Developing an elective around Star Trek

[elegantlion]

I thought I had asked or read a thread about this before but can't find it. Ds and I were talking today about things he might like to explore in a few years. Star Trek entered the conversation and I thought it might be fun to take a semester (possibly year long) class on Star Trek.

 

I know there are a thousands ways to go at this, but I'm looking for books, videos, etc. that could help with this exploration.

 

Some ideas I have already include:

 

Books: (some great ones on this link)

Physics of the Impossible

Star Trek and Philosophy

The Ethics of Star Trek

The Klingon Dictionary

Physics of Star Trek

 

Also maybe explore these areas:

The religions of Star Trek and compare to known religions

The judicial system of space

The Klingon as warriors

Astronomy

A bio on Roddenberry

Compare/contrast the different captains of the series

Engineering of a Starship

 

Watch the movies/series and compare. Rewatch the series that was on History (?) channel about Star Trek.

 

Explore how the technology of Star Trek has affected known technology.

 

 

Has anyone done a class like this? Do you have any other websites, books, or videos that could be added?

[TechWife]

Oh - when you are done you should sell it!

 

Things to consider:

artificial intelligence, current state of robotics

diplomacy, debate

explore how human cultures have impacted one another for good and for evil.

Write job descriptions and career paths for the various jobs on the star ships: start with the jobs on the show and then find a comparable modern day job and document a career path, education needed, job duties, etc.

Star Fleet Medical - how far do we have to go to get there.

He could explore computer programming.

Program an NXT to get a feel for how robotics works.

Participate on a FIRST team to get a feel for how a bigger robot works.

Lots of potential on the NASA web site for space exploration topics

History of funding in the US for the space program

After the shuttle,what's next?

Compare Deep Space Nine to the ISS

Is the United Federation of Planets possible? Is it wise?

Character analysis, plot analysis

Use of literary elements in television

Special effects (who, what, how)

Trace the development of a character from the start of one of the series to the end

Acting class

Design your ideal space ship or space station using CAD

 

OK, this sounds like a blast! I'm looking forward to reading about it!

[TechWife]

Look what I found - you can mine these sites for ideas:

 

Thinking Boldly with Star Trek (University of Texas, El Paso):

Thinking Boldly with Star Trek (UTEP)

Science Fiction and Star Trek Research (includes reading list)

 

Philosophy and Star Trek (Georgetown U) course description

 

NY Times Podcast: Star Trek and Critical Thinking

 

Just found more from UTEP:

Found a nugget of an idea amongst them: classic science fiction literature: Frankenstein, Isaac Asimov, etc. (look in the UTEP article).

Edited October 12, 2010 by TechWife

[elegantlion]

Oh, thank you TechWife! I'm terribly excited about all of this. :D

[Guest]

My Aspie dd spent a year in which we worked nearly everything in our curriculum into something related to Star Trek. You've dug up a lot of the resources, but there are a couple more we used.

 

--Star Trek on the Brain: Alien Minds, Human Minds

--In the Land of Invented Languages (two chapters on the invention of Klingon and a hilarious account of the annual Klingon Language Institute Meeting)

--autobiographies of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichele Nichols, plus Nicholas Meyer's recent memoirs about directing

 

If you are close to one of the places where the Star Trek exhibit is displayed, it's worth a go. Lots of costumes from the shows, original and replica props, pieces of the bridge and captain's chairs replicas, etc.

 

It's also interesting to read about the auctioning of original show materials and to chart the increase in value of things. Kirk's chair was once in a bar north of LA and was "rediscovered" and is now immensely valuable, for instance. All kinds of weird stuff: like Antiques Roadshow but with Star Trek memorabilia.

 

We also did a bit of investigating around the Roswell incident. Our local aerospace museum had a wonderful display called "Aliens," which included newspapers from the 1950s, maps, photos, etc.

[TechWife]

Do you happen to have any lesson plans that you can share?

[Guest]

Do you happen to have any lesson plans that you can share?

