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Instructional Video6:21
TED-Ed

TED-ED: Why do people join cults? - Janja Lalich

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Today, there are thousands of cults around the world. Broadly speaking, a cult is a group or movement with a shared commitment to a usually extreme ideology that's typically embodied in a charismatic leader. But what exactly...
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Instructional Video4:52
TED-Ed

TED-ED: A day in the life of an ancient Athenian - Robert Garland

Pre-K - Higher Ed
It's 427 BCE and the worst internal conflict ever to occur in the ancient Greek world is in its fourth year. Athens is facing a big decision: what to do with the people of Mytilene, a city on the island of Lesbos where a revolt against...
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Instructional Video6:48
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: Vampires: Folklore, fantasy and fact - Michael Molina

Pre-K - Higher Ed
The myth of the bloodsucking vampire has stalked humans from ancient Mesopotamia to 18th-century Eastern Europe, but it has differed in the terrifying details. So, how did we arrive at the popular image we know, love and fear today? And...
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Instructional Video5:27
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: Why should you read "One Hundred Years of Solitude"? - Francisco Diez-Buzo

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" brought Latin American literature to the forefront of the global imagination and earned Garcia Marquez the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature. What makes the novel so...
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Instructional Video4:05
TED-Ed

TED-ED: How to spot a counterfeit bill - Tien Nguyen

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Authentic dollar bills are equipped with many security features to make them difficult to forge. But that doesn't stop counterfeiters from trying to fool people with fakes. Luckily, anyone can help catch a counterfeit; all you need are a...
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Instructional Video4:30
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: A day in the life of an ancient Egyptian doctor - Elizabeth Cox

Pre-K - Higher Ed
It's another sweltering morning in Memphis, Egypt. As the sunlight brightens the Nile, Peseshet checks her supplies. Honey, garlic, cumin, acacia leaves, cedar oil -- she's well stocked with the essentials she needs to treat her...
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Instructional Video4:35
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: The history of the world according to cats - Eva-Maria Geigl

Pre-K - Higher Ed
In ancient times, wildcats were fierce carnivorous hunters. And unlike dogs, who have undergone centuries of selective breeding, modern cats are genetically very similar to ancient cats. How did these solitary, fierce predators become...
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Instructional Video4:58
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: The myth of Jason and the Argonauts - Iseult Gillespie

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Hercules, the strongest man alive with a mighty heart to match. Orpheus, charmer of nature and master of music. Castor and Pollux, the twin tricksters. The Boreads, sons of the North Wind who could hurtle through the air. Brought...
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Instructional Video4:56
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: Zen k_ans: unsolvable enigmas designed to break your brain - Puqun Li

Pre-K - Higher Ed
How do we explain the unexplainable? This question has inspired numerous myths, religious practices and scientific inquiries. But Zen Buddhists practicing throughout China from the 9th to 13th century asked a different question - why do...
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Instructional Video4:22
TED-Ed

TED-ED: Will the ocean ever run out of fish? - Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Jennifer Jacquet

Pre-K - Higher Ed
When most people think of fishing, we imagine relaxing in a boat and patiently reeling in the day's catch. But modern industrial fishing -- the kind that stocks our grocery shelves -- looks more like warfare. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and...
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Instructional Video5:30
TED-Ed

TED-ED: A brief history of goths - Dan Adams

Pre-K - Higher Ed
What do fans of atmospheric post-punk music have in common with ancient barbarians? Not much ... so why are both known as _goths"? Is it a weird coincidence _ or is there a deeper connection stretching across the centuries? Dan Adams...
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Instructional Video4:37
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: A day in the life of a Cossack warrior - Alex Gendler

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Join the Cossack soldier Stepan as he tries to keep order in the battalion and help his people regain their independence. -- The year is 1676, and a treaty has officially ended hostilities between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and...
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Instructional Video4:19
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: The ferocious predatory dinosaurs of Cretaceous Sahara - Nizar Ibrahim

Pre-K - Higher Ed
In Cretaceous times (around 100 million years ago), North Africa was home to a huge river system and a bizarre menagerie of giant prehistoric predators -- including the Spinosaurus, a dinosaur even more fearsome than the Tyrannosaurus...
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Instructional Video5:09
TED-Ed

TED-ED: Should we get rid of standardized testing? - Arlo Kempf

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Although standardized testing is a particularly hot topic in education right now, this approach to measurement has been in use for two millennia. And while the results of standardized testing can help us understand some things, they can...
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Instructional Video5:11
TED-Ed

TED-ED: The myth of Thor's journey to the land of giants - Scott A. Mellor

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Thor-son of Odin, god of thunder, and protector of mankind-struggled mightily against his greatest challenge yet: opening a bag of food. How had the mighty god fallen so far? Scott Mellor tells the myth of Thor's journey to Utgard.
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Instructional Video5:18
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: From slave to rebel gladiator: The life of Spartacus - Fiona Radford

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Spartacus was a slave -- one of millions taken from territories conquered by Rome to work the mines, till the fields or fight for a crowd’s entertainment. Imprisoned for deserting the Roman Army, he and other slaves fought their way free...
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Instructional Video3:18
TED-Ed

TED-ED: The many meanings of Michelangelo's Statue of David - James Earle

Pre-K - Higher Ed
We typically experience classic works of art in a museum, stripped of their original contexts, but that serene setting can belie a tumultuous history. Take Michelangelo's statue of David: devised as a religious symbol, adopted as a...
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Instructional Video4:09
TED-Ed

TED-ED: Would you opt for a life with no pain? - Hayley Levitt and Bethany Rickwald

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Imagine if you could plug your brain into a machine that would bring you ultimate pleasure for the rest of your life. The only catch? You have to permanently leave reality behind. Hayley Levitt and Bethany Rickwald explore Robert...
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Instructional Video5:15
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: Why are sloths so slow? - Kenny Coogan

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Sloths spend most of their time eating, resting, or sleeping; in fact, they descend from their treetops canopies just once a week, for a bathroom break. How are these creatures so low energy? Kenny Coogan describes the physical and...
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Instructional Video4:40
TED-Ed

TED-Ed: What happens to our bodies after we die? - Farnaz Khatibi Jafari

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Since the dawn of humanity, an estimated 100.8 billion people have lived and died, a number that increases by about 0.8% of the world's population each year. What happens to all of those peoples' bodies after they die? And will the...
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Instructional Video10:48
Curated Video

Theories of Global Stratification: Crash Course Sociology

12th - Higher Ed
Today we’ll discuss two theories of global stratification. First, we’ll go over modernization theory and Walt Rostow’s Four Stages of Modernization. Next, we’ll explain dependency theory, the legacy of colonialism, and Immanuel...
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Instructional Video5:06
TED-Ed

TED-ED: The complex geometry of Islamic design - Eric Broug

Pre-K - Higher Ed
In Islamic culture, geometric design is everywhere: you can find it in mosques, madrasas, palaces, and private homes. And despite the remarkable complexity of these designs, they can be created with just a compass to draw circles and a...
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Instructional Video5:46
TED-Ed

TED-ED: The secrets of Mozart's "Magic Flute" - Joshua Borths

Pre-K - Higher Ed
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Die Zauberflote" ("The Magic Flute") is widely regarded as one of the most influential operas in history. And while it may seem like a childish fairytale at first glance, it's actually full of subversive...
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Instructional Video10:26
Curated Video

Education In Society: Crash Course Sociology

12th - Higher Ed
Today we’ll explore the history of education as a social institution, with a specific focus on how the US organizes its educational system. We’ll look at education through the lenses of some sociological paradigms: structural...