TED-Ed seeks creative and passionate educators from all over the world to join our next cohort of TED-Ed Innovative Educators. Apply here before January 29!

Are you an educator seeking a passionate community of learners and innovators? Are you dedicated to celebrating the ideas of students and teachers around the world? Do you find creative ways to solve problems in your classroom, school or district? Then you might be one of the next TED-Ed Innovative Educators. Apply now, or read on for more details about the program.

The TED-Ed Innovative Educator program launched in 2015 with a founding cohort of 28 educators from 11 countries. [Meet the first cohort of TED-Ed Innovative Educators here.] As TED’s on-the-ground education ambassadors and advocates, TED-Ed Innovative Educators lead their communities, and TED’s network of over 250,000 teachers, in amplifying great ideas in education.

During the year-long professional development program, TED-Ed Innovative Educators participate in two months of digital training in how to help people make the most of TED’s free tools for teachers and students — including TED-Ed Originals, TED-Ed Clubs and the TED-Ed Platform — followed by 10 months of innovation support within a dynamic community of learners and educators from around the world.

One cornerstone of the program is the TED-Ed Innovation Project. Each project must impact teachers and/or students; be replicable by other teachers and/or students, and integrate and share TED-Ed concepts or resources. The first cohort of TED-Ed Innovative Educators is working on their projects now. To read more about their ongoing adventures in innovation, subscribe to the TED-Ed Newsletter here.

Interesting in becoming a TED-Ed Innovative Educator? Fill out the application here.

Featured image: Evanthia Poyiatzi/TED-Ed Innovative Educator

Education is a fundamental right for all children. Yet for more than 60 million girls around the world, that right is denied due to war, poverty and early marriage. To improve this equation, young people everywhere are joining Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai — and Adobe’s Project 1234 — in the fight against education inequality. To learn more about Malala, watch this TED Talk by her father, Pakistani educator Ziauddin Yousafzai. To learn how you, too, can be a part of the creative movement for girls’ education, read on.

Every child deserves access to quality education in a safe environment. To spread this idea, Adobe’s Project 1324 recently teamed up with the Malala Fund to launch the #WithMalala Challenge — a new global digital art project expressing why girls’ secondary education matters.

TEDYouth brought that creative challenge to young people at the Brooklyn Museum through a recording booth and iPads with apps like Adobe Voice, Sketch and Vibe. An interactive touchscreen gallery featured some of the #WithMalala submissions, giving TEDYouth attendees the chance to (literally!) see at their fingertips the empowerment that comes through education.

At TEDYouth, an attendee checks out Project 1234, an Adobe initiative that supports and inspires a global community of young people who use creativity as a force for positive change. Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

The year-long challenge is open to all 13 to 24-year-olds who support education equality. To participate, you can submit your own creative expression — think photography, film, video, graphics, spoken word, dance, drawing or painting — here, before October 11, 2016. For more information, check out the project’s creative prompts and resources page, or follow @Project1324 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram — as well as @Adobe on Snapchat — for all challenge updates.

The space archaeologist is talking about future careers with a couple of high school students near the animation workshop. A few strides away, teenagers swarm around the glowing purple light of a food computer. Other teens try on virtual reality headsets or eye some killer red 3D-printed high heels. Teenagers are legion today at the 560,000-square-foot Brooklyn Museum. There are middle and high school students everywhere. (Also a few Muppets.) Imagine a petting zoo of ideas about the world in 2035. Now imagine that it’s crammed with students talking to scientists, explorers, and artists about this year’s theme, “Made in the Future.” Got it?

Welcome to TEDYouth 2015. For the 400 students whose application videos were given the nod, today is a chance to talk to potential new heroes and explore the latest bling in science, technology, engineering, art and math. The idea is to create a day when every student can release their inner nerd. Now in its fifth year, TEDYouth is an annual conference for students organized by TED’s education initiative, TED-Ed. At this gathering, curiosity isn’t just a Mars rover — it’s a cardinal virtue that connects every student and teacher in the room. If the mission of TED-Ed is to amplify the ideas of students and teachers, then this event is the prom.

Students respond to “In 2035, I’m going to…”

Alas, not every student can attend TEDYouth in person. But they can watch all 25-plus talks and performances online, for free, as they happen. They can also use the hashtag #TEDYouth to respond to student-centered creative challenges from the staff. One writing prompt — “In 2035, I’m going to…” — asks teens to share their own dreams for the future. Here are some of my favorite responses from students:

In 2035, I’m going to… be a creator.

