Standard Lesson
Finding the Science Behind Science Fiction through Paired Readings
Grades
6 - 8
Lesson Plan Type
Standard Lesson
Estimated Time
Six 50-minute sessions
Publisher
NCTE
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Overview
Science fiction has the potential to spark lively discussions while inviting students to extrapolate from their own working knowledge of scientific principles. This genre offers a human lens to what can otherwise be a complex science concept. In this lesson, students will be able to explore the genre of science fiction, while learning more about the science integrated into the plot of the story using nonfiction texts and resources. They first define the science fiction genre and then read and discuss science fiction texts. Next, they conduct research to find science facts that support or dispute the science included in the plot of the science fiction book they read. Students then revisit their definition of the genre and revise based on their reading. Finally, students complete a project that examines the science fiction genre in relation to real-world science concepts and topics.
Featured Resources
- Suggested Science Fiction Texts: This resource provides an annotated list of science fiction and nonfiction texts.
- Venn Diagram: Use this online tool to organize ideas for a compare and contrast essay, or while reading to compare and contrast two works of literature.
- Persuasion Map: Students use this online tool to map out and print a persuasive argument. Included are spaces to map out the thesis, three reasons, and supporting details.
From Theory to Practice
With the number of genres and specific titles we have to teach in our classrooms, why would a teacher want to find time to teach the genre of science fiction? Erin Pierce explains in her Voices from the Middle article, "Fantasy and science fiction allow us to step beyond our own world to discover more about this world. As we meet characters who might not ever exist and stand in lands forged in someone's imagination, we also confront the realities of this real world: the fight of good and evil, the search for identity, the courage common folks can summon, the sustaining joy of family and friends. This list offers readers that chance to wander away and return not only entertained, but enriched." To help bring the science fiction genre to the classroom, Pierce continues on to provide an annotated list of 40 titles, including some the texts used in this lesson plan.
This lesson plan makes the connections between the worlds in science fiction and students' real world explicit by asking them to explore the underlying science that supports the fictional world and considering its relationship to the real science in today's society.
Further Reading
Common Core Standards
This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.
State Standards
This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.
NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts
- 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
- 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
- 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
- 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
- 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
- 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
- 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
- 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
Printouts
Websites
Preparation
- Students should have a working definition of science fiction. Wikipedia provides additional information about science fiction.
- Compile text sets with science fiction and nonfiction texts from the booklist. Decide whether the students will be reading novels independently, as a read aloud, or in literature circles. This lesson relies on students having choices for fictional materials, but it can easily be implemented using one text as a read aloud.
- Make copies of the Questions to Consider While Reading Science Fiction, Researching the Science in Science Fiction data collection sheet, and Science Fiction Projects.
- Test the Venn Diagram on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tools and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page.
Student Objectives
Students will
- apply information from nonfiction in their literary analyses of science fiction texts.
- compare and cross-reference information from science fiction and nonfiction texts.
- identify topics to research for factual content.
- record factual research information.
- write a reflection paper on their topic.
Session One
- Invite students to share titles of science fiction books they have read. Record these on the board or on chart paper.
- When students have completed their sharing, hand out the Science Fiction Definition.
- Discuss this genre and compare it to other genres that they have read. To visually represent the comparisons, complete a Venn Diagram on science fiction and another selected genre.
- Explain that the class will be reading a science fiction novel. While reading, they should record any questions they have or situations they encounter that they want to learn more about.
- Introduce the Science Fiction booklist. Read through the annotations with the students. Note whether any of the books were mentioned by the students.
- Students should select Science Fiction books, and begin reading them. As the students are reading, remind them that they will be identifying questions that they will further research.
Reading and Discussion
- Allow the students time to read their selected novels, either individually or in literature circles; or read the book aloud to the class.
- As students read, ask them to keep in mind that they should identify questions for research that will help them determine the accuracy and validity of what they find in their reading.
- As you discuss the reading, use this handout to guide their critical reading. Students can also write their responses in a reading response journal.
- In addition to paying attention to the science that is represented in the novel, ask students to brainstorm different words and phrases from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that appear in the novels. Focus their discussion on how the terminology of these different areas functions in the novel. In particular, have students consider how this terminology communicates details about the science that is presented in the novel.
- Meet with students and review the questions they are recording. Use this information to obtain additional nonfiction texts for Session Two if necessary.
