LAB LIT WRITING FICTION BASED ON REAL SCIENCE

Transcription

1 LAB LIT WRITING FICTION BASED ON REAL SCIENCE

2 Spillover by David Quammen

3 Intuition by Allegra Goodman

4 Fact or Fiction? We just read excerpts from two different stories. Which one is fiction? What is nonfiction? How do you know? Which of the five elements are in both excerpts? Let s look.

5 Class Discussion What do fiction and literary nonfiction have in common? How are they different? What fiction have you read in which there is scientific information that may not be grounded in fact (for instance, science fiction or fantasy books)? What nonfiction science pieces like essays, newspaper articles, or biographies have you read that have strong story elements in them?

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7 Top Lab Lit Books on Goodreads.com This is a list of NOVELS that realistically portray science in fiction. There may be some overlap with science fiction but, for the most part, books on this list should portray science and scientists in the real world (as opposed to a speculative or future world). This list does NOT include nonfiction.

8 A Novel Idea In groups, you will choose a topic you are learning or have recently learned about in science that could be the basis for a novel or movie. Collaborate to write a plot synopsis (summary) for a movie, story, or a novel rooted in the topic. How would the science, and the work of scientists, be woven into the plot? How would you manage to impart interesting and factual scientific information in the story but make sure it does not distract from the compelling plot and characters? In 10 minutes, you will present your ideas to the class.

9 Exit Ticket What ideas sound most interesting? Which are the most realistic? Which seem like the best use of science information? Why?

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11 Scientists at Work (10 Minutes) We are going to create a character sketch for one of our characters. Each of the following slides has a quick summary of a reallife scientist and his/her work. Pick one that will fit in well with your sci-fi storyline and fill out a character sketch sheet for your character based on the real-life person. Some of the profiles may help you think of great ideas for your story and conflicts that could emerge!

12 Michael Dickinson on the Amazing Fruit Fly They can taste with their wings. They can fly for over 6 miles without eating anything, and they use the sky as a directional compass. They live on every continent except Antarctica. And neuron for neuron, their brains have a wider range of behavior than more complex mammalian brains. For Michael Dickinson, a MacArthur prizewinning scientist, the humble fruit fly is a dream machine, and its brain a treasure trove of complexity that should be studied for its own sake, not just insight into humans.

13 Edvard and May-Britt Moser on a Brain's GPS How do we know where we are in the world? How do we know where we are in the room, even? The challenge is to figure out just how the cells in the brain create a map of the outside world. A husband and wife team discovered that there are cells in rats brains that function as a kind of built-in navigation system that is at the very heart of how animals know where they are, where they are going and where they have been. They called them grid cells. May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Trondheim, Norway, are trying to piece out what the brain knows about where you are in space.

14 Richard Ellis on the Art of Ocean Life Richard Ellis was playing tennis in Little Compton, R.I., during the summer of Jaws when he got a call from fishermen in nearby Sakonnet. They had a dead shark. Would he like to come down to the pier? Mr. Ellis, a painter and aspiring naturalist who had designed exhibits for the American Museum of Natural History, including its iconic blue whale, hesitated. He already had lots of material for a book he was writing about sharks. The big fish was probably just a sandbar shark, or a blue.

15 Linda Fried on Frailty and Aging The signal public health achievement of the 20th century was the increase of the human life span. Now, as that achievement raises the proportion of the aged around the world, what once seemed an unalloyed blessing is too often regarded as a burden a financial burden, a health care burden, even a social burden. It s nuts, said Dr. Linda P. Fried. To assume defeat from what every one of us as individuals wants suggests we re not asking the right questions.

16 Michael Gazzaniga on the Brain's Split Personality The scientists exchanged one last look and held their breath. Everything was ready. The electrode was in place, threaded between the two hemispheres of a living cat s brain; the instruments were tuned to pick up the chatter passing from one half to the other. The only thing left was to listen for that electronic whisper, the brain s own internal code. The amplifier hissed the three scientists expectantly leaning closer and out it came, loud and clear. To see videos of these scientists or read more, go here:

17 Types of Sci-Fi Movies: Where does your story belong? Military Sci-Fi Independence Day Avatar Starship Troopers The War of the Worlds Hard Sci-Fi Inception 2001: A Space Odyssey The Martian Contact Cyberpunk Matrix Tron RoboCop Minority Report Dystopian Sci-Fi The Hunger Games WALL-E I, Robot The Fifth Element Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Planet of the Apes I Am Legend Terminator Any zombie movie Biopunk Sci-Fi Jurassic Park The Fly Gattaca The Happening Sci-Fi Horror Cloverfield Alien Predator The Mist Comedy Sci-Fi Spaceballs Men in Black Young Frankenstein Ghostbusters Time Travel Sci-Fi Interstellar Back to the Future Bill & Ted s Excellent Adventure Flight of the Navigator

18 Story Planning It s time to plan your science fiction story. Fill out your story planner. Your group will map out the events in the story, then type it in a shared document on Office 365 tomorrow. As you work, think about what other movies in your same genre have in common plotwise. This will help you figure out what to do in your own story.

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20 Begin typing your story. Come up with a title. One person in the group will create a word document with that title. After it is created, he/she will click share and type in the usernames of the people in the group. Then, all should be able to open the document at the same time and work on it together from their own computers.

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