Teaching Chemistry Through Art, Dance and Drama with Zafra Lerman

Mark Taylor 00:00:23

Hello. Welcome back to Education on Fire. Today I'm delighted to be chatting to Zafra Lerman and she's a scientist, educator and humanitarian. She received a PhD in chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel and conducted research on isotope effects at Cornell and Northwestern Universities in the US And ETH Zurich in Switzerland. She developed an innovative approach to teaching science through art, music, drama, dance and rap, which was successful with underprivileged students from around the globe. She worked on human rights cases in the former Soviet Union, Russia, China, Guatemala, Cuba, Peru and South Africa and is the President of the Malta Conferences foundation, which uses science diplomacy as a bridge to peace in the Middle east by bringing scientists from all the countries in the Middle east together with Nobel laureates. She received over 40 international awards, including the Presidential Award for mentoring from President Clinton, and she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a member of the US Congress and a member of the French Parliament. Her book Human Rights and A Personal Odyssey was published in August 2024 and helped support her work with the Malta Conferences Foundation. Hello, my name is Mark Taylor and welcome to the Education on Far podcast, The place for creative and inspiring learning from around the world. Listen to teachers, parents and mentors share how they are supporting children to live their best, authentic life and are proving to be a guiding light to us.

Zafra Lerman 00:01:49

All.

Mark Taylor 00:01:51

Right, Zafra, thank you so much for joining us here on the Education on Far podcast. I've been chatting to people from around the world for a long time now, but I think this is the first time I would have chatted to someone who is so traveled and so influential in so many different countries with such a big passion for just helping people in so many different ways. So thank you so much for being here and I'm really excited to be able to dive into our conversation today.

Zafra Lerman 00:02:17

Thank you very much for inviting me.

Mark Taylor 00:02:20

Let's start with the the Education piece. Where did your passion for education come and give us an idea of where that journey has led you?

