Play music to your unborn baby. Research is still a little "out there" about exactly what a baby hears in utero, but a study done by s Penn State Research department indicates that infants learn the sounds of their environment while still cushioned inside the womb. The mothers in the study were instructed to read Dr. Seuss books aloud while pregnant. The researchers then played recordings of those books read by the mother to see if the infant would respond to those recordings over others. The answer was a "yes."
Read aloud or sing about processes or ideas that are important to you. Visit with friends, attend lectures that stretch your own intellect. If you are a college student, read aloud from your text books and play educational recordings about science intended for school children.
Reinforce the intrauterine stimuli by continuing to play the same recordings about science to your infant while he is in his crib. Provide toys that give a musical reward for pulling the right cord or pushing the right button.
Keep up the musical momentum in infancy. Babies love to be cuddled, rocked and sung to. From recordings that have been made of the sounds within the womb, including of a beating heart, the susurrus of the amniotic fluid, we know that rocking and singing emulates that same security.
Learn and sing songs that teach about science: the names of the planets, plant phylum, food webs, and other topics. Many educational supply companies have recordings of instructional songs.
Include silly songs. Everyone loves to laugh. From the platypus to man himself, the world has plenty of silly stuff to sing about. Laughter is not only good medicine, it relieves stress and helps us learn. Set the lesson to music, and it is with us almost forever.
Provide hands-on physical experiences in making instruments, understanding sound vibrations and musical applications. Make simple musical instruments, such as shakers, small drums or one-string wooden guitars. Explore the physical properties of a plucked string as it is shortened or tightened.
Encourage choral readings of science material as well as songs about science and scientists. Provide opportunities for budding musicians to write poems about science experiences and set them to simple music or write parodies of existing tunes. Old folk songs make great vehicles for science parodies.
Make the math connection. Playing musical instruments as a group or even alone is all about being able to count. From decibels to whole notes and quarter notes, music is measured and written in mathematical terms, and is translated by voice and instrument into the aural art of beautiful sound.
Set science lessons to music. Find recordings about the science being studied, or use your notes to write rhymed couplets about the topic. Use a musical instrument to play a tune that fits with your words; or make up the tune first and fit the words to the melody. For example, to the tune of "Old Dan Tucker," you can sing: "What goes up, must come down, that's as sure as the world it round. This applies to a rock or tree; it's true for you, and true for me. That's the law of gravity, works on the earth, works on the sea, even holds the air for us to breath."
Sing your doggerel while you do mechanical tasks, such as washing dishes, folding laundry or mowing the lawn. Don't sing it while your instructors are trying to talk.
Make a notebook of your science music. Sing your way through all of the songs when reviewing for tests. Keep it to sing to your children. If little ones hear and absorb what goes on around them, you will start parenthood with a treasure trove of wisdom to hand down to the next generation.