This paper reflects on the classroom use of the "Star Trek" American science fiction television franchise to teach critical and emotional geographies to undergraduates specializing in science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM). Both science fiction and STEM education are ambivalent and contradictory scenes of social…

This essay offers a rationale for deploying ecofeminist science fiction stories as object-oriented thought experiments in science and environmental education, with particular reference to developments in genetics and evolutionary biology, and their implications for human (and more-than-human) reproduction and kinship in the period following the…

"The Ballad of Proxima-B" is an educational RPG that promotes learning and collaboration. Students contribute to world-building and game mechanics, creating fictional worlds and characters, including a dystopian Earth, the planet Proxima-B, and alien races. The game incorporates constructivist, constructionist, and Dynamic Systems Model…

Instead of seeking the slick aesthetics of consumer-friendly creative stories, this paper ventures to the sublime of the incomprehensible and invites us to look into the abyss of education's possibilities. Drawing inspiration from Jeff Vandermeer's 2017 novel, "Borne," and filmmaker David Cronenberg's aesthetic, this paper aims to tell a…

For the past 20 years, a constant effort has been made by physics teachers and communication specialists to promote the use of characters from comics or science fiction films in physics teaching practice, because of its positive impact on student motivation and attention. This implementation often comes up against the problem of obtaining…

Sci-fi has the power to open dialogue because its alternate world-building enables students to feel far enough from reality to discuss social problems unreservedly. In this essay, I review an assignment I developed using "Black Mirror" and "Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams" that present episodes in which militarized policing,…

Engineering and pop-culturist instructors team-teach a first-year experience course exploring science through the lenses of history, literature, film, television, and sequential art. Authors present science fiction discourses as unique for synthesizing fields in the humanities and STEM, and they present curricular and co-curricular design…

Greater emphasis on ethical issues is needed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The fiction for specific purposes (FSP) approach, using optimistic science fiction texts, offers a way to focus on ethical reflection that capitalizes on role models rather than negative examples. This article discusses the benefits…

Throughout the long history of astronomy, scientists have repeatedly written fictional stories, which often lend themselves to use in the classroom thanks to the authors' in-depth knowledge and an appealing storyline. This article uses the novel 'The Black Cloud', written by the well-known astronomer Fred Hoyle, to show which physical-astronomical…

This manuscript is meant to support secondary school teachers in their constant effort to find novel ways to engage students. Adolescents seem particularly stimulated by time-travelling scenarios, like the famous "wormhole billiard ball paradox" proposed by J. Polchinski in 1990, which are usually solved through closed time-like curves…

This paper explores a possible future of postdigital education in 2050 using the means of social science fiction. The first part of the paper introduces the shift from 20th century primacy of physics to 21st century primacy of biology with an accent to new postdigital--biodigital reconfigurations and challenges in and after the COVID-19 pandemic.…

In this article, we describe how eighth-grade students and teacher candidates used sound and listening to remix and attune themselves (Stewart, 2011) to the dystopian novel "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury (2011). We situate our sound inquiries in relation to critical literacy (Vasquez, Janks, & Comber, 2019; Wargo, 2019) and sound…

This article provides tips on how popular media, specifically that of science fiction and horror, can be utilized in the classroom to elucidate complex concepts concerning race and ethnic relations. Drawing from the television series "Lovecraft Country," I highlight how concepts found in the work of authors such as W. E. B. Du Bois and…

The genre of science fiction has often been hostile to readers who are not white, middle class, heterosexual men. Though the genre has historically ignored Dark Others; however, they are never completely omitted from the story, as they are often characterized as the creature, the alien, or the monster. In this way, the futuristic windows and…

An integrative tool that we have piloted in two LCs, the interdisciplinary index, is an integrative template that students use to make connections between disciplines. In the learning community, "Cli-Fi: Stories and Science of the Coming Climate Apocalypse," faculty developed the Climate-Change Stress Index (CCSI) that students used to…