In 2035, I’m going to… be on Mars.

In 2035, I’m going to… invent something that will make the world a better place.

In 2035, I’m going to… be the first openly homosexual, African-American male on the United States Supreme Court.

In 2035, I’m going to… design games.

In 2035, I’m going to… find a cure for cancer.

In 2035, I’m going to… be playing virtual reality Minecraft when not making aircraft. The two may overlap.

There’s a word for the stop-motion animation of humans: pixilation, a technique made famous by Norman McLaren. The TED-Ed Animation team loves making pixilation, but we rarely have the opportunity. Below, learn how we did it at this year’s TEDYouth conference — and watch the final animation!

We’ve done a lot of stop-motion animation at conferences, but it’s pretty tough to make pixilation in a crowded room. Then I helped out with an awesome filmmaking camp this summer, OMG Cameras Everywhere, where they did a similar project using a ladder. So when we saw the balcony above the Beaux Arts Court at the Brooklyn Museum, it dawned on us that we could actually create a MASSIVE camera stand at TEDYouth, and take the pixilation to the floor.

Theme: “A street scene in the future”

To prepare for the TEDYouth animation workshops, Franz and I made a shopping list that included AstroTurf, plastic dinosaurs, and gemstones, which really made me smile. And with that, I set out on a crazy adventure of purchasing PolyFill, scrap fabric, boas and streamers, all in my neighborhood craft 99-cent store. While local establishments had a surprising number of things on my list, I noted a few things that it didn’t really make sense for us to buy. Luckily, TED-Ed is home to a few hoarders. We also got the whole team to scrounge up costumes of Halloweens past.

Our wish list of props:
-Pilot hat/goggles (like this)
-A very long scarf (like this)
-A cape (think superhero, not vampire)
-An all wood broom (like this)
-A spacesuit
-A jetpack? Or like, a super cool silver backpack?
-Any other fun costume accessories that are not too 3-dimensional — what I mean is that kids will be laying down on the floor in these costumes in order to be animated, so a top hat or a giant helmet is not really gonna work out.

Nerd fact: the set itself was 16 feet by 9 feet.

We genuinely had no idea what to expect, but we are so very stoked with how the whole thing came out:

What’s more: it was a TON of fun. It’s not easy to be an actor in an animated movie, so we applaud our participants. Thanks so much for being in our movie! Also, we’d like to give a special shout out to the TED-Ed student animation team: Grace, Miles, Raul, and Gennoah!

To learn more about animation, watch this TED-Ed Lesson series.

To find out about future TED-Ed Challenges, sign up for the TED-Ed weekly newsletter here >>

Fast-forward 20, 50, or even 100 years into the future — what will our lives be like? Will flying cars and 3D-printed dinners be the norm, or will they remain mostly science fiction? Students and speakers explored these questions — and more ideas about what we’ll make in the future — at this year’s TEDYouth conference, hosted by TED-Ed. Below are quotes and notes from some of the 27 speakers and performers at TEDYouth 2015:

“We need to re-analyze almost every archeological site in the world.”

— Sarah Parcak is a “space archeologist” who studies satellite images, looking for clues to long-buried history. And there’s more of it than anyone expected, she says: “Everywhere we look, we find new settlements, new temples, even potential pyramids.” TED Fellow Parcak also recently won the TED Prize, a $1 million gift to kick off a great big project. Because, as she says, “We have barely scratched the surface of what we know about the past.”

“With advanced computing, and how developed our Internet is, it’s the golden era of innovation.”

— Young inventor Raymond Wang wants to stop worldwide disease epidemics — starting by cleaning up the air that people breathe on planes. Using a virtual 3D mockup of an airplane cabin and “a whole bunch of physics,” he created a better method of circulating air in a way that will keep passengers’ germs from spreading after a nasty sneeze. This won him the top prize at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair – and could someday reduce transmission of sickness between passengers by 190%.

“You can use math to exchange secrets.”

— What protects your credit card number when you want to buy something online? Encryption, the act of encoding information so that the sender and receiver can decode it, but someone who might be listening in doesn’t have a clue. Computer security expert Avi Rubin shows us the math behind how encryption works, illustrating the important concepts in mathematics that protect us every day.

Fashion designer Danit Peleg, at right, printed the outfit on model Rebekah on a small, consumer-size 3D printer. Even the cool red shoes! Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

“Fashion is a very physical thing, and I wonder how our world will look like when our clothes will be digital.”

