mySF Project blog

The thirty-fourth podcast discusses two recent Science Fiction DVDs Surrogates andGamer, both more likely to be watched by students at home rather than studied at school. Ways of influencing home SF viewing through critical media literacy and checking for scientific consistency are noted.

This podcast is included as a script through the mySF Project Scripts index page .

This podcast relates to the mySF Project, created in 2005 and still growing.

The mySF Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License. Enjoy!

mySF Project podcast, number 34
Direct download: mysf_034_2010_08_15.mp3
length=”20685910″ type=”audio/mpeg”

The thirty-third podcast discusses three recent SF DVDs and some possible uses in the younger secondary classroom. The DVDs are Astro Boy, Planet 51 and Monsters vs Aliens.

This podcast is included as a script through the mySF Project Scripts index page

This podcast relates to the mySF Project, created in 2005 and still growing.

The mySF Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License. Enjoy!

mySF Project podcast, number 33
Direct download: http ://media.libsyn.com/media/pataphysics/mysf_033_2010_07_07.mp3
length=”37107547″ type=”audio/mpeg”

The thirty-second podcast relates to the discussion of Steampunk and the texts and Stormboy found in Podcast 31. This file is an offering of Steampunk amalgam synth music by SlowAlan.

This podcast relates to the mySF Project, created in 2005 and still growing.

The mySF Project and SlowAlan’s Steampunk audio file ‘I am stretched on your grave’ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License. Enjoy!

mySF Project podcast, number 32
Direct download: mysf_032_2010_04_22.mp3
length=”5564303″ type=”audio/mpeg”

The thirty-first podcast reviews and recommends Richard Harland’s World Shaker as well as Otomo’s anime film Steamboy as part of the study of Steampunk, a subgenre of Science Fiction.

This podcast relates to the mySF Project, created in 2005 and still growing.

This podcast is included as a script through the mySF Project Scripts section at Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

mySF Project podcast, number 31
Direct download: mysf_031_2010_04_21.mp3
length=”24968508″ type=”audio/mpeg”

The thirtieth podcast reviews and recommends The Science Fiction Handbook and suggests lesson plans, discussions, research topics and essay ideas based on this fine text, for students looking at Wells’ influential novellas.

This podcast relates to the mySF Project, created in 2005 and still growing.

This podcast is included as a script through the mySF Project Scripts section at mySF Podcast podcast script 30.

Podcast 30 looks in some detail at The Science Fiction Handbook by Booker and Thomas as a valuable resource for teachers of secondary Science Fiction, then suggests some ideas for using their powerful articles with Wells’ novellas The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds.

The purpose of the podcast is to join other educators to collaborate on the construction of great SF teaching resources. The podcast is 24M in size, in mp3 format, running for twenty-four minutes.

The mySF Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

mySF Project podcast, number 30
Direct download = mysf_030_2010_02_13.mp3
length = “26889908″
type=”audio/mpeg”

The twenty-ninth podcast looks at the Young Adults novel Taronga by Victor Kelleher, as taught to Year 8, English students looking at the sub-genre of Post-Apocalyptic fiction within Science Fiction.

This podcast relates to the mySF Project, created in 2005 and still growing.

This podcast is included as a script through the mySF Project Scripts section of the mySF Project.

Podcast 29 discusses the use of Taronga for Year 8 English students, covering the use of symbols and analogies in the text.Taronga also presents motifs and backdrops well-known within the Post-Apocalyptic sub-genre and is useful for eliciting both creative and analytical responses from students to this memorable and visual text. Finally, the short novel provides a popular model for analysing other texts within the sub-genre.

The full script for this podcast including a resource list of references can be found at http://www.pataphysics.net.au/mysf_project/mysf_scripts/mysf_script_podcast29.htm. Additional materials for the focus class on Post-Apocalyptic fiction as well as the special school project to create this project can be found at http://www.pataphysics.net.au/mysf_project/mysf_scripts/taronga/mysf_script_taronga.htm

The purpose of the podcast is to join other educators to collaborate on the construction of great SF teaching resources. The podcast is 19.5M in size, in mp3 format, running for twenty minutes.

