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Surprise Me!12 minutes
[ Education ]
Why Grandmas Are Training to Be the Best Solar Engineers
Grandmas around the world are learning a new skill! These “solar mamas” are learning to become solar engineers and bringing light back to their communities that once spent their nights in darkness.
6 minutes
[ Science ]
Ever Wondered Why You Always Have Room for Dessert?
By Sam Burns
Why is it that after even the biggest meal you still have room for dessert? You may not have two stomachs, but you do have an evolutionary trick that has helped to keep us alive for thousands of years!
7 minutes
[ Science ]
Meet the Unexpected Monster of the Ancient Americas
They were once the size of elephants and others lived at sea, so what happened to the massive number of fantastical sloths that once dotted the landscapes of the Americas?!
8 minutes
[ Culture ]
There Are Two Ways to Think About Time: Which Are You?
What if the tension and conflict you experience with your loved ones or your co-workers could be explained in terms of time! Your perception of time may be entirely different than somebody else, but knowing how this works could leave you with a lot less conflict in your life. This simple test will help you get started!
20 minutes
The Conspiracy Chronicles: Having Difficult Conversations, July 2020
How do we keep difficult conversations productive? Here are some tips you can use and a great organization, Listen First, to explore!
10 minutes
[ Thought Leaders ]
The Joy of Sharing! New Wisdom On An Age-Old Cycle
By Sam Burns
Whether you’re just starting out on your journey or you’ve become a master of your craft, you can be a part of a cycle that goes back millennia. What is this ancient cycle and how can it apply to our lives today? Let’s head to the hills of Colorado and find out!
8 minutes
[ Culture ]
Helping Students Find Confidence by Helping Others!
Could there be a simple way to change the lives of young people around the world? They may be on to something at Tilden Middle School—helping their students build confidence, empathy, and kindness towards other people in just a single day. Here’s how it works! (And how it can benefit you, too!)
20 minutes
[ Thought Leaders ]
Meet the Man Behind Books Young People Actually Want to Read!
By Sam Burns
Could there really be a simple way to encourage youth to read more? See how the author, Jason Reynolds, is making it happen by telling stories that connect to the experiences of today’s young adults.
18 minutes
[ Thought Leaders ]
The School that Changed an Entire Community
By Sam Burns
What if lasting social change started by getting adversaries to become advocates for some new future that everyone could imagine together and feel good about? This is how Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya started a revolutionary school that is changing the lives of generations of students!
7 minutes
[ Creativity ]
“I SPY”: The Books that Still Catch Our Eye!
Have you ever been captivated by the magic of an “I SPY” book? Let us introduce you to Walter Wick, the photographer behind these imaginative works of art!
35 minutes
[ Thought Leaders ]
Tumble Down a Rabbit Hole of Wonder with Tumble!
By Dr. Lynda
Have you heard about Tumble, the science podcast for kids? Whether or not you have children, it’s a great way to get a little science into your day!
22 minutes
[ Science ]
Sleep is Your Superpower!
How did you sleep last night? Sleep can be our number one defense to keeping us healthy, so, what can we do to turn on this superpower and finally get motivated to get to bed!
13 minutes
[ Culture ]
The Life Changing Work of a Master Craftsman
Behind the doors of Blue Ox Millworks, Eric Hollenbeck passes down generations of knowledge, instilling a sense of pride and healing with his work. By sharing the love for his craft, this woodworker is helping high schoolers and veterans alike find their own healing.
11 minutes
Principal Wayman’s Recipe for Changing Schools and Lives
By Dr. Lynda
Want to get the best out of every unique child? Build a system of support that includes at least one caring adult in every child’s life. Here is one of the most powerful TED Talks you will ever have the pleasure of watching!
40 minutes
[ Culture ]
The Simple Secrets to Finding Time to Read More!
By Sam Burns
Here’s an awesome little video that gives us a few — surprisingly simple — tips on how (and why) reading more books can change the future for each of us!
15 minutes
[ Thought Leaders ]
Skate After School: How Skateboarding Can Change a Kid’s Life!
By Sam Burns
What if you could learn life’s most important skills and have fun while doing so? This program is making that possible for hundreds of kids every week. Let’s hear from the kids themselves why this program is so important!
