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ERIC Number: EJ1032828
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Feb
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
More than "Cool Science": Science Fiction and Fact in the Classroom
Singh, Vandana
Physics Teacher, v52 n2 p106-108 Feb 2014
The unfortunate negative attitude toward physics among many students, including science majors, warrants creative approaches to teaching required physics courses. One such approach is to integrate science fiction into the curriculum, either in the form of movies or the written word. Historically this has been done since at least the 1970s, and by now many universities and colleges have courses that incorporate science fiction stories or film. The intent appears to be to a) increase student interest in physics, b) increase the imaginative grasp of the student, and c) enable a clearer understanding of physics concepts. Reports on these experiments, from Freedman and Little's classic 1980 paper to more recent work like that of Dubeck et al., Dark, and Smith, indicate that such innovative approaches do work. The author was curious as to whether a combination of science fiction and science fact (in the form of a science news article) might enhance the benefits of including science fiction. In this article, she describes how she used a science fiction story along with a science article on a related theme to pique the interest of students in a new and exciting area of research that was nevertheless connected to the course material.
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Postsecondary Education; Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A