By Lawrence M. Lesser (The University of Texas at El Paso)
Abstract
With several USCOTS years of A-mu-sing contests giving prizes for student-created songs (or other fun items), with last year’s launching of NSF-funded virtual conferences on using songs to teach STEM (https://www.causeweb.org/voices/2017/program), and with examples of statistics educators using other types of student-created fun items (e.g., Wierman’s 2016 paper in The American Statistician on student-made jokes; Fewster’s 2014 paper cited in the new college GAISE report on student-made videos), this topic is timely. We first address hesitations some instructors may have about how the specific modality of song can support learning in a distinctive and effective way, such as the consolidation of knowledge required by the compact form lyrics have (Crowther et al., 2017). We then provide instructors with concrete guidelines (classroom-tested in fall 2017) for assessment and for structuring the assignment to encourage creativity and learning, without creating undue pressure or frustration.