Session Two
- After students have finished reading their science fiction novels, share the list of nonfiction books and any additional nonfiction resources that are available.
- Preview the available Websites that students can use to research the background on their novels, answering any questions that students have about the way that the sites work.
- Model the process of finding facts about a science artifact for students, choosing a focus that is not covered in students' novels.
- Students should find ten science facts to support or dispute the science included in the plot of their science fiction texts. If desired, the students can record their information on the data collection sheet.
Session Three
- Revisit the definition of science fiction that was shared in Session One. Working in pairs or small groups, ask students to revise the definition of the genre now that they have first hand knowledge of it from their reading.
- Invite students to share some science facts that they recorded from their reading with the class.
- Next, ask students to share some details from the novel that are clearly fictional or that cannot be easily verified.
- Ask students to brainstorm words and phrases from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from the nonfiction resources that also appear in the novels. Ask students to discuss what the use of similar terminology in the fiction and nonfiction texts tells them about the science behind the science fiction novels.
- Ask students to hypothesize about the balance between fictional and factual information in the novels that they have read, using discussion questions such as the following:
- Does the information help them gain an understanding of the present and future?
- Did they learn something about science concepts by reading the novel?
- Does the information help them gain an understanding of the present and future?
- After the group discussion, which touches on how these books are science fiction, ask students to examine the novels they've read more closely by writing a reflection paper that addresses the following questions:
- What makes the text fiction?
- Is your text fiction because of inaccuracies (which are proved by your nonfiction research), or is it science fiction because of the scientific principles woven into the plot?
- Did the author do his or her homework regarding the portrayal of space travel, the future, human portrayal? In other words, is it presented accurately?
- What evidence is there that the author did his or her homework in preparing to write this novel?
- What makes the text fiction?
Session Four
- At this point, present project choices to the students:
- Write a literary analysis of one of the science fiction novels, using the information they gathered in your research as your guide.
- The setting of science fiction texts is in the future. If you read this text in the future, what aspects would read as contemporary realistic fiction? Write a paper that explains your observations.
- The texts listed on the booklist are not without some ethical questions. Select an action or decision in the plot, and write a persuasive paper that explains how things could have been handled differently. Use the Persuasion Map to gather your thoughts before you begin your first draft.
- Based on your research, create a glossary of scientific, technical, engineering, and/or mathematical terminology from the science fiction novel. In your description of the terms, explain both the nonfiction meaning of the term and how that term is used in the fictional text.
- Write a literary analysis of one of the science fiction novels, using the information they gathered in your research as your guide.
- Allow additional sessions for students to work on their projects.
Session Five
- When the students have completed their projects, allow time for them to share with the rest of the class.
- Give students five to ten minutes to prepare to share their projects with the rest of the class.
- Have students present their projects, giving each student one to two minutes.
- Once everyone has presented, ask discussion questions that encourage students to synthesize the unit:
- What difference does the science in a science fiction novel make?
- How believable do the situations and science in a science fiction novel need to be?
- Why is the human element important in science fiction?
- How do science fiction novels comment on the contemporary world?
- What difference does the science in a science fiction novel make?
- Collect students' projects for assessment.
Extensions
- Students can perform scenes from the science fiction books they have read. Refer to this lesson on Readers Theater.
- Invite students to read more than one science fiction novel about the same topic (e.g., time travel.) Students can compare the presentation of the travel and related technology in the different novels. Use the Comparison and Contrast Guide to discuss how to write comparison and contrast papers, and then ask students to write papers or journal entries that compare the novels that they have read.
Student Assessment / Reflections
- As students discuss the novels, listen for comments that indicate that students see the ways that fictional and nonfictional details intersect in science fiction. Provide supportive feedback for observations that show students are identifying the ways that scientific data in the story adds to the fictional scenario that the novel focuses on. Additionally, monitor student interaction and progress during class discussion to assess social skills and assist any students having problems with the project. Look for evidence in students’ contributions to the discussion as well as in their individual work in response to the Guided Questions and the Data Collection Sheet that they have engaged in the research process (searching for and recording facts about science and technology) and made connections between the fiction and nonfiction resources that they explore.
- As students begin working on their projects, ask them to collaboratively create a rubric that the projects will be evaluated on. They might want to include whether or not the information in the project includes fictional and nonfictional information as well as how the project ties to the genre of science fiction. Other aspects that could be included in the rubric include whether or not sufficient information and ideas were presented.
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