Zafra Lerman 00:02:31

I believe strongly, and I'll refer to science education. Being a scientist, I believe strongly that science education is a human rights and it belongs to all. And as our society is becoming more scientific and technological, the people that are feeling that they don't belong to the science and stay away from science classes or go to science classes and don't understand what's going on will be left behind. And I was worried that we will form two class society divided not by royalty, but divided by knowledge of science and technology. We hear now a lot in the media about Iran Enriching uranium. If you never had any science class, you don't know what is enriching you. It's not giving money to the uranium, but it's doing something to the uranium that you don't understand what the media is talking about. So even only to understand what the media is talking, you must have some background in science. This is how I got involved. After working many years on research, I got involved in education. I got an offer that I could not refuse. There is, but there suddenly changed. It used to be a very great school university for art and communication students. And the president was a visionary, much, much ahead of his time. He believed in open admission, to give everybody another chance, even if their high school grades were not good. He believed that people in the arts should be able to pursue their dream even if they did not have money to have a portfolio that other art schools require. Then the school was accredited as a regular liberal arts university and they needed to have science. He sent letters around to different people that were involved in human rights, in arms control and disarmament, working for peace that is looking for this magic teacher. A great teacher, great scientist, but is involved in making the planet a better place. And my name came up several times and they invited me for an interview. It's true that I almost did not take the job that became the pilot of my life because I dressed up. I was at Northwestern University in the chemistry department, quite formal university. So I dressed up like you go for an interview. I live in Evanston, Illinois. This is University Town, where Northwestern is the majority of the town. And the school was downtown Chicago. So I went there, dressed up for the interview, and I was waiting. And all the time somebody tells me, the dean will see you soon. The dean will see you soon. And it was endless. And I said to myself, where did I get. Then I saw a gorgeous big man walking with long white hair, long white beard, beautiful, huge eyebrows. And I looked at this man and I said, wow. If I would be an artist, I would ask him to sit down for me to paint Moses. This is how I envisioned Moses. Following him was coming, trying to catch up with him. A very skinny guy. He had a chain with a lot of keys, so he barely kept straight. He was so skinny, long hair till his waist, a goatee. And I just saw the Last Supper in Milan. And I was sure that he came out from the picture because he looked so similar to Jesus in the picture. So then I said, oh, this is an interesting place. Moses and Jesus were together, but it doesn't resemble Any of the universities I was all my life by that stage. I was the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, the Weizmann Institute of Science, rated as one of the best 10 research institutes in the world. I was at the Etihein, Switzerland, Cornell University in the US Northwest. I had not seen anything resembling what I was seeing there. So I started thinking, maybe it's not a real university. Maybe it's a weird place. I really started doubting. And meanwhile, I'm waiting for so long and the dean still is not there. And they kept telling me, will come, he will come, he will come. Then suddenly, one door opens and a man with pink lenses in his glasses. Pink, never seen that before, with a purple embroidered shirt with rings on every finger. And he opens the door and I look. And I said, if I'm dressed for an interview with a suit, you know, like you go for an interview, I said, I'm for sure not in the right place. And he said to me, can I help you? And I said, I'm waiting for an interview with the dean of the college. And he said to me, I am the dean. And I just replied, oh, this was my only reply. And then I go in and he tells me that he is apologizing for being late. And he said, they were late because the faculty just came back from a retreat. And all the places I attended, faculty never went on retreats. I knew the Hare Krishna has retreats. I heard about the Baptist retreat, but never heard faculty retreat. So I said to myself, this is a trap. I'm not in the right place. And he said to me, you never sent us your resume. So I gave my resume, and he looked at that, and we talked and talked and talked. And he said, I'll be in touch with you. So as I got up to leave, I took the resume and he said, you cannot take it. We need it. And I said, excuse me, I cannot leave it here. I left and I thought, this is the end of the story. When I took my resume back and refused to leave it there. But then few days later, I got a call and the dean said, oh, now more people have to interview you, so please come downtown so we can interview you. I said, look, I'm very busy. I cannot come. I'm sorry, it's too complicated, and I cannot. So after a while, I got a call back and he said that they all will come to Evanston to interview me. I said, oh, my God, these cults really are chasing me. They are not going to leave me alone. Okay? We were supposed to Meet for lunch at the restaurant. I dressed up to fit the people. So I found I had a Jordanian embroidered top. I thought, this will fit. I dressed accordingly and I go, and they all came with dark suits. I said, I cannot meet with these people inside. And we had a long conversation. Then I took the job. I met with this president and he said to