Rap music videos in the Global Science Opera – towards a teaching design

Abstract

This thesis aims to present a research-based educational method and design for using rap and hip hop in transdisciplinary science and arts rap music video (RMV) projects in the classroom within the context of the Global Science Opera (GSO). Building on theories of the GSO pedagogy, hip-hop-pedagogies, and theories of creativity in education, suggested guidelines of GSO RMV have been developed through the implementation of 10 RMV projects in the same teaching environment. 4 of these have been implemented in the context of the annual participation of the online GSO production. As a suggested signature pedagogy, GSO offers a transdisciplinary approach to teaching science through art activities. This study suggests expanding the creative activities in the GSO pedagogy to include a teaching design of RMV projects, as proposed in this thesis, through research on GSO RMV practices. A structure of an RMV teaching design has been inspired by, developed, and mapped through a retrospective Educational Design Research process, with an emphasis on the lyrics production of the RVM projects. In this qualitative study, conjecture mapping has been used to build an analytical framework for systemising the data collected through the three EDR phases, concretising the high-level conjectures, embodiments, and mediating processes involved to achieve the preferred outcomes of the iterations. Through the iterations of the study, a teaching design emerged and was proposed as suggested GSO RMV guidelines consisting of the four design thinking phases (Feel, Imagine, Create, Share) of the GSO pedagogy, a 5-step locally developed RMV model and a 5-step model of inquiry-based activities to developing RMV projects inside or outside of the GSO context. This study’s findings may contribute to future research on using RMV projects in a GSO context or as a teaching design used in a different educational context.