Children's Media #3: Education and Entertainment

Entertainment and Education for Children

It's not everyday that you get to listen to a legit rock band perform children's songs that include educational information about science. When we watched the first music video I was shocked of the professional quality and entertainment that was presented. They Might Be Giants are a Grammy nominated rock band who have now completed three albums for children's media. We watched the "Here Comes Science" music videos.



What came to mind so many times as I listened to these songs was the film School of Rock (2003). In this film the protagonist, Jack Black convinces the classroom to join his rock band. However, when the principal visits the classroom he uses the rock instruments to teach the students educational subjects. What I love about this film and also the music videos that we watched is how fun and entertaining education can be. I think sometimes as adults we think that education and entertainment need to be separate.

As I viewed the music videos, I really tried to take a step back and put myself back in my old kid shoes. As I listened to the songs overall not only was I entertained, but I also felt that I was able to learn new things. Regarding the lyrics to the songs, the writing process would have been really interesting because you're juggling the ball of how much information do we need to include and the other ball of how much do we need to entertain, (ie how many guitar solos are we going to have?)

The only song where I didn't think I learned as much compared to the other videos was Photosynthesis. Overall I thought the band did well making sure that the pronunciation and tempo of the songs were appropriate and executed well in order for kids to truly understand the material. But with Photosynthesis the tempo was too quick which lead to the words being spit out quickly as well. The only thing I would have gained from that song as a kid was just the word photosynthesis.

As I left the classroom I found myself humming the sun song that was even corrected by the band. I hope children can engage with types of media similar to these videos. I respect this band being creative and taking their time to produce these children's albums.

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