[Weekly Inspiration] OK Go Music Videos: A Match Made in Science

Teachers across America are turning to the rock band OK Go to bring science concepts to life in a fun and interactive way. Aside from their musical talents, OK Go has proven themselves to be amateur scientists by demonstrating science and math concepts in their famously elaborate music videos, such as Rube Goldberg Machines, rate, gravity, and more.

Led by Dr. AnnMarie Thomas, the Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota has partnered with OK Go to develop the OK Go Sandbox, a free website for educators to help tie in OK Go’s fun videos into lessons with guides, assignments, and even suggested vocabulary words. The resources are even mapped to science standards, like the Next Generation Science Standards, which makes it even easier to tie into lessons.

Check out one of the music videos and corresponding educational content below.

Needing/Getting – OK Go

Take a deep look into how sounds can be made with a variety of different objects.

Next, show this behind the scenes video from the band that shows you how to create sound from light, magnetism, and more!

Have you used OK Go or other music videos in your class? Want to learn more about how educators are weaving OK Go music videos into math, science, and art lessons? Check out the full article from Elissa Nadworny from NPR here. Have a little fun today and show your students that science CAN be applied to real life – and in an awesome way too!