Education

What TEDTalk would you play to open the school year? We counted your (almost 1,000) responses …

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Over the weekend, we asked the TED community on Facebook this question:
“If you wanted to show a TEDTalk to open the school year, which one would you choose?” It’s inspired by a question tweeted from the #jed21 conference. On Facebook, almost 1,000 responses flowed in. The job of tallying the results — given in freeform comments — fell to our writer/editor Ben Lillie, as shown:

The pick of a good half of the commenters? Sir Ken Robinson, with more than 400 nods. However, as you can see, dozens of other TEDTalks got multiple mentions …

The full (long) list follows after the jump …

PS: The original poster on Twitter, @edtechworkshop, wrote in: “wow! I posted this ? on twitter last night and got about 10 responses. that I can handle… 599 comments in 1 hour is overwhelming! so far I am leaning towards Julian Treasure’s “5 Ways to Listen Better” for our teachers. Last time showed them Adora Svitak. I love Sir Ken, but feel like most people have already seen him. Want something new.”

Photo: TED/James Duncan Davidson

Ken Robinson 421
Salman Khan 30
Elizabeth Gilbert 21
Julian Treasure 21
Jamie Oliver 20
Jill Bolte Taylor 20
Brene Brown 19
Chimamanda Adichie 17
Sarah Kay 16
Benjamin Zander 15
Pranav Mistry 12
Hans Rosling 10
Thandie Newton 10
Tie Your Shoes 10
JK Rowling 9
Kathryn Schultz 9
Richard St. John 8
Temple Grandin 8
Adora Svitak 7
Aimee Mullins 7
Barry Schwartz 7
John Hunter 7
Neil Pastricha 7
Brian Cox 6
Grever Tulley 6
Steve Jobs 6
Sugata Mitra 6
Dan Arielly 5
Jane McGonigal 5
Mike Rowe 5
Phillip Zimbardo 5
Randy Pausch 5
Sam Richards 5
Simon Sinek 5
Tony Robbins 5
Wade Davis 5
William Kamkwamba 5

— Research Assistance by Shawn James, Jr.