Title: What is science fiction?

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

What is science fiction? About the genres of science fiction.

Target group:

8th‑grade students of an eight‑year elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

1) searches for the necessary information in the text and cites relevant parts of journalistic, popular or scientific texts;

2) organises information depending on their function in the message;

3) interprets works of art (painting, graphics, sculpture, photography);

4) recognises the differences between the fine literature and scientific literature, popular science, journalism and determines the functions of these types of writing.

2. Differentiation of language. Student:

1) recognises the diversity of vocabulary, including recognizing national vocabulary and limited vocabulary (eg scientific terms, archaisms, colloquialisms) (...);

7) understands the concept of style, recognizes colloquial, official, artistic, scientific and journalistic style.

III. Creating statements.

1. Rhetoric items. Student:

2) collects and organizes the material material needed to create statements; edits the compositional plan of his own statement;

5) differentiates the example from the argument;

6) carry out the inference as part of the argumentative argument;

7) agrees with other people's views or polemicizes with them, substantively justifying their own opinion.

IV. Self‑study. Student:

6) develops skills of independent presentation of the results of his work;

7) develops habits of systematic learning;

8) develops the ability to think critically and formulate opinions.

The general aims of education

Students learn the characteristics of science fiction.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• cultural awareness and expression.

Operational objectives

Student:

• distinguishes between the varieties of fantasy;

• indicates the characteristics of science fiction;

• searches for information in popular science text;

• gives synonyms of the words indicated.

Teaching methods / techniques

• problematic: directed conversation, discussion;

• programmed: using a computer and e‑textbook;

• practical: subject exercises.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• collective activity;

• group activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher gives the students the purpose of the course, which is to determine the characteristics of genres belonging to scientific fantasy. Together with the students, the teacher sets the criteria for success.

2. The teacher asks the students what features, in their opinion, the science fiction literature has. Students' answers will probably include conflicting or contradictory features. If necessary, the teacher helps students to distinguish between the following genres: science fiction and fantasy.

Realization

1. The teacher displays an interactive sheet on the board, with illustrations in the abstract. Students think about which elements of the presented world are specific to science fiction literature and which to fantasy literature. They justify their choices. They discuss possible differences with the whole class. Together, they create two picture galleries entitled:

• The world presented in science fiction literature.

• The world presented in fantasy literature.

2. The teacher divides the students into groups. In groups, students create a list of features that are necessary to formulate definition of science fiction as precisely as possible. The teacher tells them to refer to their own experiences within the scope of films and literature.

Then the groups present their proposals and compare them with the proposals of other groups. Finally, a common list of features of SF genre should be created.

3. Students read Isaac Asimov's text. In order to check the degree of understanding of the text, they do task 3 from the e‑textbook – they decide which statements referring to the text are true and which are false. In case of false statements, the students formulate a correct version of them. They can do it individually or together using an interactive whiteboard.

4. Using any sources available during the lesson (e.g. the Internet), the students look for examples of works representing the motifs mentioned in Isaac Asimov's text (travel motif, artificial intelligence motif, disaster motif). This task can be done in groups – in such a case, each group looks for works representing one motif.

5. Students do the task in the abstract (individually or together) – they decide which of the properties listed in the task are the elements necessary in SF. Each time, the teacher asks them to justify their decisions. Students can also give examples of specific works in which they find the properties given.

After completing the task, the students - working in groups - create a definition of science fiction.

6. Students think about the nature of the text by I. Asimov. The teacher asks if it can be considered a scientific text. Students try to find in the text the features of scientific style (specialist vocabulary, compositional arrangement of the text, lack of emotions, arguments supported by examples, etc.).

7. Students do the task in the abstract – they pay attention to the erudite vocabulary that appeared in the Asimov’s text; they replace the highlighted words with synonyms from the neutral register (common flexion).

Summary

1. The teacher asks the students what they have learned today and if they found the lesson interesting. The teacher asks the students to perform self‑assessment of their individual work during the lesson. For this purpose, the teacher can use a previously prepared questionnaire or a decision tree, or can carry out the assessment orally.

2. Students write down in their notebooks the key words to the lesson they consider to be the most important.

Homework

Search various Internet sources for information about two literary awards which are most prestigious in the science fiction community, and then find out what is the most important Polish award in the field of fantasy literature (covering its various conventions, especially science fiction and fantasy).

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

What is science fiction?

It is not easy to formulate the definition of the science‑fiction. The literature researchers, writers, fans and the ordinary readers use different - sometimes even mutually exclusive - terms. Definitions formulated too hasty, in practice very often turn out to be completely wrong. The precise definitions formulated by the specialists usually do not cover the whole diversity of science fiction. And although in the experiencing, understanding and the literature valuation, definitions are not the most important, the attempts to create them help us to understand the literature that attracts us.