The purpose of this paper is to present an alternate response to neoliberal education reforms, in the form of accelerationism, that does not rely on a return to a primitivist localism or direct action (such as that of the Occupy movement). Briefly stated, accelerationism does not try to reform neoliberal tendencies by going around them or from…

This paper synthesizes the end-of-semester prognostications developed over several semesters by students, goaded by their instructor, in the Introduction to Media course at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Contending with "Understanding Media" alongside a much more conventional Introductory text, participants have distilled…

This paper is designed to accompany an appearance by the author as a panelist during a session on science fiction and teaching methods at the I-CON 28 Science Fiction Convention held April 3-5, 2009, on Long Island (near New York City). The author describes how he employs social science fiction in an honors course at the university level to…

In this paper we explore students' engagement in a new media enhanced problem-based learning (PBL) environment and investigate the characteristics of these environments that facilitate learning. We investigated both student experiences using a new media enhanced PBL environment and the specific elements students found most supportive of their…

A. E. van Vogt's theory of "unreality" explains in part how he has become so prolific in a literary genre--science fiction/science fantasy--which only recently has experienced a rise in popularity. His theory states that the science fictional sentence must have in it something that requires a contribution from the reader. If the author…

Provided are background materials relating the study of extraterrestrial life to common biological principles. A history of the creation of the sun and earth is included, as well as a summary of one current theory regarding the origin of life on earth. Relationships are identified regarding possible origins of life on other planets. Factors…

A general semantics perspective of science fiction writer A. E. van Vogt is presented in this paper. The first major section of the paper contains a biographical sketch of van Vogt and traces the influence of A. Korzybski's work on general semantics, "Science and Sanity," on his writing, while the second major section provides an…

This booklet discusses the development of science fiction, tracing its origins to the time of the industrial revolution. Many of the people of this time realized that life was changing and would continue to change, that there were new forces at work in the world, and that humankind should exercise some forethought about the direction in which…

Since science fiction imaginatively explores the future, technology, and the human role in problem solving, it lends itself to the development of a process-oriented curriculum. Students may participate in planning, executing, and evaluating a study of science fiction, while they may learn through process goals to deal intelligently with change--a…

Many students come to college with little knowledge of or interest in traditional humanities topics; however, a college teacher of humanities can use science fiction as a "door in," a tool to take students from the known to the unknown. Literary elements such as characterization, plot, setting, theme, and point of view are present in science…

The paper reviews research dealing with spatial cognitive ability differences in gifted children and cites implications for reading instruction of gifted readers. A study is detailed which found (1) different spatial profiles for 62 gifted middle students, and (2) that Ss had either three-dimensional transformational excellence or outstanding…

A brief history of science fiction and an analysis of its functions precedes a description of a university level course taught at Trinity University on science fiction, technology, and values. Science fiction writing is briefly traced from Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" through the golden age of science fiction in the 1940s and 1950s to its…

This paper discusses science fiction in general, and argues that science fiction is a method for exploring present and future potentialities, for educating people about the possibilities of the future, for helping people condition themselves to change. A science fiction course taught at the community college level as a humanities elective is…

The potential for computers in indexing popular fiction study materials is discussed, and specific examples of comic book indexing are provided through descriptions of projects and a bibliography. The 4-stage evolutionary development of popular fiction studies includes: (1) discovery and reading; (2) bibliography and collecting; (3) cataloging and…

This paper describes the content and implementation of a course designed to teach science and technology majors about science fiction. Although many students had expressed little interest in the imaginative world of literature, the scientific content of the texts used attracted their attention and legitimized their involvement in something outside…