Music+Videos+for+Learning+and+Assessment

Kristy Lathrop 8th grade science teacher Mesa Middle School Douglas County School District lathrop.kristy(at)gmail.com
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This summer, I was lucky enough to attend a couple events hosted by Discovery Education: The [|DEN Pre-Conference] event at [|ISTE] and the [|Siemens STEM Institute]. Both of these conferences featured outstanding presenters with challenging content. One of the standouts was [|Dr. Lodge McCammon], a former social studies teacher who integrates music into education. All of Dr. McCammon's songs and teaching materials are available for download at [|Discovery Education]. (Click [|here] and [|here] to see a couple examples from the aforementioned conferences.)

I have been extremely excited to incorporate his music video ideas into my classroom! I used [|"We Are Matter"] to refresh and review of the properties of matter, including density, volume, and weight.

Before learning about this resource, I would have conducted some simple labs and vocabulary pre-assessments. Instead, my students were able to review and learn new content using multiple learning modalities.

We learned the song together and then split into groups. Each group was responsible for demonstrating an understanding of the content by acting out a verse, bridge, or the chorus. I gave them time to discuss and practice. The short video below demonstrates their collaboration. media type="file" key="5th period matter practice.mov" width="300" height="300"

After some time to practice as groups, we conducted a rehearsal where the entire class learned the timing and general flow. Then, I posted a video for each class on my website and allowed students, staff, parents, and community members to vote for the best. Here is one of the best videos: media type="file" key="5th period we are matter.mov" width="300" height="300"

As you can see, the kids had a blast! Additionally, I can use this video to help drive my instruction. Their understanding of these properties seems to be fairly vague, so I created more learning opportunities to address these gaps.