To celebrate New Zealand Music Month, we chat to two educators bringing tunes into the classroom. Musician and teacher Tom McFadden creates raps about the inner workings of science, while teacher Emily Hall uses science songs to inspire her students.
It was the ’90s, and the hallways of C. K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento—where Tom McFadden was a student—were rife with kids banging out beats on lockers, free-styling into voice recorders and selling mixtapes at lunchtime. Tom and his buddies were right in it, making goofy videos of their own—the beginnings of a future career path for Tom, turning rap into a tool for teaching science.
Tom grew up in California with a mum who was a primary school teacher and a dad who was a professor of bilingual education. As a kid, he loved watching Bill Nye the Science Guy—especially the way each episode wrapped up with a science-themed music video parody. But it wasn’t until college that he started grappling with the big questions of how the world works that he fell in love with science, saying: “Because the stories it told about the deep history of humans and Earth were generally the least wrong ones!”
He headed off to Stanford University to study, and later teach, Human Biology—ending up with roommates who shared a passion for rap—and producing parodies for his students, ranging from car rims to reproductive isolating mechanisms: “…making nerdy science music videos was definitely a natural progression!” he admits.
After graduating, Tom relocated to Dunedin to complete a Master of Science Communication at the University of Otago, delivering his thesis Music in the Science Classroom: The impact of content-based songs on learning and engagement (available here)in 2012. Tom now teaches intermediate and high school biology in California and helps his students create science music videos.
We chat with Tom about insights from his studies and teaching.
Why do songs seem to boost long-term retention more than short-term gains—and what are the pros and cons of this, including whether remembering lyrics actually supports deeper learning over time?
I think that many human brains have special circuitry for remembering music and lyrics. Not everybody, but I’ve heard countless anecdotes of people who still remember nerdy science songs from their childhood. I think the gains in this group make an entire class perform higher in the long run. In the short term, a clearly stated explanation is just as good or better at delivering factual information. Music videos have A LOT going on and can be overwhelming to the system. So, songs really have their biggest impact over repeated viewings and long-term retention rather than an isolated one-time learning experience.
Do emotion and novelty play a role in learning through song?
I’ve been teaching biology in the classroom for the last 13 years, and the answer is yes. As a teacher, you have to mix it up (novelty) to keep kids engaged. And songs definitely get an emotional reaction. Even if it is negative and students say they hate them, they often remember them and look back on them fondly.
Did the songs extend learning beyond the classroom?
There’s a big difference between consuming science songs and making them. I think much more important learning happens when creating them. I’ve taught a class called Science Rap Academy for many years, and those skills of project management, collaboration, and problem solving are much deeper and more profound than the content memorisation a kid might get from watching a song.
Were there any trade-offs: gimmicky, oversimplified, take time away from deeper learning?
There are many trade-offs, especially when comparing passively watching existing videos compared to having kids make their own. Watching a video is very low time cost and typically has accurate content. Having students make their own takes up much more time and, without proper coaching, can lead to inaccurate lyrics that get memorised. As a classroom teacher, I consider existing songs as a useful tool in your toolkit, but you have to mix it up and teach in a variety of ways to appeal to a variety of learners. And as far as oversimplifying go, as long as an educator teaches students about the nature of models, you can frame everything as a model. Songs are absolutely oversimplified, but so is the Bohr model of the atom. Students need to know the limits of each story and model, including songs.
How did students creating songs impact their long-term retention?
My students who’ve made their own songs definitely remember the lyrics for a long time moving forward. They usually memorise them in the process of writing and performing them. As long as the lyrics are accurate, this can be helpful for retaining facts and vocabulary (which is not always the same as depth of conceptual scientific thinking).
Where does learning science through songs sit among traditional teaching styles?
In traditional teaching styles, you usually have a hook, a learning activity, a review and an assessment. Science songs are a natural fit for a hook or a review. Every now and then, they work as an assessment (having students make their own), but I would recommend making that one of many options rather than forcing everyone to do it.
Can you suggest how teachers can incorporate music into their lessons?
I recommend finding YouTube science song channels that you and your students like— Acapella Science is one of my personal favourites, though it is very high-level.
