Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? It can be pretty annoying, even if you like the song. This is called an “earworm,” and scientists are trying to find out why this happens to us. They found that everyone gets different songs stuck in their heads – but all these songs are simple, and play the same notes over and over. Sometimes your brain repeats one line – and sometimes the song plays faster than in real life. How much faster? Let’s see if we can count out the beat.
Wee ones: Have the class pick a favorite song and sing a line of it. How many words did you sing? Count up the words together!
Little kids: If your friend sings a 3-minute song, then a 2 minute song, how many total minutes did they sing? Bonus: If a song sings “I love you” 3 times in a row, how many words is that in total?
Big kids: If a song plays in your head every half-hour starting at 3:00 pm, what number round do you start hearing at 7:00 pm? Bonus: If your favorite song is 3 minutes long, but when stuck in your head it takes only 2 minutes 34 seconds, how much faster does the song play in your head?
Answers:
Wee ones: Different for everyone…count out the words!
Little kids: 5 minutes. Bonus: 9 words.
Big kids: The 9th round. Bonus: 26 seconds faster.
