The Breakthrough Junior Challenge, which is a science explainer video competition for people 13-17, recently declared a winner for 2020.
The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is a global science video competition, aiming to develop and demonstrate young people’s knowledge of science and scientific principles; generate excitement in these fields; support STEM career choices; and engage the imagination and interest of the public in key concepts of fundamental science.
Students age 13 to 18 from countries across the globe are invited to create and submit original videos (3:00 minutes maximum) that bring to life a concept or theory in the life sciences, physics or mathematics. The submissions are judged on the student’s ability to communicate complex scientific ideas in engaging, illuminating, and imaginative ways.
The Challenge was founded in 2015 by Yuri and Julia Milner.
Needless to say, we're big fans of the competition. One of the biggest problems we face is making science more understandable for the general public. By asking young people to create these videos, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge is not only educating the public, but teaching essential media creation skills. Explainer videos, when focused on education, can play a transformational role in helping people become engaged in science and feel confident about their knowledge.
The winner of the challenge was Maryam Tsegaye of Canada, who explained Quantum Tunneling.
This video, 115th title, is now available for embedding, downloading, or displaying in the Common Craft video library. It's part of our Internet Safety Series and meant to help build aware awareness of the issue of harassment.
This video follows the story of a person being harassed online. The trouble starts with mild language in a discussion forum and then escalates to more serious behavior over time. It teaches:
How to recognize online harassment
Common tactics of harassers
What to do if you’re being harassed
Why it’s important to save messages from harassers
Documents play the same role they always have, but how we create and share them has evolved significantly. This video explains online documents and how they differ from local documents that are saved on a computer. If you know students or anyone who needs a clearer understanding of online documents, this video will help.
This video, our 110th title, is now available in the Common Craft video library. You can watch it in full for a limited time.
What it Teaches:
For many years, documents lived on our computers. When online documents came along, they started to live on the internet and that changed how we created and shared them. This video explains how online documents differ from local documents saved on a computer. It teaches:
What makes a document local versus online
Why local documents represent a risk and make collaboration difficult
How to create and share an online document
Why collaboration is easier with an online document
Because data is becoming a pervasive part of everyday life, spreadsheets are a key skill for the 21st century. Unfortunately, spreadsheets can feel a bit overwhelming and can be difficult to understand for the novice. This video explains the basics and why spreadsheets are useful in organizing and calculating data.
This video uses an example of a snack bar to show how a spreadsheet can help the snack bar owner organize his sales numbers and plan for the future. It teaches:
Why spreadsheets are organized into rows, columns, cells, and locations
How to tell the difference between data, cell, and location
How spreadsheets are used to organize and calculate data
How spreadsheets automatically recalculate data when numbers changes
How spreadsheets can be used in large organizations with large data sets
We now have 109 explainer videos in our library. Each video is designed to explain a subject so you don't have to. Common Craft videos can help save time in your classroom, course, training session or presentation. Here are the most recent additions:
Thanks to the internet, a different kind of meeting is possible. Instead of attendees having to travel to meet, they can now participate in web conferences or webinars from anywhere with an internet connection. This type of meeting is becoming more popular and understanding it is an essential 21st-century skill.
This video explains the basics of web conferencing and how it’s used.
What it Teaches:
Meeting face-to-face is great, but it can be expensive and difficult to plan. That’s why web conferencing is becoming more popular. These systems allow a group to connect and share information using only an internet connection. This video explains the basics, It teaches:
Why face-to-face meetings are cumbersome and expensive
How web conferencing can be used to accomplish the same goals
How to create a web conference and invite attendees
What features are often used in web conferences
Why web conferencing can be more effective than normal meetings
Our video that explains plagiarism is one of our most popular and we saw an opportunity to improve the video's quality. Recently we created a cleaner, clearer and easier to understand version of the video. If you are a Common Craft member, you might consider switching to using the new version.
Recent Common Craft Videos
We now have 108 explainer videos in our library. Each video is designed to explain a subject so you don't have to. Common Craft videos can help save time in your classroom, course, training session or presentation. Here are the most recent additions:
Using a web browser in "private" or "incognito" mode can be a useful and responsible way to navigate the web. Unfortunately, these versions of web browsers are not easy to understand. This video explains why private or incognito browsing matters and how to use it effectively.
What it Teaches:
Modern web browsers come with two versions: the normal version and one that provides for “private” or “incognito” browsing. Using this feature can be helpful, and using it effectively requires an understanding of what it does and why. This video teaches:
What information web browsers save when you visit websites
Why this information is saved
What makes private or incognito browsers different
