Miranda and Bonnie talk with Gary Raham about how science fiction can generate interest and learning when it comes to the sciences.

Question for the week: What piece of fiction inspired your interest in a topic that you might not have otherwise had?

Tips and Tricks:

• Children hold a natural wonder for the world and this matches well with the inherent wonder and curiosity that’s pervasive in science fiction. This can create great foundations for future learning.
• With science fiction (and all other forms of fiction), children can learn how to navigate society, culture, dangers, and a number of different things, all through the lens of a fun story that will stick with them.
• It’s important to get facts in science fiction correct. Readers of the genre will notice those kind of mistakes and, for many people, that story might be their only exposure to that kind of science.
• Most science fiction allows for one big “lie”—or rather, one big inaccuracy. Typically you can ask a reader to suspend their belief for one fantastical element, but because of that, everything else around it must be as accurate as possible so as not to put too much strain on that suspension. 
• We learn more about the world as time goes on. So older science fiction is full of inaccuracies but was correct with the knowledge available at the time. This can be used to help compare and contrast the kind of science we know now. 
• “Science fiction is the precursor to science fact.” Much of what we see in science fiction—technology, social structures, exploration—can give us something to strive for as people and as a society. 

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Cover art by Maggie Walker