Crash Course offers fun and fast paced videos on World History from the Paleolithic era through present. They are closely aligned to the WHAP course, and many of the videos focus on Chinese history. An ongoing theme in the short videos is that the Mongols are exceptions to every rule. This fun theme makes students even more interested in the Mongols. The joke somehow never gets old, and even students who never read a page of the textbook claim that they will never forget who the Mongols are because of Crash Course. Crash Course also offers simple worksheets to hold students accountable while watching the clips. I’ve found that it’s best to allow students to watch on their own or in groups if you have access to laptops or iPads. This way they can pause and replay as needed to complete the guiding worksheet. I usually use the videos at the start of class as a warm-up introduction to a lesson, or at the end of a lesson to review. When I do not want to spend too much time on the clips, I will show a 2 minute segment and have students fill out a “see/say, mean, matter” chart.
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/crash-course/#.Ww9xLdMvw5s
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