiration, education, and maybe even some fun. The videos and animations are highly engaging and as well produced as some of the best content on television. While a few students might get bored or frustrated with videos on more advanced topics, the site generally does a great job of presenting complex content in comprehensible ways. For example, "The Basics of the Higgs Boson" describes the implications of this newly discovered fundamental particle using funny, kid-friendly animations. 

Video topics run the gamut and will engage students' sense of science and the humanities, from the lives of penguins to "Music and Creativity in Ancient Greece" and beyond. Many topics of interest that aren't usually included in curricula are here, such as Design, Emotional Health, Personal Finance, Linguistics, and Anthropology. Videos by TED-Ed are continually added to the collection, and people can also use lessons created and shared by others. Teachers looking to work videos into their standards-based curricula would benefit from support to help them find videos with Common Core-aligned content, however.

While the TED-Ed-made videos are top-notch, some of the publicly shared ones vary in quality. Also, the quality of the non-video portions of each lesson may vary considerably, and may not add much depth to the lesson. Students may need to demonstrate understanding in other ways.