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QUESTION: I would like some suggestions for short stories
or novels to use for a middle school unit in science fiction literature.
If you'' ve used a short story or novel that went over particularly well
with your students I would like to hear your comments and what activities
you used.
QUESTION: Include me, too! I'm a science teacher and would
love to create a unit around a GOOD science fiction novel, expecially one
about Mars, as the Mars probe is in the news so much lately. Or the moon....hey!
how about that ice on the dark side?
A. Novel: The Giver - Lois Lowry. Short Story:
"The Fun They Had" - Isaac Asimov
A. One short story I've used before was "The Sound
of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. I fit it into mathematics after talking
about different concepts in geometry such as dimensions (time being a 4th
dimension) and chaos theory. My students appeared to really enjoy it.
A. I've just finished The White Mountains by John
Christopher with my 6th graders. It is a difficult book ( I would not recommend
it with low readers) both in vocabulary and concepts. Basically, it deals
with the future but appears to be set in the past. It has great tie-ins
to invention, problem solving, and even the middle ages. The main theme
is good vs. evil and mind control -- the good are striving to retain the
ability to be free thinkers rather than have their minds controlled by an
alien force. We divided the kids on the team into two novel groups and I
taught this with the higher group. We read this as part of an interdisciplinary
unit on Inventioneering, looking at the inventions important to the plot
as well as inventive thinking of the characters. Good luck
A. I leaned heavily on Ray Bradbury to provide stories
to be used with the SF unit I did with my seventh grade students. We discussed
various themes of SF and used different stories to illustrate these themes.
Three stories come to mind that went over well: "I Sing The Body Electric,"
"The Long Rain," and "The Veldt." For time travel, we
turned to H. G. Wells and The Time Machine. Several of the Star
Trek: Next Generation episodes play with time travel, as well. You
might want to get hold of the book The Physics of Star Trek and
tie in some science with the science fiction.
A. First, I think many teachers overlook a rich source
of really engaging literature when they bypass science fiction (and some
fantasy) novels and short stories. There are excellent writers in this genre
whose major concerns are much the same as the concerns of classic authors
-- the "big questions" about humankind's purpose and destiny,
the nature of love and sacrifice, etc. A couple of books that I believe
would be wonderful to teach to 7th and 8th graders (teachers, of course,
should always read them first!) are: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (a
boy is selected to lead a troop of youngsters through the ultimate video
game - lots of issues, good-vs-evil, xenophobia); Ursula GeGuin's "The
Word for World is Forest;" Ray Bradbury's "Farenheit 451,"
Madeline L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time." Many eighth grade girls
are drawn to "Fractal Mode" by Piers Anthony. Read it first, though
-- it may be too...too!
A. (from Lyle Griegoliet, lgriego@mail.isbe.state.il.us,
Future Commons Small Schools Program, Chicago Public Schools.)
As a teacher of biology and chemistry in a all girls Catholics High School
on the South Side of Chicago, I am always looking for new and interesting
extra credit assignments for each quarter. Besides the obvious criterion
of now being another assignment to poorly plagiarize the encyclopedia, I
like to show the students that science is not hermetically sealed from the
rest of the subjects they have to study. This quarter in biology we have
to spend considerable time with the subjects of genetics and evolution,
so I have borrowed a concept from Isaac Asimov used in Where Do We Go
From Here?
In the introduction of this anthology Asimov states, "I have long maintained
that science fiction has potential as an inspiring and useful teaching device.
. . In many science fiction stories, a scientific principle is deliberately
bent for the sake of making a particular plot possible. This can be done
skillfully by an author knowledgeable in science or clumsily by another
who is less well versed in the matter. In either case, even in the latter,
the story can be useful. A law of nature ignored or distorted can rouse
more interest, sometimes, than a law of nature explained. Are the events
in the story possible? If not, why not? And in tracking that down, the student
may sometimes learn more about science than from any number of correct classroom
demonstrations."
Instead of using the short stories that Asimov used in his book, I developed
a list of books that use evolution or genetics as the key science in the
science-fiction. This long-term assignment given at the start of the quarter
so that the students have sufficient time to read one of the books on the
list. The students can choose from the list, or bring in any novel they
feel may qualify, thus providing additions to the list.
The report that they must write on the book of their choice, has two parts.
First there is the simple review of the story itself, giving the general
plot line, and their opinion of the story. The second is a review of what
principles of evolution and/or genetics are used in the story and whether
or not it was used correctly. If the concept was misused, then it would
be necessary to explain where the mistake was in the book.
Following is the list of such evolution and genetics-based science fiction
novels that I have managed to develop for your use.
BOOK LIST
Abe, Kobo
Inter Ice Age 4
Aldiss, B. W.
An Island Called Moreau
Anderson, Poul
The Stars are Also Fire
Banks, Ian
The Bridge
Bass, Ted
Half Past Human
Bear, Greg
Blood Music
Benford, Gregory
Great Sky River
If the Stars are Gods
Bester, AlfredGolem 100
Blish, James
A Case of Conscience
Bonamno, Margaret Wander
The Others
Bradley, Marion Zimmer
The Heritage Of Hastor
Brin, David
Earth
The Uplift War
Brown, Jerry Earl
Showmen
Brunner, John
Children of Thunder
Brusnan, John
The Sky Lords
Busby, F. M.
