SONG-IN-STEM SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
(in progress with a goal of representative highlights, not completeness;
please relay suggested additional entries to Lesser@utep.edu)
CONNECTING MUSIC ITSELF TO STEM CONTENT
• Beall, S. (2000). Functional melodies: Finding mathematical relationships in music. Key Curriculum Press
• Harkleroad, L. (2006). The math behind the music. Cambridge University Press
• Johnson, T. A. (2003). Foundations of diatonic theory: a mathematically based approach to music fundamentals. Key College Publishing.
• Robertson, W., & Lesser, L. (2013). Scientific skateboarding and mathematical music: Edutainment that actively engages middle school students. European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 1(2), 60–68. https://www.scimath.net/articles/12/123.pdf
USE OF SONG TO TEACH STEM CONTENT
• Crowther, G. J., Wessels, J., Lesser, L. M., & Breckler, J. L. (2020). Is memorization the name of the game? Undergraduates’ perceptions of the usefulness of physiology songs. Advances in Physiology Education, 44(1), 104–112. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/epdf/10.1152/advan.00112.2019
• Governor, D., Hall, J., & Jackson, D. (2013). Teaching and learning science through song: Exploring the experiences of students and teachers. International Journal of Science Education, 35(18), 3117–3140.
• Palmer, T.-A., & Booth, E. (2024). The effectiveness of song and music as pedagogical tools in elementary school science lessons: A systematic review of literature. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 25(7), http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea25n7
• Lesser, L. (2014). Mathematical lyrics: Noteworthy endeavours in education. Journal of Mathematics and the Arts, 8(1-2), 46–53. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17513472.2014.950833
SONGS ON A SPECIFIC TOPIC/MISCONCEPTION
• Crowther, G. J., & Davis, K. (2013). Amino Acid Jazz: Amplifying biochemistry concepts with content-rich music. Journal of Chemical Education, 90(11),
1479–1483. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed400006h
• Lesser, L. (2024). On and on: Infinity in song. 2024 Bridges Proceedings, 6 pp.
• Lesser, L. (2018). Modulating misconceptions with musical means. Teaching Statistics, 40(3), 79–82. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/test.12157
• Lesser, L. (2015). ‘American Pi’: The story of a song about pi. Journal of Mathematics Education, 8(2), 158–168.
• Lesser, L. M., Patterson, S., Solis, J. H., & Moral, R. (2024). A sing-ular aid: Using song to help teach solution set cases for systems of linear equations. PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, 15 pp. (video abstract) https://doi.org/10.1080/10511970.2024.2332674
INTERACTIVENESS OF SONGS
• Lesser, L. (Sept. 27-28, 2017). A continuum of interactivity with (mathematics/statistics) songs, VOICES: Virtual Ongoing Interdisciplinary Conferences on Educating with Song. https://www.CAUSEweb.org/voices/2017/panel/1-3
• Lesser, L. M., Pearl, D. K., Weber, J. J., Dousa, D. M., Carey, R. P., & Haddad, S. A. (2019). Developing interactive educational songs for introductory statistics. Journal of Statistics Education, 27(3), 238–252. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10691898.2019.1677533
STUDENT-CREATED SONGS
• Crowther, G. J., Ma, A. J., & Breckler, J. L. (2017). Songwriting to learn: Can students learn A&P by writing content-rich lyrics? HAPS Educator, 21(2), 119–123.
• Lesser, L. (2018). Student-created songs in statistics class, videoposter, 4th Electronic Conference on Teaching Statistics. https://www.CAUSEweb.org/cause/ecots/ecots18/posters/4-04
• Ward, S. J., Price, R. M., Davis, K., & Crowther, G. J. (2018). Songwriting to learn: how high school science fair participants use music to communicate personally relevant scientific concepts. International Journal of Science Education, Part B 8(4): 307–324. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21548455.2018.1492758
EVIDENCE OF EFFECTIVENESS
• Crowther, G. J., Adjapong, E., & Jenkins, L. D. (2023). Teaching science with the “universal language” of music: Alignment with the universal design for learning framework. Advances in Physiology Education, 47(3), 491–498. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/epdf/10.1152advan.00006.2023
• Crowther, G. J., Wessels, J., Lesser, L. M., & Breckler, J. L. (2020). Is memorization the name of the game? Undergraduates’ perceptions of the usefulness of physiology songs. Advances in Physiology Education, 44(1), 104–112. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/epdf/10.1152/advan.00112.2019.
• Crowther, G. J., Williamson, J. L., Buckland, H. T., & Cunningham, S. L. (2013). Making material more memorable … with music. The American Biology Teacher, 75(9), 713–714.
• Governor, D., Hall, J., &Jackson, D. (2013). Teaching and learning science through song: Exploring the experiences of students and teachers. International Journal of Science Education, 35(18), 3117–3140. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/09500693.2012.690542
• Lesser, L. M., Pearl, D. K., & Weber, J. J. (2016). Assessing fun items’ effectiveness in increasing learning of college introductory statistics students: Results of a randomized experiment. Journal of Statistics Education, 24(2), 54–62. https://tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10691898.2016.1190190
• VanVoorhis, C. R. W. (2002). Stat jingles: To sing or not to sing, Teaching of Psychology, 29(3), 249–250.