As if college applications aren't stressful enough, disadvantaged youth are often encouraged to write about their darkest traumas in their admissions essays, creating a marketable story of resilience that turns "pain into progress," says politics student Tina Yong. She brings this harrowing norm to light, exploring its harms and offering a more equitable process for colleges everywhere.

The rise of the "trauma essay" in college applications | Tina Yong

Video games naturally tap into the way we learn: they focus our attention and track our progress as we head toward a clear goal. Kris Alexander, a professor of video game design and passionate gamer himself, thinks the same elements should be used in traditional education to cater to different learning styles and engage students across the world, both in-person and online.

How video games can level up the way you learn | Kris Alexander

Educator Sharif El-Mekki advocates for the revival of the Black teaching tradition — a set of educational practices grounded in philosophies, values and actions that stretch from pre-colonial Africa to historical African American leaders. He posits that this tradition can help teachers better serve Black students and create a more equitable learning environment for all.

Reviving the legacy of the Black teaching tradition | Sharif El-Mekki

Names like Bayard Rustin, Frances Thompson and William Dorsey Swann have been largely erased from US history, but they and other Black queer leaders played central roles in monumental movements like emancipation, civil rights and LGBTQ+ pride, among others. In this tribute to forgotten icons, queer culture historian and TED Fellow Channing Gerard Joseph shares their little-known stories, connecting the origins of drag in the 1880s to the present day and exploring the awesome power to choose how we define ourselves.

How Black queer culture shaped history | Channing Gerard Joseph

Going to school in a refugee camp can be complicated: students encounter crowded classrooms, rigid curricula and limited access to teachers. Joel Baraka, who grew up in the Kyangwali refugee camp in Uganda, is determined to change that for the better. He shows how educational board games can be a fun and effective way to improve access to learning and help kids thrive in and out of school.

The board game getting kids excited about school | Joel Baraka

A little bit of playtime can have big benefits for a child's developing brain, like a superfood -- but adult participation is a crucial ingredient for best results. Early-education leader Jesse Ilhardt makes the case for you to put down the phone, pick up the make-believe tea cup (or that blanket-superhero cape) and take the time to experiment with imagination during kids' most formative learning years.

How play helps a kid's brain grow | Jesse Ilhardt

"When teachers and families work together, everyone wins," says education technology entrepreneur and TED Fellow Heejae Lim. She shines a light on an underutilized resource in US public education -- a family's love for their children -- and shows that, with the right tools and tech, schools can remove language barriers, foster meaningful connections and help every student thrive.

The most powerful yet overlooked resource in schools | Heejae Lim

Forget home economics and standardized tests, education visionary Trish Millines Dziko has a much more engaging and fulfilling way for students to develop real-world skills. Get schooled by Dziko as she shares how project-based learning can transform public education and unlock genius for the next generation of critical thinkers, problem solvers, ideators and leaders.

How schools can nurture every student's genius | Trish Millines Dziko

Black history in the US is rich, profound -- and at risk of being lost forever, if not for the monumental efforts of Julieanna L. Richardson. As the founder of The HistoryMakers -- the largest national archive of African American video-oral history -- Richardson shares some of the unknown and incredible legacies of Black America, highlighting the importance of documenting and preserving the past for future generations.

The mission to safeguard Black history in the US | Julieanna L. Richardson

Even with public trust at an all-time low, Wikipedia continues to maintain people's confidence. How do they do it? Former CEO of Wikimedia Foundation Katherine Maher delves into the transparent, adaptable and community-building ways the online encyclopedia brings free and reliable information to the public -- while also accounting for bias and difference of opinion. "The seeds of our disagreement can actually become the roots of our common purpose," she says.