me, look, I'm not telling you what to do. You can do what you want. Build the science any way you want. I thought, oh, my God, this is really a great opportunity. Now all the students majored in the different arts and communication. And the faculty, there were a lot of people that were activists in the 60s and thought that science is part of the enemy. So they were just shocked. They looked at me, oh, my God, what is she doing here? And I realized that it will be very hard to get students because the faculty discouraged them from taking my class. What I offered is Chemistry in Daily Life. Anyhow, to make the story shorter, I decided that across the street there was about. And I said, I'll take the few students that will agree to go with me there and practically start telling them why they should take my class. So I talked them across the street and I told them to order what they want. And I don't drink alcohol. So I started hearing names. Greengrass, opera, Bloody Mary. Very weird names. I said to them when we sat down, what did you order? They said, oh, this is orange juice with alcohol. This is tomato juice with alcohol. Then I had an inspiration. I said, also, you all have something in common in your drinks. It's alcohol. They said, yes. I said, what is alcohol? And they said, it makes you feel good. I said, yes, but what is it? Then I started explaining to them, what is alcohol? And I took a napkin and I wrote the structure of ethanol. And they all wrote it on their napkins. It became very interesting. They got very interested in that. I said, after that, I ordered a salad with oil and vinegar for everybody. I said to them, what is vinegar? Sure, they didn't know. I said, it's acetic acid. And then we drew the acetic acid. By that stage, the whole bar joined my lecture and everybody was fascinated. Learning on what they are drinking or eating. They put it on the napkin. Then I said, you know, these two can react with each other and it gives the product an ester. And this ester sometimes can be used as a nail polish removal. So all of them said, so we have nail polish removal. No, no, no, no. You need a catalyst. And I explained, what is a catalyst to make a Long story short, after all this, and they were fascinated to learn it because they were learning about the bar. They didn't know that they are already in a chemistry class. So at the end of this class, I told all the group, I said, listen, the semester is 15 weeks. If you take my class, you finish the first class, you have only 14 more to go. And all of them took my class. And after that, I never had to bribe any more students to take my class. But I learned from that very big lessons that if you teach in a way that it's relevant to the students, then they will learn. If you try to teach a chemistry class and you come and try to tell them about the structure of the atom, and the atom is a small particle, everything made up of atom, they don't relate to that. But I realized that if it's relevant, they even want to learn. So this is how I designed my classes. They must be relevant to the students. And then I knew that they, you know, I asked if any of them had any chemistry in high school. It wasn't required in the Chicago public schools. Most of them said no, because in middle school they were supposed to memorize the periodic table, the names of the elements. I said, why do you have to memorize their names? Even they don't know their names. Here I'm giving each of you a periodic table, and you don't have to memorize anything you can find on the periodic table. Oh, they were very happy with that. I told them it was three hours class. And I said, you know, if you feel that you are saturated with what I'm talking, don't hesitate to raise a sign that says saturated and we'll take a break. Don't just sit there and stop absorbing what I'm saying. But then immediately, we did, all of us, an experiment on saturation by pouring sugar into water. And then the sugar did not dissolve anymore. And I explained to them that it doesn't dissolve because it's saturated. So the same that it doesn't matter how much more sugar we will pour, it will go to this thing. Therefore, if they are saturated, if I'm talking, it's just wasted. So they should raise the sign. Meanwhile, I taught them everything about a saturated solution. And they did not even feel that they are learning because this is important to raise the sign. Then I told them to put it on a hot plate and the sugar dissolves. So I said, if we will raise the temperature in the room, you think you will absorb more. And they started laughing and said, no, we'll Fall asleep. So I said, okay, from here on, we are separated from relating it to you because here it doesn't follow anymore. But then we called it off. We put a stick in and they got candy sugar from all that. And we learned about crystals and. And they did not even feel that they are learning because they all was related to help them to raise the sign. And this is how I learned, because I saw how they can learn. And then I explained something, a reaction, and they did not understand well. So a dance student got up and assigned chemicals to the students and choreographed it as a dance. And they understood it. So I said, oh my God, I have to start doing things with dance. And then an art student showed something on crystals that he put. We had. We had a projecting microscope and he put a drop of a solution that was red. And you saw in the microscope the Japanese flag, just red circle in the middle. But because of the heat, the water started evaporating and gorgeous purple feathers started coming out the crystals. He showed it and I explained what crystals. But it was with so much art. It was like you see a modern art being done in front of your eyes. And this is how I developed this method of teaching. Everything I know I owe to my students. They taught me how to teach. And this is how this method was developed.

