A nonmajors general chemistry course entitled "Putting the Science in SciFi" was taught to 19 seniors at the College of the Holy Cross in 2018. The course coupled the delivery of content with experiential learning strategies in the form of writing assignments and hands-on activities. A pretest and posttest indicate that students gained…

Although there is a great deal of available material on using nontraditional resources for teaching sociology, the pedagogical uses of science fiction have not been examined for 20 years. This essay first asserts the need for an update based on changes in society and in science fiction over the past two decades. The paper then focuses on the uses…

An in-depth qualitative study with nine secondary pre-service teachers from an undergraduate "Language and Literacy" class was conducted to examine the potential of simulation using Second Life (SL) in teacher education. Games and simulations were operationally defined in the broadest sense to distinguish key characteristics between…

An undergraduate course in ancient history which debunks the current hypothesis that the earth was visited from outerspace is described. (DE)

An undergraduate "Anthropology Through Science Fiction" honors course is described. Participation in the course was by invitation only and included both anthropology and non-anthropology majors. By using science fiction, non-anthropology students quickly became familiar with weekly topics and anthropology majors found the readings a new way to…

College teachers of history can use science fiction to help students understand historical concepts. A seminar at the University of Tulsa used futuristic literature to provide a broader perspective on the present and the past. Available from: Loren E. Pennington, Division of Social Sciences, Emporia State University, 1200 Commercial, Emporia,…

Discusses how science fiction can be used as a part of the reading for students who may not like reading and writing. Details a course for at-risk students involving an independent reading project, an original short story, a group movie project, and a daily journal. (PRA)

Demand for courses in population problems has increased along with growing public awareness and concern for population-related matters. This paper describes an undergraduate classroom experience which provides an alternative approach to teaching population problems by replacing usual educational materials with selections from science fiction…

This dissertation documents the different ways in which specialists approach science fiction. Descriptions of courses are presented for four universities, two four-year colleges, and one two-year community college. At all the schools, science fiction is a medium for social criticism. Otherwise the courses differ in content, format, and the methods…