By now, many of you have probably read about the teacher who has posted scientific concept videos on YouTube. Middle school science teacher Doug Edmonds has found that the lessons become a little easier when set to the music of, say, ABBA.
For the past year and a half, the Wood Oaks Junior High School science teacher has been recording himself singing new, science-oriented lyrics to popular tunes and posting the videos for his students — and students from around the world — to view.
“There’s something about music that’s popular, that’s sing-able, that appeals to kids,” Edmonds said, as he sat at a lab table in his classroom filled with beakers and other equipment. “And it it’s got the right stuff in it, it’s educational.” Since July 2009, Edmonds has posted 12 videos ranging from a lesson on chemical bonds sung to the tune of the immortal “Dancing Queen” to an explanation of density set to the melody of “Popular” from the hit musical “Wicked.”
There’s a reason that Edmonds is a hit and it’s called echoic memory. When you learn that the average person knows the lyrics to more than 4,000 songs, it’s easy to see what echoic memory does for us. Echoic memory is the reason that we know so many advertising jingles and if you recall – it’s how you probably first learned the alphabet.
So what exactly is echoic memory? Humans remember sounds and words in slightly different ways. Memory for sound is referred to as echoic memories, which can be defined as very brief sensory memory of some auditory stimuli. Typically, echoic memories are stored for a longer period of time than iconic memories (visual memories).
Young children and adult learners who struggle with reading can not only be helped by using music with new words but they can also benefit by using the Reading Horizons' Pronunciation Tool. The Pronunciation Tool visibly shows students whether a sound is voiced or voiceless. Additionally, it supports echoic memory by letting the participant hear the sound.
So, if you’d like to “rock” like Mr. Edmonds does, it’s not very hard - simply, introduce the principle of echoic memory to your students.
