Chemistry and Hip Hop: A Vehicle to Attract Minority Students to the Chemical Sciences
During the fall semester in 2012, I co-authored an article in the journal, The Chemical Educator that focused on using concepts from Hip Hop to attract students of color to the chemical sciences. We developed a powerpoint presentation to targeted high school students comparing both fields. In fact, we identified some analogies to teach chemistry concepts such as hydrogen bonding, the structure of ice and trends in the periodic table. Furthermore, we also discussed the important contributions of minority chemists (e.g. Saint Elmo Brady, Percy Julian, Sharon Haynie, and Joe Francisco), financing graduate education, and careers for chemists. After the presentation, the students completed a brief survey asking if they learned something new. A few responses: "I learned how gold and platinum can be used for medical reasons." "Yes, that there were minorities in chemistry that made a difference." "The presentation showed how there are innovators in chemistry suc