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Been meaning to write this for a long time.

But now my hand has been forced… during a recent talk I mentioned some of the best educational YouTube channels - and promised the audience I'd post the links online.

INTRODUCTION

Having several of my own YouTube channels (see the list here) means I spend too much time talking about my own videos!

Of course there are many others who do it better (and rightly enjoy more success).

Here I hope to have a list to show people who ask: "What are the best educational channels?"

DISCLAIMER

The list mainly features people I know - it feels easier recommending channels when you've met the people (and it means I can add something personal).

There are many great channels not on the list - and I'm sure I'll add more as I get around to meeting them!


ViHart, Hank Green, Henry Reich, Angela, Mike Rugnetta, Me, John Green

1. VSAUCE
CHANNEL



I'll start with Michael's channel because it's the biggest and I've known him the longest.

At the Royal Institution

There's no point saying much - everyone seems to watch Vsauce.

Michael is a great guy. He's just like his on-screen persona - knowledgeable, curious and super passionate.

He's also generous with his success and helps other channels raise their profiles (including mine - here's a video he made with periodicvideos in 2012).

Of course Michael is also the grandfather of Vsauce2 and Vsauce3.

Michael's favourite number is 17.


2. MINUTE PHYSICS
CHANNEL



Henry's videos are super successful with good reason - seemingly simple drawings but with a professional touch and some very clever animations.

The spin-off Minute Earth is also great.

Henry has also been a real catalyst within the "YouTube EDU" educational community and I don't think we'd all know each other if it was not for his passion and "can do" attitude.

Henry is hoping fans will start buying him ice-cream.

3. SMARTER EVERY DAY
CHANNEL



Destin's channel is super smart and full of surprises. His videos are often fun but also filled to the brim with hard-core science.

Introducing Destin & Destin's Bride to Yo Sushi in Nottingham

They cut no corners down in Alabama.

Destin is also the Jedi of high-speed camerawork (and has been instrumental is helping us in Nottingham dip our toes in the water).

Destin's a good mate, true gentleman and a very generous person.

Here's an interview I did with him a while back discussing his videos, faith and grandfather.

4. CGP Grey
CHANNEL



Grey's videos are obviously brilliant and - like everyone else - I wish there were more of them.

CGP Grey

Grey lives in the UK (where I live) so we often catch up for a drink and chat.

He's always full of interesting perspectives - very wise, witty and a good laugh.

Here's a Numberphile video in which he made a guest appearance.

5. VERITASIUM
CHANNEL



I always find Derek's videos especially interesting because he is someone who has made an academic study of using videos in education.

But don't worry, his videos are not like a dry thesis… They're energetic, innovative and full of detail.

Derek's also quasi-Australian so we have a common bond!

6. VIHART
CHANNEL



Her videos have an eccentric streak but are totally inspired - never to be missed.

Maths, art and music combined in such an original way.

Vi has also been a cool friend helping on my own projects, including Numberphile (which she has hugely supported) and Sixty Symbols (collaborating on our LHC song).

Don't miss this song from Vi's second channel - I love it and not enough people have seen it yet!

7. THE GREEN EMPIRE



Hank and John Green have loads of great channels and projects going on - most notably in education they have Crash Course and SciShow.

I have no idea how they find time to do so much stuff (both on YouTube and beyond).

8. THE SLO MO GUYS
CHANNEL



Educational? Definitely.

Also, I was able to earn massive brownie points with my nephew when I said I was hanging with Gavin and could get his autograph.

9. PBS IDEAS CHANNEL
CHANNEL



Host Mike Rugnetta is a top guy and the videos deal with some weird and wonderful issues.

10. BOY IN A BAND
CHANNEL



Okay, Dave's channel is not really "educational".

But he loves smart videos and has collaborated with us on loads of great projects for periodicvideos (dubstep), numberphile (phi) and sixtysymbols (LHC).

He is also insanely talented and great to hang out with.

THIS LIST IS NOT FINISHED

Last week I travelled to San Francisco for a YouTube EDU summit.

It was basically a get-together arranged by YouTube to discuss online education - especially videos.

Loads of cool people were there, including quite a few who I'd met earlier this year at BrainSTEM and Vidcon... I won't bother listing them all again. You'll see some of them in the pictures below.

Excitingly, a bunch of them also gave me quick interviews for an upcoming Numberphile film. Stay tuned for that one!

While I was nearby, I also took the opportunity to visit Berkeley for periodicvideos because so many elements were created there. Videos from that are coming soon too.

In the meantime, here are some photos... And some links to secret "unlisted videos".

Brady on the main stage (during a lunch break when everyone was gone!)

