Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How to Spot a Fad Diet

For Students 9th - 10th
Conventional wisdom about diets, including government health recommendations, seems to change all the time. And yet ads routinely come out claiming to have THE answer about what we should eat. So how do we distinguish what's actually...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Philosophy of the Buddha

For Students 9th - 10th
The Buddha's philosophy teaches us that our desires are at the root of our restlessness- and that calm can be achieved through willpower and spiritual exercise. [5:43]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Do Glasses Help Us See?

For Students 9th - 10th
Today, glasses help millions of people with poor vision be able to see clearly. But how? Andrew Bastawrous and Clare Gilbert help unravel the answer by explaining refraction- the ability of a transparent medium, like glass, water, or the...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Power of the Placebo Effect

For Students 9th - 10th
Emma Bryce dives into the mystery of placebos' bizarre benefits. [4:37]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What Would Happen if You Didn't Drink Water?

For Students 9th - 10th
Mia Nacamulli details the health benefits of hydration. [4:51]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Psychology of Narcissism

For Students 9th - 10th
W. Keith Campbell describes the psychology behind the elevated and sometimes detrimental self-involvement of narcissists. [5:10]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Science of Skin Color

For Students 9th - 10th
Angela Koine Flynn describes the science of skin color. [4:53]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Why Do We Love? A Philosophical Inquiry

For Students 9th - 10th
Skye C. Cleary outlines five philosophical perspectives on why we love. [5:45]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks

For Students 9th - 10th
Imagine something small enough to float on a particle of dust that holds the keys to understanding cancer, virology, and genetics. Luckily for us, such a thing exists in the form of trillions upon trillions of human, lab-grown cells...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Beneficial Bacteria That Make Delicious Food

For Students 9th - 10th
Erez Garty shows how your kitchen functions as a sort of biotechnology lab, manned by microorganisms that culture your cuisine. [4:39]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Menstruation Works

For Students 9th - 10th
At this moment, three hundred million women across the planet are experiencing the same thing: a period. The monthly menstrual cycle that gives rise to the period is a reality that most women on Earth will go through in their lives. But...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Do Carbohydrates Impact Your Health?

For Students 9th - 10th
The things we eat and drink on a daily basis can impact our health in big ways. Too many carbohydrates, for instance, can lead to insulin resistance, which is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes. But what...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What Is Depression?

For Students 9th - 10th
Helen M. Farrell examines the symptoms and treatments of depression, and gives some tips for how you might help a friend who is suffering. [4:29]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Stress Affects Your Brain

For Students 9th - 10th
Madhumita Murgia shows how chronic stress can affect brain size, its structure, and how it functions, right down to the level of your genes. [4:16]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: 3 Tips to Boost Your Confidence

For Students 9th - 10th
Ted Ed discusses three easy tips to boost your confidence. [4:17]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Memories Form and How We Lose Them

For Students 9th - 10th
Think back to a really vivid memory. Got it? Now try to remember what you had for lunch three weeks ago. That second memory probably isn't as strong- but why not? Why do we remember some things, and not others? And why do memories...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Do Animals Have Language?

For Students 9th - 10th
All animals communicate. But do they have language? Michele Bishop details the four specific qualities we associate with language and investigates whether or not certain animals utilize some or all of those qualities to communicate. [4:55]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What Is a Calorie?

For Students 9th - 10th
Emma Bryce explains how a few different factors should go into determining the recommended amount of calories for each person. [4:12]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Story of Cholera

For Students 9th - 10th
This video by Yoni Goodman and the Global Health Media Project tells the story of cholera in one village. [4:29]
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Plants Tell Time

For Students 9th - 10th
Morning glories unfurl their petals like clockwork in the early morning. A closing white waterlily signals that it's late afternoon. And moon flowers, as their name suggests, only bloom under the night sky. What gives plants this innate...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What's the Big Deal With Gluten?

For Students 9th - 10th
If you've been to a restaurant in the last few years, you've likely seen the words gluten-free written somewhere on the menu. But what exactly is gluten, and why can't some people process it? And why does it only seem to be a problem...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Brain Parasites Change Their Host's Behavior

For Students 9th - 10th
The biggest challenge in a parasite's life is to move from one host to another. Intriguingly, many parasites have evolved the ability to manipulate the behavior of their hosts to improve their own survival- sometimes even by direct brain...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Why Sitting Is Bad for You

For Students 9th - 10th
Sitting down for brief periods can help us recover from stress or recuperate from exercise. But nowadays, our lifestyles make us sit much more than we move around. Are our bodies built for such a sedentary existence? Murat Dalkilinc...
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Does It Grow? Cranberries

For Students 9th - 10th
Nicole Jolly and the "How Does it Grow?" team take us underwater and high overhead to learn all about cranberries. [5:22]