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 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-sixth podcast for teachers of secondary students studying Science Fiction, discussing Speculative Fiction with teacher and rising author, Conor Bendl.

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 Conor Bendl’s fictions published in anthologies by the Canberra Science Fiction Guild found through the mySF Project Scripts section of the mySF Project.

Podcast 26 talks with Conor Bendl about aspects of the Speculative Fiction unit he teaches to upper secondary students as well as his own fiction and his upcoming debut SF novel.

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-eight minutes.

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

mySF Project podcast, number 26
Direct download: mysf_026_2009_06_26.mp3
length=”10565426″ 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-fourth podcast for teachers of secondary students studying Science Fiction, discussing the Pixar animation Wall-E in terms of teaching this excellent gem of a movie to younger secondary students as part of a study of artificial intelligence or humankind’s complex relationships with machines.

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

The text of this podcast can be found in the mySF Project Scripts section of the mySF Project, including a resource list and links to related sites and sources.

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-five minutes.

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

mySF Project podcast, number 24
Direct download: mysf_024_2009_06_21.mp3
length=”12372096″ 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” /

mySF Project podcast, number 21: I am Legend

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

The podcast discusses the use of the novel and film I am Legend for use with secondary students studying Science Fiction. These texts and many of the associated ideas for the Last Man and post-Apocalyptic narratives can fit into the Shape of Things to Come theme area of the mySF Project.

There have been three film treatments of Richard Matheson’s novel I am Legend. The podcast discusses the novel and its precursors including Mary Shelley’s The Last Man. Two film adaptations of the novel are analysed, showing how the Last Man model can be used for social criticism with a longer look at the new I am Legend film starring Will Smith. Two derivative films useful for discussing racism and gender (The World, the Flesh and the Devil and The Quiet Earth) are noted with ideas for teaching, then the podcast ends with different uses for the Last Man or post-Apocalyptic text, including comparisons with the short stories “‘The End of the World as we Know it’” and “‘The Smile’”.

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

The purpose of the podcast is to join other educators to collaborate on the construction of great SF teaching resources. The podcast is 30M in size, in mp3 format, running for a worrying forty-five minutes.

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

mySF Project podcast, number 22
Direct download: mysf_022_2009_01_15.mp3
length=”30886434″ type=”audio/mpeg” /