15 TED Talks for Education

Do Schools Kill Creativity? by Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson has delivered absolutely sharp, distinct, and thought-provoking views on how the conventional teaching methods often crush the creativity spark of children. In his signature witty humour, he talks about the courage and creativity every child is born with and how a child is never afraid to try, experiment and take a chance. Discussing about how subjects essential for high-level industry work take precedence over creative subjects, like dance, art, and music, with extraordinary examples of people he has met over the years, Ken Robinson highlights the importance of channeling the inner creativity of young children and rethinking the fundamental principles on which we are educating our youth.

Education must be more of an understanding-based concept rather than being an output-driven method. As teachers and educators, it is our responsibility to encourage the aimless movement of thoughts, running wild in the mind of a child, as they become the seed for creativity. This highly influential talk opens our mind to the massive potential each child has and how our guidance can either make or break the future of our youth and consequently, our nation.

Our Failing Schools. Enough is Enough by Geoffrey Canada

Geoffrey Canada sharply highlights how the education system today has become obsolete, with the same curriculum and same teaching methods continuing decade after decade. Calling rapid attention to the redundance of the school education business model, where the failing of students has become clearly evident, he urges educators and school managements to try new, unique techniques of teaching and keeping a record of each student’s progress.

With technology advancing rapidly, Geoffrey Canada stresses on the importance of incorporating certain beneficial scientific and technological strategies for imparting quality education. Educators need to find the courage to take a bold step in a new direction to change the way knowledge is being imparted to students.

Progressive and detailed analysis of each student’s comprehension level needs to be obtained and monitored at regular short-term durations. Geoffrey Canada also expressed the benefits of staying in touch with the students, even after they leave the institution, to motivate them throughout their life. The talk gives a new perspective to analyze the current educational systems and acts as a wake up call to bring about positive change in learning.

Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education by Salman Khan

Salman Khan shares valuable insights on how learning through pre-recorded, well-scripted videos can help tremendously in comprehending complex topics and subjects. Sharing his personal experiences gained from his own online learning institution, he talks about the various benefits his students experienced while learning from his videos. Video learning enables children to study, learn, and comprehend at their own pace. They can pause and rewind the video, at their own convenience, to completely understand the subject.

With today’s advanced technology, these videos can be retained for centuries to come, providing enhanced learning for generations of students. Along with videos, an extensive dashboard, offering quizzes and practice tests, can keep a detailed record of each student’s progress and comprehension level regarding every subject. Salman Khan also stresses on the point of how a classroom can become more about individual student-teacher interaction, as students can learn the concepts from a video even before coming to school. The talk gives insights into the positive use of technology to revolutionize the education system, creating a global-level, one-world digital classroom.

Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling by Emilie Wapnick

Expressing how the most common question, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ is often asked to young children and a single profession or talent is expected to be the answer, Emilie Wapnick eloquently shares her views on how it is absolutely normal to have varied interests and passions in life. Coining the term ‘Multipotentialite’ for people who find themselves deeply passionate about more than one field in life, she goes on to highlight the benefits of being a ‘Multipotentialite.’

According to Emilie Wapnick, ‘Multipotentialites’ can combine two or more fields of their passion and lead to a new innovation at the intersection of these fields. Exploring different branches of life, equips such people with a varied skill set, often transferable across different disciplines. Used to comprehending new concepts, they possess an innate adaptability that proves to be highly beneficial in any chosen discipline. Adding interesting real-life examples to her hypothesis, Emilie urges the audience to bravely embrace their true calling, even if it more than just a single discipline. The talk inspires people to accept their many passions and become all-rounded citizens to tackle the multi-dimensional problems faced in the 21st century.

How to escape education’s death valley by Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson sparks the attention of the audience on how young children are natural learners, who just need the right push to learn positively. His witty and engaging narration engrosses the audience into his views on valuing the importance of humanities, arts, and physical education as much as we value mathematics and science. An important role of educators and teachers is to awaken and develop the powers of curiosity that each child is born with.

Attributing extreme importance to the teaching profession, Sir Ken Robinson stresses on picking good teachers and providing them all the necessary help to impart quality education. He efficiently highlights the three key principles on which a human life functions and young children prosper from a broad curriculum that celebrates their various talents. Concluding with a vivid example of the Death Valley, where flowers flourished under the right conditions, he expresses the similarity of how young children flourish and grow if they are given the right environment and guidance. As always, the engaging nature of Sir Ken Robinson’s elocution inspires the audience to visualize primary education in a new light.

