The best CD-ROMs for young people about space and flight exploit the promise of hypermedia to create informative simulations. This article provides an annotated bibliography of CD-ROMs on astronomy and flight for K-12 students; suggests book and Internet connections; and highlights poetry for astronomers, science fiction, a biography of Charles…

This paper explores alternative approaches to the conception of scientific literacy, drawing on cultural studies and emerging practices in language arts as its framework. The paper reviews historic tensions in the understanding of scientific literacy and then draws on the multiliteracies movement in language arts to suggest a scientific…

Tools for teaching students how to question intelligently are badly needed. Science fiction provides many such tools in a variety of subjects by stimulating the imagination and thus motivating students to learn. Such vehicles are available at all grade levels. From Mark Twain and H.G. Wells to Anne McCaffrey and Isaac Asimov, novels and short…

The use of science fiction can be a valuable tool for constructing a highly mental schema in a learner on which to build new learning, to stimulate creative problem solving, and to generate the flexibility needed for adjusting to a rapidly changing, progressively technological society. By using science fiction in a science class, a science teacher…

General semantics and science fiction are disciplines that can be incorporated in lectures for public speaking and other speech communication classes. Alfred Korzybski's theories of general semantics lend themselves to researching, preparing, delivering interpersonal communication messages, and establishing student interest in foreign languages,…

A committee comprised of children's book specialists from school and public libraries and a bookseller examined books published from November 1984 through November 1985, and compiled this annotated bibliography of picture books, fiction, and nonfiction. The bibliography is arranged by age group and categories, among which are picture stories for…

A rationale and suggestions for teaching 12th grade sociology using Ray Bradbury's novel "The Martian Chronicles" are presented. The conceptual material found in a high school sociology textbook is not always exciting and stimulating to read, but with a science fiction work that supplements this conceptual material, the motivation for learning can…

The six papers in this journal issue were presented at the 1977 spring meeting of the Missouri Association of Teachers of English, the theme of which was "Tradition and the Popular Arts." The papers deal with suggestions for texts and equipment for a film-production course; formal writing in the language arts curriculum; the teaching of a…

An introduction to the study of the future for secondary social studies and English classes is presented in this teaching guide. The primary purpose is to help students understand the nature of change in modern society, identify impending changes, order their priorities, and clarify their values. Built around key concepts, problems, and issues…

This teacher resource handbook provides a guide to science fiction books and themes for developing a secondary or university course on science fiction literature. The first section defines and examines the origin and reputation of science fiction writing. Section two provides a history of science fiction literature, including short biographies of…

Building on collaborative work between the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute and the Lawrence Hall of Science, this curriculum takes advantage of humans' fascination with extraterrestrials to catalyze the study of the solar system and beyond. The unit begins when students attempt to decode a fictitious message from outer…

Discusses two paperback books, "The Malacia Tapestry" and "The Shattered Chain," that are written with a junk-fiction formula yet have serious themes. Contends that teachers may find the books useful in motivating thoughtful nonreaders. (FL)

Criticizes astrology and uses student interest to help encouraging critical thinking and the scientific method. Provides some thought-provoking questions, three activities, and resource materials and a list of astronomy organizations. (YP)

An outline of a "co-emergent" pedagogical perspective describes the conceptual framework for an advanced university-level English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) course. The course framework, which involves choosing and studying a brief science fiction story, allows for transcultural encounters via a transactional literary approach in which…

To control for interactions in learning research due to subjects' prior knowledge of the instructional material presented, an imaginary curriculum was presented with a computer assisted technique based on Carl Berieter's imaginary science of Xenograde systems. The curriculum consisted of a classification system for ten conceptual classes of…