A scientific serenade/ The songs are silly, but there's a certain

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Sep 7, 2003 | by ANDREA BROWN

Laughter erupts when Clark Maxon hands out a study sheet to the seniors in his Advanced Placement chemistry class at Rampart High School.

"Now, this is serious business," he said. "That's why I brought the ukulele."

He strums a few warm-up chords, then the class begins singing the material on the handout to the tune of "Oh! Susanna."

"Oh, the compounds that are soluble/ They dissolve in water/ In H- 2-0 they're soluble/ Larn em like ya otter."

Next comes the chorus: "Nitrates Chlorates/ Alkuli Metal/ Ammonium and Acetate/ Make em solubetal."

Solubetal? Oh, well, call it poetic license for soluble. And, as Maxon adds, "It's not really 'alkuli,' but it sounds better in the song."

The point is, when it comes to teaching chemistry, Maxon and fellow Rampart teacher Bob Jones don't miss a beat.

They rewrite the lyrics of common tunes to teach students the basics of chemistry. It's silly science, but it's also a learning tool and a way to make a hard subject fun.

The songs became part of the duo's regular lesson plans last year.

"Clark was the initiator of the whole thing," said Jones, who uses maracas in his gig. "He said, 'Look at this song I wrote,' and I said, 'Oh, that's a great idea, why don't we write some together?' We made a list of tunes we thought everyone would know, then a list of topics, and then made up the words."

Jones said at first some students don't know what to make of singing the subject matter. "Initially, it's like, 'What are we doing? This is really weird.'"

Weird is right.

Students learn the exothermic process to the tune of "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

"Frosty the Snowman" is a bright line spectrum jingle about how an excited atom emits a quantum of a certain frequency. It makes sense to the students, who as a class sometimes go caroling down the halls or to the main office to serenade the brass with the chemistry songs. They also do solo acts. "I sing them in the shower," Jennifer Westbrook said. "It is strange, but it works."

Paul Turley agrees. "They get stuck in your head and they help you learn," he said.

"The tunes are so catchy, it's sort of like brainwashing," Meagan Banning said. "You repeat a mantra enough and you memorize it."

Taylor Mabry claims the method is fail-proof. "I found myself singing during the final exam last year because it helped me to remember," he said. "I got an A."

Singing during exams is fair game as long as students don't belt out the tunes.

"You can see them sometimes during tests, moving their lips," Jones said.

He and Maxon have written more than a dozen songs. "Almost enough for a CD," Maxon said.

It's not just oldies, either. As their Chemistry Rap goes (sing to the rhythm of "Ice Ice Baby"): "Isotope and allotrope/ Chemistry is way dope/ Metalloid and alkaloid/ Chemistry fills a void."