A Dozen Lessons About Inventions That "Changed the World"

It was a hot and humid afternoon here in Maine. In fact, the weather app on my phone said that it was "oppressively humid." I'd say that was right. The only good thing about the heat and humidity is that it provides the perfect reason to enjoy a popsicle with my toddlers. Having that popsicle reminded of a TED-Ed lesson that I came across a few years ago.

How the Popsicle Was Invented is one of twelve lessons in a TED-Ed series titled Moments of Vision. The videos in the series teach short lessons about inventions that have "changed the world" in serious and not-so-serious ways. For example, the invention of the stethoscope did change health care. The invention of the Popsicle, however, just makes summer days a little more enjoyable.


Ask your students to look around their homes or around your school for everyday items that many of us use. Then send them off to research and present the origins of those everyday items. An item that come to mind as I look at my desk is the tab on soda pop cans.

How to Selectively Copy Google Slides

I'm fortunate to get lots of emails from readers who ask all kinds of questions. One of the questions that I recently answered came from a reader who wanted to know if there was an easy way to copy chunks of sections of a long Google Slides presentation into a new one without having to manually copy and paste. Fortunately, my answer was "yes, you can do that." And like a lot of the questions that I answer, a screencast video offers a better explanation than what I can write. That's why I made the following short video to demonstrate how to selectively copy slides from one Google Slides presentation to another.


By the way, you can find more than 300 other G Suite tutorials on my YouTube channel.