TED-Ed
What is Color?
"To understand the phenomenon of color, it helps to think about light as a wave." This is a brief and very informative instructional video on what color is and why we are able to see it. Your young scientists will learn such terms as the...
Nemours KidsHealth
How the Body Works: Muscles
Viewers visit the gym where two kids and a body-building adult are working out. The characters discuss three types of muscles: smooth, cardiac, and skeletal. With middle school humor, colorful animation, and clear information, viewers...
Scholastic
Study Jams! The Nervous System
Get your class thinking with animations of neurons in action and explanations of how stimuli is transported and processed. This film makes an ideal introduction or review of the nervous system. The parts of the brain and what they...
Scholastic
Study Jams! The Senses: Hearing
How does this sound? It's a rockin' video starring two teenage girls talking about music, hearing, and the ear. Listeners hear that the ear does not only gather sound waves, but also helps us maintain balance. They also will get an...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Population Growth
Along came a spider, who sat down beside her. She screamed, but RJ wouldn't smash it because spiders are a limiting factor for other insects in an ecosystem. In this video, other common limiting factors for populations are listed....
Scholastic
Study Jams! Ecosystems
With the forest as an example, Sam and Zoe talk about the components biotic and abiotic of an ecosystem. They also discuss the role of producers, consumers, and decomposers. This concise clip covers all of the basics. As an introduction...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Biomes
Do you know the difference between a biome and an ecosystem? Teach elementary ecologists exactly what a biome is with this captivating cartoon! It discusses six biomes: taiga, tundra, deciduous forest, desert, tropical rainforest, and...
TED-Ed
How Breathing Works
The ins and outs of breathing are explained in this fresh film. Simple and straightforward narration accompanies colorful animation to show how breathing is controlled and how it can be altered. This would not only be useful during a...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Aquatic Ecosystems
Mia's friends are fish-sitting while she is away on vacation. Zoe divulges to Sam that different animals need different habitats, and that there are both freshwater and saltwater ecosystems. Examples of the kinds of organisms found in...
Scholastic
Study Jams! The Circulatory System
The topic of this video is sure to get hearts pumping! Mia and Zoe just finish racing and discuss what is going on in the circulatory system. They expound on the capillaries, veins, arteries, the structure of the heart, and the...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Heredity
Mia wishes her blue hair was inherited so that she wouldn't have to dye it, but Sam explains that eye color is. The video does not expound upon the concept of alleles. It does, however, describe inherited traits vs. learned behavior, and...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Plants with Seeds
Are your blooms doomed? Not if you plant your seeds in the proper condition! Cartoon character teenagers explore seed-bearing plants, germination, and seed dispersal. They compare gymnosperms with cones, angiosperms with flowers....
Scholastic
Study Jams! Angiosperms: Seeds in Fruit
Flowers are lovely, but they are also very practical if you are a plant! In this video, kids learn that without a flower, there would be no seeds. They also find out about the two types of seeds: monocots and dicots. Pollination and...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Plant Adaptations
Mia video chats with Sam from Hawaii! They talk about plant adaptations that allow them to live in particular environments. Examples include the flexible stems and leaves, or floating seeds and flowers of aquatic plants. The adaptive...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Flowers
RJ hangs out in Zoe's garden as she explains pollination, flower anatomy, and fertilization. This cartoon-styled feature is sure to stay in your botanists' minds! Follow it with the dissection of large flowers, such as the lily.
Scholastic
Study Jams! Gymnosperms: Seeds in Cones
Two very hip teenagers walk through the forest collecting evergreen cones. One teaches the other about gymnosperms: cycads, ginkoes, gnetophytes, and conifers. He tries to convince his friend how amazing cones are, while she defends...
TED-Ed
Gravity and the Human Body
How does the absence of gravity affect the human body? The skeletal system, circulatory system, and the sense of balance are all impacted. With a very casual tone, an astronaut explains the changes to these body systems and also an...
TED-Ed
Life of an Astronaut
Veteran orbiter, Gerald P. Carr, relates his experience as an astronaut in this worthwhile video. He is never pictured, but creative animations support his personal narration. Include this little treat with your lesson on space...
TED-Ed
What on Earth is Spin?
If your head is spinning when you consider teaching the action of spinning, this video is sure to settle things. First, the motion is defined and described. The conservation of angular momentum, the Coriolis effect, and the air pressure...
TED-Ed
Conserving our Spectacular, Vulnerable Coral Reefs
A three-minute clip covers a new strategy for protecting the coral reefs of Fiji while still allowing fishermen to harvest the fish that people survive on. Connectivity is the name of the game. This colorfully animated resource is a...
TED-Ed
Dark Matter: The Matter We Can't See
It's looking like the dark side is bigger than we thought! Physicists speculate that perhaps 96% of the universe consists of invisible dark matter and dark energy, while only 4% is what we can view with the aided eye. This flabbergasting...
TED-Ed
Reasons for the Seasons
Considering the shape of Earth's orbit and the tilt of its axis, viewers see why seasons occur on the planet. Additional resources that come with the video include a discussion idea, multiple-choice Think questions, and Dig Deeper links...
TED-Ed
What is an Aurora?
An impressive animation explains the earth's awe-inspiring auroras. The contributions of high-energy particles from the sun collide with our neutral atmospheric atoms. Explained are the roles of solar wind, plasma, the magnetosphere,...
TED-Ed
Is There a Center of the Universe?
The history of our understanding of the center of the universe is explored through this film. The ideas of Aristotle, Copernicus, Bruno, Descartes, and Herschel are included, as well as the new discoveries that have helped the theories...