Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S Winner: Jabari Johnson

B.A.T.T.L.E.S. (Bringing Attention to Transforming, Teaching and Learning Science) was conceived as a way to keep students engaged in school and in science. The contest is the brainchild of GZA, Christopher Emdin, Assistant Professor of Science Education at Teachers College; and Rap Genius, which runs rapgenius.com, a website where rap is posted, critiqued as poetry and annotated. GZA and Jeremy Dean of Rap Genius were among the six judges who watched as teens ages 14 to 20 strode the stage at TC's Joyce B. Cowin Conference Center and "spat" lyrics that ran a gamut of topics from rock science, natural selection and genetics to how materials freeze or melt. The raps were judged on the quality of their scientific content as well as their lyricism and beat

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