What is a TED-Ed Lesson

Good morning everybody. My name is Peter Paccone and I am a San Marino High School Social Studies teacher. The title of my presentation today is the TED-Ed Lesson and in this presentation, I'm going to show you how you can produce a mind altering lesson that not only sparks the curiosity of your own students but also the curiosity of learners around the world

So before going any further, let's jump right in and take a look at . . .

. . . a typical TED-Ed Lesson, this one 4:17 minutes long, posted to the internet just two months ago, and entitled Why is the US Constitution so Hard to Amend?

Click here to view the TED-Ed Lesson: Why is the US Constitution so Hard to Amend?

So what is a TED-Ed Lesson?

Well, a search of the internet certainly will reveal that over time the term has been described in a number of different ways, with not one single definition seeming to take hold, but if you were to ask me, I'd define a TED-Ed Lesson as . . .

Something the consists of short, bite-sized snacks of knowledge produced by educators with a lesson worth sharing and animated by some of the most creative minds in the business with topics ranging from quantum physics to overcoming stage fright.

And somewhere along the way, I'd have to throw in that they are not only free but that they are also, as with any good snack, highly addictive. In other words, once you have "watched" one, you will no doubt want to watch 10 more.

But more so than just a video, a TED-Ed Lesson is also an opportunity to . . .

. . . think.

In this regard, notice the red arrow? This red arrow directs you to the section of the TED-Ed Lesson that normally consists of about eight question. Five, multiple choice, three, open-ended, and all eight related to the material covered in the video.

Regarding the video entitled Why is the US Constitution so Hard to Amend?, here's what the Think questions looked like.

Question #1: As described in the Constitution, there are _____ different ways to propose an amendment and _____ different ways to ratify an amendment.

A.  2,2

B.  3,3

C.  4,4

D.  5,5

Question #2: Regardless of the method used, passing a Constitutional amendment requires the _____ government to propose the amendment and the _____ government to ratify the amendment.

A.  State, Federal

B.  Federal, State

C.  Unitary, Federal

D.  Federal, Confederate

Question #3: To propose an amendment requires a _____ majority.

A.  Simple

B.  Two-thirds

C.  Four-fifths

D.  Three-quarters

Question #4: Who said, "The earth should belong to the living"?

A.  George Washington

B.  Alexander Hamilton

C.  Ben Franklin

D.  James Madison

E.  Thomas Jefferson

Question #5: Should the Constitution be easier to amend? If so, how? If not, why not?

Question #6: If you had a choice, who should have the power to amend the US Constitution - just over 50% of the American people, or five out of nine US Supreme Court Justices? Explain.

Question #7: In what ways, if any, would you like to see the Constitution amended?

Every TED-Ed Lesson also contains a Dig Deeper section. 

The Dig Deeper section of the TED-Ed Lesson provides additional resources for the viewer of the video to explore.

And for the Why is the US Constitution so Hard to Amend lesson, the Dig Deeper section contained a link to the following:

• A copy of the Constitution and the amendments.
• A list of the proposed amendments from the time of the signing of the Constitution up to the very present.
• An article written by the PEW Research Center and entitled A Look at Proposed Amendments and How Seldom they go Anywhere.
• A Huffington Post blog entitled The Public and Proposed Constitutional Amendments: We Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change."
• A ten question survey that I created and designed to find out whether millennials and the generation that follows will be more inclined than previous generations to amend the Constitution.
• The results of that ten question survey.
• A Forbes article entitled "What is a Millenial Anyway?"
• An Atlantic Monthly article entitled "When it Comes to Politics, Do Millenials Care About Anything?"
• A PEW Research Center survey entitled "How Millenial Are You?

Aside from the Watch section, the Think section, and the Dig Deeper section, every TED-Ed Lesson also consists of something called . . .

. . . the Discuss section of the lesson. This section of the lesson essentially provides the view with an opportunity to not only answer one final question related to the topic presented but also provides the viewer with a question that can be tweeted to others.

In the case of the Why is the US Constitution so Hard to Amend lesson, the question I asked was "Do you think that the millennials and those that follow will me more inclined that previous generations to amend the Constitution?

Ok, so now that you have acquired a pretty good idea of what a TED-Ed Lesson is, let's take a look at another one more lesson. 

This, a 4:34 minute animated video produced by a fellow San Marino High School teacher, the highly acclaimed Chemistry teacher, Ms. Cynthia Chubbuck.

The title of Ms. Chubbuck's lesson - Under the Hood: The Chemistry of Cars.

Click here to view the TED-Ed Lesson Under the Hood: The Chemistry of Cars.