Three Ways to Watch Videos & Discuss Them in Real-time Online

YouTube can be a good place to find educational videos to support your lessons. We've all had students who struggle to hold their comments until the video has stopped. One strategy that many teachers have used in those cases is to tell students to "write it down." The web makes it possible to take that strategy a step further and have students not only "write it down" but also enable teachers to instantly respond to students' comments while watching a video. Here are three tools that enable users to watch videos online and discuss them with others at the same time.

Synchtube is a free service for watching videos and chatting about them at the same time. Here's how it works; find the url of your favorite YouTube, Vimeo, or Blip.tv video, copy that url into Synchtube, and begin chatting with your friends while the video is playing. You can comment on the video and share thoughts inspired by the video while you're watching it.

Watch2gether is a neat site through which you can watch YouTube videos and host text chats about them at the same time. It is really quite easy to use Watch2gether. To get started enter a nickname for yourself (it could be your real first name) then search for a video or enter the url of a video that you have previously bookmarked. When you have found the video you want a chat column will be present on the right side of your browser. You can invite others to chat with you by sending them the url assigned to your chat. Together you can watch a video and discuss it.

Google+ Hangouts provide the option to watch YouTube videos with a small group. Now that Google+ is open to anyone over 13, this could be a good option for high school use.

Embed Plus Offers Real-World Context for Vocabulary Words

Embed Plus is a free service for clipping and annotating YouTube videos. I wrote about the service and included a demo of it last winter. This morning I learned from Learn It In 5 that Embed Plus also provides a nice service for learning how to pronounce words and watch some examples of those words being used in a real-world context.

Embed Plus Dictionary allows you to search for a word, hear a pronunciation, and watch a video clip in which that word is used in a real-world context. The example that Embed Plus features is about the word "salmon." I've embedded their example below.


Applications for Education
Embed Plus Dictionary could be a good resource for students of high school age or older. The video clips that I saw would not be terribly engaging for younger students. If you're looking for clips that would be appropriate for K-8 students, I recommend visiting Wordia.

Words of the World - The Origins of Words

Words of the World is another great series of videos from the University of Nottingham (they also brought us the Periodic Table of Videos and Foodskey - The Science of Food). Words of the World is a collection of videos featuring historians and linguists explaining the origins of and history of the use of words in the English language. The videos attempt to put the words into a somewhat modern context. For example this video about the word guerrilla makes reference to Che Guevara. The sample I've embedded below explains the history of the word California.


Applications for Education
Words of the World could be an instructive model for your own lesson combining history and language arts. Have your students pick a word or two that they think is common and research it. Then have them create their own short videos in which they explain the history of those words. You might even have them research the dialect of the areas in which they live. For example, where I live we have Streaked Mountain. Most people would pronounce that as streaked yet everyone around here pronounces it as streak - ed. I'm not sure why that is the case, but I would love to find out.

Videos - From Campaign to President

In case you haven't heard, this year the United States is choosing a President. The process started a while ago and we still have almost eight more months of hollow promises to hear campaign activities to go before the election. I've been bookmarking videos related to the election process for a while, here they are. I hope this help you help your students understand the process of choosing a President of the United States.

Let's start with an explanation of how candidates raise campaign funds.


Now that we've raised money, let's spend it.


And why do we have to spend it so early? Because of the primary and caucus season. Here's an explanation of those.


Let's see who helps candidates in those early elections and caucuses.


It's pretty much a given that an incumbent first term President will receive his party's nomination. That's an advantage. There are some disadvantages to being the incumbent. Here's a look at the advantages and disadvantages of campaigning for re-election.


Now that we're down to just two viable candidates remaining, let's pick a victor through the Electoral College. Here's one explanation and here's another.

Watch Frostbite Theater from Jefferson Lab

Yesterday, I posted a list of 7 Useful YouTube Channels for Science Students and Teachers. This morning, through a Tweet by Sandra Goodrich,  I learned of another good YouTube channel for science students. Jefferson Lab's YouTube channel includes a playlist titled Frostbite Theater. Frostbite Theater is a collection of 54 videos that offer short lessons in basic chemistry and physics. In the video below students learn about liquid nitrogen shaping pewter.



