Essential Question #1: How can young adult literature peak students interest in science?

How can young adult literature peak student's interest in science?        

          Young adult literature approaches topics that are important to the reader.  Young adult literature focuses on an audiences between the ages of 12 and 20.  These books will often touch base in topics are important to them and using these books teachers can also cover topics that can convey to the classroom.  Most teacher often skip over science fiction as one of the genres covered, but it is important for students imagination to have that spark and realize we can expand much more on our current technology standard. 

          Most writers do not have a background in the science industry, but they are able to put into words what most imagine.  In these books there are usually some current scientific ideas, but then there are others where the truth is stretched.  Teachers can have students search the text to find what is science and what is science fiction. Most know Star Trek from the famous television series, but it is also a Science Fiction novel series.  There are some great examples of where ideas like the space-time continuum is talked about that Einstein originally conceived.  So literature like this can hopefully jump start student’s interest in science, with the intriguing stories that integrate science with science fiction.

Bean, Thomas W. (2003, December). Using Young-Adult Literature to Enhance Comprehension in the Content Areas. North Central Regional Education Laboratory. 

Batchelor, David Allen. (2009, May 5). Science of Star Trek. Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/star_trek.html

 

Fink, Lisa Storm. (2012) Finding the Science Behind Science Fiction through Pared Reading. Retrieved from http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/finding-science-behind-science-927.html