With a strum from his guitar, NABT member "Dr. Art" has spent much of the past two decades helping students learn biological concepts by putting them to music. Arthur Siebens, a biology teacher in the Washington D.C. public schools, has been a familiar sight at NABT Conventions, entertaining audiences with his clever and highly instructional lyrics. Dr. Art's upcoming 14-song CD, Bio-Rhythms III: Anatomy/Physiology Plus is due to be released this fall. The songs will be featured in his presentations at the NABT Annual Convention in Chicago. He has also published Bio-Rhythms I & II. Both CDs feature songs based on familiar tunes, written both for beginning and advanced biology students. There are also a few original songs. Information on the CDs can be found at www.biosongs.com.
Dr. Art emphasizes that these songs are educational tools. He encourages teachers to photocopy the lyrics for distribution to students. In addition to providing a fun change of pace, the songs allow him to cover a topic more quickly because students can use a song to help remember vocabulary, and to focus on central concepts (the songs summarize concepts students really need to know on a topic, and are particularly useful for advanced students with a large amount of information to master). |
On his Web site, Dr. Art notes, "I usually use a given song on at least two different days. The most important thing to do when using the songs is to have the students read the lyrics. You may want to have the students just listen the first time (especially with raps). Once they know how it goes, it is most effective if you set the example by singing along, and try to get the kids to actively sing with you. Some students will never sing no matter what you do, but most will sing along, with one or two singing deliberately too loudly, acting as class clowns (which is fine up to a point). Some classes just love to sing, and protest when there is no song on a unit. There is a huge range of enthusiasm among classes, but even classes that don't particularly like to sing appreciate that you're going the extra mile for them."
Dr. Art majored in biology at Oberlin College, earned a Ph.D. in physiology at George Washington University, and completed his post-doctoral work at the Yale School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His songs were part of the reason he earned the College Board's Advanced Placement Recognition Award for the Middle States Region in 2002. |