 

Ummm, if this is for me, I have to say we didn't make anything into lesson plans at all. This was not planned ahead of time; dd developed an Aspie fixation with Star Trek and began to devour everything she could find. My role was mainly bringing in aspects she had not considered; (I adored the Klingon Language Institute chapters in the book on linguistics, for instance, read them to her, and had her describe "earther's" (English) grammar as seen by a Klingon. I found most of the non-fiction and just read aloud what I thought she might enjoy or left books around to catch her interest. An Aspie in pursuit of a passion is an uncontrollable natural force, so I didn't try to shape it but just take advantage of the will to vacuum up everything that related, while the passion lasted.

 

By the way, this was around grade 7; so if she were to have a similar interest in high school I'd probably be slightly more insistent that it include some kind of written work besides the fan fiction and manga versions she wrote in junior high.

[elegantlion]

Thank you, KarenAnne. I have much more to research now. :D I find this topic very engaging. :lol:

[KAR120C]

I was taking a medical ethics class in grad school when Voyager was in its first season, and every single week the topic would somehow come back around to "just like that episode of Star Trek...." in one way or another. ;)

[elegantlion]

I was taking a medical ethics class in grad school when Voyager was in its first season, and every single week the topic would somehow come back around to "just like that episode of Star Trek...." in one way or another. ;)

 

Isn't that the truth! One of the reasons ds loved being homeschooled when he was younger was so he was home to watch whatever Star Trek that was on in the afternoon. I've been quite surprised how often we use Star Trek as a reference point in our studies.

[Corraleno]

The Teaching Co has a course called Impossible: Physics Beyond the Edge that covers things like time travel, escaping from a black hole, machines that produce limitless energy, traveling faster than the speed of light, and other sci fi topics.

 

What a cool idea for a course!

 

Jackie

[pbjmeyer]

called "star trek tech". It would be worth finding - perhaps it's on netflix.

 

I googled "start trek tech" and found a lot of web sites that might provide resources.

 

HTH!

[LatinTea]

My dd would love this! She is my huge Star Trek fan around here. Thanks for reminding me about doing this kind of year. As for ideas, I would add science fiction in general. That would definitely fill up a whole year. AND I think you mentioned Astronomy for Science or there's Physics (as also was mentioned). It's always good to tie the lit in with science if at all possible and this is, well, all about science so that's great. Now, just to figure out when to schedule it all! :001_smile:

Edited October 13, 2010 by LatinTea

[elegantlion]

The Teaching Co has a course called Impossible: Physics Beyond the Edge that covers things like time travel, escaping from a black hole, machines that produce limitless energy, traveling faster than the speed of light, and other sci fi topics.

 

What a cool idea for a course!

 

Jackie

 

Of to check that out! Quirky kids are awesome, aren't they!

 

called "star trek tech". It would be worth finding - perhaps it's on netflix.

 

I googled "start trek tech" and found a lot of web sites that might provide resources.

 

HTH!

 

Thank you. I had forgotten what that was called.

 

My dd would love this! She is my huge Star Trek fan around here. Thanks for reminding me about doing this kind of year. As for ideas, I would add science fiction in general. That would definitely fill up a whole year. AND I think you mentioned Astronomy for Science or there's Physics (as also was mentioned). It's always good to tie the lit in with science if at all possible and this is, well, all about science so that's great. Now, just to figure out when to schedule it all! :001_smile:

 

Thank you for the reminder on the sci-fi. You really could do a Star Trek centered year and have a very full year. My mind is reeling now....Study abroad... a year at Starfleet Academy. :lol:

[TechWife]

Study abroad... a year at Starfleet Academy. :lol:

 

Love it!

[LatinTea]

One other thing I just remembered, we have this cool drawing book titled, I Can Draw Star Trek. There a few of these available through Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Starships-Star-Trek-Can-Draw/dp/0689809212/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1286980713&sr=1-3

 

It's mostly technical type drawings, but still fun to add to the mix! :)

[Guest]

Study abroad... a year at Starfleet Academy. :lol:

 

About a year ago I read that an elementary or middle school in Los Angeles actually called classes Starfleet Academy, the kids cadets, and presented some subjects as if the kids were in training. There was a picture in the LA paper of the teacher with her trekkie shirt.