— Downloadable, printable clothing may be coming to a closet near you. What started as designer Danit Peleg’s fashion school project turned into a collection of 3D-printed designs that have the strength and flexibility required for everyday wear.

“The Internet of Food is being planted right now. Start hacking it.”

— Skip the grocery store lines, and start growing your own food — even if you don’t have a garden. Caleb Harper, director of CitiFARM at the MIT Media Lab, gave the audience a literal breakdown of his “food computer,” a small, hydroponic greenhouse that’s connected to the web to exchange data for optimum growing.

“If you give doctors detailed performance data about how they’re doing, you can help them be the best they can be.”

— Surgeon Carla Pugh wants to help doctors improve their medical examinations and procedures. She and her team have built some amazing model body parts that help doctors practice sensitive exams without hurting real humans — and also help them get better and better at what they do.

“VR isn’t film, it’s not theater, it’s not gaming. It’s something completely new.”

— Jessica Brillhart is the principal filmmaker at Jump, Google Cardboard’s new technology that films in 360 degrees. In a live demo, she jumps from a train in Japan to the Eiffel Tower in Paris through virtual reality, showing the audience the new interactive future of storytelling.

“If you’re going to invent things for the future, it’s very important to have your hands on the technology to understand it intuitively.”

—  As a “maker-futurist,” Carla Diana designs products that bring tomorrow’s technology into homes everywhere. With her accessible, downloadable designs, Diana creates “what if?” products, such as books with 3D-printable illustrations and robotic lamps that nudge you awake.

“In the future, rather than taking a data set and first calculating the mean, median and mode, we’ll say, ‘Welcome to the data room.’”

—  A bell rings and a ceasefire is signed; a note sounds, signaling a massacre. Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Jen Ziemke, today an expert on the decades-long Angolan Civil War, turns conflict data from cells on a spreadsheet into visceral, interactive experiences.

“It wasn’t until I let myself be wrapped in the dizzying embrace of chaos that I found peace in leaving some messes untidied and some questions unanswered.”
—  TED-Ed Club member Anna Kaufman used to obsessively order and structure her life. But when her sister received a devastating and incomprehensible diagnosis, she realized that embracing chaos is a great way to find inner peace — and spark creativity.

“If you can dream it, you can do it. The possibilities are limitless.”

—  As a Disney Imagineer, Betsy McIver-Cho uses cutting-edge engineering technology to help park guests engage with fantastical characters and stories. Along with sneak peeks of upcoming attractions, Cho shares the challenges and triumphs of making magic.

Father-daughter beatboxing duo Nicole Paris & Ed Cage demonstrated their art onstage with overlapping, complex, electronic-sounding beats. Ed tells us that beatboxing began right here in New York City, when people would emulate the beats of a DJ at parties for rappers to freestyle over. Then Nicole shows us where the art of beatboxing is heading next– followed by an epic beatbox jam.

The TEDYouth audience ponders what could be “Made in the Future”. Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

“We have co-evolved, as humans, with microbes that are now a part of us.” 

—  Over 100 trillion tiny microbes live in the human gut alone, and are spread all over and inside the body. Elaine Y. Hsiao studies how our microbes influence the brain and behavior and could, someday, be used to treat diseases.

“I wanted to see something warm and fuzzy and soft and human on the cold steel-framed facade that I looked at every day.”

—  Street artist Magda Sayeg transforms urban landscapes into her own playground with warm, fuzzy “yarn bombs” by decorating everyday objects with colorful knit and crochet works. She explains that everyone has the hidden power to create change around them.

“The thing about rumors is, the funnier they are, the more likely they are to fester and stick.”

— Rumors can be deeply damaging, says high school senior Parker Goldstein. As a victim of harsh rumors himself, Goldstein wants people to know how their words can have a lasting effect on others. He challenges us all to fight our human impulse to fit in, when the price is hurting our friends and peers.

Speaker Joey Mazzarino, a Sesame Street puppeteer, teaches attendees how to make their own stories. Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

 “A puppeteer is part magician.”

— In an improv class in college, says Joey Mazzarino, an employee from the show Sesame Street came in to speak. And he was hooked. Twenty years later, he’s sharing his own puppet designs, insider tricks and fun characters, in a talk that encourages the audience to follow their passion, no matter how off-beat it may be.

“Help one, help many.”