Applications for Education
If you're looking for some simple science demonstrations to add to your classroom website, Frostbite Theater might have what you need. On a related note, Sandra Goodrich's blog has some great ideas for science teachers. Check out her Marshmallow Chemistry post.

CNN Student News - Elections in Syria and Russia

Today's episode of CNN Student News leads-off with a couple of segment about elections in Syria and Russia. The segment about elections in Russia include interviews with people on the street. Today's episode also includes a couple of good discussion questions for your students. The first, at the conclusion of a story about a "shoe frenzy," asks students if there is anything they would camp-out to buy. The second discussion question asks students for their thoughts about the idea of paying students to attend school.

Today's episode of CNN Student News is embedded below.

Video - America's Briefest President

This evening while browsing the CBS News video section I came across a short piece about William Henry Harrison. The four minute video, narrated by Mo Rocca, tells the story of how William Henry Harrison came into office and why his wife never did make it to Washington, D.C.

Applications for Education
As I watched the video I noticed there were some striking similarities between Harrison's attempt to hide his aristocratic roots while campaigning and those same attempts made by politicians today. Show the video to your history students and ask them if they can draw any comparisons between the campaign practices of Harrison and of today's politicians. Then ask them to think about why some politicians may want to hide their aristocratic backgrounds.

Heart Rap - A Rap Explanation of How the Heart Works

Rhyme 'n Learn is back with another educational rap music video. This latest addition to their catalog is called Ur Blood, Brother. The video explains the basic functions of the human heart. The video can be found on YouTube or on the Rhyme 'n Learn website. The video includes captions with the lyrics. If you want an easy-to-print version of the lyrics, visit Rhyme 'n Learn.


Applications for Education
As I was watching the video last night I thought to myself,  "this is kind of like Khan Academy set to rap." The video has some basic graphics to support the text. The video could be a catchy review for some students.

Another Great YouTube Channel for History Students and Teachers

Last week I posted 7 Useful YouTube Channels for History Teachers. Admittedly, that list was skewed toward US History. In the comments on that list P.M. Laberge suggested that I look at the History for Music Lovers channel on YouTube. I'm glad that suggestion was made because History for Music Lovers is a great place to find music videos about dozens of topics in World History. The videos are set to the music of popular songs with the lyrics changed to tell the stories of things like The French Revolution, The Crusades, and William the Conqueror. The images in the videos come from a mix of movies, music videos, and documentaries.

The story of William the Conqueror is told in the video embedded below.



Applications for Education
If you're looking for a new way to introduce or review some topics in your World History curriculum, take a look at History for Music Lovers on YouTube. You can also find them on Facebook.

7 Useful YouTube Channels for History Teachers

One of my favorite things about Netflix streaming is that I can watch some great history documentaries on my laptop or tablet. As much as I enjoy a good documentary I also know that not everyone does. I also know that many students get bored by documentaries very quickly. On the other hand, short video clips can be helpful to help teachers illustrate a point or present a point in a different manner. If you're a history teacher, particularly a U.S. History teacher, here are seven YouTube channels where you can find some good short video clips to use in your lessons.

Hip Hughes History is a channel that Greg Kulowiec shared on Twitter a couple of weeks ago. Hip Hughes History is a series of short, upbeat lectures on topics in US History and World History. The videos are produced by Keith Hughes, a high school history teacher in Buffalo, New York. A sample video is embedded below.



Dizzo95 is the first YouTube channel that came to mind when I started to build this list. I've featured a bunch of the videos from this channel in the past. On this channel you will find a lot of short (2-5 minutes) US History and World History videos. Most of the history videos on this channel are overviews of eras or major topics in history. The channel does not have much organization and videos on topics outside of history are mixed-in so you will have to use the search function to find gems that you can use. I've included a sample from Dizzo95 below.



The U.S. National Archives YouTube channel offers a mixed bag of videos that include everything from old propaganda films like this one (also embedded below) to lectures from historians to short lessons about items in the National Archives.



The New York Historical Society has a YouTube channel that at first you might not think has anything of relevance to teachers and students outside of New York, but on further investigation you will find content like this playlist of videos about Frederick Douglass.