Mark Taylor 00:21:11

And what I find completely amazing about that is that it started because one person said, you teach in a way that suits you. We're not going to dictate how that is. You had free reign to be able to do it, and through that you were learning and they were learning at the same time. And I think that's where so many people listening will probably find it difficult because there's so many constraints and structures in place these days that it's hard to feel like you've got that freedom. So how would you sort of describe that for people? How do you sort of do it within the conference? Yeah, exactly. But sort of still be able to put your side on it.

Zafra Lerman 00:21:48

You're right. But I got a lot of money from the National Science foundation in the US to go into the inner city public schools and really teach all the teachers to teach with this methods and with all the constraints of a Chicago public school, Hughes Public School, they could still introduce this method in their teaching. They taught what they have to taught. In addition, it's a great way to assess the students. Because I used to hate to write tests because in one hour I had to show everything I know. And what if I don't feel well in this hour? Then I Will not do well. I told the student that they can show their knowledge every way they want. They can dance, they can sing, they can do artwork, they can do animation. If they are computer people, they can wrap anything they want. And it became a terrific way of assessing because the student put so much effort to learn the material and show it in their own major or with the young children helping them to show it any way they want. That also with all the constraints, the teachers that they did miracle in their classes and what they did, especially in very tough schools that were drug infested, gang infested, they opened a science after school. And it became so popular because of this method that instead of going on the streets, these kids started coming to the science after school and did tremendous. And then we took it to homeless kids because I had a dance student that her parents opened a dance studio for very low income students and homeless kids at night to come and dance. And we would go there and teach them. You can see pictures of me sitting on the floor, all of them dressed with leotards. And the periodic table is on the floor. Because I was the head of the science institute that I founded, I took the faculty with me and we taught them different things. CNN came and did a project, a program about them and sold it five times, times around the world. Because one student said there that they danced the depletion of the ozone layer. And he said, I never knew anything about ozone layer and depletion. And he said, and then we did the dance and I saw one of my cousins pulling an oxygen away from the ozone molecule. And I said, ah, this is how it works. I never knew. How does he say? I never knew nothing until we did the dance. And so it did miracles even with homeless kids. They went to college, many of them, and two went on for a PhD. It did very well with prisoners that I taught. I had a woman I did not know, she's a prisoner. She got for good behavior certain time that she could go and study. My class fell in that period, but she never wanted science. But she came and she told me she was a grandmother, 40 years old, you know, never married. Her daughter was never married, but she was a grandmother. And she said, she said, I never had science. I hate science, I'm afraid. So I said, so why are you in the class? She said, because this was the only time that fit my schedule. But I did not ask question what schedule? And then I said, what do you like in life? And she said, I like music, I like to sing. And I would like to Write music. Perfect. My class. You can do that. And this woman wrote a long, long song about air pollution. Stop the air pollution. It was so accurately scientific and she sang it beautifully. Now, in order to prove that my students are doing real science, I chaired for 26 years the committee of Scientific Freedom and Human Rights for the American Chemical Society. This is why I was so involved in human rights. The members of my committee were the chair of Chemistry at Princeton University and the chair of Chemistry at Indiana University. One a very fancy Ivy League private school, one a very big stage school. So I persuaded them in Princeton by that stage, students could take their non science majors the requirement in science. They could take a psychology class. I said to them, let's develop a real science class. We develop a class titled From Ozone to Oil Spill. Chemistry the environment and you and will use my methods. I had to teach them to teach with my method. The National Science foundation funded us and called it the flagship project. And since then they started demanding that there will be collaboration between different kind because they found it so amazing. And it was really when people wanted to adapt the class, they private schools called Princeton, the state schools called Indiana. And all the others called me to adapt it. So the idea was very good. But in order to prove that my minority inner city students can be second to none, every year they flew to Princeton for a joint symposium. And all the media from the area used to come. Every time we came they called it the meeting between two cultures. And it was really two different cultures. My students were the first time on a plane. But look, when a good president is running something, he said to me, listen, this student had never been in New York. You fly a day before the symposium, that is Monday, all day. But you go to Manhattan and you take them to a Martinean Broadway. So they benefit culturally from the trip. And this what we did. And he said, I'll pay for that. And then he said, take them to a restaurant in Manhattan, show them Manhattan and then you can go to Princeton. But they have to get more experience than just in science. And this what we did every year. The grandmother that I told you came to me and said, I need from you to write a letter to request that I will go with you to Princeton. I didn't know to whom I have to write a letter. I did not ask questions. I just explained that she did very well and she's going with the class to Princeton. And she went and she got standing ovation. When we came back, the New York Times came to interview her because she was the oldest. She was a grandmother. She appeared with me on ABC2 to tell her story. I am in the interview and I hear her telling the New York Times that she was in prison because she was caught with a huge amount of cocaine and two machine guns. Because of good behavior, they allowed her to take my class. I had to get permission for her to go to Princeton. Then she said on an interview on television here, I'm still a prisoner and I'm in Princeton University. She got a bachelor. So after all that they sent her to teach in the prison. She was. Was released. She graduated on the dean's list. And then I persuaded her to get a master degree in Arts and Entertainment Management so she could manage her talents. And then she opened the company title Stop Their Pollution.