— Mick Ebeling loves to take on the impossible, helping one person at a time. When he heard the story of Daniel, a young boy whose arms were blown off by an airstrike in the Sudan, he faced this impossible challenge by creating the world’s first 3D-printed prosthetic lab, helping Daniel’s community in Sudan to design and build limbs for him and then for more and more people. He encouraged the audience to change the world through starting small, then going big.

“There should be nothing that stops a young person from experimenting with their goals and dreams. We do not need to wait for a future time to do what we want.”

— Adults, listen up: stop asking kids what they want to do when they grow up — ask what they want to do right now. Young speaker Ishita Katyal, who kickstarted her author career at age 8, says that it’s important that younger generations pursue their passions in the present.

“To keep up with current rate of climate change, trees would have to migrate several miles per year.”

— Sally Aitken studies trees (her favorite is the white-bark pine) and how they are reacting to our climate change. Animals, she points out, can migrate when climates change — but trees are stuck in one place. She hopes her work will help us figure out how to adapt better trees for our changing climates.

“What really matters is the story inside, the story that will capture the reader and make them fly thousands of meters away from the ground to a place only books can take you.”

— TED-Ed Club member Marta Botet Borràs shares how her love for reading turned into the first YouTube channel to review books in the Catalan language.

“Can we have fewer cars and more humans?”

— As cities expand and populations surge, it’s time to rethink how we get around. Sharing ideas such as a bicycle wheel that amplifies human motion, Carlo Ratti and Assaf Biderman shared their passion for urban mobility with fewer cars and more fun.

“We know a lot more about space than we do about the underground water resources on our planet, the very lifeblood of Mother Earth.”

— Cave diver Jill Heinerth is an aquanaut, exploring the mysteries of underwater caves in rocks and ice to learn how they function. Underwater caves hold much of the water we humans drink, so  it’s important that we understand our connection to these important natural resources.

“Adults right now are doing a magnificent job of promoting sustainability, but we will be the ones to take charge next.”

— TED-Ed Club member Chelsea Ha believes that kids are problem solvers who, through everyday actions like switching to LED lightbulbs and reusing grocery bags, can save planet Earth.

“Take it back to the soulful era.”

— TED-Ed Club member Brandon Allen takes us on a journey through his spoken-word performance. Energetically infusing pop culture references across decades (“I’m talkin’, ‘Ain’t no river wide enough, ain’t no valley low enough’”) to arrive at our collective longing for safety.

“You have to travel along the road of wrong to find right.”

— Adam Steltzner led the team that landed the rover Curiosity on Mars. The secret to his success? Failing repeatedly, until those failures illuminated the right solution at the right time. He encourages the audience to similarly embrace what they can learn from failure in anything they do.

For more inspiring notes and quotes, sign up for the TED-Ed weekly newsletter here >>

This post is adapted for TED-Ed from a longer post published on TED Blog, which you can read here. Featured image by Dian Lofton/TED.

TEDYouth is the annual youth conference hosted by TED-Ed — a free, inspiring, day-long event that’s designed to spark and amplify student ideas. At TEDYouth 2015, students will explore ideas, create animations, and watch live talks by an amazing lineup of scientists, designers, technologists, explorers, artists, performers — and more. This year’s lineup features young speakers from around the world, including 4 TED-Ed Club members who will share their talks on the TEDYouth stage. To watch every TEDYouth talk as it happens, go to this link on November 14, where TEDYouth will be streamed live, free of charge, in English, Spanish and Arabic. To learn more about the TED-Ed Club members who will give talks at TEDYouth 2015, read on.

From top left to bottom right: Marta Botet Borràs, Brandon Allen, Anna Kaufman, Chelsea Ha

Brandon Allen is a spoken-word poet and a high school senior. He loves public speaking as a way to engage with new audiences. A journalist and published writer, Brandon dreams of becoming a news anchor and eventually a talk show host.

Marta Botet Borràs has been surrounded by books for as long as she can remember. By 11, she started a blog to share her book recommendations; soon after, she started filming and posting her reviews on YouTube. Her BookTube channel is the first video book review series in Catalan.

Chelsea Ha is a passionate environmentalist who hopes to inspire others to take action against climate change. Chelsea does research on the atmosphere and changes in the environment with a weather balloon that she is building herself!

Anna Kaufman is a high school junior who is obsessively organized — her bookshelf at home is alphabetized, and she loves to learn in as many different ways as she can. In fact, some of her biggest lessons have come from her teachers … and her older sister Leah.

To bring TED into your school or classroom, sign up to join a TED-Ed Club here.