As a student and lifelong science junkie, I frequently use Youtube as a source of scientific knowledge and understanding. For me it makes learning easy and fun through its multimodal information presentation. The breadth and depths of available topics also makes it a great tool for any subject or level.

What makes a good educational  Youtube video?

As with all of the internet, there are good and bad sources of information and it can be hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. In general though, the good videos are ones that combine multimodal methods with great editing. This great video on learning styles from SciShow shows the close synching of the presenters voice over the text which allows for greater information retention.

What kinds of educational videos are on Youtube?

As Previously Mentioned there are videos covering any subject or level you can think of on Youtube. They are broadly in two categories. First there are the more lecture style ones like this Crash Course video on Romeo and Juliet. Second there are the more open inquiry style of video’s like this one from Smarter Every Day on Oscilloscope Music. In terms of complexity of material, you can find videos on why fire is hot from SciShow Kids to linear algebra form 3Blue1Brown.

But how can this be applied to the classroom?

It was everyone’s favourite class when the teacher had a movie to put on and this can still be an effective use of class time. With the knowledge gained from the video the students can then go home with a couple of questions or an assignment for homework about what was covered. But what if the homework assigned was the video itself and the questions were done in class. This is what I feel is the true power of Youtube in education and where the idea of a flipped classroom comes into play. If you haven’t heard of a flipped classroom watch this video on the what and the how of the flipped classroom.

Let me know what you think of Youtube’s role in the classroom. Do you think the flipped classroom are a good idea and would you try it? What’s your favourite educational Youtube channel? I’m personally partial to Minute Physics/Earth.