Classroom

Student Rap Videos as Teaching Tools

Using videos to impart tough math, science, social studies and language concepts.

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Corey Murray is a former managing editor of EdTech: Focus on K–12 and a 20-year veteran of writing about educational technology.

Do you believe in the power of mnemonic devices to help students remember tricky concepts? R-O-Y-G-B-I-V has a nice ring to it. But in the YouTube age, it’s also — I wish there were a gentler way to put this — kind of lame.

Rather than writing a bunch of nonsensical letters on a chalkboard, consider using the power of video to get your point across. We first discovered this collection of educational music videos, collected by the YouTubeEDU staff, on MindShift, a blog dedicated to “the future of learning in all its dimensions.”

In the first video, a parody of Cali Swag District’s “Teach Me How to Dougie,” students and teachers from Ohio’s Westerville South High School sing “Teach Me How to Factor.”

In “Out Here Graphin,” educators and students from John Ehret High School in Louisiana get jiggy in an original rap about geometric equations.

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally these videos are not, and it’s a safe bet your students will thank you for that. With a little luck, one of them might even teach you how to Dougie.