[Nan in Mass]

You wouldn't believe how closely Plato's Republic, Beowulf, and other great books and Star Trek are. : )

 

If I did this course, I think I would try to make it cover some things that don't get covered in the normal run of things in our homeschool. I wouldn't do biographies or philosophy or politics, since those get covered in our regular studies. I would do things like management styles. I vaguely remember reading a book that used different Star Trek characters to teach different management styles. One of the things that has intrigued me about the Star Trek series is that is shows adults working. Many movies and TV shows just show them playing. There are other topics like this that are outside our normal studies, too, like mediation and psychology, sociology, and anthropology. It would depend on your purpose for the class, though. If you are using the interest to teach normal subjects in a more interesting way, then this approach would not work, obviously.

-Nan

[Nan in Mass]

My older two go to Starfleet Academy. Beware what you are doing when you let them focus on Star Trek...

[elegantlion]

You wouldn't believe how closely Plato's Republic, Beowulf, and other great books and Star Trek are. : )

 

If I did this course, I think I would try to make it cover some things that don't get covered in the normal run of things in our homeschool. I wouldn't do biographies or philosophy or politics, since those get covered in our regular studies. I would do things like management styles. I vaguely remember reading a book that used different Star Trek characters to teach different management styles. One of the things that has intrigued me about the Star Trek series is that is shows adults working. Many movies and TV shows just show them playing. There are other topics like this that are outside our normal studies, too, like mediation and psychology, sociology, and anthropology. It would depend on your purpose for the class, though. If you are using the interest to teach normal subjects in a more interesting way, then this approach would not work, obviously.

-Nan

 

What a great point, Nan. I was watching some show the other night and wondering how they had time to do X, shouldn't they be working?

 

Great ideas, more to ponder. I have no clue how I'll end up approaching it, but I'd like to make it outside the normal studies mostly, I think. Clear as mud in my head right now.

[Brilliant]

My kids (freshman and senior) are currently obsessed with Star Trek, so I'm so happy you posted this!

 

Here's a book we're all reading now that I picked up from the library - did NOT see it on the Amazon list you linked:

The Double Vision of Star Trek by Hertenstein. It explores the duality of many of the themes in Star Trek, so it's literary/philosophy based. It covers TOS, TNG, and the movies, and compares them to other fantasy literature such as Tolkein and Lewis.

[Corraleno]

The more I think about it, the more I love the idea of spending a year focusing on science fiction! I set up a public Amazon Wishlist, with almost 70 resources, ranging from literary criticism to linguistics, philosophy, science, etc.

 

There are so many cool books and resources, for pretty much every subject. You could study grammar and linguistics via The Language Construction Kit, In the Land of Invented Languages (thanks KarenAnne!), and assorted books on Klingon (including translations of Hamlet & Gilgamesh). There are literally dozens of books on philosophy, politics, culture, and religion in science fiction literature, as well as in specific films/shows like Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG, and 2001 (see the linked Wishlist). And the content is inherent in the works, not just "added" in a gimmicky way by the authors of those books. For example, the co-creators of BSG were both poli sci majors and explicitly wrote BSG to reflect contemporary political issues. Ursula Le Guin was the daughter of anthropologists; her novels are sometimes used in ethnography classes as excellent examples of cultural description.

 

For science, there are books on astrobiology/exobiology, extremephiles, biotechnology (and the ethical issues raised), astrophysics, the search for extrasolar planets, "impossible physics," etc. There's even a textbook, Life in the Universe, which covers biology, chemistry, physics, geology and astronomy with a focus on the origins of the universe and life therein, with a 200-page Activities Manual. For Geology, there are books about how life on Earth would be different if we had two moons (or none), or if the crust was thicker, we were closer to the sun, etc. A book called World Building, written by a geologist to help sci fi writers create realistic worlds, also covers a lot of geology in a fun way.

 

For Literature, there's a 1200+ page anthology, Science Fiction: Stories and Contexts, which includes classic sci fi stories from the 18th-21st centuries, chosen for their "literary, philosophical, and cultural richness." The book was designed for use in college-level sci fi genre courses, and includes critical essays. Add some classic novels and you have a terrific literature course.

