Why are the videos wordless?

When asked why we create wordless videos, students put it best:

"Everyone is always telling me what to believe and how things work. I feel like now I get to think for myself."

"I'm always wondering about so much. This is so cool because I get to do it while learning about the world."

"This is the first time in my life I feel like I'm not being told what to think."

Instead of telling viewers what to think, we ask you to think critically -- to wonder! Instead of accidentally or intentionally prescribing a fixed narrative, we want to intentionally prescribe deep curiosity and wonder. 

Our carefully designed wordless videos prescribe curiosity in a globally inclusive way. Rather than focus on a specific spoken language, we make it possible for classrooms and living rooms anywhere to engage with this learning resource.

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Hear Dr. Tony Wagner share more on the power of wordless videos:

When we sit down at a meeting or walk into class, there is no voiceover telling us who other people are, what others are thinking, or what others are feeling. We have to wonder. We have to engage. We have to ask.

Yet too often we settle with a judgment — about self, other people, cultures, and ways of life — instead of remaining curious beyond that initial judgment.  This judgment and prejudice starts by age 3, before most humans can even read.

Wordless videos can help kids value and act on their curiosity about other people, perspectives, and ways of life early in life and every day.  In a globally inclusive way (no language barriers). That's showing to matter for academic learning, too.

Wordless stories have been shown to boost curiosity and engagement, to improve reading comprehension and academic learning, and to help students explore topics that matter to them. 

These benefits are showing to be interconnected: fostering curiosity and a sense of purpose is fundamental for a student’s academic success, and early math and reading success is a strong predictor of long term success. New research is also showing that curiosity building can play a huge role in a student's overall academic learning.

We live in stories. We learn through stories. We wonder through stories. Telling us how to think or what to think or why just isn't exciting. 

Empathy and compassion don't stick around if you tell somebody to be empathetic. It's pretty ineffective to say "be kinder to others!" or "wonder about others!" like an instruction. Showing is key. Living it is key. 

That's why we focus on prescribing curiosity, without prescribing a fixed narrative or set way we expect everyone to act or think or speak. 

We encourage curiosity, wonder, and critical thinking. And that leads to us loving to learn, and learning to love self, others, and our world.

Stories move people to action, and engaging content is SO important for kids today.

Plus, in a world of ads and messages screaming at us, taking out the words is just kinda refreshing.

Check out a story to see for yourself!

Read more about Why Wordless in  this article with GivingCompass or this piece in Teaching Channel! Or check out this podcast we were on talking more about this.