“Explain it to me like I’m five” is a popular online genre, and it’s also a very useful teaching/learning concept.

I regularly have my IB Theory of Knowledge classes create videos or slideshows where they have to teach complex concepts in a way that is accessible to a five-year-old.

You can see my lesson plan and a student-created example here.

In fact, my students are creating them as the semester final this week, and I’ll share a bunch of new presentations here after I receive permission.

Coincidentally, comedian Taylor Tomlinson just had a segment on this very subject on her late-night talk show, and it’s pretty good (at least the first two people did great jobs).  You can watch it during the first four minutes on this clip: