Wu-Tang and Science Are For The Children

Courtesy of I Love Hip Hop

I love science. I love rap. The Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S. (Bring Attention to Transforming Teaching, Learning and Engagement in Science) competition combines both science and rap gracefully.  Teams write raps about science topics such as DNA structure. Kids learn science within the competitive spirit and creativity of hip hop culture.  

Best of all, the Wu-Tang's GZA is one of the judges. He's been involved with other science initiatives with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, which I blogged about earlier.

Many of songs are are included on RapGenius which you can find here.

NPR's Code Switch blog has a great quote which sums up my feelings about STEM education.

"Not every student is going to be a straight-A student, and go on to college and declare a science major and be the next Einstein," he says. "But through this project we definitely are going to have more scientifically literate young people."

Check out a 7 minute documentary from NPR's Science Desk. 

Neil DeGrasse Tyson & the GZA

I grew up on hip hop and science, so I was thrilled to see The GZA appear on an episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson's Star Talk. It's fun to watch because they are both fans of each other.  The genuine interest and respect for one another's work is incredibly apparent. My favorite part is around 16 minutes, when they talk about how current hip hop isn't "literate" and how many artists nowadays don't have a muse. A little later, during a great conversation about violence in hip hop , Tyson compares the artful use of lyrics to one of the film masters, as "Hitchcock forces you to fill in the blanks". Check it out below! 

If you can't see the video below, click here.

Tech Videos: Mister Rogers & Dr. Tyson

Science is about being amazed and in wonder at the world around you. All of the technical stuff that people usually associate with science takes a back seat to sitting back and saying "Wow, the world is cool!" It doesn't matter if you're an astrophysicist or everyone's favorite neighbor - anyone can represent the qualities behind scientific thought. The two videos included are an excellent example of this.

The above video by Brandon Fibbs features a speech from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.  He spoke to congress about space exploration and its importance for America to be successful. Fibbs does an excellent job creating the visuals to correlate with Tyson's examples of the Civil Rights movement, the Apollo Moon missions, and even Occupy Wall St. As a plus, it uses music from Mass Effect 3, a great video game that involves the consequences the humanity interacting with other worlds and species.

Now, onto Mister Rogers and the "Garden of the Mind" remix video ...

 Doesn't that video capture what we all want to be, and what we want for future generations. It's all about having ideas and believing in yourself enough to push them through. Simply amazing!