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Teacher Review for Ted-Ed: Social Studies

Interesting videos and questions on a variety of Social Studies topics

Lisa B.
 Classroom teacher
Hershey Middle School
Hershey, United States
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My Subjects Social Studies
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My Rating
Learning Scores
Engagement
Pedagogy
Support
My Students Liked It Yes
My Students Learned Yes
I Would Recommend It Yes
Setup Time 5-15 minutes
Great for Further application
Homework
Individual
Knowledge gain
Great with Advanced learners
General
Low literacy
How I Use It
The videos in the Social Studies category of TedED cover a range of topics. How appropriate it is across grade levels also varies, for example the video History vs Christopher Columbus started out perfectly, but delved into selling young girls as sex slaves. That is not something I can use in my 6th grade class. There are many videos that are useful: like the two stories about choosing news sources or understanding news narratives. I did not realize the full extent of the video library; in the past I have just utilized a handful, but that will change next year. There are also videos that will partner with our weekly current events. Students have frequent questions about Islam or injustice. For tough topics, having experts describe it before a class discussion will ensure they hear factual and consistent information. The videos on TedED are more than just a video, they also have sections for Think (multiple choice or open ended questions), Dig Deeper (questions with embedded outside links to explore in more detail), and Discuss (forum based).
My Take
There are many features of TedED Lessons that make them useful. There are categories set up - like Social Studies - but you can also search by age level, length of video, or use a general search term. Some of the videos are short animated lectures and others are official TedED Talks. Both have value in the classroom. Teachers can use the videos and questions as is, or they can customize it to fit their teaching needs. One thing that would improve TedED Social Studies is having differentiated levels for the questions. It only allows for a single question set, so some students would be frustrated by complexity and others would be bored.