Day 10 - Chris Hadfield - ISS (Is Somebody Singing)

The Problem...

How does the song I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing) illustrate physics concepts and how has Chris Hadfield's stay on the ISS impact the way the public thinks about Canada's contribution to Science? 

Why?

• Exposure to seldom heard Canadian point of view on space exploration
• Illustrates how Science can directly impact Society
• Deepen understanding of physics concepts and address misconceptions

Chris Hadfield is a Canadian astronaut and has been the commander of the International Space Station (ISS) for the past few months.  From orbit, he has been taking stunning pictures of the Earth and tweeting them.  

Nice pic of Toronto in this tweet:

Tonight's Finale: Toronto, Ontario. Interesting the different things that become more visible at night. twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield/…

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) April 16, 2013

Hadfield has drawn tons of media attention for the tweets and videos he has created.  This entry is inspired by the completion of Chris Hadfield's stay on the ISS (he returns to Earth tomorrow evening).  Have a safe journey home Chris!

The Song...

While on the ISS, Chris Hadfield co-wrote a song with Barenaked Lady Ed Robertson (who was on Earth).  The media attention has been surprising (I have heard the song on several different radio stations over the past week).  

I think it would be interesting to have a Science class examine some of the lyrics in the song to pick out and examine some of the concepts presented.  This blog entry contains some background information on the writing of the song as well as the lyrics and sheet music complete with guitar chords.   

To turn this into an in-class activity, I would flip the video to the class for homework and provide them with some questions to prompt them thinking about the physics concepts mentioned.  I would then provide them with the lyrics in class and would task groups of students with making the connections and checking the claims (and see how much creative license Hadrield and Robertson take!).  They could then present their results to the rest of the class to start discussions on the topic.  

This activity requires student-directed Knowledge Construction because essentially they have to generate their own questions and figure out how to solve them.  

Below I have identified some of the lyrics that may be used in class discussions:

"Pushed back in my seat/Look out my window/There goes home"

• At what point in the mission is Hadfield 'pushed back in his seat'?  What is he experiencing?  What is the physics behind that feeling? (an illustration of inertia and acceleration)
• What would he feel this while orbiting in the ISS?
• There is a common misconception about the lack of gravity an orbiting astronaut would experience.  Really there is gravity, the weightlessness is attributed to the fact that the ISS is actually in free-fall around the earth.

"I can hear your voices bouncing off the moon"

• This is more than just a metaphor! What is he referring to? 

 "All black and white just fades to grey/Where the sun rises sixteen times a day"

• Why does the sun rise 'sixteen times a day'?
• Why does the ISS not fall to earth?
• This is a good way to introduce the concept escape velocity
• This site contains interesting facts on the orbit of the ISS.

"Eighteen thousand miles an hour/fueled by science and solar power"

• This also relates to escape velocity and can be used to calculate kinetic energy of the ISS (see below)

"At half a thousand tons/Ninety minutes Moon to Sun/A bullet can't go half this fast"

• Check the validity of this statement! How fast do bullets generally travel?
• How much kinetic energy does the ISS have compared to a bullet?
• The ISS started a pieces on Earth.  How did we get the kinetic energy of the ISS to that value?

"What once was fueled by fear/Now has fifteen Nations orbiting together here" 

and...

"You can't make out borders from up here/Just a spinning ball within a tiny atmosphere"

• These quotes give us some perspective and are an opportunity to explore deeper questions about our place on the planet and in the universe and the role of science in our society

Curriculum...

This lesson is flexible because of the student-constructed knowledge aspect.  They ask the questions that they will answer.  Because of this, it could potentially be appropriate in any high school Science/Physics class.

There's some interdisciplinary opportunity here too.  Hatfield's Twitter pictures would be awesome to study in a physical geography class.  It could also potentially be an appropriate topic of discussion for a civics class.  The obvious connection is to a music class...

21st Century...

Students will have to use internet resources to answer their questions about the lyrics.  The fact that the material is presented as a song (and video) will appeal to a broad range of high school students.  It also models another possible medium that they can use to present material for assignments: through song! 

1. Collaboration: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
2. Knowledge Construction: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
5. Self-Regulation: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
6. Use of ICT for Learning: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation

Future Lessons...

• Other internationally funded Science projects (Ex. The Large Hadron Collider)

More material...

Here's another Ed Robertson blog entry on Science and Songwriting. Awesome quote: "If you want to improve your songwriting, work on your math and science."  
Some trivia: the Barenaked Ladies do the theme song to Science-laden TV comedy Big Bang Theory.

This is another cool Hadfield video where he talks about how he takes the pictures from the ISS.