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Summary of chapters from

The Creation Of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction By Paul A. Carter

Copyright 77 by Paul A. Carter published by Columbia University Press

The majority of this summary comes from chapter one titled “Extravagant Fiction Today, Cold Fact Tomorrow” because it talks about the history of the genre over all and what went on to make it what it is today. The rest of the chapters are about different themes in the genre such as rockets to space and the downfall of future utopia.

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Physics of the Impossible : A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku  copyright 2008 by Michio Kaku published in the US by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Overview of entire book

Basically, Kaku goes through main themes in SF, like force fields and time travel, and addresses the plausibility’s of them with respect to our current understanding of physics. He gives an estimate for how “impossible” the science ”fiction” is while maintaining the idea that years ago scientists would think things like lasers were impossible.

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Science on its own is beautiful. Few things in the human experience can claim and demonstrate the complex simplicity of the laws of nature. Few things can compare to the flowing eloquence of a well worked equations. And again, few things can give the same sense of accomplishment as taking a jumble of metal, plastic, and components and creating a solution to a problem.

Sadly, not every student may feel this way. Some see STEM as being some dark offending tower of facts in a strange and distant setting. Something that is not too strange or distant is media, namely movies, TV shows, and sadly to a lesser extent books.

There are many popular genres, but one that stands out as having exciting qualities for STEM learning is science fiction (SF). SF is a very appealing genre to viewers and readers, but it also appealing to some teachers and lecturers as it has a basis in science.

If a connection is already there, why not take advantage of the interest?

Based on evidence presented by The Creation of Tomorrow if science fiction has too much science in it then it is more closely related to that of a text book and lacks the gripping literary aspects that would make a work compelling and attractive to a large audience. If science fiction spends to much on the literary aspect and looses its science then it starts to edge towards the realm of fantasy.

On one hand science is lost and on the other hand the audience is lost. SF is often written bearing in mind the capabilities of the greater audience. This causes the watering down of the science, sometimes in order to create a good story the rules are bent. If SF and SF alone was used to teach science not only would little be taught, part of tit would be taught wrong. SF can be a good tool in a class room, or even around the family bookshelf or TV, if the teacher is using it to its full potential by expanding on the science mentioned and by debunking the false science.

I was reading Science In Cinema when I began to think about what topics I would discuss about a piece of science fiction (SF)

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The Cautionary Tale of Science Fiction (SF)

One of the many beautiful things about “good” science fiction is it’s ability to do so much and to touch so many topics. Hard science fiction touched STEM out of definition, although the science that many outlets of SF demonstrate is not exactly valid or “possible” at the moment.

In addition to STEM, SF also has qualities that can be used for other cases of learning. Social and ethical implications are main topics that are often investigated in SF. A case may be presented where a society has created an advanced science or technology and they put it to use. Then comes the questions “Is this Right?” and “should this be used?”. The SF work then goes on to show the downfall of the society or their resolution to the conflict.

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Summary of

Using Science fiction to teach science – Researchers explore the human brain through Star Trek

Released 3/31/1998 from Vanderbilt University – Jamie Lawson Reeves

Randolph Blake, Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, and Robert Sekuler, psychologist at Brandeis University and Blake’s former colleague, wrote “Star Trek On the Brain: Alien Minds, Human Minds”.

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Summary of Five Science Fiction Movies that get the Science Right

By Michael Marshall 09 May 2008 of Newscientist.com

A majority of Hollywood science is incredible false, however some films get most of the science right. The author mentions five films that they believe does this: 2001:A Space Odyssey, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Alien, Gattaca, and Solaris.

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Teaching Science Fiction by James Gunn of the Center for The Study of Science Fiction

Majority of this article is about the author and his experiences in teaching science fiction (SF). He says that SF is not an ordinary and easy to define genre. He says SF “has no identifying action or place” but it can include social and physical sciences as long as morality and many other subjects.

When he teaches SF he thinks of three different ways to approach it. One way he calls “the great books course” focuses on great novels. He also mentions “the ideas in SF” course and a historical look at SF. He likes to focus on the historical context so students can “place their SF reading in better context and continue their later reading with greater understanding.”

He also mentions at how discussions and projects in class can engage a student’s interest. In fact he gives an example of an experience he has had while teaching:

“After my first or second class, I got a telephone call from a student who asked when I’d teach the class again. His roommate, he said, had done a project for my class, and it sounded so fascination that he wanted to do one. I suggested that he didn’t have to take my class to do a project.”

Summary of Sci-Fi Blurring Science Fact with Fiction by Darren Osborne from News in Science (ABC Science) 15 August 2011

A surprising amount of Australians believe in fictional science as being real. These findings were taken by a survey of 1250 people called “Fact or Fiction” and administered by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO).  The survey was done to asses the ability of Australians to compare what is “happening in the ‘real world’” and what is portrayed in science fiction (SF).

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