Weekly Digest #24: Educational Videos
The three Learning Scientists do research on learning and memory, but we are also teachers. (In fact, two of us consider ourselves teachers first and researchers second.) One thing we have noticed is that students like to watch videos to support their learning, and the science suggests that given students information via multimedia with animation and narration can be helpful (1), and videos are one way to do this. We have recently started filming our own videos about effective study strategies to go with our six strategies for effective learning materials. Today, we provide links to five videos or sets of videos that could be used in the classroom. The first two are about learning to study. The last three cover a broad range of topics (with a focus on science!).
1) How to Get the Most out of Studying by Dr. Stephen Chew, @SChewPsych
This series contains 5 videos, each about 6 minutes long, explaining how students can use evidence-based study strategies to improve their own learning. The videos also give advice to college students about how to be successful in college.
2) How to Study More Effectively by Barbara Oakley
Another video promoting effective study strategies that are backed by psychological science!
3) The Psych Show by Dr. Ali Mattu, @AliMattu
This series of videos explains a number of real-world phenomena using the psychological science, and he does this in a fun and engaging way. The Psych Show is an obvious place to look for videos when teaching psychology. But, given the broad topics that Ali covers, teachers of many subjects can find high-quality videos here. For example, here is one of my favorites: Why Diversity in Media Matters.
4) Crash Course by John Green, @johngreen, and Hank Green, @hankgreen, and others!
This is a great channel with a variety of different videos on countless topics, ranging from Literature to Philosophy to Biology. They have a full production team, so these videos are high quality, fun, and engaging. Although most of the videos are structured like courses and are sequential, videos can also be viewed ala carte to help emphasize different topics in the classroom.
5) SciShow by Hank Green, Michael Aranda, and Olivia Gordon
On this channel, Hank Green (from the link above) and others focus on science topics! They also have a sister channel, SciShow Kids.
References:
(1) Meyer, R. E., & Anderson, R. B. (1992). The instructive animation: Helping students build connections between words and pictures in multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 4, 444-452.
Every Sunday, we pick a theme and provide a curated list of links. If you have a theme suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Our 5 most recent digests can be found here:
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Weekly Digest #21: Academic Blog Reading List