The Impact of Hip-Hop Instruction on Students in Urban Settings

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increased focus on urban education. With this increased interest there has been a movement towards identifying classroom instructional practices that are aimed at appealing to more diverse student populations. Hip-Hop pedagogy is offered as an instructional approach that has the potential to reach diverse populations of students in urban settings. However, despite the argument that hip-hop based classroom instruction resonates well with urban youth, there is relatively little scholarship that empirically verifies the relationship between hip-hop instructions to student learning. Given the proliferation of negative images portrayed of African Americans and negative messages advocated in this genre, we seek to explore the impact of Hip-Hop pedagogy on students learning. Specifically, we will explore the impact of hip-hop instruction on three aspects of student learning: engagement, concept mastery and identity formation. The purpose of this study is to add to the knowledge base an understanding of the impact of hip-hop instruction on students learning, particularly those in urban settings. The study was executed using an experimental design model, and a quantitative data analysis approach is being conducted on the data collected. Implications from findings could impact classroom practices for K-12 educators working with students in urban settings.