Music To Help Teach Math

 The cool thing about the internet is the availability of supplemental materials designed to help teach math.  Over the years, I've explored Youtube and other sites to find music and rap that my students  will like and remember.

For many of our students, if given a chance, they would sit at their desks all day and listen to their music while playing games.  Why not take advantage of it to help our students learn.

Research indicates music can have a positive effect on student scores.  Furthermore, several studies indicate students are able to remember material when it is set to music.  It is also how we learned our alphabet or numbers when we were in elementary school.  It has been found that the region of the brain that stores memories is the same location that processes music and emotion.  In other words, the three things are related.

Due to the strong relations between math and music it is possible to use the lyrics of the music, it can help people learn math better.  When the right type of music is used, students will sing along and enjoy themselves.  In the process, they will begin to like music more.  Furthermore, if they learn the songs, they can use them on tests to help them do better.

There are websites out there that either produce the music or they have links leading to songs.  I'm covering both types and Youtube to give you an idea of what is available out there.

YouTube has a ton of songs and raps dealing with just about any topic but I strongly recommend you check out the videos first to see if you can hear everything through the whole song.  Also determine if it is something your students will enjoy.  I've had videos I loved but my students didn't like as much because it wasn't their style of math.  In addition, I tried to find ones that had animation rather than just people because they liked the motion more.  I use it a lot.

Songs for Teaching has a whole set of music available for a variety of mathematical topics.  It covers everything from elementary level topics to algebra, geometry, and trig.  They offer short snippets of certain songs so you can decide if you want to purchase the whole "album".  It is even possible to get the lyrics for the songs so you know ahead.  The nice thing is you can get the download of the whole "album" in addition to printable lyrics for a reasonable price if you want to purchase it.  I have not used it but I do enjoy what I've heard from various samples.

It doesn't take much to find music on the internet. It takes a simple listing the topic + music or song and you get a list of possibilities.  You just go through the possibilities until you find the right one and go for it.  I have seen students remember lyrics during a test and it helped them so better overall.  If you aren't using music, try it and see how it works.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.