Rap Connects Inner-City Kids to Science

After George "Duke" Brady, a rapper from California, found his way into a forest ecology class at Evergreen State College in Washington state taught by Nalini M. Nadkarni, the pair found they had, surprisingly, common interests.

On a field trip co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Duke improvised a few rap lines on the experience:

Wet and green moss,I'm at a lossto describe the beautyfalling on my bootyBut held up by strings

"As I watched Duke capture the attention of his classmates, I realized I could similarly use rap music to connect urban kids with forests," said Nadkarni. "I incorporated a recording of his nature rap song into my classroom presentations to inner city youth. To my delight, this technique worked every time!"

Son after, Nadkarni led a week-long program, called "Sound Science," for 40 urban and rural middle-school students from urban areas in Tacoma, Wash. Along with a number of her colleagues, the class included what Nadkarni calls "an intermediary," an individual who connects well with urban youths and served as an ambassador between our students and scientists.

This intermediary was C.A.U.T.I.O.N., a heavily tattooed rapper who stood out among the forest ecologists and teens. He often made up rap lyrics on the spot dealing with such hard-core inner-city issues as evolution, intertidal zones on the shore, and tree canopies. Though Nadkarni admits that even C.A.U.T.I.O.N. hit a wall when trying to come up with a rhyme for "photosynthesis."

After the class, a healthy "90 percent of our students described 'scientific learning' as 'fun,' and stated that the program had taught them a lot about rain forest canopies, insect behavior and marine biology," said Nadkarni. And "85 percent of our students said they'd recommend the program to their friends."

To learn more about Nadkarni's work, visit her website.

Photos courtesy of NSF.