Let’s Sing it!: Reviewing course Materials Through Song

In elementary school, learning through music is pretty typical. We start singing the alphabet, maybe even the days of the week. I still remember some of the many songs about verb conjugations I learned in French class. And many will recall the days of Schoolhouse Rock. But who knew that there are educational songs for those of us older than 10? I didn’t know this was a thing, until someone in a class Facebook group posted a video rap battle, if you will, between two competing economic theorists. And so my quest for more musical and educational gems began. I had strict, albeit subjective, guidelines:

Songs had to explain a concept, not just say how awesome their particular subject was.
They had to be well-sung or well-rapped.
They had to be clever or particularly well-written. Bonus points went to humour.

Here are my findings. Some of these definitely are meant for a younger audience, but review never hurts, right?

Economics

This was what started my quest. I’m still so impressed with it. Trust me, you’ll have it stuck in your head all day. “We’ve been going back and forth for a century.” “I want to steer markets” “I want them set free!"

Sociology

I hadn’t considered someone would write a song about Marxists, functionalists, interactionalists, and feminists, to the tune of a Stevie Wonder track no less, but here it is. It does lose points for unclear singing, but the lyrics are in the video description so no one need lose out. Thanks to Ondiek for the idea – I wouldn’t have looked for sociology/anthropology songs had he not suggested it.

English

We all know what conjunctions do, but do we know the elements of a short story? These guys can help.

Chemistry

The elements of the Periodic Table aren’t the most creative choice of things to sing about, but this version is quite fabulous. (“Oxygen so you can breathe, Fluorine for your pretty teeth”) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUDDiWtFtEM

Cosmology

This video is great singing and tons of information all at once. Thanks to Charles for sending it my way.

History

Liberté! Égalité! Fraternité! Avec Lady Gaga. Thanks to Rachael for this one.

Math

There are many math songs, but few met my quality requirements. This one stood out as accurate and very thorough. I had forgotten the requirements for differentiability of a function; I kinda appreciated the review… So that’s my less-than-exhaustive list. Have you found any fun songs to help with review, or at least provide an entertaining study break? Let me know in the comments!