Please subscribe to Ken Robinson’s wonderful channel. The fact he is dead is unbearable but his wisdom lives on. He has been advocating for change for decades. Let’s make sure it happens. His kindness and clarity of vision are matchless.

I have only just found this wonderful video on bio-mimicry. Janine Benyus is a calm, glorious thinker and this 21-minute talk could be used in art, chemistry, physics, biology, civics, engineering and design classes. Entangled learning in a nutshell. Do follow her. https://biomimicry.org/janine-benyus/

Breaking News: Time crystals explained. I know how cool is that?

Let your imagination run wild with this terrific talk. I love the Physics Girl channel super helpful and great fun. LEARNING SHOULD BE FUN.

Here is the link

https://www.youtube.com/c/physicsgirl

This is just one of many videos on the Kiss the Ground YouTube channel. We recommend using the movies and the resources on their excellent website. There is something for kids, teachers, climate change activists and nature lovers. We don’t need to live in the country to care about the soil beneath our feet and how healthy soil can sequester atmospheric carbon.

Growing food and connecting with nature in a city. Turning a 10 x10 bare garden into a nutritious, luscious garden took observation over seasonal time and good planning. Now it only takes 4 hours a week to tend the garden and enjoy the produce. We love this video.

Very short helpful video. There is so much nature in a city. The fun is finding it and developing it together.

We highly recommend subscribing to Domain of Science on Youtube It’s a great place to start exploring QM. Dominic Walliam is a super teacher. He guides us as we explore the wonders of the nanoworld. Go to the bottom of the page for a link to his chidren’’s books below. Also, I have added a beautiful book on quantum physics by Frank Wilczek.

The star that generates the energy that enables all life on our planet shines because of quantum tunnelling. We have only understood that for the past 80 years! An incredibly rare interaction between two protons in the sun’s core gives rise to all the wonders of the world. Children find this magical because it is such a fantastical truth. The power of the nanoworld is a wonder. May the force be with you!

I know I’ve already posted a clip on the sun, but it’s so important it’s worth doing well. This clip has some excellent child-friendly facts and graphics that explain quantum tunnelling visually. The teacher is a bit frenetic but he is super helpful. Quantum physics is child’s play. Trust me they get it, and it’s so empowering.

Sean Carroll was my constant companion during the lockdown in Italy. His generosity of spirit and warmth made studying Quantum Mechanics a joy. Each evening I snuggled down with a bowl of homemade pasta and watched an episode. Pausing when I didn’t understand something (which was often) rewinding, rethinking and digging in. He is a tender teacher, kind, and demanding and his love for his subject is infectious. His lectures at the RI also can be found on YouTube. He’s no longer at Cal Tech and has taken up a new post as Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins. Lucky JHU.

The utterly delightful Sean Carroll explains time and the meaning of life! What! His joy and warmth keep us engaged for an hour. It’s a dream talk…I love it.

This is short and very sweet. It explores visually the underground connections that trees and plants use to nourish and communicate. Lovely graphics.

This 4-minute video takes us inside a leaf to explore photosynthesis in a simple visual way. It’s really helpful and it helps children to look at leaves with new respect and wonder. I love this little video.

Russel Brand in conversation with the wonderful Merlin Sheldrake. if you haven’t read his beautifully written book Entangled Life-how fungi make our worlds, change our minds and shape our futures- urge you to do so. See link at the bottom of this page. Science meets philosophy and with the help of magic mushrooms, they have a glorious time. We couldn’t put the book down and read it in a sitting.

Fungi and fashion.

Stella McCartney on designing with mycelium. The future of fashion will depend on sourcing sustainable materials derived from regenerative agriculture.

The story of Mendeleev is extraordinarily powerful and yet so few chemistry teachers have time to tell this tale. Behind every idea and/or ‘fact’ in science is a person with a story. Science, history, philosophy and storytelling are indivisible.

A wonderful book that brings this to life is Mendelev’s Dream by Paul Strathern.

