Over the last few years, the quantity and quality of edutainment videos to hit the mainstream have gone through the roof! PBS has always prided itself with kids shows that bring educational value in a entertaining manner, but nothing compares to what YouTube has brought to the masses.
Many of my favorite YouTube channels teach me every day about Physics, Chemistry, how the world works, Politics, Governments and a very wide variety of levels. Much of the time giving enough taste to make the senses tingle but not too much to overwhelm and gloss over the eyes, the videos are well produced and fantastic. YouTube offers a wide variety, but another outlet which I am a HUGE fan of is Khan Academy, a site dedicated to free video education on an unbelievable number of topics.
So without anything further … I give you my current favorite edutainment channels on YouTube!
A History of the Navy
What kind of US Navy Sailor would I be without caring about the history and heritage from which my service came from and through? This is a fantastic channel dedicated at this time to 100 objects that represent the US Navy. You can read more of my thoughts on this particular channel on this separate blog post.
ASAP Science
One of the many science channels I enjoy watching that provides entertaining factoids about how the world around us works!
Canadian Space Agency
Yup, Canada! I have enjoyed immensely the video blogging (vlogging) of the Commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield. He answers questions from students about what life is like in space. How could you not love this channel?!? You can read an additional post I made for this channel on this separate blog post.
Mental Floss
This channel is pretty entertaining with the lists they publish. Different trivia about presidents, weird laws, among many others. Videos can go a little long (>5 minutes) but they keep attention fairly well.
MinuteEarth
Science and stories about our awesome Planet! That’s how the channel advertises itself and it spot on. Love to learn about how our planet ticks? This is definitely a channel you need to check out.
MinutePhysics
Anything and everything physics from the beginnings of our universe all the way up to today … any sometimes the future. Understand why things around you happen the way they do. Another must watch if you are interested in how things tick.
SmarterEveryDay
Exploring the world with an emphasis on Science! No real theme to this one other than really cool science.
SteveSpanglerScience
A fairly well commercialized channel of a guy that does all sorts of experiments that would be shown in a fun middle school or high school science lab. The entertainment factor is pretty high and while he may not explain the science behind what he’s showing as much as other channels, it sure is fun to watch!
TED-Ed
I have been a fan of TED of a long time. Only recently did I discover this TED education channel. This is a VERY well produced channel that teaches about the world around us. Videos range from covering the beginnings of our universe to how the US Government checks and balances work. This is one of those channels that I’m going back to watch many of the old videos in addition to the new ones coming out.
Vi Hart
This girl has gotten pretty popular. She was one of the first doodlers I started watching on YouTube (and now on Khan Academy as well). Fast talking and fun watching, get you math smarts watching this channel.
Vsauce
Get ready to have your mind blown … this channel is all about picking out that one really strange topic and explaining it in a way that completely amazes you. Many times I’ll watch one of these videos and then spend the next few days thinking about what it taught me … and that’s when you know the videos are good!
YouTube’s Education Center
And finally, if you’d like to just check out what YouTube has listed under education… they have a special section of their site dedicated to just that!
Click here: http://www.youtube.com/education