This article examines the work of several anthropologists from the 1960s to the 1980s who used images of the future in their anthropology classrooms in order to stimulate alternative thinking in their students. In response to the apparent inevitability of "monofutures" characterized by globalization, I suggest the necessity for such an approach…

This article is for teachers looking for new ways to motivate students, increase science comprehension, and understanding without using the old standard expository science textbook. This author suggests reading a science fiction novel in the science classroom as a way to engage students in learning. Using science fiction literature and language…

Suggests that science fiction can be used as a vehicle for teaching a broad range of content subjects incorporating an interdisciplinary approach. (RB)

Analyzing the setting of six recent "blockbuster" films, this study outlines numerous instances of the Western's influence on several contemporary science fiction films, "Star Wars,""Battlestar Galactica,""Star Trek: The Motion Picture,""The Black Hole,""The Empire Strikes Back," and…

"Star Trek II" is a treatment of the penultimate stages of the monomyth in which the hero descends into the underworld and is reborn. This psychological sense of rebirth is evoked in modern audiences by the film. In particular, the doppelganger (psychic double) motif, so often associated in film, literature, and myth with the…

An interview with Howard E. Smith, Jr., who edits science and junior books at McGraw-Hill, and with Thomas G. Aylesworth, who edits books for young readers at Doubleday. They discuss the selection of authors and subjects for books; science fiction and biography; characteristics of good science books; and foreign books. (LS)

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…

The articles collected in this volume focus on the literary genre science fiction. Part one, "Backgrounds," includes "Starting Points" (Kingsley Amis), "Science Fiction and Literature" (Robert Conquest), and "The Roots of Science Fiction" (Robert Scholes). Part two, "Theory," contains "On the Poetics of the Science Fiction Genre" (Darko Suvin),…

Science fiction today provides the best opportunity to introduce ideas that will get students involved.

Contends that fantasy always includes at least one element of the impossible, one element that goes against the laws of the physical universe as currently understood. Suggests that fantasy can help in learning the most fundamental skill of all--how to be human. (MS)

Describes the use of popular science fiction films in high school and college science courses. Holds that young persons' fascination with science fiction can serve as a takeoff point for serious discussion of principles of physics and biology, in particular. (GC)

Examines Victor Hugo's "Ninety-three," Charles Dickens'"Tale of Two Cities," and Eugene Zamiatin's "We" as examples of romantic satire, considering in each work the quest motif, the oedipal themes, the dystopian vision, and the role of love. (AYC)