Teachers’ Day in Brazil: How YouTube Shorts can make learning fun
Oct 15, 2021 – minute read
Today marks Teachers’ Day in Brazil, which celebrates the work, commitment, and contributions of educators to the development of the nation. To honor the day, we’re looking at how Brazilian learning creators are helping students of various ages explore different subject areas through YouTube Shorts.
Educational content on YouTube recently became even more important for students and teachers, mainly due to formerly in-person lessons moving online during the pandemic. In 2020, according to the recently released YouTube Impact Report prepared in collaboration with Oxford Economics, 100% of students over the age of 18 who use YouTube report using the platform to aid them with their homework or studies. And 92% of Brazilian teachers say that they use YouTube content in their lessons.
Video lessons, exercise-solving videos, and live streaming to prepare for tests are among existing formats available to students who need extra help to absorb material and perform well in school or college. Now, with YouTube Shorts, students can use small breaks throughout the day to broaden their knowledge in a fun way with their cell phones. For those doing the teaching, it's also easier to create super dynamic videos anywhere using just their mobile device.
Tempting Trivia
Shorts is ideal for sharing trivia on virtually anything, serving as a starting point to pique an audience's interest on a subject and a bridge to more detailed videos. In less than 40 seconds, the MinuteEarth channel manages to entertain while explaining the potential hypotheses behind Tyrannosaurus Rex's short arms. Professor Rafael Irigoyen, from the Pura Física (Pure Physics) channel, capitalized on recent special events to share, in 24 seconds, interesting information on rocket launches. Tourism expert Marê uses Shorts to share interesting trivia and historical facts about iconic places around the world, such as why the Leaning Tower of Pisa doesn't stand up straight.
How do you spell that? How do you pronounce It?
Learning how to correctly use the Portuguese language can be easy, fun and effective with short videos that answer the most common questions. Such popular inquiries include when to use "porque" and "por que", the difference between “há” and “a”, how to use the past participle correctly, and how to spell certain words we find confusing. For those starting to learn a new language, questions can also arise around pronunciation: in this fun example, teacher Carina Fragozo explores the differences between spoken British and American English. Another interesting use for shorts is to learn new vocabulary, such as in this video from TeacherIHaveaQuestion, which explains phrasal verbs through two practical examples.
Tips and Tricks
Math and science can also be made simpler using YouTube Shorts. In this video, which already has more than 3.8 million views, teacher Sandro Curió shares an interesting tip that makes it easy to divide any number by five. If you're struggling with geometry, there are quick demonstrations of exercises that can help you learn how to calculate areas and perimeters. And for chemistry and physics, there are quick tricks for remembering the main formulas that come up in tests and entrance exams, such as measuring heat or how to find the typical concentration of a chemical solution.
These are just a few ways of how YouTube Shorts can help you discover new things about the world around you during quick breaks. And with more content being added to the Shorts shelf every day, there’s no limit to what you can learn in less than a minute.