On Friday night, I attended a UofT lecture by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I really didn't know what to expect going in but I ended up really enjoying it. I have been a fan of NDGT for a while but didn't know he would be nearly that funny and entertaining giving a lecture. Neil discussed his take on Science through a cultural lens. Some of the things that stood out for me were:
He showed us his collection of the banknotes of different nations with scientists on them and discussed how this can set a standard for the population of that country. Especially interesting was Germany's 10 Deutschmark note with Gauss on it. There is even a bell curve on it!
He discussed how discovery of something leads to the naming of that thing using the periodic table and the planets as examples. Google 'periodic table country of discovery' and 'year of discovery'. It's pretty neat to connect the dots with what was going on in those nations at that time.
He also touched on more controversial topics such as technology and GMO's and the place of Social "Sciences" and arts compared to Science (his quotations around Sciences not mine).
The most impressive thing about the lecture was that even if you did not have any background in Science, you would still probably have understood most of the lecture and probably would have enjoyed it. Neil actually touched on this during the question period. He talked about how a lot of the skepticism toward Science comes from Scientists generally not letting the public into their 'club'. They use fancy words to maintain group exclusivity. This is the exact opposite of what education should be. Knowledge Construction on the other hand occurs when you start with what the student knows and build their understanding from there as opposed to just throwing a bunch of facts and words at them. Neil did a great job of this during the lecture. He made a ton of jokes, kept the tone conversational, didn't use any fancy words and even tweeted during the talk! He did as well as you can do with Knowledge Construction in a lecture scenario. For me, it basically it boils down to this: To get people excited about Science (and Math), get rid of the unnecessary pretense and subject-specific lingo and don't be afraid to show your passion for the subject. Lastly, Neil insisted he show us the following videos (even though the talk went way later than it was supposed to). Somebody had slowed down his Big Think talk (regular speed and slow motion videos below). It's pretty funny and it was even more funny to watch Neil's reaction to the slowed down one.
Regular speed video:
Slow motion video:
Oh, and checked the Toronto Star yesterday and today and NO mention of the talk. Hopefully there will be something in the Monday paper. It's absolutely nuts what they prioritize over Science and education.
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/…
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!
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.
A lesson I developed for the Space Exploration Unit in grade 9 Science for one of my classes at OISE involved the following video based on Neil deGrasse Tyson audio clips:
The discussion...
In the lesson, the video was meant to stimulate discussion on the ethics of funding space exploration. For that lesson, I kept the discussion centred around the ethics of space exploration but it could easily broadened into a discussion about science funding in general. It can also be used as a starting point for Digital Citizenship conversations about reliable sources online and bias. Some interdisciplinary (Science, Math, Civics, History and Politics) discussion topics are:
Bias in the video
Funding space exploration with tax dollars
Ethical issues with funding of science and scientific research in general
What sources should we use to verify Neil's claims about NASA funding?
Verify Neil's claim about cutting 4/10ths of 1% into the dollar bill
How has the funding changed since the video was made?
How does the funding of Canada's version of NASA, the Canadian Space Agency compare to NASA funding?
What cultural impact has Chris Hadfield had with his tweets from the ISS?
In a class...
I think a good way to use the video is to flip it to the class for homework using something such as TED-Ed where you can add multiple choice and discussion questions and have students answer them at home before a class discussion. The questions can prompt Knowledge Constructionwhere students to explore their preconceived notions about the topic and how their opinion may change after watching the video. The teacher receives the results and can structure activities and discussion prompts based on those opinions.
STSE
Space exploration funding is that it is a great example of an STSE issue (science, technology, society and the environment) that aligns with the [Grade 9 Science] curriculum and is also a good entry point for the implementation of the 21C framework. What I like about the secondary Science curriculum is that it stresses STSE issues (the ordering of expectations used to be skills then concepts then STSE but is now reversed to STSE then concepts then skills). This provides Science teachers with an opportunity to ask more open-ended and critical questions. [I actually think the extremely dense math curriculum could benefit from a similar structure]
On the 21C Continuum...
By no means does the idea reach the transformative end of the continuum by itself but it does start to get students' brains critically thinking about media and provides an opportunity for a great discussion in subjects that do not traditionally present such opportunities (Science). The is an opportunity for students to exhibit Skilled Communication, both in classroom discussions and in online discussion questions on TED-Ed, D2L or other platform. It also opens the doors to larger discussions on the Nature of Science and the impact of Science on culture.
