“Gravity,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Inception,” “Back to the Future,” “Jurassic Park,” “The Matrix”… That is not even the smallest percentage of sci-fi movies that you may know and love. Many studies state that children who prefer such films develop essential creativity and logical skills faster than their peers. Of course, a little kid won’t go into too much detail, but it still creates an interest to find out whether artificial intelligence is a myth, life on other planets is possible, or “Time Machine” can actually happen in real life. Watching science fiction is good for both overall intelligence and insatiable curiosity.
The recent study by Harvard University states that students who read or watch a lot of fiction tend to possess better cognitive skills than those who prefer non-fiction. The most successful authors are those who take the readers inside people’s heads. The part of the human brain which stands for empathy and imagination perceives fiction stories and develops a creative approach to thinking and problem-solving. Thus, it is true that assigning tones of non-fiction readings to students who hate them does not make too much sense.
One more study by the Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education found out that sci-fi works stimulate kids’ technological creativity. It was also discovered that proper learning activities crafted after analyzing the styles of student’s learning are effective for creating an incentive for technological creativity. Those who enjoy reading sci-fi literature and watching fiction films develop several essential skills required for successful and fast learning. Those are:
- Reading
- Comprehension
- Research
- Critical analysis
- Writing
The Positive Effects of Science Fiction on Education
In fact, reading fiction stories helps students with writing their academic papers as most of them require something more than boring facts. The initial step for generating new excellent ideas is to fill one’s head with old points, and then depict them in a new light. As every tutor expects to see both creativity and knowledge, it is a good idea to pin down something described in the fiction story and discuss it from the scientific point of view using external sources. Students who try to come up with something creative, but lack inspiration may hire online writers (e.g., https://www.bestcustompaper.com/write-my-essay-for-me). Rereading the works of professionals will help to develop an original approach to essay writing. You can also try choosing a few renowned essayists and follow their development. As you learn how other authors build their stories, you can get an overall picture of how a successful essay looks. Writing academic papers is an integral part of any course, and that is why it is important.
If you decide to master the art of writing, you should pay more attention to sci-fi books and movies. Here are the basic positive science fiction effects:
- Inspires students to discover more, look for ways to develop themselves, strive to grasp how science works, come up with solutions to existing problems.
- Makes the students realize how certain technologies work and where we are heading as a society in terms of innovations.
- Motivates the students to find new ways of benefiting from using various technological advancements in real life. It might also allow to speed up research in different fields of study.
- Prompts implementation of different scientific technologies depicted in fiction into the real world with the goal of using them for the greater good.
- Creates dreams or “hook” questions to influence the minds of the students. After growing up, the kids still want to explore the subjects of their interest, trying to offer new technologies and solutions to development-hindering problems.
- Helps to understand how to apply various innovations smartly.
On the whole, science movies help to understand how to make dreams come true. Sci-fi literature and films help younger generation set their goals and find the necessary means to achieve them.
At the same time, this coin has another side. Sci-fi often breeds an exaggerated or unrealistic expectation of what is achievable. Kids should be able to draw a line between what’s real, what’s possible, and what is impossible to achieve (at least for now). Their parents and teachers should explain that every new stage of technological development should be completed step-by-step, and it would not be possible to invent smartphones without previous innovations such as electricity, cameras, or portative batteries.
To summarize, sci-fi products such as books and movies increase an average student’s interest in science and the related fields. The Journal of College Science Fiction admitted that such franchises as “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” are the best examples of classic science fiction resources, and teachers should consider them while trying to motivate their students to study.