The best kindergarten you’ve ever seen by Takaharu Tezuka

Takaharu Tezuka is a Japanese architect and the founder of ‘Tezuka Architects’ along with his wife, Yui Tezuka. In this insightful talk, Takaharu Tezuka sheds light on how young children need freedom of space and the inclusion of a constant connection to the outdoor environment, through his acclaimed project – ‘Fuji Kindergarten.’
The kindergarten is essentially a large, circular space with an accessible roof – the place where children constantly run around, exploring different activities and are highly enticed by the net pit designed around the various trees that pass through the roof.

Takaharu Tezuka highlights the many features of the learning space – classrooms with no barriers, an open floor plan inviting all, at least one skylight in each classroom, trees growing towards the sky from inside a classroom space, and a circular, endless direction of movement encouraging each child to explore and traverse as per his own will.
The project and Takaharu’s inspirational words highlight the importance of how, as architects, we have the power to shape spaces that can further empower the creativity, playfulness, enthusiasm, and innate passion of young kids.

Teaching one child at a time by Shukla Bose

Shukla Bose, a social reformer and education advocate having over 15 years of experience in the social sector, is the founder and CEO of Parikrma Humanity Foundation – an organization dedicated to offer high quality education and support to hundreds of children coming from slums and orphanages.

In this inspiring TED Talk, Shukla Bose highlights her journey of starting and scaling Parikrma Foundation, giving heartwarming and motivating examples of how students, coming from a low-income slum background, have not only matched the intellectual level of their privileged peers, but have also gone one step ahead, in terms of enhancing their personality. Some real-time videos of her students and their parents sharing their personal experiences further add an impact to the cause that Shukla Bose wishes to highlight.
Taking you through a fascinating journey that aims at uplifting each and every child and debunking the myths commonly associated with slum children, this talk by Shukla Bose is truly an eye-opener in the field of education and social reform.

Kids, take charge by Kiran Sethi

Originally a graphic designer, Kiran Bir Sethi evolved into the roles of a teacher, a principal, an educational reformer, and a social entrepreneur, when she noticed that her son’s teachers simply restricted to the textbooks and also hindered any deviations, from the prescribed lesson plan, that children would naturally want to explore.
In this short talk, she effectively enables the audience to traverse through her journey of establishing the Riverside School – a foundation from where she wants to spread the contagious bug of ‘I can’ in every child of India. Shedding light on her unique observations, Kiran Sethi demonstrates how children generally follow the three-step plan of being ‘Aware’ (seeing the change), ‘Enable’ (being changed), and ‘Empower’ (leading the change). This became the foundation of her vision to encourage children to feel, think, do, and change the lives of their communities – as many children actually did in their respective regions.

The talk thoroughly motivates the audience to positively embrace and encourage the drive for change and action that a child possesses in his heart.

How schools can nurture every student's genius by Trish Millines Dziko

With 15 years of experience as a programmer, the trajectory of Trish Millines Dziko’s life led her to the establishment of Technology Access Foundation (TAF) – an organization known for creating transformative systems of learning for students and eliminating the race disparity that so evidently exists in society.

Giving a vivid example of how the fifth graders of Boze Elementary School, Tacoma were working productively, in groups, on forming a solution to establish a civilization on Alpha Centauri, Trish Dziko effectively emphasizes the crucial significance of project-based learning. With a clear diction, she points out the difference between ‘schooling’ and ‘educating’ children.
She describes how by-hearting textbooks and passing standardized tests is merely the ‘schooling’ of a child which further diminishes the child’s innate creativity and unique genius. A project-based learning system brings out and encourages the unique voice of each child, giving children adequate time to take academic risks and increases their self-confidence by giving them a platform to portray their work.

Trish Dziko inspires the audience to focus on education as a means of freedom for young students, while also emphasizing the importance of inculcating racial equity in the DNA of each school, at all levels, to create a united and positive community of students, who will tomorrow prove to be the leaders of the world.

Every Kid Needs a Champion by Rita Pierson

Rita Pierson, a professional educator since 1972, who has also passionately carried out the roles of a counselor, a coordinator, and an assistant principal, completely captivates the minds of the audience by her powerful thoughts about forming relationships and a human connection with children.

Through motivating and inspiring memories of her own teaching career, she highlights how young children emotionally connect with their educator and how forming a meaningful bond with them can transform the way children look at education and learning.

Drawing from her own experience, Rita Pierson ignites a thought-provoking concept of how an adult’s modesty, ability to accept mistakes, and consistent efforts of elevating the self-esteem of a child can steer the child in the direction of success, happiness, and self-confidence.

A Girl Who Demanded School by Kakenya Ntaiya

Taking the audience through the journey of her life, that involved gruesome traditions and a daunting fight of demanding her rights, Kakenya Ntaiya. A world-renowned educator, social reformer, and an ardent advocate for girl’s rights and health, shares her story of courage, determination, and resilience.

