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| Hank Green and cat. |
Scishow and Crash Course: Why Isn’t School This Cool?
By Bart Leib
Science education and Doctor Who references, together at last! Expect nothing less when geeks are given the stage.
Scishow is a thrice-weekly education channel on YouTube. Hosted by singer/songwriter, entertainer, entrepreneur and Vlogbrother Hank Green, Scishow delves into all thing science, from Jupiter’s sixth moon Europa to epigenetics to awesome inventions by African Americans. They’re amusing, and teach in a manner so straightforward that my five-year-old son follows and enjoys most of them.
Hank and his brother John, a bestselling novelist, are possibly best known for their Vlogbrothers YouTube channel, which they started in 2007 and has more than 200 million combined views. Hank and John share another YouTube Channel, Crash Course. On Crash Course Hank teaches biology, while John covers history:
(These YouTube channels are part of a larger YouTube project called YouTube EDU, which is dedicated to delivering a broad range of educational videos.)
Scishow and Crash Course are both clever, fast-paced, and entertaining. More importantly, the information they deliver sticks. When my son found a nickel at the bottom of his backpack he immediately started chattering about a recent Scishow video Earth’s Not-So-Juicy Center (although I did have to explain to him that, no, there aren’t tons of melted U.S. five-cent coins at the center of the earth…).
Hank and John are great examples of geeks who use their powers to do good, and they deserve separate posts for all their many awesome projects. Their educational videos are a terrific way to engage your kids in history and science without boring them to tears.
Here's a link to the show on epigenetics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1bZEUgqVI
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