Just Add Water? A Conversation About Resources to Support Songs
Thousands of STEM songs exist (the singaboutscience.org database alone has over 7000), but they vary widely in how readily a teacher can use them in her class. For some teachers, it may be enough that a song exists on the learning objective at hand, but for (probably, most) teachers, a song is not a self-contained lesson and it makes a huge difference if the song is supported by accompanying resources. Such resources could include pedagogical guidance (ranging from general advice on using songs to advice tailored to the particular song and educational setting), sheet music, soundfile (e.g., MP3) that can be played or downloaded, karaoke file, readings, pre-song questions, and post-song study guide or assessment questions. This poster overviews examples of song-supporting resources (at http://faculty.washington.edu/crowther/Misc/Songs/ and https://www.causeweb.org/smiles/songs) to inform our conversation about which resources are the low-hanging fruit to produce and which aspects of resources may be most helpful for teachers, and whether this might depend on the role of the song (e.g., introduce vs. review material).