High School Sci-Fi Literature Lesson Plans?

JBoelke asks : "I currently teach science fiction at the high-school level, this is my first semester teaching the course and I have been shocked by the lack of resources available. The reference book I am using for story selection is Groking the Future, which was made in the 1970's. It has been rather difficult to get the selections of stories recommended. I did not take a science fiction literature course in college and I was wondering if anyone from the of Slashdot community had, and could recommend provide me with contact address of the professor and University, so I could ask for their curriculum? I know these books may be more complicated for high-school students but I can modify the curriculum." Similar to this thread from 2000, this question focuses more on the curriculum aspect, rather than book recommendations. While I'm sure recommendations not mentioned in the previous thread would be appreciated, actual lesson structure ideas would be better.

Comments

University of Kansas & William Gibson

[justanyone]

William Gibson, noted sci-fi author, is a prof at the University of Kansas and has taught a course in Literature Of Science Fiction (there are many "Lit Of..." classes there). He may be able to provide a syllabus and lesson plans.

I unfortunately did not take his course while there, I just missed it. Alas.

Re:University of Kansas & William Gibson

[justanyone]

I've found a list of 'Required Reading' for KU's english department. The list is here if you're interested.

Other Resource from KU's English Dept. are Here and include lots of info for the english teacher of science fiction, even at the High School level.

Literary analysis of Sci Fi is similar to many other kinds of analysis, with the added issue of bringing people into a complex and scientific environment (and problems / solutions involved therewith), believablity, the role of coincidence (as Dostoyevsky said, the quality == less coincidences), etc.

Probably no need to dumb it down

[RalphBNumbers]

I know these books may be more complicated for high-school students but I can modify the curriculum.

I'm assuming that this is some sort of elective class, considering how most normal lit classes avoid scifi like the plague. If so, I would actually recommend keeping the college level material as much as possible. The re are a few reasons for this...

First off, I would hope making the class a bit challenging will be an effective counter to those in the administration and other teachers in your department who are likely to view a new course in scifi literature as trivial fluff, taking valuable resources away from their pet projects.

Then there are the students to Consider. Since I'm assuming this is an elective course, you won't have to cater to the lowest common denominator quite as much as in a requited core course. Now, it may be a stereotype that nerds like scifi, but it's not entirely unfounded in my experience. If you can get them interested enough, the kids from that demographic should have no problem with college level material.

And of course, if you don't make the course challenging, you're likely to start attracting people just looking for an easy course they can blow off.

If you must make changes, I would advise making them via some leniency on the grading end, rather than using simpler content or asking dumbed down questions.

Re:wow

[MerlynEmrys67]

Hmmm... I took Sci-Fi when I was in High School in 198(mumble mumble mumble insert low number here). Was actually not a bad class, of course one of the interesting points the teacher was trying to make in the reading of 2001 was that A Clark thought machines controlling human activities was bad... Of course I read 2001 in a day or two, then polished off the just released 2010 (ok, I did date myself here) where it fully explained why H.A.L. had problems...

Now you try and explain that to a teacher that she is wrong, oh well...

I remember reading the first book in the Foundation Trillogy, Anthem, and many other short stories for this class... Was one of the only english classes that I got an A in, oh well

Dream class

[ddd2k]

I'd love to take a science-fiction class if given the oppertunity. Actually, I'm sick of how much emphasis is put into the study of classical literature in regular english classes. Of course it is important be familiarized with classical literature, but I wish teachers would take just one masterfully written modern book and put it into the curriculum. Many science fiction novels are equally as intriquing politically, social-economically, and well crafted in language as any classical novel. Unfortunately, over emphasis on classical lit. is often what causes students to lose interest. Perhaps having a science-ficiton class will give some students an option, but I would rather see implementation of perhaps some quality sci-fi studies into regular english classes.

Darn right!

[Inoshiro]

"I currently teach science fiction at the high-school level, this is my first semester teaching the course and I have been shocked by the lack of resources available."

How many high-quality, well-written books are there an the various chroniton particles used in Star Trek? About how the force works at a cellular level? There are far, far too few science fiction resources available to teach young people how to properly understand the technobabble in their favourite science fiction shows and books.

Re:Darn right!

[FunkyRat]

Actually, you make an important point. Books highlighting the "science" of science fiction could be an invaluable aid in such a course, especially considering how little science high schoolers are exposed to. I'm not talking texts here, but stuff like Lawrence Krauss' The Physics of Star Trek (knock it all you like because of the title, but this is an excellent book), John Allen Paulos' Innumeracy, Ray Kurzweil's Age of Intelligent Machines or James Gleick's Chaos: Making of A New Science are all highly appropriate and complementary to a wide array of science fiction literature.

lessons from "Stranger in a Strange Land"

[Jonny Ringo]

Highschool students will learn that they can some how "think" themselves to be fit.
And sleeping with multiple women is great! -not that they need to learn that.

Base reading around themes

[FunkyRat]

Wow. Big question and sort of hard to answer since you don't state what the course objectives are. With that in mind, here's what I would do if I were you...

I would base the reading around various big themes that are relevant to adolescents who are trying to figure out theirselves and their relation to the world. Fortunately, Science Fiction excels in looking at these "big picture" issues. Some examples:

• Robot stories - excellent for exploring ideas such as "how do we define human?" and "what does it mean to be human?" Asimov's robot novels (especially those with R. Daneel Olivaw) or Philip Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) or Fred Pohl (Man Plus).
• Future society stories - great for examining both the positives and negatives of our own society in light of the one(s) presented in the story. Also great for looking at things like alternate political ideologies and issues such as social stagnation. Again Asimov (for his Foundation trilogy), but also Arthur C. Clarke (Childhood's End) or Fred Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth (Merchants of Venus).
• Messiahnic (sp?) stories - Likely to get you into trouble with parents and the administration, but unless it gets you fired, I'd say worth the trouble. These kinds of tales are wonderful for looking at topics ranging from predestination vs. free-will to mob mentality to (again) human nature. Frank Herbert's Dune is the biggy here, but also Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land (will almost definitely get you fired unless you're in a very liberal school district) and Walter Miller's A Canticle For Leibowitz.
• Fun - please don't forget to include some reading that (while it could be argued as having scholarly merit) is just plain fun, such as Douglas Adams Hitch-hiker's Guide and Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat.

There's so much you can do here both in terms of education and engendering a life-long appreciation for literature (and I certainly believe that Science Fiction is literature). As some others have mentioned, I wouldn't worry too much about grade-level appropriate reading here, unless you are dealing with more of a middle-school crowd. Good Science Fiction is naturally challenging, and the kids (yound adults really) will appreciate being challenged.