The Generation Ships (GS) Project is designed as a part of the larger mySF Project. It is a STEAM, inter-disciplianry unit for Year 9 students.
The Generation Ships Project looks at this subgenre of Science Fiction with
its particular focii of a small ecosystem struggling for sustainability for
a population many years after the launch of their ship who must decide what
is worth remembering and what is to be lost – moral choices appealing to
middle school students in a problem-solving, constructivist and interactive
unit of work. The unit covers classic video and print texts right up to
Stephenson’s SevenEves, Syfy’s Ascension
and Robinson’s Aurora. Australian
Curriculum content descriptors are linked by themes in the subgenre to
enable a Year 9 cross-disciplinary study using the STEAM model of Science,
Digital Technology, Visual Arts and Mathematics for a timetabled study
enacted through different learning areas. The suitability of the texts with
their concentration on consistent themes in small world simulations
correlates to a Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE)
for schools such as Telopea Park in Canberra, the Australian Capital
Territory. The Project builds on research with students, arguments for
virtual world and technology-rich projects, as well as the use of
Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) for Australian secondary
school teachers. Use of the Kinect sensor to interact with student choices
in the Project subverts the business use of this input device to support
gestural and spatial learning modes and provides valuable analytics to
improve individual and collaborative learning. While the Project is built
outwards from the English learning area, participation is sought from
teachers and content developers across the secondary curriculum for an
ongoing use to match the longevity of this fascinating and challenging
subgenre.
The GS Project is built on an EduBlog site, with Vimeo vodcasts for a flipped classroom and includes research for students and teachers to build a gestural interface for a GS simulation. To jump to these sites, please use the links to the right.
 mySF Project is under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License. |