You obviously can’t keep a science rapper down.
Tom McFadden, a Californian and Stanford biology lecturer among other things, completed a Mastersin Science Communication at Otago University last year.
Under a Fullbright Scholarship and the moniker ‘Rhymebsome’ he toured a number of NZ schoolspromoting science and science education. The original sticK story is
Part of his Otago study was to:
1.Test the efficacy or effectiveness of a music-based video(for science)
2.Authorship, and the question of whether it is better to watch or make your ownhip-hop song
Obviously there was enough proof of the value of communicating science through rap thatMcFadden’s launched a small
McFadden’s also obviously a pretty competent utiliser of social media, because he contactedsticK to promote what he’s up to.
So here’s a plug for his B attle RA p H istories of E pic S cience (or Brahe’s Battles). Brahe was also a 16th century astronomer whohelped prove that Aristotle’s view of unchanging heavens was wrong (as McFadden comments in hisKickstarter ‘sale’ video.
As he says on the Kickstarter page: “Combining science, history, music and video is a powerfuleducational experience. When students are given the tools to create a video that is viewed aroundthe world, it can be life-changing.”
The song/videos made by the five schools will explore important moments in science history, andonce complete will be available to students and teachers to enliven science education around theworld.
All sounds good for the comparatively low requested sum of US$11,865, which needs to be pledgedby Tuesday April 16 to be kickstarted.
Go hard Tom. Anything that helps demystify science and make it cool(er) deserves a good rap.