On Wednesday’s PBS NewsHour (March 27, 2013), Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez will take viewers inside a Bronx high school science classroom experimenting with the use of hip hop as a teaching tool. Online, the NewsHour will feature a science-themed video from GZA’s still-unreleased album, “Dark Matter,” and invite viewers to submit their own science raps.
The pilot project, “Science Genius,” requires students to write science raps once a week about concepts covered in their classroom, using science-reinforcing vocabulary. The rapper GZA, from the Wu-Tang Clan, co-founded Science Genius with Professor Christopher Emdin at Columbia University Teachers College and the website RapGenius.com.
In the broadcast report, Suarez speaks with Professor Emdin and GZA about their collaboration, and interviews a student about how hip hop has affected his learning.  On the NewsHour’s website, viewers can compose their own raps about science, read a blog post about the hip hop science project and watch GZA’s music video.
Viewers can discover additional science & technology and education reports on the dedicated pages found on the NewsHour’s website: www.pbs.org/newshour