by Emily Shimp

Created on: June 23, 2009

I was very young when Schoolhouse Rock ended its first run on ABC, but I did get the honor of seeing it when it was brought back in the 1990s. Of all the non-PBS educational shows for children, Schoolhouse Rock stands as one of the best, with a style that makes kids want to learn about math, history, science, and more. The style in question is using catchy tunes to teach children subjects such as how electricity works, how a bill becomes a law, and how to use conjunctions. The segments were seen at the end of select shows, and many of them had ingenious ways in teaching children the ways of the world.

When it came to teaching math, there was Multiplication Rock. Here, a magician sings about multiplying by three, Noah tells his son how to multiply by two to find out exactly how many animals were on his ark, and a girl creates a figure eight while teaching viewers about its multiples. Then along came Grammar Rock, designed to teach audiences about basic English skills. Whether it was a family selling adverbs, a girl unpacking her adjectives, or a lot of people screaming interjections, learning grammar had never been more fun. History Rock was a response to America's Bicentennial celebration, and told the stories behind the American Revolution, the Preamble to the Constitution, and the Melting Pot all in just a few minutes. By the end of the 1970s there was Science Rock, in which the Earth moaned about how the lack of energy was bringing him down, how Mother Necessity brought us to where we are today, and how our nerves send "telegraphs" to us all. These segments would be repeated constantly, both during the original run and in its mid-90s comeback.

The 1980s brought Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips, a boy and his talking computer, who were designed to teach children about how to use computers. Whereas the characters in other Schoolhouse Rock segments were designed to be one-shots, Scooter and Mr. Chips starred in four segments, which aired through the mid-80s and, to my knowledge, never aired again after that. It turns out that kids would learn to use computers easily, while adults would have a tougher time doing so. Today, three of the four Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips segments are available on DVD, so these two characters have not quite been forgotten.

Not only were classic Schoolhouse Rock episodes rerun during the 1990s, but new episodes were made, as well. The bulk of these were part of a new series called Money Rock, teaching children how to be smart

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