What Wikipedia teaches us about balancing truth and beliefs | Katherine Maher

There are 600 million women in India -- yet they are rarely seen outdoors after sunset because of safety concerns like harassment and catcalls. On a mission to create safer public spaces, women's rights advocate Srishti Bakshi talks about how she embarked on a 2,300-mile walk across the length of India (a distance equivalent to traveling from New York City to Los Angeles), conducting driving workshops to empower women's mobility across the country. "The more women see other women in public spaces, the more safe, independent and empowered each of us will be," Bakshi says.

My long walk across India for women's freedom | Srishti Bakshi

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has destroyed so much -- including hundreds of schools, where the country's children were forging their futures -- but it has not stopped Ukrainians from pursuing knowledge and curiosity. In a deeply moving talk, education leader Zoya Lytvyn shares her first-hand experience evacuating Kyiv and takes us inside the ongoing effort to continue educating children amid war and destruction. "As long as our children keep learning and our teachers keep teaching -- even while they are starving in shelters under bombardment, even in refugee camps -- we are undefeated," she says.

Ukraine's fight to keep educating its children | Zoya Lytvyn

The wildly diverse, thoughtful and hilarious world of fanfiction -- where writers reimagine favorite stories like "Harry Potter," "Pokémon," "My Little Pony" and more -- is ever-growing and becoming a vital social and learning tool. Author, professor and fanfiction writer Cecilia Aragon has observed how this incredible outlet for creativity encourages and empowers young people to embrace their imagination. Detailing her research into the vast online fanfiction community, Aragon shares its potential to foster a sense of belonging, strengthen writing skills and shape the future of literature.

The creativity and community behind fanfiction | Cecilia Aragon

For children growing up in refugee camps, education is a powerful tool of liberation. In this inspiring talk, Makhtoum Abdalla, displaced as a child in Sudan and now living with his family in the Otash camp in Darfur, shares his biggest dream: to ensure all children are educated and taught the skills needed to become "captains of their destiny."

Education is a fundamental right for every child | Makhtoum Abdalla

Less than seven percent of people worldwide have a bachelor's degree -- and for many, this is simply because the cost of university is too high, says higher education executive Adrian K. Haugabrook. In this barrier-breaking talk, he introduces an innovative approach to expanding access to higher education by driving down costs and rethinking three key things: time, place and how we learn.

3 ways to lower the barriers to higher education | Adrian K. Haugabrook

In this deeply moving talk, educator Shabana Basij-Rasikh shares the harrowing story of evacuating more than 250 students, staff and family members from the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA) -- the country's first and only all-girls boarding school -- to Rwanda after the Taliban took power in 2021. An exceptional story of hope, resilience and dreaming big for future generations of Afghan girls -- and a challenge for the world to not look away.

The dream of educating Afghan girls lives on | Shabana Basij-Rasikh

TED Fellow and education innovator Larry Irvin envisions a world where every child can see themselves reflected in their teachers. With his team at Brothers Empowered to Teach, Irvin is providing pathways to careers in education for Black men, who currently make up less than three percent of all teachers in the US -- offering training, personal and professional development and job placement. He shares how their holistic, people-centered approach is changing education.

A program to empower Black teachers in the US | Larry Irvin

Childcare needs a transformation -- but rather than investing billions in new buildings and schools, what if we could unlock the potential of people already nearby? Entrepreneur Chris Bennett offers an innovative way to tackle the shortage of childcare worldwide and connect families to safe, affordable and high-quality options in their own communities.

A close-to-home solution for accessible childcare | Chris Bennett

Karim Abouelnaga is a TED Fellow and founder and CEO of Practice Makes Perfect, a summer school opportunity that helps narrow the education gap for low-income children. Through his work, Karim shows how small business owners can have a big impact.

The small business hustle | The Hartford

Racism morphs, spreading and hiding behind numerous half-truths and full-blown falsities about where it lives and who embodies it. In this actionable talk, political scientist Candis Watts Smith debunks three widely accepted myths about racism in the US and calls for a nuanced, more expansive definition to support this new era of anti-racist action.

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