When I was growing up, we had discovery channel. That sparked my intrinsic curiousity. My daughter has that intrinsic motivation as well, but only for k-pop now. She likes youtube videos and she likes when I tell her about science stuff. Maybe I can combine that by recommending her some good youtube channels.
Well I was closer to 6 and 7, but I grew up with Mr. Wizard. He was probably Bill Nye’s inspiration. Unpatronizing, simple, and straightforward science for kids. Man was a national treasure.
Crash Course is great. https://thecrashcourse.com/
I dont really know whats age appropriate for a 12 year old but BobbyBroccoli has some good science controversy videos. He has a good series of videos on a physics scandal and a video on another physics scandal. He uses some cool visualizations and I like how he talks about the science and the people involved. Theres also cold fusion. One of the fusion videos has a title thats worrying but no one dies, its making a point.
Too dark at her age probably but maybe good as a teenager. I listen to Fascinating Horror who covers various disasters in 15 mins or less. I liked that the videos arent sensationalized. He always says the victims names and backgrounds, the circumstances leading up to it and the fallout. Like theres a video about a woman who was rushed the hospital and made the staff sick. Theres a lot of videos calling her the toxic lady. His video refers to her by name, mentions that moniker doesnt match how positive and loved she was, and her prior medical issues that likely caused her desperation.
you tube has pbs space time, nova, terra and the sci show along with others.
Seconding this. PBS has a TON of YouTube channels for all kinds of interest areas. Not all are going to be geared to a middle school audience, but much like the TV stations themselves, at least you don’t have to worry as much* about the potential content as a parent (in terms of quality or appropriateness) vs random YouTube channels.
*I would say all their stuff is high school appropriate, but some of the more local/news-related stuff could be a bad fit for younger audiences depending on the kid, only because we don’t live in a world that’s child-friendly. Also channels like PBS Terra do a lot of videos about how fucked we are re: climate change (not in so many words of course) and although they do try to put an optimistic spin on it, sensitive kids might get freaked out by how bad things are (which would be an accurate response of course, so it depends on how much you’ve been trying to shelter your kid from this kind of thing I guess).
Dr Iain Stewart has some good documentaries, Earth: The Biography and How The Earth Changed History
Oh my God I love the fact that you are using Lemmy for this! :D
#lemmy4everything
I would have loved this when I was 12, I get to enjoy it now though https://youtube.com/@zefrank
Check your local library to see if they have access to the Kanopy streaming service. It’s a bit of everything, but lots of top-notch documentaries on there!
Haven’t seen Dr. Pamela Gay’s name in this thread. So her.
Myron Cook is the Bob Ross of Geology. His channel is a treasure:
Tons of great recommendations here. I didn’t see it mentioned. For somebody into biology, especially apes, Gutsick Gibbon is superb. Erika is wonderful and crazy knowledgeable on the topic of hominins among other things.
I second this. Erika’s great!
Science and Futurism with Issac Arthur on YT.
Science Max: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbprhISv-0ReKPPyhf7-Dtw
Also Myth Busters - not sure if available on YouTube, we ripped the DVDs long ago. Most episodes are pretty PC but some are definitely not appropriate so vetting required.
What episode of Mythbusters is remotely inappropriate for a 12 year old? It’s a family program.
My 12 yr old son is pretty sensitive to pigs being blown up for example but I guess not everyone is. The infamous torture episode also comes to mind, we didn’t show him that one. I’m just saying that it’s up to the parents.
Bob MacDonald hosted a CBC Canadian show called “Quirks and Quarks” for about 30 years. I think a kid could get into it quite well. Happy trails!
