Abby Connolly
Some of the greatest teachers are the ones who take subjects that a lot of young people might find “boring” or hard and make them not only more accessible but also fun.
One teacher in South Africa recently went viral on TikTok after sharing the fun way he teaches his students about chromosomes.
We often see videos of bright and happy teachers teaching little kids beginner lessons like spelling and addition through clever songs they can sing during class.
However, learning through song isn’t something that is only reserved for little kids.
This was proven by Samkelo Sabamanzi Mhlophe (@thishawakutiktok), a South African teacher and program director who took a lesson on a complicated subject like chromosomes and made it a lot more enjoyable via song.
In his viral video, which has reached over three million views, Samkelo points to a chalkboard full of information and diagrams of chromosomes that cross over and exchange genetic material.
Samkelo can be seen pointing to each informational section on the chalkboard and reading the facts to his students in rhythm, then getting them to repeat it back to him, following the same rhythm in a call-and-response fashion.
You may hear a sentence like, “Chromatids of homologous chromosomes overlap at a point called the chiasma,” and think it would be hard to remember, but Samkelo turns it into a catchy part of his song that his students enjoy repeating back to him.
Throughout the rest of the video, Samkelo’s students can be heard happily repeating his catchy song, making it clear that they’re absorbing the material.
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