May 09 2008
Music as a teaching tool
Music has always been a big part of my life. I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. I was the kid who always sang the loudest at the school concerts, so just about every year I wound up singing solos.
There is plenty of research evidence that indicates music can enhance learning. Brain based education researcher Eric Jensen frequently mentions the value of music in his various books and articles. An example is here.
Back when I was a kid, everyone knew all of the songs from “Schoolhouse Rock”. My favorite is “I’m just a Bill.” Somehow, the music and the learning work together like magic. You learn without realizing it.
One young lady, Nicole Campbell studying at Berkeley, has figured this out. She writes songs about mathematics. They are clever and very well done. You should check them out.
With this in mind, I wrote a song for my networking class this semester about subnet masks. My students were pretty surprised when I broke out the guitar right in the middle of a technical discussion on subnetting, and sang them this little ditty: (Sing to the tune of the Day-O Banana Boat Song)
Come Mr. Subnet Mask subnet me network
Zeros where the host bits go
Come Mr. Subnet Mask subnet me network
Ones where the network goes
Day-O me say day-o
Zeros where the host bits go
Day-O me say day-o
Ones where the network goes
Two five five, zero, zero, zero
That’s a class A subnet mask
Two five five, Two five five, zero, zero
That’s a class B subnet mask
Two five five, Two five five, Two five five, zero
That’s a class C subnet mask
AND IP’s to the subnet mask
Gives us the network we gonna route to
Day-O me say day-o
Zeros where the host bits go
Day-O me say day-o
Ones where the network goes
Anyway, that’s my little song. You can listen if you like, but I’ll warn you I’ve only been playing guitar for a few months.
4 responses so far
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
Brilliant, fun, unexpected…that’s how we learn and that’s how we should teach. Thanks for the post!
Well its a swell Tune! I must say….what you are saying is very true, as you know Bill I have a Learning Disability based from Head trauma and I say that Music is Amazing for Teaching…..I teach the public where there is a lot of Alcohol Fetal Syndrome in the area, (Alaska) and I use Music to calm clients and use some music to relax the minds. Types of Music does other things. Peace
Very cool! Can we do a podcast along these lines sometime?
I think that would be fun. I have a pretty busy summer planned, but we might be able to make some time for this. Or else we can certainly do it in the fall after school starts back up.