Teaching Science Fact With Science Fiction

The literature of science fiction packs up the facts and discoveries of science and runs off to futures filled with both wonders and warnings. Kids love to take the journeys it offers for the thrill of the ride, but they can learn as they travel, too. This book will provide you with: an overview of the past 500 years of scientific thought and the literature of science fiction which it inspired; suggestions for finding and adapting the kind of science fiction that will work best for your classroom; detailed ideas and resources for teaching concepts in the physical, earth, space, and life sciences, as well in history and mathematics; and suggested activities for a variety of grade levels. Appendices provide: science references to help you keep the facts and the fictions straight; national science content standards; and detailed lesson plans for an earth science unit where students travel the depths of time and create their own time travelers' diaries.

Teaching Science Fiction is the first text in thirty years to explore the pedagogic potential of that most intellectually stimulating and provocative form of popular literature: science fiction. Innovative and academically lively, it offers valuable insights into how SF can be taught historically, culturally and practically at university level.

Science Fiction, Science Fact! Ages 8–12 is a book for story-loving primary teachers who want to find a creative way to teach science. Contextualising science in a story that pupils know and love, the book contains a wide range of activities and investigations to help Key Stage 2 pupils engage in science learning, while also extending aspects of the English national curriculum. The book offers valuable support to busy teachers and, by ensuring science lessons are enjoyable and accessible for pupils, helps children get involved in investigations in a way that is memorable for them. Using coloured illustrations and diagrams throughout, the book contains: the relevant scientific context alongside a link to one of nine exciting children’s stories clever and unique suggestions to ‘storify the science’ instructions for teachers to give to their pupils tips on how to deliver the lesson in an immersive way guidance on assessing pupils’ level of understanding Science Fiction, Science Fact! Ages 8–12 is packed full of ideas for weaving science into cross-curricular lessons, and is an invigorating and essential resource for Key Stage 2 teachers and science co-ordinators seeking to inject some creativity into their science lessons.

Science Fiction, Science Fact! Ages 5–7 is a book for story-loving primary teachers who want to find a creative way to teach science. Contextualising science in a story that pupils know and love, the book contains a wide range of activities and investigations to help Key Stage 1 pupils engage in science learning, while also extending aspects of the English national curriculum. The book offers valuable support to busy teachers and, by ensuring science lessons are enjoyable and accessible for pupils, helps children get involved in investigations in a way that is memorable for them. Using coloured illustrations and diagrams throughout, the book contains: the relevant scientific context alongside a link to one of nine exciting children’s stories; clever and unique suggestions to 'storify the science'; instructions for teachers to give to their pupils; tips on how to deliver the lesson in an immersive way; guidance on assessing pupils’ level of understanding. Science Fiction, Science Fact! Ages 5-7 is packed full of ideas for weaving science into cross-curricular lessons, and is an invigorating and essential resource for Key Stage 1 teachers and science co-ordinators seeking to inject some creativity into their science lessons.

Science fiction is a literary genre based on scientific speculation. Works of science fiction use the ideas and the vocabulary of all sciences to create valid narratives that explore the future effects of science on events and human beings. Science Fact and Science Fiction examines in one volume how science has propelled science-fiction and, to a lesser extent, how science fiction has influenced the sciences. Although coverage will discuss the science behind the fiction from the Classical Age to the present, focus is naturally on the 19th century to the present, when the Industrial Revolution and spectacular progress in science and technology triggered an influx of science-fiction works speculating on the future. As scientific developments alter expectations for the future, the literature absorbs, uses, and adapts such contextual visions. The goal of the Encyclopedia is not to present a catalog of sciences and their application in literary fiction, but rather to study the ongoing flow and counterflow of influences, including how fictional representations of science affect how we view its practice and disciplines. Although the main focus is on literature, other forms of science fiction, including film and video games, are explored and, because science is an international matter, works from non-English speaking countries are discussed as needed.