The Experimental Science Fiction Course Developed by the Research Center for Science and Human Imagination at SUSTech
Contents provided by Chen Faxiang Editor： Li Ruixuan Illustrators: Jimmo Wei, Chen Xiaolin
In the fall of 2020, the Research Assistant of the Research Center for Science and Human Imagination, Chen Faxiang, led a team and introduced a science fiction course to Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School. Under the guidance of the team, the students extensively read a collection of sci-fi works and created their own sci-fi writing.
Selected Works I: One Sentence Sci-fi “When the Earth Has Been Destroyed”
the Earth has been destroyed, there was a smell of barbecue, accompanied by a hint of charcoal.
Author: Xu Cheng’ an (Class 11, Grade Seven, Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School)
Desperately, he climbed to the top of the building and jumped out!
"Ah~, ah~, ah..."
The ground faded away.
"Who turned off the spin gravity of the space station!"
Author: Wang Sizuo (Class 7, Grade Seven, Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School)
Danger! Players can’t log out from the 100% realistic alien virtual game "Earth," and will lose all memories before the game, please do not re-login!
Author: Zhang Chuanyue (Class 4, Grade Eight, The Affiliated School of Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School)
The Artificial Gravity, Illustrated by Jimmo Wei
"This world is simply a scam."
He looked up at the sky and realized that it was actually the ground.
Author: Wang Ximing (Class 9, Grade Eight, Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School)
A long time later, the last person in the universe embarked on a journey to the past.
Author: Huang Yuxuan (Class 3, Grade Eight, The Affiliated School of Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School)
Selected Works II: The Future Exposition
The past has passed, and the future has not yet come, but there is a future in everyone's mind. In the Science Fiction course, the students traveled to the future by the “boat of imagination.” Unfortunately, there was no way to bring back those magical objects from the future. So, the teacher curated a future exposition to present the students’ journey journal:
Exhibit I: Freezing Pill
Designer: Zou Yilin (Class 7, Grade Seven, Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School)
Description: If a car accident victim takes the freezing pill, a colloid will be secreted in their blood, preserving their physical conditions, and pausing all body functions, so the victim will be "frozen," waiting for rescue.
Exhibit II: Pet Intelligence Booster
Designer: Gao Yiming (Class 7, Grade Seven, Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School)
Description: A machine that can connect pets' brain waves to their owners’. It can not only improve pets' intelligence but also directly use brain waves to communicate with them.
Communicating with Pets, Illustrated by Jimmo Wei
Exhibit III: Brain-lib
Designer: Chen Menglai (Class 4, Grade Seven, Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School)
Description: The device connects the brain and the retina and can scan the content of books and transmit it to the brain.
Exhibit IV: Sleep-free Chip
Designer: Wang Haoran (Class 1, Grade Eight, Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School)
Description: The chip can be directly implanted into the brain, and when it works, it builds a "wall" in the corpus callosum, separating the two parts of the brain so that they can work and rest alternately.
Exhibit V: Dream Controller
Designer: Liang Yi (Class 5, Grade Eight, The Affiliated School of Guangzhou No. 5 Middle School)
Description: The dream controller is a chip that can be implanted into the brain and records the dream. If it is a nightmare, it can be directly blocked. If it is a sweet dream, it allows the user to mute the outside world and wake up after the dream is over.
The Implanted Chip in a Corpus Callosum, Illustrated by Jimmo Wei
The textbooks developed by the Research Center for Science and Human Imagination
About the Science Fiction Course
The course was developed along with the textbook series “Science Fiction — Training Course for Youth Imagination and Scientific Innovation” by the Science and Human Imagination Research Center.
The course is based on Canadian cognitive educationist Kieran Egan's theory and borrows the storytelling of Sci-fi written by Wu Yan, Liu Yang, and Han Song, etc. as the framework. The course includes three phases: the preliminary, the intermediate, and the advanced, which respectively focus on cultivating students’ free imagination, scientific imagination, and critical thinking.
The Missions of SUSTech’s Science Fiction Courses, Illustrated by Chen Xiaolin