Back to the Basics
Our science expert tended to provide a lot of learning context. This was great for my research phase (because I didn’t need to jump over to Youtube to teach myself anything), but it also meant I had to devote more time to curriculum editing before moving forward with story.
Curriculum editing means limiting an educational asset to only its most essential concepts: We don’t want the education to overwhelm the entertainment. We want a balance. So trimming back the learning landscape is a critical first step.
This course is relevant because it was written around the time I was finalizing this learning-to-story ratio. I’d been a teacher in my twenties, and I used my experience with lesson planning to pretty much do that process in reverse: I was now building the lessons down.
This process can be tricky, especially for concepts that build in sneaky ways. (If you cut out chlorophyll in Lesson 2, how do you use photosynthesis as an explanation for autotrophs in Lesson 4?) But this course was when I finally felt I was getting that learning-to-plot point ratio right.
It’s an earlier course, so the graphics aren’t as flashy as some of our more recent videos, but the script is solid. It banners our Courses page because it represents our mission well: using entertainment to foster a love of learning. This course is funny, informative, and joyful.
Lesson 1
Yara has turned everything green, including the air! Mr. Miguel explains that only solids are green in a greenhouse…but what’s a solid anyhow? Thus begins a course on States of Matter.
Lesson 4
Yara laments the disappearance of her green air. Mr. Miguel devises a plan to cheer her up. But first, they need to change that air into water…