Here Comes Science: Making Learning Fun

I love learning. I think it stems from my own childhood, where I got really into reading and watching educational films (including School House Rock). I would get annual editions of Guiness World Records and Ripley's Believe It or Not and read them religiously.  I still remember the crazy, outlandish things that I read in those books.  For example, did you know that the record for most naked people to ride a roller coaster was 32 (and is now over 100)? I learned that as a little boy, and I was immediately jealous that they had a world record, and also grossed out that this was a record that someone thought to invent.

Record attempt not pictured here. Here's a platypus instead.

I believe that most children can remember something passionate that they loved learning about as a child. The desire to learn and discover seems to be, at least in my experience, innate in humans, like we're born with this craving to know things.  This concept is interesting because it kind of clashes with Locke's philosophy that we discussed in class. We learned about Locke's principle of the "Tabula Rasa" or the blank slate, and how children are born essentially pure and innocent, and the rest of their lives is filled in by what they learn and how they react to it.  I believe in Locke's concept in many ways. I don't believe that children are born evil or with their personalities hardwired into them.  I believe that a lot of that comes later.  But I do believe that in relation to knowledge, we are all born as blank slates, and that knowledge needs to be filled in gradually overtime, hopefully in a way that will make sense to us and in a way that we'll enjoy.  And that is why I loved Here Comes Science. Science and Math are the subjects that most students would argue are the most difficult to understand (based on my very scientific survey, involving a random sample of me, myself, and I).  But TMBG knows that songs make everything easier to learn.  So they took some basic scientific concepts and applied them to music, making them infinitely more enjoyable than just reading a textbook.

I also love that they were humble and self-aware enough to re-record their song "Why Does the Sun Shine" and include the correct, updated information.  And in a way, their willingness to do this encapsulates, better than any other song on the album, what makes science so great. We're always learning new information, scientists are constantly performing new tests and experiments, and the world is constantly reevaluating its view.  Thousands of years ago, Earth was the center of the universe.  Two hundred years ago, nobody knew that microscopic germs were why people got sick.  And a hundred years ago, the sun WAS a mass of incandescent gas.  The concept of plasma wasn't discovered until 1879 by Sir William Crookes, and it wasn't even identified as Plasma until 1928. So for a long while, most people held this incorrect belief about the sun, and it was taught as fact to children in school. It's quite reasonable that TMBG would make this mistake, since this is probably what they were taught in school.

Just another example of educational videos getting facts wrong 

(not to mention poor Pluto)

So kudos to them for addressing their error and, inadvertently, pointing out that science's ability to change and adapt based on new information is one of the things that makes science so great.

They Might Be Giants accomplishes what should be the goal for any great teacher: they make learning fun. They make learning catchy. They make learning interesting.  I wish I'd had this album when I was a kid. It's the kind of thing that lil' Steven would have loved.  Sesame Street tried a similar approach to their teaching style, with flying colors, catchy songs, and crazy characters. This is why they've stuck around for so long.  Even the much calmer Mister Rogers used songs and puppets in his show in order to teach kids. Because the best teachers know the truth: learning can, and should be, fun.





Also for fun: Here's The Simpson's version of I'm Just a Bill. Go crazy.