Amino Acid Jazz: Amplifying Biochemistry Concepts with Content-Rich Music

Music is not typically used in teaching high school- and college-level chemistry. This may be attributable to instructors’ perceptions of educational music as being solely for memorization, their uncertainty about how to incorporate music effectively, or because of a limited number of suitable songs...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of chemical education 2013-11, Vol.90 (11), p.1479-1483
Main Authors: Crowther, Gregory J, Davis, Katie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acids
Amino acids
Amplification
Biochemistry
College Science
Creative Teaching
Creativity
Feedback
High Schools
Jazz
Knowledge acquisition
Memorization
Music
Music Activities
Music education
Organic chemistry
Science education
Science Instruction
Scientific Concepts
Secondary School Science
Singing
Students
Teacher attitudes
Teachers
Teaching Methods
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Summary:Music is not typically used in teaching high school- and college-level chemistry. This may be attributable to instructors’ perceptions of educational music as being solely for memorization, their uncertainty about how to incorporate music effectively, or because of a limited number of suitable songs in which the music and words reinforce each other. To address these issues by way of a biochemistry example, we created Amino Acid Jazz, a sing-along exercise in which students synthesize a musical polypeptide from amino acid building blocks. Along the way, musical elements indicate key points about protein chemistry and structure. This exercise is an example of how the music of a song can amplify (rather than distract from) the content of the lyrics, and can thus promote knowledge acquisition that goes beyond rote memorization. Furthermore, it may be extended to incorporate students’ own creative ideas. Most initial feedback from students and other teachers has been positive.
ISSN:0021-9584
1938-1328
DOI:10.1021/ed400006h