Vividly describing the illegal medical practices, termed conveniently as ‘traditions of Kenya and the stereotypical prejudiced notions of a woman being restricted to marriage and motherhood, Kakenya highlights how she raised a voice against these customs and fought for her right to education. Cracking deals with her own father and the entire community, she found her way to United States of America to graduate and then returned to her community, to bring about a positive change in the lives of the girls of her neighbourhood. She started a school for girls with a vision to create a better and secure life for them, and from then on, her work and passion has crossed boundaries to make an impact on the world.

In this talk, Kakenya Ntaiya urges the audience to stand up for themselves and raise a voice – as even a single person can change the world, only if you act on the fire building inside you.

3 Rules to Spark Learning by Ramsay Musallam

Ramsay Musallam, an Advanced Placement Chemistry instructor and Science Department Chairperson, talks about how it is important to spark the curiosity of students and engage them in practical applications rather than focusing on monotonous lectures.

Through captivating instances of his own lectures, he emphasizes how practical sessions inspire his students to experiment even outside the school environment. Speaking about a personal life-altering moment, Ramsay highlights the three lessons he learned from this experience and how he translated them into his teaching method. He talks about how prioritizing curiosity, embracing the inevitable trial and error method, and practicing inner reflection can lead teachers to create an improved process of imparting education – one which fuels creativity and curiosity in their students.

Ramsay Musallam aptly inspires the audience and fellow instructors to shift their method of learning to instigators of curiosity, so as to create a generation that asks questions, works out solutions, and engages critical thinking to excel in life.

Teach Teachers how to Create Magic by Christopher Emdin

In a short yet highly captivating talk, Dr. Christopher Emdin, a Ph.D in Urban Education and the Maxine Greene Chair for Distinguished Contributions to Education, sheds light on how teacher training is often mundane, theoretical, and disengaging. In his witty and captivating presentation style, he talks about the importance of incorporating vivid story-telling and compelling narration skills in the teaching process, which can capture the rapt attention of a classroom full of students.

He expresses how certain social venues, like barber shops, churches, or rap concerts, possess immense potential to naturally teach aspiring educators certain useful skills, like the power of using hand gestures, carrying themselves with confidence, and understanding metaphors and analogies. He emphasizes how transforming teacher education into these practical sessions can tremendously help teachers to learn the ‘magic’ of creating compelling narratives and keeping a group of students thoroughly engrossed in learning – reigniting their imagination and ultimately revolutionizing education.

How to build the best school in the world by Terhi Nurminen

Terhi Nurminen is a student activist from Finland and in this particular talk, she elaborates on the factors that can possibly help in creating better and improved learning environments. Identifying the potential issues that high school students are likely to face and simultaneously understanding their dreams and goals can create a smooth transition for the students, from high school to university.
Through interesting experiences of her own school years, Terhi highlights how focusing on the development of soft skills holds immense importance in a student’s life – as these skills contribute to overall personality development and help in navigating through life’s varied phases. She shares her views on what attributes can create the best school. First priority needs to be given to the students’ mental and physical well being which can be done by appointing a nurse and a child psychologist on campus at all times. Competition creates unnecessary hospitality and divide between students, adding to their stress. Instead of focusing on a grading system, teachers need to give adequate time to slow learners for coping as per their speed and increase the level of challenges for students who have well-understood a certain concept.

Through her articulate elocution, Terhi connects the audience to the thought process of students and urges them to collaborate actively with parents, teachers, public figures, and students to create schools that prioritize the teaching of soft skills, offer positive, supportive environments, and give everyone equal opportunity and resources to excel.

The billion-dollar problem in education by Tanishia Lavette Williams

An Education Stratification pioneer, Tanishia Lavette Williams intrigues the audience with some eye-opening statistics about standardized tests and the billion-dollar industry of these assessments, at the core has no significant contribution towards the quality education of students. Talking about how tests take a toll on the mental health of students who are burdened under the pressure of excelling in these achievements, she articulately shares her experience of students learned and performed better and teachers became much better at imparting knowledge in times of non-testing approaches rather than increased levels of assessments.

Emphasizing that these tests do nothing to improve a teacher’s practice and do not offer any help in building thinkers and creators in students, Tanishia took up the subject of history to enlighten the audience with deeply researched facts about how the industry of standardized assessments majorly caters to political economics, turning a blind eye to student welfare, growth, and development. She urges officials at all levels to take necessary decisions, re-invent strategies, and prioritize quality education of students – where students are given the freedom to critically think, create, and innovate.

Tanishia’s inspiring words motivate us to divest in standardized assessments, and invest rather in encouraging and cultivating the unique genius of each child, as the questions of the world that are unanswered today, will serve as the catalyst for the solutions that we need for tomorrow.