But for the most part these days I use the brilliant documentaries devised by scientists and storytellers because we humans love stories and pictures that illuminate minds.

ASAP Science is fun and challenging. You never know, learning how to power your phone with pee and harvest water from the air may come in useful!

Edible Education: yes, you read that right! I encountered Sandra Carden during a video conference and was blown away by her Edible Education programme at the America School in Dubai. Her short videos offer lots of ideas. The concept of Edible Education opens limitless doors to guides and learners of all ages.

We love Kurzgetesagt-In a Nutshell These short, snappy videos deal with HUMONGOUS ideas.

This is an introductory video. Please Subscribe to this channel. Paul Anderson is a marvel. His Bozeman Science programme from, middle school to AP, is super helpful. On Bio chem, and phys hiis videos are short, clear and encourage real-world exploration. We are big fans of Bozeman!

The wonderful physicist Jim Al-Khalili tells us the story of electricity. It is a glorious example of history meeting science and the power of mistakes!

Veritasium. We love this channel so much. It’s just WOW!

If you have seen the story of electricity now look at this and learn about the wonder of ‘fields’. They are all around us, moving through us, and connecting us across unimaginable space.

“ Why is so much writing so bad?” Steven Pinker’s hilarious talk explores the changing fashions in language while putting grammar and usage into perspective. Know the rules sure, but ‘good’ grammar is not the key to good writing. His talk encapsulates Mikhail Kuzmin’s glorious advice.

I beg you be logical in the design and structure of your work, in syntax . . . be a skilful builder, both in small things and in the whole . . . love words, as Flaubert did, exercise economy in your means, thrift in the use of words, precision and authenticity—then you will discover the secret of a wonderful thing: beauty, clarity.

Lera Boroditsky’s humorous talk explores a path that we found enriching. Syntax and grammar are structures of our innate being. Lera explores how language shapes the way we think. Her quote from Charlemagne “ To have a second language is to have a second soul” is brought to life in this talk.

This talk by Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones, who designed the puppet for War Horse, is about art, technology, biology, animal behaviour, and cooperation in action. It is enthralling and my students have loved it. Link for book below.

Will Stephen’s very funny talk on saying nothing makes me laugh every time I watch it. It’s fabulous for students who have stage fright, or who are devising a presentation. It inspires rich discussion on what to do and what not to do!.

We love this impassioned talk about Brunelleschi. It tells a wonderful story and offers hope, inspiration and unfailingly surprises students. It celebrates art, technology, history and the power of being bloody-minded and tenacious.

This is essential viewing for children of the nano revolution. The story of CRISPR is profoundly exciting and will open out rich discussions on medical ethics. Highly recommend reading The Code Breaker, Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jennifer Doudna. Go to the bottom of the page for the link.

This inspirational documentary on the water crisis offers real-world examples of site-specific resolutions. Social science brought to life.

Chef Grant Achatz’s moving story exemplifies the connections between culinary science, art, collaboration, liberating leadership and the creative power of risk-taking.

The trailer is dubbed in Spanish.

This episode of Chef’s Table is a beacon for interconnected knowledge: it marries geography, ecology, botany, culinary art, cultural knowledge, medicine, history and communication. For kids who think they don’t like geography: this is full of surprises.

This powerful documentary on the state of the planet’s soil offers historical, biological, economic and political perspectives. It holds no punches but it offers hope and therefore is empowering. We highly recommend this documentary as a core topic.

Frustratingly this is NOT on Netflix. You can stream it on HULU. You may have to dig around but it’s well worth the effort. The message is the same as Kiss the Ground but offered in an enchanting, yet gritty narrative. It’s the story of two townies, John and Molly Chester, and their dog Todd, and their move to the country. We watch them learning, often from mistakes, while transforming stale land into a lush, biodiverse regenerative farm. Emma, the pig is one amazing animal. We highly advise reading Charlotte’s Web while following this story.