Mark Taylor 00:32:34

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. And, and, and so it seems like a natural follow on then in terms of. You've really sort of explained and painted a picture that I think we can all feel about the. What's possible in the world in even the most sort of desperate circumstances. You would think before you sort of open that up. And I mean, it's the. It's just the epitome of personalized learning, isn't it? Because you're taking the subject, but you're giving people the individuality to express it in a way. And as the adults in the room, so to speak, it's like, you know what's going on. Like you said at the beginning, you know, we know we're already. I know we're already learning him. I'm teaching, but not everyone else does in that same way, which I think is a beautiful way of putting it. So just take us into that story of, of where that's led you since like you say, in terms of the book, in, in terms of the. The humanitarian work that you're doing. And it sounds like it would be a natural progression from for who you are and what you've managed to achieve. But just paint that picture for everybody listening.

Zafra Lerman 00:33:34

So while I was running the Science Institute and as I said, it was adopted this method by many universities around the world. And I by myself, I received the first international award in the new Democratic South Africa in 2000. There is the World Cultural Council that they give every year. They have three the Albert Einstein for science, they have Leonardo da Vinci for art, and they have Jose Vas Gonzalez for education. I received the education for combining the science and art. And every year it's in a different country. And I just prayed be everywhere, but just not in the US I want to go somewhere else, but I did not dream it will be South Africa. And because it was the first international award, it was an unbelievable event. All the Supreme Court was there, all the ambassadors were there. It was a very, very big event. And then I had with me few of my people from the Science Institute. So we went to Soweto. Soweto is the only city that in 1 Street 2 Nobel Peace Prize winners were born. Mandela and Archbishop Tutu. And I adapted their school district to teach in the same way. And for many years I worked with them and they were doing very well with this way of teaching. But as I told you, during all this time I chaired the committee. It was a subcommittee of international activity Committees on scientific freedom and Human rights. So as I believed that I have to change the way science education is being taught because it's a human rights that belongs to all. I worked on issues of human rights of scientists. And by that stage the Soviet Union was a very, very big problem. Still is, but now it's Russia for scientists. There were scientists that wanted to leave the Soviet Union and the minute they asked, they were fired. Many were sent to hard labor in Siberia, many were arrested and they were then blamed for being parasites to the country because they don't work. But they fired them. They were deprived of going to listen to lectures or receiving scientific magazines to keep up their scientific level. Going to seminars during the same time. I am still. But it started in the 80s. I'm the vice chair for chemistry of the Committee of Concerned Scientists that worked only on human rights and started really when. Sakharov was exiled to Goki and all his rights were were abused. So in this capacity, the Committee of Concerned Scientists was organizing secret seminars. The way I had to do it. I was going every time with a group of scientists. Every time I heard a group of scientists going to the Soviet Union to lecture in universities. Universities in Moskva and Leningrad, today St. Petersburg. I would join, I would lecture in the universities. And at dinner time I would look who is not frightened or all that. And I would say, look, I. I have to leave. If I'm not here tomorrow for breakfast, call the American Embassy and not ask me questions. Around midnight I would go by myself. But I took a crash course in Russian because I was told that every translator will be a KGB agent. So I took a crash course in Russian and I would go by myself to some dark attic where I would meet one of the scientists and then we would go and collect more. Around 2 o' clock in the morning we would meet in some attics in somebody apartment usually there were like 40, 50 people. I carried with me scientific material to distribute illegal in the Soviet Union. I gave a seminar, illegal in the Soviet Union. And then I collected all the CVs and resumes of the people to bring back to the us. There are a lot of people who today that are coming to American Chemical Society, working chemists that say thank you for me for risking my life because they have their freedom and