I’ve recently learned about two new free video series:
The disappointing one surprisingly comes from Harvard and the Annenberg Institute have recently unveiled 42 short videos on Neuroscience and the Classroom. I haven’t watched them all, but the few I have seen appear very dry, not engaging, and not even particularly helpful to teachers. Admittedly, though, I might have just picked the wrong ones, and others might be more appealing. Let me know what you think. I’ve previously posted very positively about Annenberg’s ESL series, so had expected to feel the same way about this one.
A group called Take Part has begun a video series called Civics In A Minute. This one has potential. I’ll wait to see what their future ones look like before I decide if it belongs on a “The Best…” list, but the firsts ones look good. Here’s one:
Larry, as a contrast to the 42 videos on neuroscience, I suggest you look at dsihome.org. As the many quotes from teachers and students tell, this is far from a dry experience. Clearly students are deeply engaged, love working through the five cases to discover what drugs created problems for young people, and learn a remarkable amount (Cohen d approx. 1.0). Blacks and girls learned the most and the experience increased interest in science. This is a game-like experience developed over three years with a grant from the NIH. It emphasizes evidence-based reasoning, critical thinking, and problem solving. It is standards-based. When asked what they liked about DSI, the most common open-ended response of the over 2000 evaluated students was learning!