Top TED Ed Lessons for Math Teachers
You can watch ALL the TED Ed Math Videos here
1- Can you solve “Einstein’s Riddle”? – Dan Van der Vieren
Before he turned physics upside down, a young Albert Einstein supposedly showed off his genius by devising a complex riddle involving a stolen exotic fish and a long list of suspects. Can you resist tackling a brain teaser written by one of the smartest people in history? Dan Van der Vieren shows how.
2- Can you solve the prisoner hat riddle? – Alex Gendler
You and nine other individuals have been captured by super-intelligent alien overlords. The aliens think humans look quite tasty, but their civilization forbids eating highly logical and cooperative beings. Unfortunately, they’re not sure whether you qualify, so they decide to give you all a test. Can you solve this hat riddle? Alex Gendler shows how.
3- The famously difficult green-eyed logic puzzle – Alex Gendler
One hundred green-eyed logicians have been imprisoned on an island by a mad dictator. Their only hope for freedom lies in the answer to one famously difficult logic puzzle. Can you solve it? Alex Gendler walks us through this green-eyed riddle.
4- Can you solve the bridge riddle? – Alex Gendler
Taking that internship in a remote mountain lab might not have been the best idea. Pulling that lever with the skull symbol just to see what it did probably wasn’t so smart either. But now is not the time for regrets because you need to get away from these mutant zombies…fast. Can you use math to get you and your friends over the bridge before the zombies arrive? Alex Gendler shows how.
5- The unexpected math behind Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” – Natalya St. Clair
Physicist Werner Heisenberg said, “When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first.” As difficult as turbulence is to understand mathematically, we can use art to depict the way it looks. Natalya St. Clair illustrates how Van Gogh captured this deep mystery of movement, fluid and light in his work.
6- Is math discovered or invented? – Jeff Dekofsky
Would mathematics exist if people didn’t? Did we create mathematical concepts to help us understand the world around us, or is math the native language of the universe itself? Jeff Dekofsky traces some famous arguments in this ancient and hotly debated question.
7- What’s the difference between accuracy and precision? – Matt Anticole
When we measure things, most people are only worried about how accurate, or how close to the actual value, they are. Looking at the process of measurement more carefully, you will see that there is another important consideration: precision. Matt Anticole explains what exactly precision is and how can help us to measure things better.