they are now working as chemists. One of the people that was in Siberia, I copied this letter, part of the letter in my book. He wrote to me, not to me. He nominated me once he was in the US already, to receive the Andre Sacker of Human Rights Award. What I received. But he wrote, I was puzzled what makes a person living in freedom and having everything to risk their life for a person they had never met? And then I realized that these two people have shared values. One is in hard labor because of his beliefs and values that he would not sacrifice for. For other things. And the other that believes that doesn't matter. If the person knows each other, that has to help this person. And he said, these two people did for science something that you would not find in the pages of Scientific Magazine. They made science boasting, humane, inhuman. I was thinking about that. Why really did I risk my life for people I don't know? I know them all now and I'm glad I did it. I did it several times. And then came China. China was much harder because in the Soviet Union, the families helped us. In China, the families were very afraid even to talk to people that work on human rights. So it was much tougher. But it's all the belief that I think when you come to this planet, you must live at a better place and. And you must do what you can for others. I used to tell my students, every time, reminding them, I said, before you go to sleep, think if you did something good for somebody else, and if you did something good for somebody else, you had a very good day today. I believe in that very strongly. So this is how I got to the Human Rights. But then came September 11th and changed everything. And I started thinking, what can my committee now do? And in the same time was the second intifada in the Middle East. It's the uprising of the Palestinian using suicide bombers everywhere in Israel, in restaurants, in cafes, on buses, on the streets. People were killed on both sides, right and left. And I said, my committee has to change the situation. And luckily we were four subcommittees of the International Activities Committee and the chair gave a task for each chair of subcommittee to come and suggest a project out of the box. I remember it was we had at American Chemical Society in Orlando. And I took many delegations to Cuba and I invited two Cuban scientists to come. And with the help of my senator, I managed to bring them to the conference. And they were in this meeting. And every subcommittee suggested something out of the box to collaborate with, with South America, to collaborate with Europe. And then came my term. And I said, I suggest that it's time to concentrate on the Middle East. We must get something going there. So I suggest, and this is the midst of the Intifada and immediately after September 11, I said, I suggest to convene a conference when scientists from all the Middle East, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian, both west bank and Gaza, the Saudis, the Bahraini, all the Middle east, with no exception, will come together under one roof for five days. And I will invite several Nobel laureates there too. And we will give them a platform to learn what unites them, not what separates them. We'll give them a platform to stop demonizing the unknown other. And we'll give them a place platform to develop friendships that can overcome the chasms of distrust and intolerance, and a platform to develop collaboration to solve scientific problems that one country cannot solve alone. The Cubans said that it looked like a bomb fell in the room. You could hear people breathing, but nobody talking. And then somebody asked me if I'm completely out of my mind. But everybody looked at me like I'm crazy. It's crazy. To make a long history short. I persuaded the board of the American King Chemical Society to approve it. And in 2003, in the midst of the Intifada, we had the first conference on the island of Malta. I thought that I will prove that I can do a conference like that. But turned out that at the end the participants said, oh, the. This is just the beginning. So we have to continue. The first One was in 2003 and we still continue all that. All that and all the obstacles are in my book Human Rights and A Personal Odyssey. But it has a very, very big chapter on education too. In all the process of this book, go to support this conference to bring the Middle Eastern together. Because as you know, for peace, it's very hard to raise money. It takes a lot of time to do it. Then there is a problem with the visa. No country is ready to give a visa to all this group. There is a chapter in the book titled From Mission Impossible to Mission Possible. And it's described Sometimes I have to be like a detective, like James Bond, in order to get at the end the visa for everybody. So it all describes in the book.

