Karaoke

STEM instructors brave enough to use music in their classrooms have typically played songs or music videos while the students watch passively. At this conference we will be seeing a host of ways in which educational music can be made into a more active experience for students. In this presentation we will highlight one way, namely, STEM karaoke. STEM karaoke has been feasible for some time, but is greatly facilitated by the use of a free or low-cost subscription to Noteflight.

Since 2012 I have used music as a pedagogical method in fisheries/natural resource classes. I began by writing and performing songs based on class materials including concepts, habitats, and species' biology and posting these videos on the web. Questionnaire results indicated that the music videos significantly improved attitudes towards class and studying. I transformed this exercise into an active learning exercise by having students make their own karaoke video. Students had to write the lyrics and sing/rap them but could use video and music from the web for their videos.

Since 2012 I have used music as a pedagogical method in ecology classes. I began by writing and performing songs based on class materials including concepts, habitats, and species' biology and posting these videos on the web. This led to production of an ecology/evolution CD entitled Natural Voices (www.garygrossman.net/natural-voices/). Questionnaire results indicated that the music videos significantly improved attitudes towards class and studying.