This little dude found his calling… as a scientist on YouTube!
Oliver is just a young kid but he’s already amassed nearly 1 million views on YouTube by teaching other kids just like himself all about the subject that he loves most… science.
His video all about Earthquakes is probably the cutest thing on the internet today.
This goes beyond being cute. There’s real science to be learned from Oliver. Like tectonic plates (adorably pronounced as twektonik pwates), the Earth’s crust (yep, the cwust), and even a lesson on infrastructure as Oliver tries to build a Jenga edifice that won’t collapse as he shakes his home-made Earthquake device — a wobbly table.
Discovering A Diamond In The Rough
A good portion of my life is spent searching for great educational videos as part of the process behind building PS101 — where our entire purpose is to find the best content and organize it by grade, subject, topic and more.
Oliver’s video is just sitting on YouTube without any easy way to discover it if you were a student unless you knew what you were looking for. But sometimes you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’re just getting frustrated while trying to grasp a topic you don’t fully understand…yet.
To help out and improve educational discovery we’ve aligned Oliver’s video according to the most widely accepted national science standards (The NGSS).
You can now find Oliver’s video on PS101 right where it belongs:
Kindergarten > Science > Earth & Space Sciences > Natural Hazards
We can’t get enough of Oliver’s home brewed science and love that he’s helping his peers learn, is unafraid of teaching without being an expert (proving Jean-Pol Martin’s learning by teaching true), setting a great example for young students, and doing so while he’s exploring the world of Science as well as online marketing.
Which brings us to our next point…
Brand Oliver
Maybe there’s more to learn from Oliver than just Earthquakes and Tornados.
Digging through Oliver’s short back catalog of videos it’s clear that Oliver, and his parents, are building a brand and teaching us some of the best marketing lessons at the same time.
Fail Fast — Oliver’s first videos were about Hot Wheels and Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwiches and received very few views originally
Stay on Brand — Oliver’s first breakout video was a demonstration of how to create a tornado in a jar. It received over 800,000 views and it’s clear that Oliver won’t be venturing far from Science from here on out.
Be Authentic — Oliver’s having fun. It doesn’t matter if he can’t pronounce half his words correctly. Actually, that’s a lie it does matter because since when did a little childhood lisp stop someone from being awesome?
Embrace The New — It’s amazing that Oliver and his family are putting these videos up on YouTube. Sure, YT has been around for a long time but they’re experimenting with the platform and trying to get the most out of it.
Have a few “Things” — Oliver’s got lots of things; his glasses, his little shirt/lab coat, his hair, a lisp, and even a tag line “Welcome to Oliver’s Science Lab!” All of these help make brand Oliver memorable and sticky.
Keep it up Oliver! And, for as long as you do, we’ll keep organizing your videos for students just like you to find on PS101.com.
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