World History & Other Stuff contains just what the title implies. The channel is curated by a teacher of AP World History for his students. The playlists that are assembled are excellent, here's one about the collapse of the Soviet Union and here's one about the Enlightenment.

The Smithsonian has many channels on YouTube. The one that I want to highlight is the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History YouTube channel. Here you will find playlists about the museum, its exhibits, and short lessons based on the work of the museum.

For the military history buffs, the Naval History & Heritage Com'd channel (to be clear, the channel is not administered by the U.S. Navy) contains 43 playlists covering all aspects of U.S. naval history. Here's a playlist about navy medicine at war. If your school offers a course in military history, this channel could be particularly useful.

The History of Calendars, Leap Year, and Daylight Savings

This year the child of one of my good friends will be celebrating his birthday on his actual birthday for only the third time. Why is this? He was born on February 29, of course.

Why is George Washington's birthday recorded as both February 11, 1731 and February 22, 1732? It's recorded as both because of the change from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar in 1752 (read more about Washington's birthday on Archives.gov).

Here are a couple of videos that explain the history of our modern calendar and why we have an extra day every four years.



This video was shot on February 29, 2008 which is why you here the narrator say "today is leap year." Four years later it is still a good, brief explanation of leap year.


And while we're on the topic of time, here are a couple of videos about daylight saving time.



H/T to Brain Pickings for the first video.

Teaching Channel - Best Practice Videos and Lessons

Teaching Channel is a collection of videos of teachers demonstrating their best practices. The videos are categorized according to grade level, subject, and topic. You will find examples of classroom management techniques and examples of teachers carrying out their best lesson plans. The lesson plan videos are accompanied by documents  detailing the lessons. The classroom management videos are accompanied by tip sheets.


If you register on the Teaching Channel website you can download videos, take and save notes on each video, and take advantage of a lesson planning tool to organize your lessons.

Applications for Education
Teaching Channel could be a good place for pre-service teachers to see some good modeling of instructional methods. If you're a veteran teacher looking for some new ideas about how to teach a particular topic, the Teaching Channel could have what you need.

DocumentaryZ - Another Place to Find Free Documentaries

In the past I've shared some lists of good places to find and watch free documentaries online (here's one list). Today, I learned about another place that teachers and students can find and watch documentaries online. DocumentaryZ offers hundreds of documentaries organized into two dozen categories. Many of the videos are served via YouTube, but some are not. If you're fortunate enough to work in a school that allows you to access YouTube, DocumentaryZ is worth bookmarking.

Applications for Education
If you're looking for a documentary to use in your classroom, take a look at DocumentaryZ. I do have one word of caution, the Health and Sexuality categories do include some topics that may not be appropriate for all students. Therefore, it would be best to use DocumentaryZ for your own searches rather than letting students search the site on their own.

Stocks, Dividends, and Inflation Explained in Under Two Minutes

Through Explania I have just discovered a great collection of short video explanations of important topics in economics. Investopedia has a great YouTube channel in which they explain in two minutes or less concepts like inflation, stocks, and dividends. I've embedded a couple Investopedia explanations below.

What is inflation?


What is the difference between stocks and bonds?


On the personal finance front, Common Craft offers some good videos about borrowing money, saving money, and investing money. The videos can be viewed on the Common Craft website, but if you want to download them or embed them you will need to have a Common Craft membership. Here's their explanation of saving money and compound interest.


Disclosure: I have an in-kind relationship with Common Craft. I advised them on some products in return for access to their library of videos.

The New Boston - Great Videos for Learning Computer Science and More

The New Boston is an educational website and YouTube channel that I recently discovered while reviewing the EduPort Android app. The purpose of The New Boston is to share instructional videos and tutorials in the areas of computer science, computer programming, mathematics, science, robotics, and much more. Think of The New Boston as Khan Academy for computer science. For students who are interested in programming, The New Boston offers an active discussion forum in which they can ask questions.

One of the channels within The New Boston that jumped out at me is the Android app development series which contains 200 instructional videos.

Here's a sample from The New Boston.


Applications for Education
The New Boston could be a great resource for students who want to learn programming on their own. The New Boston could also be a great source of supplemental materials for the courses that you teach.