Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How State Budgets Are Breaking Us Schools

For Students 9th - 10th
America's school systems are funded by the 50 states. In this fiery talk, Bill Gates says that state budgets are riddled with accounting tricks that disguise the true cost of health care and pensions and are weighted with worsening...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Turing Test: Can a Computer Pass for a Human?

For Students 9th - 10th
What is consciousness? Can an artificial machine really think? For many, these have been vital considerations for the future of artificial intelligence. But British computer scientist Alan Turing decided to disregard all these questions...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: It's a Church. It's a Mosque. It's Hagia Sophia.

For Students 9th - 10th
If walls could talk, Turkey's Hagia Sophia would have an abundance of stories to tell. Once a church, then a mosque, and now a museum, this world marvel has stood the test of time and war, surviving centuries of conquest by some of...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: High Altitude Wind Energy From Kites!

For Students 9th - 10th
In this brief talk, Saul Griffith unveils the invention his new company Makani Power has been working on: giant kite turbines that create surprising amounts of clean, renewable energy. [5:22]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Game Layer on Top of the World

For Students 9th - 10th
By now, we're used to letting Facebook and Twitter capture our social lives on the web- building a "social layer" on top of the real world. In his talk, Seth Priebatsch looks at the next layer in progress: the "game layer," a pervasive...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Image Recognition That Triggers Augmented Reality

For Students 9th - 10th
Matt Mills and Tamara Roukaerts demonstrate Aurasma, a new augmented reality tool that can seamlessly animate the world as seen through a smartphone. Going beyond previous augmented reality, their "auras" can do everything from making a...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Pool Medical Patents, Save Lives

For Students 9th - 10th
Patenting a new drug helps finance its immense cost to develop- but that same patent can put advanced treatments out of reach for sick people in developing nations, at deadly cost. Ellen 't Hoen talks about an elegant, working solution...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Much Does a Video Weigh?

For Students 9th - 10th
What color is a mirror? How much does a video weigh? Michael Stevens, creator of the popular educational YouTube channel Vsauce, spends his day asking quirky questions like these. In this talk he shows how asking the right questions can...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: From Mach 20 Glider to Humming Bird Drone

For Students 9th - 10th
"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" asks Regina Dugan, then director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In this breathtaking talk she describes some of the extraordinary projects that her...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: A Light Switch for Neurons

For Students 9th - 10th
Ed Boyden shows how, by inserting genes for light-sensitive proteins into brain cells, he can selectively activate or de-activate specific neurons with fiber-optic implants. With this unprecedented level of control, he's managed to cure...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Mystery of Chronic Pain

For Students 9th - 10th
We think of pain as a symptom, but there are cases where the nervous system develops feedback loops and pain becomes a terrifying disease in itself. Starting with the story of a girl whose sprained wrist turned into a nightmare, Elliot...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Your Words May Predict Your Future Mental Health

For Students 9th - 10th
Can the way you speak and write today predict your future mental state, even the onset of psychosis? In this fascinating talk, neuroscientist Mariano Sigman reflects on ancient Greece and the origins of introspection to investigate how...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Mysteries of Vernacular: Odd

For Students 9th - 10th
Whether we're talking all things unusual or mathematical, the origins of the word odd point to the Indo-European root uzdho, which means pointing upwards. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel explain the evolution from the term for a triangle...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Tales of Passion

For Students 9th - 10th
Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, the definition of feminism, and, of course, passion in this Talk. [18:30]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Let's Use Video to Reinvent Education

For Students 9th - 10th
Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises and...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Try Something New for 30 Days

For Students 9th - 10th
Is there something you've always meant to do, wanted to do, but haven't? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals. [3:21]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Toward a Science of Simplicity

For Students 9th - 10th
Simplicity: We know it when we see it- but what is it, exactly? In this funny, philosophical talk, George Whitesides chisels out an answer. [19:05]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: On Reading the Koran

For Students 9th - 10th
Lesley Hazleton sat down one day to read the Koran. With serious scholarship and warm humor, Hazleton shares the grace, flexibility and mystery she found, in this myth-debunking talk. [9:34]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Happy Secret to Better Work

For Students 9th - 10th
We believe that we should work to be happy, but could that be backwards? In this fast-moving and entertaining talk, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that actually happiness inspires productivity. [12:20]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What Makes a Good Life? Lessons From the Longest Study on Happiness

For Students 9th - 10th
As the director of 75-year-old study on adult development, Waldinger has unprecedented access to data on true happiness and satisfaction. In this talk, he shares three important lessons learned from the study as well as some practical,...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Looks Aren't Everything. Believe Me, I'm a Model

For Students 9th - 10th
Cameron Russell admits she won a genetic lottery: she's tall, pretty and an underwear model. But don't judge her by her looks. In this fearless talk, she takes a wry look at the industry that had her looking highly seductive at barely...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Social Animal

For Students 9th - 10th
Tapping into the findings of his latest book, NYTimes columnist David Brooks unpacks new insights into human nature from the cognitive sciences- insights with massive implications for economics and politics as well as our own...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The World Needs All Kinds of Minds

For Students 9th - 10th
Temple Grandin, diagnosed with autism as a child, talks about how her mind works- sharing her ability to "think in pictures," which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss. She makes the case that the world needs...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Write Your Story, Change History

For Students 9th - 10th
In this inspirational TEDYouth Talk, Brad Meltzer encourages us to dream big, work hard, and stay humble. [8:58]