Welcome to My Classes, Where Music and Science Unite {New Music Monday}

Have you ever wondered what a song about Mendelian genetics or combustion might sound like? Well, wonder no more. I present to you two songs I wrote for my science classes: one about the four principles behind Mendelian genetics, and the other about the process of combustion.

The Four Principles of Mendelian Genetics

The lyrics for this song come directly from the Apologia Biology textbook, 2nd edition (you can purchase the 3rd edition here.) Dr. Wile took the older language of Gregor Mendel’s four principles and updated it to fit our modern English. I enjoyed trying to take prose and turn it into song, and then trying to get my high school students to sing along with me.

The traits of an organism are determined by its genes.
Each organism has two alleles that make up the genotype for a given trait.
In sexual reproduction, each parent contributes only of its alleles to its offspring.
For each genotype, there is a dominant allele. If it exists in an organism the phenotype is determined by that allele.

Combustion (in humans)

According to this neat NASA handout, combustion happens when “a substance reacts rapidly with oxygen and gives off heat.” Combustion happens every time we start a campfire. We burn wood for fuel, and the flames that erupt give off heat. Combustion also happens inside our bodies. We inhale oxygen, and then use the oxygen to burn carbohydrates, fats, and proteins (in that order). Combustion produces carbon dioxide, water, and the energy our bodies use to do work. The song I wrote says all that with concision, and will hopefully stick with my students longer than a wordy explanation. We also use Apologia’s General Science textbook, 2nd edition.

Why do we need oxygen?
So we can undergo combustion.
Combustion burns carbohydrates,
fats and proteins.
Combustion produces energy,
carbon dioxide, and water.

Thank you for listening!

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Please note: Apologia did not pay me to write this post or put their material to music. They provide excellent textbooks for Christian families and schools, and I’m thankful for their science expertise.