8 minutes
[ Culture ]
The Playgrounds Encouraging Safer Play by Using Hammers and Nails!
By Sam Burns
Could a playground with hammers, nails, shovels, and building materials actually make play safer? Adventure playgrounds are helping kids develop valuable life skills, letting them experiment with controlled risk, and encouraging creativity, exploration, and self-confidence!
6 minutes
[ Culture ]
How a High School in a Nursing Home is Changing Lives
What if we saw this new wave of people reaching retirement as a new generation of mentors? Connecting youth and older adults has remarkable benefits for everyone! Heres how one program is helping lead the way for whats possible.
17 minutes
[ Culture ]
Stamford Peace Project: Classroom, Community and the Potential of Youth Sports
By Dr. Lynda
What would our schools look like if we made the most of the amazing untapped potential involving 45 million kids? There is a model for an entirely fresh approach to all youth athletics that would ensure students would leave the system at any level, with a remarkable toolbox of coping skills, character assets, and academic strength to access for the rest of their lives. Now here’s what innovation looks like at its best!
15 minutes
[ Thought Leaders ]
How Teaching Improv Skills to Scientists Will Change the Future
What would the world look like for us all if we could understand each other better? Alan Alda may be best known for his skills as an actor in the hit series M*A*S*H* but for the past two decades, he has been educating scientists on how they can communicate their important work to all of us. His methods aren’t just for Ph.D.’s though, they are skills every one of us can use to become better communicators!
20 minutes
[ Culture ]
How Saving Languages Can Save the World!
By Sam Burns
Have you ever thought about the relationship between language and knowledge? Each of the 7000 languages spoken around the world is a powerful encyclopedia of generational wisdom. Half of these records of human history may be going extinct in the next decade, but there are amazing people out there working to save this knowledge!
7 minutes
[ Culture ]
How A Game of Chess is Changing Lives
By Sam Burns
The most impactful innovations in the world often combine two things no one ever thought to bring together. Here’s what we get when we let young girls loose on the game of chess! It challenges many notions all at once.
20 minutes
[ Thought Leaders ]
The Haitian Project: A Blueprint for Solving Big Problems
By Dr. Lynda
What if the concept that could change the way we all look at solving the world’s most vexing problems is coming out of a nation facing the large brunt of them? It looks like the solution is thinking differently about how we decide to start attacking a problem. And this school in Haiti gives us just a glimpse of all of the possibility and hope that can come!
8 minutes
[ Culture ]
Celebrating Culture and Empowering Youth in Hawaii
How can farming blend scholarship, tradition, empowerment, and service to the community? MA’O farms in Hawaii is empowering the young people of Oahu’s Waianae coast with a program that is changing countless lives and building a stronger future!
18 minutes
[ Pebbles ]
Supporting Education in the Mountains of Nepal
By Sam Burns
The vast majority of people who have summited Mount Everest have porters to thank for it—but being a porter is far from a safe profession. Yet, for many Sherpa, this is their only way to support their families. After becoming a porter at the age of 12 and summiting Everest 21 times, Apa Sherpa has created a foundation to ensure that children have another path to travel in life through their education.
10 minutes
[ Science ]
What We’re Learning from The First Swim Across the Pacific
By Sam Burns
Ben Lecomte is currently (right now!) in the middle of swimming 5,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean. While this is awesome on its own, what’s truly amazing is the amount of scientific data they’re picking up along the way.
27 minutes
[ Innovation ]
Why Wild Animals May End Up On Your Street
By Sam Burns
These communities in Canada are helping us all reimagine what we can do to have healthy relationships with the wildlife that lives around us!
26 minutes
[ Creativity ]
Can Super Mario Teach Us To Be More Successful?
There’s a tendency to look at what stands in our way to success and feel overwhelmed. But Mark Rober has a novel method to get around this, and he calls it the Super Mario Effect. Now, THIS is a game-changer!
14 minutes
[ Culture ]
Forest Kindergarten: Challenging All Our Instincts!
By Dr. Lynda
When was the last time you saw pre-schoolers gleefully playing in a muddy ditch or climbing in a tall tree? Turns out that encouraging that sort of thing might be a giant leap forward in education! Take a look…