Hey there! Imagine a game where you start with a simple idea, and as it gets passed around, it turns into something completely different. That’s exactly what happened when 15 YouTubers got together to play a fun game called Telestrations. It’s like the classic game of Telephone, but with drawings and words. Let’s dive into what happened!
Telestrations is a game where one person writes down an idea, the next person draws it, and the following person tries to describe the drawing in words. This cycle continues, and by the end, the original idea often becomes hilariously mixed up. In this YouTube version, each channel took turns narrating, drawing, and interpreting the drawings, leading to some pretty funny results!
Have you ever noticed how science stories in the media can sometimes sound a bit off? That’s because, like in our game, the original research can get twisted as it passes through different hands. A scientific study might show that bigger cats drink more beer, but by the time it reaches social media, the headline might say, “Beer Makes You Stronger!” This happens because each person who shares the story might change it a little to make it more exciting or easier to understand.
Let’s break it down: A researcher discovers that bigger cats drink more beer. A journalist reads this and writes an article saying that drinking beer makes you bigger. Then, a social media influencer sees the article and posts, “Beer Builds Big Muscles!” Each step adds a twist, just like in our game of Telestrations.
During the game, the YouTubers came up with some funny examples. One person might start with a scientific fact, and by the end, it turns into a wild story about how shaking a cup of ice can make your biceps grow! These misunderstandings show how easily information can change as it gets passed along.
So, what can we learn from this? It’s important to check the facts before believing everything you read or hear. Just like in our game, things can get mixed up along the way. Always look for the original source of information to understand the real story.
In the end, all the YouTubers had a great time playing Telestrations, and they even reacted to the final video together. It was a fun way to show how information can change as it gets shared. A big thanks to the Telestrations board game for sponsoring the video and to all the YouTubers who participated. Stay tuned for more exciting and educational content!
Gather your classmates and play a game of Telestrations. Start with a simple phrase, and see how it changes as it gets passed around the room. Notice how the final message compares to the original one. This will help you understand how information can change as it is shared.
Work in small groups to create a story chain. Each person writes one sentence of a story, then folds the paper to hide all but the last sentence before passing it to the next person. Read the final story together and discuss how the narrative evolved.
Find a scientific study and track how it is reported in different media outlets. Compare the original research with the headlines and articles. Discuss how the information changes and why it might be altered for different audiences.
Choose a popular news story and research its original source. Present your findings to the class, highlighting any discrepancies between the original information and how it was reported. This will help you practice critical thinking and fact-checking skills.
Pair up with a classmate. One person draws a picture based on a simple phrase, and the other writes a description of the drawing without seeing the original phrase. Compare the description to the original phrase and discuss how interpretations can vary.
Here’s a sanitized version of the YouTube transcript, removing any inappropriate or unnecessary content while maintaining the essence of the discussion:
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[Hank]: It held on for so long, but then… devolved so fast. We got nothing now. Nothing makes sense anymore. Hi, this is David from MinuteEarth, and Grant from 3Blue1Brown, and Dianna from PhysicsGirl, and the Osmosis team, and Tom from Tom Scott, and the SciShow team, and Mithuna from Looking Glass Universe, and Steven from Welch Labs, and Vanessa from BrainCraft, and Patrick from TierZoo, and Jabril from Jabrils, and Danielle from Animalogic, and Joe from It’s OK To Be Smart. In this video, we all got together to play Telestrations. That’s the game where one person writes an idea in words, and the next person tries to draw that idea in pictures, and the next tries to convert the pictures back to words, and so on. Needless to say, the original idea can get very amusingly garbled along the way.
But because we’re doing this with YouTube channels, we took narration from one channel and asked the next to illustrate it, then the next just got the illustrations and made up the narration, and so on. Like most games of Telestrations, the initial rounds started off somewhat similar, and then things started to get really weird! Here’s how it went…
[Kate]: Popular media stories about science often don’t match up with the actual research they’re based on, because the information gets shaped along the way. A scientific journal might only accept a paper about the one part of the research that shows a positive correlation. A not-so-science literate journalist might not realize the effect was only found in non-human subjects. And a social media manager might confuse correlation and causation while making a catchy post. By the time science makes it to the masses, its takeaway could be way different from the research it’s covering.