The mySF Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

mySF Project podcast, number 29
Direct download:
mysf_029_2010_01_11.mp3
Length=”20371187″ type=”audio/mpeg”

The twenty-eighth podcast looks at Oshii’s ‘PatLabor 2′ as a political interpretation of the effects of computer mediation, using that wo0nderful trope of the Mecha.

This podcast relates to the mySF Project, created in 2005 and still growing.

This podcast is included as a script through the mySF Project Scripts section of the mySF Project.

Podcast 28 takes an idiosyncratic view of the interest in giant, glistening Mecha apart from the wonderful Japanese anime tradition and then focuses in on Oshii’s ‘PatLabor 2′ and a persuasive interpretation by Chris Bolton in the ‘Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams’ collection published in 2008. Suggestions for the article and film’s use relate to teachers of upper secondary English students looking at the shifting relationships of man and machine in Science Fiction.

A script version of the podcast with a full resource list is available at http://www.pataphysics.net.au/mysf_project/mysf_scripts/mysf_script_podcast28.htm.

The purpose of the podcast is to join other educators to collaborate on the construction of great SF teaching resources. The podcast is 10M in size, in mp3 format, running for twenty-two minutes.

The mySF Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

mySF Project podcast, number 28
Direct download: mysf_028_2009_12_29.mp3
length=”10459703″ type=”audio/mpeg”

The twenty-seventh podcast discussing some innovative and intriguing technological tricks and tools for teachers of secondary Science Fiction.

This podcast relates to the mySF Project, created in 2005 and still growing.

This podcast is not included as a script but there are links to Thea van Os’ suggestions and solutions, found through the mySF Project Scripts section of the mySF Project.

Podcast 27 talks with Thea van Os, a past English teacher and SF buff and currently a coordinator of learning technologies, about the sort of learning technologies that are well suited to teachers of secondary Science Fiction.

The purpose of the podcast is to join other educators to collaborate on the construction of great SF teaching resources. The podcast is 10.2M in size, in mp3 format, running for twenty-four minutes.

The mySF Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

mySF Project podcast, number 27
Direct download: mysf_027_2009_06_27.mp3
length=”10710457″ type=”audio/mpeg”

The twenty-fifth podcast for teachers of secondary students studying Science Fiction, discussing the recent Australian National University (ANU) course ‘Speculative Fictions’ with its author and chief lecturer.

This podcast relates to the mySF Project, created in 2005.

This podcast is not included as a script but there is a sample essay, by kind permission of Jane, one of the students in Rich Pascal’s Speculative Fictions course. This essay received a fine grade and relates to critical views of two texts, Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus and William Gibson’s Neuromancer found through the mySF Project Scripts section of the mySF Project.

Podcast 25 asks the author of the ‘Speculative Fictions’ course at the ANU about this unusual course with a special attention given to the SF aspects of the course. The discussion covers texts, the relationships between the three genres covered by the course and its reception by tertiary students.

The purpose of the podcast is to join other educators to collaborate on the construction of great SF teaching resources. The podcast is 12M in size, in mp3 format, running for twenty-eight minutes.

The mySF Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

mySF Project podcast, number 25
Direct download: http://media.libsyn.com/media/pataphysics/mysf_025_2009_06_23.mp3
length=”12371427″ type=”audio/mpeg” /

The twenty-third podcast for teachers of secondary students studying Science Fiction, discussing the use of X Minus One dramas as ‘Ready to go’ podcasts.

This podcast relates to the mySF Project, created in 2005 and still growing!

The text of this podcast can be found in the mySF Project Scripts section of the mySF Project.

Podcast 23 discusses the use of the X Minus One series of radio dramas produced in the 1950s and now available as podcasts as ‘Good to go’ podcasts for students. Podcast original authors include Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Clifford Simak, Robert Bloch and others. The suitability of the adaptations of these stories as scaffolding for studies with their advantages and disadvantages is aimed at middle to upper secondary students and their teachers. The podcast includes brief ideas for assessment tasks with some use of evidence from sources to support these uses.

The purpose of the podcast is to join other educators to collaborate on the construction of great SF teaching resources. The podcast is 16M in size, in mp3 format, running for twenty-four minutes.

The mySF Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

mySF Project podcast, number 23
Direct download: mysf_023_2009_04_25.mp3
length=”16178450″ type=”audio/mpeg” /