 

For history, much of 20th-21st century history is reflected in science fiction, from social history (colonialism, race relations, the Cold War, etc) to technological history such as developments in physics, biotech, weapons/warfare, and space exploration. There's an interesting book called Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957-1962, which looks at the way the "space race" was portrayed in the media.

 

One of the things I find really appealing about this approach is that the fictional nature of the "subject" (whether an invented language, culture, social structure, planet, life form, etc.) really lends itself to the discussion of abstract ideas: What does it mean to be human? What is the nature of power? How do societies/religions/social groups use the "otherness" of different groups to justify their own status, or even to justify persecution of the "other?" What characteristics are most often used to distinguish between "us" and "the other"? In a world of limitless energy and material goods (e.g. Star Trek), what resources do people/aliens seek to control?

 

I would love to do a year like this for 11th grade. I'm thinking of doing American History in 9th and pairing it with *Utopian/Dystopian Literature, followed by another round of Western Civ I (for CLEP) in 10th, paired with The Epic Hero in World Literature. Since both of those literary themes are huge in sci fi, I think it would lead really nicely into a year of sci fi and a lot of political/sociological/anthropological/philosophical discussion. DS will probably be doing Precalc or Calc and maybe Chemistry at the CC in 11th, so combining his at-home subjects into an all-in-one Sci Fi Literature/Philosophy/Social Science/Science course might be a fun and effective option.

 

*(I know this is an unusual pairing, but I want to focus on American history through the "lens" of differing concepts of an "ideal" government, the conflict between individual rights and the common good, the role of government, etc., from colonization through to current political conflicts. The lit will range from Plato's Republic & More's Utopia to novels like Animal Farm, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Feed, etc.)

 

I love this board, I get so many ideas from you guys!

 

Jackie

[elegantlion]

I love this board, I get so many ideas from you guys!

 

Jackie

 

:svengo: ...And I get so many great ideas from you. Wow, thank you, Jackie.

[Guest]

Jackie, you've just done a whole lot of work for me! I was planning on doing science fiction next year or in 11th grade also, and have begun collecting a pile of novels and short stories, and I have the books on Star Trek I began with... but that's as far as I have gotten. Thanks for the reinspiration!

 

Also: Dd and I have both read Packing For Mars; it's really funny and fascinating. The author approaches the whole idea through the human body as a set of engineering and psychological challenges to be dealt with before space travel can proceed or occur. Roach is a wonderful model for aspiring writers and scientists because she is just unremittingly curious and when she gets a question or an idea going, she is like a terrier, just refusing to let go.

 

She ends the book with a very optimistic hope that we can reach Mars by the end of her lifetime. That brought up all kinds of ethical questions for me, in particular: at what cost, given the tremendous problems that need solving here on earth? Interesting also to tie into Obama's reconfiguration and different prioritizing of the US space program in general, and of course to the whole question of whether the pursuit of knowledge itself is always, necessarily, a good thing.

 

Another sidelight dd and I explored, albeit briefly, was the history of computers as it pertains to the space program. As part of this investigation we came across a picture and read a description of the first computer that piloted the Apollo to the moon -- it was nightmare-inducing because it was so simple and unpowerful compared to today's computers! I was stunned anyone had entrusted someone's life to its capabilities.

 

One further set of books dd really liked: if you have a Terry Pratchett fan, there are three books which combine science, history, anthropology, and a fantasy story. They're called The Science of Discworld, Darwin's Watch, and The Globe.

Edited October 14, 2010 by Guest

[Nan in Mass]

With my older one, the fourth year of literature was scifi instead of moderns. Much more suitable for my family. I am doing the same thing with the youngest. What really happens is that we take 4 years to read aloud some of the ancient, medieval, and renaissance works, then senior year read the foundation documents, and during summers, they read scifi on their own and write about it. That lets us take more time for the works we like (ancients and medieval). It turned out with the older one that he did actually read some moderns (like LOTR) but didn't write about them or do any background work. I came up with this plan when I was going through the moderns list and scratching off the works that I thought would depress or go over my son's head. I was left with 1984, depressing but not something I wanted him to miss, and a few other scifi's. And I realized that the things not on the list that I wanted him to read were almost all scifi.

