Narrative in a United States survey course is hard to avoid. The question that the author has confronted in his classes is simple: do narratives still work in the surveys now that students understand their subjectivity, in many cases, as much as their teachers? Students, like most humans, tend to like stories. As the humanities at large and…

Toys both guide and foster the play--and stimulate the imaginations--of players of all ages. The authors investigate adult use of toys as a point of entry to the world play of both transmedia-connected and stand alone toy characters--dolls, action figures, and soft toys. They point to how adult toy players engage actively in world building in…

There are many claims that gamification (i.e., using game elements outside games) impact decreases over time (i.e., the novelty effect). Most studies analyzing this effect focused on extrinsic game elements, while fictional and collaborative competition have been recently recommended. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, no long-term…

This qualitative single case study examined how military affiliated students perceive the military cultural competency of faculty members within the Camden College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) at Rutgers University and how the use of military cultural competency education for faculty members may influence military affiliated students' experiences…

There's a lot to love about this newly expanded book in the Picture-Perfect Science series: You can combine STEM and reading through appealing lessons that are just right for your second-grade students. Also, reading comprehension strategies are embedded in all 12 of the ready-to-teach lessons, 11 of which are updated and one brand-new. The goal…

"Teaching Black Masculinity through The Uncanny Black Kirby" will examine Marvel Comics's and Netflix's Luke Cage: Hero for Higher through the last 48 years of unstably grounded imaginings. The exhibition is an illustrated syllabus with a bibliography and contextualizing imagery that educators can use in a 10-16 week unit. Creating…

This study focuses on interviews with fifteen writers of real person fiction -- a type of fanfiction -- about British boy band One Direction. Most interviewees began writing these romantic, often sexually explicit, stories between the ages of 12 and 16. Results indicate that many writers learned how to write about sex by reading other explicit One…

In secondary science education, students often do not feel engaged with the scientific concepts that are taught, which hinders conceptual learning. This lack of engagement can be overcome by fictional placemaking. Therefore, the purpose of our design-based research is to explore how the creation and use of fictional places lead to meaningful…

Children have a right both to read and to see their lives mirrored in books. In this study we explored young Papua New Guinean children's reading preferences of 500 digital books. The books were created as part of a large project aimed at improving elementary (Preparatory to Year 2) children's literacy skills in Papua New Guinea. Reading materials…

In this article, we examine two stories about white femininity. The first, written by Danielle, was an assignment in a pre-service teacher education course. The second story is of the fictional Lily--the main character of an internationally best-selling novel. In our analyses, we pay special attention to how enduring racist images and caricatures…

A nonmajors general chemistry course entitled "Putting the Science in SciFi" was taught to 19 seniors at the College of the Holy Cross in 2018. The course coupled the delivery of content with experiential learning strategies in the form of writing assignments and hands-on activities. A pretest and posttest indicate that students gained…

While there has been a multitude of studies of "Harry Potter" since its first appearance, including studies analyzing individual characters, social classes in the wizarding world, and a number that examine the "'Harry Potter' phenomenon" as a whole, there are none that systematically analyze and compare the characters in terms…

Preservice teachers base their expectations of teaching on the cultural images that surround them. Unfortunately, these images tell an incomplete story, and preservice teachers' expectations of teaching often reflect a narrow understanding of a fantastically complex endeavor. Jeremy Delamarter explains that, to help their candidates thrive,…

Although there is a great deal of available material on using nontraditional resources for teaching sociology, the pedagogical uses of science fiction have not been examined for 20 years. This essay first asserts the need for an update based on changes in society and in science fiction over the past two decades. The paper then focuses on the uses…

This article argues that fiction can operate as a critical feminist curriculum and discusses how this manifests itself in terms of content and teaching methodologies. It uses a close reading of Naomi Alderman's dystopian fiction "The Power" (2016) to explore this, complemented by an analysis of a discussion between Alderman and readers…