Enjoyed this picture of "Eric the Cat" watching The Periodic Table of Videos.

Tweeted today by viewer Thomas Griffiths...

See more viewer photos on our Flickr page... Including some more cat ones.

So the "excitement" of Berzelius Day is over - posting 24 short videos of chemical reactions in 24 hours.

Was chuffed to see it even rated a brief mention on the homepage of YouTube (right).

It was a fun day for my chemistry channel - periodicvideos.

But life moves on and other channels need tending to.

Three new videos have popped up today and I thought I'd share them here.

First, here's a new video for the occasional series My Favourite Scientist.

In an unusual choice, it features the fictional scientist Mr Spock!



A new Numberphile video has been uploaded - here we have a card trick with a numbery streak.



And finally Deep Sky Videos is continuing its journey through the Messier Catalogue with a new video on M76 - the Little Dumbbell Nebula.

I've blogged previously about my trip to Canada and the US, meeting with fellow YouTubers.

Today I published some videos created during the trip.

The main one, on Sixty Symbols, features five of them talking about their own logos and symbols.



In addition, there is extended interview footage with Destin and Derek.





Destin's typically honest interview contains some of his views about religion, which resulted in some rather intolerant, knee-jerk discussion on YouTube - what a shock!

Direct link to Destin's faith discussion.

PS: I also spent some time in the US with the Green brothers (from SciShow and Crash Course) and Michael Stevens from Vsauce, but never really had time to conduct interviews with them... They were pretty busy at VidCon.

Hopefully next time!?

It's rare that we spend time together (it was a first meeting for many of us), and it was loads of fun.

Before sharing a few pics and videos, here's a run-down of just some of the people I met with (there were many more).

Destin from Smarter Every Day
Henry Reich from Minute Physics
Vi Hart from ViHart
Derek Muller from Veritasium
CGP Grey from, well, CGPGrey
Michael Stevens from Vsauce (also met Kevin from Vsauce2)
John Green (a famous vlog brother but also behind Crash Course)
Hank Green (the other vlogbrother and host of SciShow)
Chris Casella from Science Alert
Gavin from the Slow Mo Guys

The trip included attending the VidCon conference in Anaheim, which was a huge three-day event for all sorts of YouTubers.

Education really was a tiny part of the massive event, but we did have an education panel hosted by Angela Lin from YouTube... Here are the panellists.


ViHart, Hank Green, Henry Reich, Angela, Mike Rugnetta, Me, John Green

The panel was standing room only (see below), with many people unfortunately turned away.


View from the podium

An earlier panel about physics was run by Henry, Derek and Destin and was also standing room only - the science stuff was proving popular!

Destin also set up an impromptu (and unauthorised!) session where people were allowed to experience his high-speed Phantom camera.


Destin (in yellow) shows off the Phantom

People took turns slapping each other's faces and watching it back in high speed!!!

Here's me being whacked by two of the most famous hands on YouTube:


Earlier in the week, prior to the madness of VidCon, the science film-makers were at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada.

This was for an even dubbed BrainSTEM, a more intimate gathering of people with an interest in online education.

Professor Mike Merrifield - a regular in films for Sixty Symbols and Deep Sky Videos - came along for this event.

It was called an "unconference", the idea being that the format was rather free-flowing and informal. We often gathered in smaller groups for themed discussions which were more like conversations than meetings.

It was brilliant and very helpful.


Derek and Henry put on an impromptu performance

And it was also fun, as this video put together by Derek probably shows!?



I've also filmed a few videos with my fellow science YouTubers and will hopefully be posting soon... For now, here's the first one I filmed with Henry about how he makes his wildly successful MinutePhysics videos.



One little extra shout-out to end my blog... I managed to forget my camera battery recharger and found it hard to find one at VidCon.

But a young film-maker named Micah went the extra mile and loaned me his charging cable... He didn't have to. If anyone has read my blog this far and wants to repay a young lad who helped me in a time of need, why not subscribe to his fledging YouTube channel.

One good turn deserves another!

Sometimes surprised by the advertisements which are automatically selected to appear next to my videos.

A common complaint I hear is that schools block YouTube - making videos difficult to use in classrooms.

Every week I get emails from frustrated teachers unable to share videos with students.

I've discussed it several times with people at Google (the owners of YouTube) and they've always said "we are working on it".

Well, they HAVE worked on it.

Many of my channels are now part of a program to improve school access to appropriate content.

Sixty Symbols, Periodic Videos and Numberphile are all part of it, among others.

To find out more you apparently visit youtube.com/schools

To be honest I don't yet know how it works... but wanted to share this news as soon as possible.

I hope it means scenes like the one below will become more common and scientists like The Professor will speak to millions more young people!