[Henry]: Sometimes social media says things like “science shows beer is good for building big biceps” – that’s not based on real research, right? So how did it get there? By a game of telephone. First, a researcher finds that bigger cats drink more beer, though they don’t eat more apples. So they publish the result that big cats drink more beer! Then a journalist reads that research and writes a more “accessible” article about how more beer makes you bigger! And finally, a social media influencer sees that article and creates a catchy post: beer makes you stronger!
[Arcadi]: Have you seen the news? “Science proves beer helps your muscles grow!” But while these flashy headlines are based on actual research, they’re sometimes… off. When researchers discover something – say, bigger cats drink more beer than smaller cats – they write an article for a science journal. Then, someone writing their own article for a broader audience might say “wow, beer makes us bigger!”
[Dianna]: Want to write an engaging title for your essay? Grab a frothy pint of beer (it’s good for strong biceps). Calm your mind… and then get pumped! You’re going to graph the correlation between beer and feline obesity. You see a clear upward trend. Now replace those graph cats with humans. Did I say humans? I meant giant biceps!
[Tom]: While there was plenty of anecdotal evidence, actual scientific research into bartender’s elbow didn’t start until the 1970s. At the time, serving pints of beer was said to make you strong, but those early studies found it was more likely to give you chronic tendonosis. Breakthrough experiments found that the heavier you were, the more beer it took to cause problems.
[Mithuna]: Are you worried you won’t even be able to pick up an empty glass when you return to the bar post-quarantine? After months of disuse, even flexing your bicep can cause pain in your weakened tendons. But don’t worry, it’s not too late to change this. The pain will actually decrease as you train lifting heavier things.
[Vanessa]: New research has found a fitness trend that actually works: shaking a cup of ice. Results are striking; it actually causes your biceps to grow.
[Jabril]: A person grabs a glass of ice. They shake the glass, then eventually get a flashy strength power-up.
[Joe]: Evolution is kind of like a game. It reaches for a bunch of dice and gives them a good shake. Every roll is a fight versus nature. An organism gets stronger as it progresses.
We had all the participating channels react to the final video on camera, but before we show that, we want to thank the real Telestrations board game for sponsoring this video.
Thank you so much to every channel that participated – check them out in the description and subscribe to them! And thanks again to Telestrations for helping to make this happen. We’ll be back with something a little less goofy… um… a little more sciency… soon. Thanks.
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This version maintains the original context while ensuring the content is appropriate for all audiences.
Game – A structured form of play, often used for entertainment or educational purposes, that involves rules and objectives. – In science class, we played a game that helped us learn about the different parts of a cell.
Science – The systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. – Science helps us understand how the world works, from the smallest atoms to the vast universe.
Research – The careful study and investigation of materials and sources to establish facts and reach new conclusions. – Our research project involved collecting data on local weather patterns to understand climate change.
Media – The various means of communication used to reach and influence people, such as newspapers, television, and the internet. – We used different media sources to gather information for our science presentation on renewable energy.
Facts – Information that is objectively verifiable and can be proven to be true. – It is important to base our scientific conclusions on facts rather than opinions.
Information – Data that is processed and organized to provide meaning and context. – The information we gathered from the experiment helped us understand the chemical reaction better.
Misunderstandings – Incorrect interpretations or conclusions that arise from a lack of understanding or miscommunication. – Misunderstandings about scientific concepts can lead to incorrect conclusions in experiments.
Social – Relating to society or its organization, often involving interactions between individuals or groups. – Social behavior in animals can be studied to understand how they communicate and cooperate.
Ideas – Thoughts or suggestions about possible courses of action or explanations for phenomena. – We brainstormed ideas for our science fair project, focusing on renewable energy solutions.
Drawing – The act of making a picture or diagram to represent an object, concept, or process. – Drawing a diagram of the water cycle helped us visualize how evaporation and precipitation work.