Tom also offers a free six-month membership to his teaching tool: Rhymewit – Lyrical puzzles to engage your classroom.
Find out more: Science with Tom website | YouTube | Instagram
Crimson Global Academy Senior Physics teacher Emily Hall
Fascinated by the plants and animals surviving along the wild, Pacific-battered coastline of the small Canadian island she grew up on—even further west than Vancouver Island—it seemed natural that Emily Hall would become a marine biologist. But after arriving at the University of Northern British Columbia, she was swayed into physics by a passionate professor who taught a required Physics for Non-Majors class.
“He made me really interested in Physics for the first time as a tool for explaining everything we see (and can’t see) in the world around us,” she says, ending up switching from studying marine biology to a BSc in Computer Science and Physics. Not only did the professor instil a love of physics, but she also credits him with her becoming a teacher. “I wanted to show others how amazing the world of Physics can be.”
After completing her degree, she moved to Dunedin in 2025, completed a BA in Education and a Bachelor of Secondary Teaching at the University of Otago, and, after a few years teaching Senior Physics in Balclutha, returned to Dunedin to complete a Master of Science Communication at Otago. Her thesis is titled Fight Like a Physicist: Teaching Classical Mechanics through Karate [available here]. Emily is currently the Head of Physics for the A-level Pathway at the online global school Crimson Global Academy, which offers Edexcel International GCSE and International A-level qualifications. She teaches GCSE (Year 11), AS (Year 12) and A2 (Year 13) Physics classes.
How have you recently incorporated songs into your classroom?
My Year 12s were treated to The Snell’s Law Songand the Year 13s listened to one on the Quantum World last term, as well as the Large Hadron Collider Rap (below). I use them in a couple of ways: firstly, sometimes we listen to the songs, and then we do the learning, so they have a brief overview of what we are doing before we dive into it. I also sometimes use a song as a refresher after we’ve done some learning. Epic Rap Battles of History is another one I used in Year 11 recently when we did AC/DC, and we start every year in Year 12 and 13 with Tom’s [McFadden] rap about significant figures. [Science with Tom: How You Calculate ‘Em?]
How do you think science delivered through song benefits your students?
I personally think the biggest value is engagement, but they are retaining as well. I had a Year 11 [student] tell me yesterday that they remembered Snell’s Law because, for example, the song played in their head. I have just asked this question to my Year 13 students, and these are their thoughts: They generally thought that songs were a nice break from the class routine, they were fun and entertaining and that they enjoyed listening to songs in class. One of the students commented that in terms of retention, it was probably easier for younger students for learning, whereas older students it is more for fun.
Can you suggest ways teachers can incorporate science music into their lessons?
For me, because I am at an online school, if I am going to use a Science song, I usually listen to it first and take notes on any little bits I can highlight for the students. I try to find a version with the words on the screen to play for them so they can read (and sing along if they would like). Then we go through the song. As we later look at notes or concepts, I try to reference those nuggets from the song, like for example, I do tend to sing the n1 sin theta sub 1 hey hey hey = n2 sin theta sub 2 hip hooray whenever we do Snell’s Law.
Further reading
Supporting both Tom and Emily are findings from Crowther et al. (2023), whose paper Teaching science with the “universal language” of music: alignment with the Universal Design for Learning framework [available here] suggests that, despite music often being used in science classrooms, because it’s fun, engaging and efficient for covering content, its actual potential is frequently underused. Many songs are treated as memory tools instead of promoting conceptual understanding. The authors suggest a four-step approach to avoid this: 1) students enjoy music together, 2) students critically analyse songs as texts, 3) students creatively augment existing songs, and 4) students create new songs. This progression towards creativity and ownership encourages students to think critically and communicate scientific ideas in new ways—ultimately resulting in deeper learning and better retention.
Ngā kupu
Puoro:to sing
Waiata: Māori music
Mōteatea: traditional chants
Rangi: tune/melody
Taaonga puoro: traditional instruments
Tangi: Resonate, sound, note
Tito: To compose
Kaitito: Composer
Kaiwaiata: Singer
Top image credit: Pavel Danilyuk