Mark Taylor 00:48:32

I find it absolutely incredible that you talk about this as if it's just something you do of an afternoon or a morning when you wake up. And then listening to it, you just realize the impact it has. And I think not only it's one thing to think about these things or just decide it's something that's possible, but to be able to galvanize a group of people in an organization and actually to make it a reality is a completely different thing. But then I think back to what you started talking about in terms of those students in the bar and how it all got together. And I suddenly realized it's almost the same kind of thing. It's like, what do we need to do? How do we go about it? How does it fit with everyone's needs? And. And then it becomes a reality. So it's absolutely incredible to be able to see how all those things come together. And I sort of urge everybody to. To read the book and to find out more about all of those. All of those things. And we'll have links to everything in. In the show notes as well. But just as we sort of start to wrap up, obviously the acronym FIRE is really important for us at Education on Fire, and by that we mean feedback, inspiration, resilience, and empowerment. And you've talked about a lot of these things already as part of what you've chatted so far. But is there anything that just jumps out at you immediately or anything you'd like to sort of share?

Zafra Lerman 00:49:50

For sure. In the bar, I needed a lot of inspiration to see that I can translate alcoholic drink to a full chemistry class. I always said I suddenly got the inspiration, inspiration to do that. And for sure, you need inspiration for starting things. Resilience. You need to start and continue things that might be even dangerous to you but are important to do. Empowerment is, I think, what I did with my students. I gave them empowerment to learn and be assessed the way they can do the best. I empowered every one of them to be the boss for their learning, and I think this is why they were so successful.

Mark Taylor 00:50:54

Thank you so much. Indeed. I think for me, it's very easy for us in the education world to think, oh, there's nothing we can do. The. The constraints are so hard. And then you've explained in the most beautiful way, much worse situations than many of us would have experienced and many more barriers, and yet still being able to make a difference in the world. And like I say, whether it's the one person you make a difference to or many or the ripple effect of all those people, it's. It's an incredible privilege to be able to. To chat to you today. And I'm sure there are many stories we could have in the future if you'd like to come back and. And continue in another way. But tell people where the best place is to go and connect with you to find out more and get everything they need to know First.

Zafra Lerman 00:51:39

I have a website that is Safra. It's my name, Safra Lehrman. One word. It's Z A F R A L E R M A N oh, my name I see under my picture. I hope they can see it's artfulerman.com on my website. There is a link to the Malta website. You can go directly from my website to the Malta conferences website and learn more. There are unbelievable results there. Unbelievable. Nobody would believe that it can happen. And there is a link to the Learning Institute for the Advancement of Science that has the videos of the students project like a love story between sodium and chlorine to form table salt. Written exactly like Romeo and Juliet but describing beautiful the structure of the atom and the chemical bond it forms. Or there is the bond father that follows the Godfather talking about the different chemical bonds. Then there is Star wars that is explaining the depletion of the ozone layer exactly like Star Wars. So there are very interesting. And there is a student from the music department that sings I have plenty of ozone with the music of I have plenty of nothing. So there are very interesting videos for the educator. I'm sure you can see the children dancing different dances. And I even took them the low incomes and homeless kids. I was asked to bring them to a conference because they said we had a visualization conference that always was held in Oxford. So I showed the videos, but it was one held in the US in Mount Holyoke. And people asked if I can raise money and bring the students. And I did. And you can hear on the video when they perform how they visualize the. You can hear the scientists screaming bravo, Bravo. Bravo. It was very interesting because the scientists were all really lily white students, were all black students. It was a very interesting lesson there that I described in the book this conference that was. Was very interesting. If you go to my website you can move to all the other websites and if somebody wants personally to be in touch with me, then it's safralearmin.com. This is my email if you are interested in buying my book, it just came out in paperback and lowered the price drastically on Amazon. It just came oh, it's Amazon, Barnes and Nobles everywhere now in paperback.

Mark Taylor 00:55:15

Yeah. Safra, thank you so much indeed. I'm, I'm just so honored to be able to have this conversation today, to be able to share it with everybody. And I think no matter what their situation, whatever they're trying to do, who they're trying to support, I think it would have been a great inspiration to know that anything is possible. And like you said, if you get up and you get to the end of the day and you feel like you've helped someone, whatever that looks like and whatever your speciality is, whatever your world is, then the world's going to be a better place. So, yeah, thank you so much indeed.

Zafra Lerman 00:55:44

Thank you very much.