"Tufts professor turns to rap to reach students" by David Filipov | Globe Staff, February 03, 2013
MEDFORD — Jonathan Garlick does perhaps the last thing you would expect of a mild-mannered, 60-year-old scientist and college professor: He cranks up a karaoke machine, dons a baseball cap (tilted to the side), and becomes the Stem Cell Rapper....
At first glance, it seems like a shtick more appropriate for the bar mitzvahs and weddings where Garlick performs humorous raps for friends and family. But his students, who end up singing along with the refrains and tapping fingers and feet to the beat, say Garlick’s rapping helps hammer home the subject matter....
Raps aside, this is still a serious course; they take a series of quizzes in science literacy, and also write an opinion piece to develop and explain a position on science.
Educators have sung to students. But by tapping into the popularity of such superstars as Kanye West, Alicia Keys, and Jay-Z, Garlick has become somewhat of a science rap celebrity....
Before we go any further, it must be said that Garlick’s musical work is uneven at best. Boston Globe pop music critic Sarah Rodman does not think he should be trading his microscope for a microphone anytime soon....
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