Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Search for Other Earth Like Planets

For Students 9th - 10th
Olivier Guyon examines the possibility of finding other planets within astronomical numbers, some potentially rife with life. [6:21]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Who Is Alexander Von Humboldt?

For Students 9th - 10th
George Mehler details Alexander von Humboldt's major scientific accomplishments and why we should care about them today. [4:22]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Poachers Became Caretakers

For Students 9th - 10th
In his home of Namibia, John Kasaona is working on an innovative way to protect endangered animal species: giving nearby villagers (including former poachers) responsibility for caring for the animals. [15:47]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Where We Get Our Fresh Water

For Students 9th - 10th
In the first of a two part series on fresh water, Christiana Z. Peppard breaks the numbers down and discusses who is using it and to what ends. [3:47]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Earth's Mass Extinction

For Students 9th - 10th
Asteroid strikes get all the coverage, but "Medea Hypothesis" author Peter Ward argues that most of Earth's mass extinctions were caused by lowly bacteria. The culprit, a poison called hydrogen sulfide, may have an interesting...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What if We Could Look Inside Human Brains?

For Students 9th - 10th
The brain is what makes us function, yet we understand so little about how it works. We are learning more about the brain by using new technology to monitor epilepsy patients during surgery. Moran Cerf explains the process doctors use to...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Life of an Astronaut

For Students 9th - 10th
Astronaut Jerry Carr knows space. As commander of Skylab, he spent over 2000 hours in space, orbiting the Earth over 1000 times. Recounting his life story, Carr remembers the enchanting years he spent at NASA. [4:52]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Eyes on the Stars

For Students 9th - 10th
On January 28, 1986, NASA Challenger mission STS-51-L ended in tragedy when the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff. On board was physicist Ronald E. McNair, who was the second African American to enter space. But first, he was a...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Underwater Astonishments

For Students 9th - 10th
David Gallo shows jaw-dropping footage of amazing sea creatures, including a color-shifting cuttlefish, a perfectly camouflaged octopus, and a Times Square's worth of neon light displays from fish who live in the blackest depths of the...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: On Exploring the Oceans

For Students 9th - 10th
Ocean explorer Robert Ballard takes us on a mindbending trip to hidden worlds underwater, where he and other researchers are finding unexpected life, resources, and even new mountains. He makes a case for serious exploration and mapping....
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Conserving Our Spectacular, Vulnerable Coral Reefs

For Students 9th - 10th
How do coral reef conservationists balance the environmental needs of the reefs with locals who need the reefs to survive? Joshua Drew draws on the islands of Fiji and their exemplary system of protection, called "connectivity," which...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Curiosity, Discovery and Gecko Feet

For Students 9th - 10th
Robert Full suggests the possibility of finding world-changing results with less formulaic approaches than the scientific method. In his TEDYouth Talk, Full describes the unlikely way he studied gecko's feet and how these beneficial...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What Is Chromatography?

For Students 9th - 10th
Find out why leaves change color in the fall, and learn how to do paper chromatography to separate the pigments found in a leaf. [4:24]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Open Letter to the President: Physics Education

For Students 9th - 10th
American high school Physics courses typically fail to address any modern topics in Physics- intriguing topics, like black holes and antimatter, and applications that play a huge role in our everyday lives, like GPS systems and lasers....
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What Is a Fungus?

For Students 9th - 10th
From toadstools to yeast, delve deeper into the diverse kingdom of fungi, and find out just how different (and similar) they are to animals and plants. [5:34]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Que Es Una Estrella?

For Students 9th - 10th
A star is an astronomical object that shines with its own light, that is, it can produce its own radiation, has an internal source of energy, and can be held in space due to its own gravity. Learn a little more about the characteristics...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Evolution's Gift of Play, From Bonobo Apes to Humans

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about our similarity to apes, and how they solve their problems so peacefully at times but humans, the more "advanced" species, can behave so primitively. [7:02]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Does Cancer Spread Through the Body?

For Students 9th - 10th
Use this TED Ed lesson, complete with video, questions, and links to resources for deeper understanding, to introduce why cancer spreads throughout the body.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Dead Stuff: The Secret Ingredient in Our Food Chain

For Students 9th - 10th
Use this TED Ed lesson, complete with video, questions, and links to resources for deeper understanding, to introduce the food chain.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Nature's Smallest Factory: The Calvin Cycle

For Students 9th - 10th
Use this TED Ed lesson, complete with video, questions, and links to resources for deeper understanding of the Calvin Cycle.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Not All Scientific Studies Are Created Equal

For Students 9th - 10th
Use this TED Ed lesson, to learn why you should be skeptical of scientific research. Lesson is complete with video, questions, and links to resources for deeper understanding of the topic.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How to Read Music

For Students 9th - 10th
Like an actor's script, a sheet of music instructs a musician on what to play (the pitch) and when to play it (the rhythm). Sheet music may look complicated, but once you've gotten the hang of a few simple elements like notes, bars and...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Beatboxing 101 Beat Nyc

For Students 9th - 10th
There's no need for instruments to make music; you can use the greatest instrument of all, your own body. Members of BEAT NYC teach the basics of beatboxing (think trumpets, bass drums, and everything in between), all while driving...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Development of English Drama

For Students 9th - 10th
When presented with the problem of hoards of illiterate commoners, English clergymen in the 11th century created plays to spread word about the Bible. Eventually, the plays moved out of the church and into the streets. Mindy Ploeckelmann...