 

I think the utopian/ditopian/US History link-up is a natural.

 

And I think that it is dangerous for any child who might possibly go into science or technology not to read lots of scifi. Scifi explores the what-if's of the technology and knowledge they are going to be involved in developing.

 

We linked scifi and anthropology, too, because I realized somewhere in my 20's that a major reason I liked scifi is that it explores other cultures. At that point, I switched to reading earth-culture anthropology books GRIN for a bit. I am not letting mine out of high school without a intro to cultural anthropology's framework for thinking about other cultures. Mine are travelers and I think that would be equally dangerous. Scifi is an appealing way to do this. I did it with the older one, but it could be done better. I guess I better study Jackie's list GRIN.

Thank you so much, Jackie!

-Nan

[Corraleno]

One further set of books dd really liked: if you have a Terry Pratchett fan, there are three books which combine science, history, anthropology, and a fantasy story. They're called The Science of Discworld, Darwin's Watch, and The Globe.

Oh, these look great! And I love that the illustration on the cover of Science of Discworld is a parody of Joseph Wright of Derby's famous Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump — except with Earth in the jar instead of a dead bird. :lol:

 

Jackie

[Guest]

Jackie, because you like to research... I just googled "syllabus science fiction" and came up with so many courses similar to what we're talking about here. Fun to look at what resources they use, and in particular how many of the kids are getting to watch some great scifi movies and call it college credit! It's fascinating to take some time and compare the syllabi and reading lists made for college classes with ones done by fan groups or reading clubs. The latter are doing some wonderful stuff.

 

I forgot to say when I first wrote this: I think our communal plan of linking sci fi lit to the actual science, though, is fairly unique as far as I can see, and I like it MUCH better than the more strictly and narrowly disciplinary "lit" (or popular lit and film) classes.

Edited October 15, 2010 by Guest

[Capt_Uhura]

A thread after my own heart.

 

Live Long and Prosper....Kapla

 

Capt_Uhura

[Ravin]

If you can get your hands on a copy of The Klingon Dictionary, you could use it for language study. It actually gave me some solid insights into how language works when I was in high school...

 

You could do a whole year easily of classic literature drawn on by Star Trek--as references, for theme and plot, etc. Not to mention Shakespeare in Klingon...

 

And then there's ethics, comparative philosophy (who did Roddenberry borrow Vulcan philosophy from?) etc.

[MicheleinMN]

:bigear:

[Dmmetler]

My undergrad school offered a 1 semester elective on the religion, philosophy, and Ethics of Star Trek, team taught by a religion professor and a Philosophy professor. Very popular course :)

[emzhengjiu]

You could do a history study to consider the effects on various cultures / civilizations if the Prime Directive had been followed by explorers.

[In The Great White North]

Leadership. I googled it and there were pages and pages.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Leadership-Lessons-Generation/dp/0671520989

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/03/05/five-leadership-lessons-from-james-t-kirk/

 

http://www.fastcompany.com/1279233/12-leadership-lessons-bridge-starship-enterprise

[elegantlion]

You all are great. In my insomniac induced haze later this morning, I started thinking how we could roll a science credit into this as well. I found some MIT classes that would be great: The Big questions, Excitatory Topics in Physics. , and Chandra Astrophysics Institute. , plus some astronomy. Still pondering and will be investigating all the ideas you've given.

 

We'll be studying the Roman- Middle Ages time period which will be perfect for examining the Prime Directive and exploration. We plan on reading parts of Marco Polo and Dante for sure, so that will great to discuss "alien worlds".

[CupOCoffee]

Watching this thread intently....you all are so inspiring. My family are late-late blooming Star Trek fans and wow, I would love to use some of ya'alls ideas...

[claire up north]

I once knew a college philosophy teacher who routinely used next generation episodes as a launching pad for philosophical discussions. Her class was wildly popular with the students, though seen as quite difficult.

 

I think you're onto a great idea!