2015 AAAS Annual Meeting (12-16 February 2015)

February 12 - 16, 2015

Comics, Zombies, and Hip-Hop: Leveraging Pop Culture for Science Engagement

Access to quality scientific information is progressively more important in society today. The critical ways information can be used range from increasing scientific literacy and developing the public’s understanding of behaviors that promote health and well-being, to increasing interest in careers in science and success in school -- particularly among students traditionally underrepresented in the sciences. Traditional forms of scientific communication -- textbooks, talks, and articles in the lay press -- succeed at reaching some, but leave many others in the dark. Recent research also indicates that scientists have a narrow view of outreach, mostly considering it as simply giving a talk at a school. However, new forms of culturally relevant engagement for K-12 students are emerging -- comic books with rich scientific content that have been demonstrated to increase student engagement, novel workshops (for settings in and out of school) that interweave STEM  exploration with creative writing to build students’ scientific and written literacy, and connecting hip-hop culture and the classroom through rap -- while engaging students as co-teachers and translators to help their peers learn science.