The Breeds of Man
Bryant, Edward
Neon Twilight
Bujold, Lois McMaster
Barrayar
Falling Free
Mirror Dance
Burroughs, Edgar Rice
The Land That Time Forgot
The People That Time Forgot
Butler, Octavia E.
Adult Rites
Dawn
Imago
Card, Orson Scott
Wyrms
Cardigan, Pat
Mind Players
Synners
Carver, Jeffery A.
From a Changeling Star
The Rapture Affect
Cherryh, C. J.
Cyteen
Forty Thousand in Gehenne
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Collins, Helen
Mutagenesis
Cook, R.
Mortal Fear
Mutation
Crichton, Michael
Andromeda Strain
Jurassic Park
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Dick, Philip K.
Blade Runner
The World Jones Made
Douglas, l. Warren
A Plauge of Change
Duncan Dave
Hero
Easton, Thomas A.
Greenhouse
Sparrowhawk
Woodsman
Elgin, Suzette Haden
Native Tongue
Emshwiller, Peter R.
The Host
Farmer, Philip Jose
Escape from Loki
Finney, Jack
The Body Snatchers
Flynn, Michael
Nanotechnology
Forrester, John
Beastiary Mountain
The Forbiden Beast
The Secret of the Round Beast
Foster, Alan Dean
Cachalot
Cyber Way
Frankowski, Leo A.
Copernick's Rebellion
Gallagher, Diana G.
The Alien Dark
Gentle, Mary
Ancient Light
Golden
Witchbreed
Geoff, Ryman
The Child Garden
Gibson, Edward
In the Wrong hands
Goonan, Kathleen Ann
Queen City Jaz
Hand, Elizabeth
A Estival
Winterlog
Harrison, Harry
East of Eden
West of Eden
Heinlein, Robert
Methusula's Children
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Dune Messiah
Helstrom's Hive
Heritics of Dune
The White Plauge
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Hyman, Tom
Jupiter's Daughter
Kellogg, Marjorie Bradley
Harmony
Kerr, Katherine
Polar City Blues
Koontz, D. R.
Watchers
Kress, Nancy
Beggars and Choosers
Beggars in Spain
Kristein, Rosemary
The Steerswoman
Laidlow, Mare
Kalifornia
Leiber, Fritz
Gather Darkness
Martin, George R. R.
Wild Cards
McCaffery, Anne
All the Weyrs of Pern
McDonald, Ian
Desolate Road
Terminal Cafe
The Broken Land
McHugh, Maureen F.
China Mountain Zheng
Mendelsohn
Superbaby
Mixon, Laura J.
Glass Houses
Moffett, Judith
Two That Came True
Moran, Daniel Keys
Emerald Eyes
Morgan, J. R.
Desert Eden
Murphy, Pat
The City, Not Long After
Murrow, James
City of Truth
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
The Flight of the Horse
Pohl, Frederick
Stopping at Slowyear
Pournelle, Jerry
War World
Rasmussen, Alis A
A Passage of Stars
Rebecca, Ore
The Illegal Rebirth of Billy the Kid
Reed, Robert
Black Milk
Ripley, Karen
The Tenth Class
Robinson, Spider
Kill the Editor
Scarborough, Elizabeth Ann
Nothing Sacred
Schmitz, James H.
The Demon Breed
Severance, Carol
Reefsong
Sheila, Finch
Shaper's Legacy
Shaping the Dawn
Silverberg, Robert
Hot Sky at Midnight
Son of Man
Tower of Glass
Smith, Cordweiner
Nostrillia
Stapledon, Olaf
Last and First Men
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
The Golden Helix
Suntow, S. P.
I Wake From a Dream of a Drowned Star City
Swann, Andrea
Emperors at Twilight
Specters at Dawn
Swanwick, Michael Vacuum Flowers
Taines, John
Iron Star
Seeds of Life
Thomson, Amy
Virtual Girl
Topper, Sheri S.
Shadow's End
Turner, George
Brain Child
Genetic Soldier
Van Seyoc, Sydney J.
Deep Water Dreams
Van Vogt, A. E.
Slan
Varley, John
The Ophiuchi Hotline
Verne, Jules
The Villiage in the Treetops
Vinge, Verner
A Fire Upon the Deep
Vonnegut, Kurt
Galapagos
Vonarburg, Elizabeth
The Silent City
Walverton, Dave
Serpent Catch
Weaver, Michaelk D.
My Father Immortal
Weinstein, Richard S.
Ocean Away
Wells, H. G.
Food of the Gods
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, Rosemary
The First Child
Whiteford, Wynne
The Specialist
Wilson, Robert Charles
The Divide
Wyndhan, John
Out of the Deep
Yermokov, Nicolas
Clique``