SCIENCE AND SCIENCE FICTION IN THE MEDIA AND IN LITERATURE
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Bibliography
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
Specific prerequisites are not requested, since all the information needed in order to allow the students to correctly evaluate the relationships between science and science-fiction will be provided during the course.
The exam is oral and will be held in a unique session at the end of the course. In order to stimulate the development of the critical skills and the autonomy of judgment of the students, as well as their capability of collaborating and constructively discussing with the others, the main part of the exam consists of a research done by 2-5 people groups, aimed to deepen one of the topic discussed during the course, which is to be agreed in advance with the professor. Before the exam, each group must send to the professor an abstract of the work, whose approval is mandatory to be admitted to the exam session. However, the exam is individual, therefore it is not permitted that somebody speaks on behalf of all: hence, each member of the group has to present a part of the research more or less of the same size. The use of films, images, and so on, is allowed, if at a reasonable extent, i.e., such as not to excessively increase the duration of the presentation, which must be between 10 and 20 minutes for each student. An individual research may be allowed under adequate justifications and after a previous agreement with the professor. If the research gets a negative evaluation, the group must improve it and present it again at the next exam session. If, on the contrary, the research gets a positive evaluation, the presentation given by each student will be followed by some questions about the other themes discussed in the course to complete the exam and to establish the final vote to be to each member of the group.
The first objective of the course is to provide the students with a basic knowledge of the history of science-fiction literature, cinema, and comics.
The second objective is to provide the students with both the stimuli and the instruments needed to develop a critical understanding of the relationships between science and science-fiction in the mass-media, where nowadays the two fields are getting more and more confused with one another. This is particularly important relatively to scientific communication, but also to communication as such, given the increasing importance that science and technology are destined to have into our society.
The third objective is to provide the students with an introduction to the professional work in the field of science-fiction publishing.
Finally, in order to help the students to develop in the best way their critical skills and their autonomy of judgment, a personal research about the topics discussed in the course is scheduled, to be agreed with the professor and to be developed in a strict collaboration with him, that will represent a substantial part of the final exam.
Final assessment
The exam is oral and will be held in a unique session at the end of the course. In order to stimulate the development of the critical skills and the autonomy of judgment of the students, as well as their capability of collaborating and constructively discussing with the others, the main part of the exam consists of a research done by 2-5 people groups, aimed to deepen one of the topic discussed during the course, which is to be agreed in advance with the professor. Before the exam, each group must send to the professor an abstract of the work, whose approval is mandatory to be admitted to the exam session. However, the exam is individual, therefore it is not permitted that somebody speaks on behalf of all: hence, each member of the group has to present a part of the research more or less of the same size. The use of films, images, and so on, is allowed, if at a reasonable extent, i.e., such as not to excessively increase the duration of the presentation, which must be between 10 and 20 minutes for each student. An individual research may be allowed under adequate justifications and after a previous agreement with the professor. If the research gets a negative evaluation, the group must improve it and present it again at the next exam session. If, on the contrary, the research gets a positive evaluation, the presentation given by each student will be followed by some questions about the other themes discussed in the course to complete the exam and to establish the final vote to be to each member of the group.
1) Institutional part
The first part of the course will provide an introduction to the history of science-fiction and the main topics and problems related to it. The basic guidelines will always be the same, but different accentuations may be done each year, depending on the topic chosen for the monographic part.
2) Monographic part
The second part will be about a specific topic, every year different, relative to science-fiction literature, cinema, television or comics, through which it will be possible to study more in depth the relationships between science-fiction and real science, as well as the problems relative to a correct scientific communication, which had the capability of using, when useful, also suggestions coming from science-fiction, but nonetheless without making any confusion between the two fields.
3) Professional part
Finally, the third part will be about science-fiction publishing, with the aim of deepening the aspects most directly related to the professional work in this field, through the study of some significant publishing experiences, in the field both of literature and comics.
Lecture notes and PowerPoint slides, which will be available both at the course and on the Insubria E-learning website, together a list of suggested books.
The material for the research will be partially provided by the professor and partially will be to be found by the students. Particularly, they are permanently available, in streaming on the Insubria website, the integral records of all the conferences of the present and the past years, especially those of the 13 lectures given, during the course of the academic year 2013-2014, by some of the most distinguished Italian experts of science-fiction, who treated all the fundamental aspects and topics of science-fiction, from literature to cinema, from illustration to comics, from the comparison with real science to its philosophical and religious implications.
Other films eventually studied during the course, or in any case useful for the research, will be provided in DVD and/or on the Insubria e-learning website, depending on which one of the two modalities will be more effective.
Educational activities will be developed through frontal lessons and (if possible, depending on the available funds) some guided visits to scientific research centers and/or seminars given by invited experts, to be individuated each year.
In addition to the lessons given by the professor, PowerPoint slides will be used, and, if useful relatively to the subject of the monographic part, also films, documentaries, and other video materials, including some talks recorded by the professor during scientific international congresses, which he has personally attended.
It is also scheduled (once again, if allowed by the available funds) that some protagonists of the science-fiction publishing world take part to some lessons, in order to have a direct dialogue with the students about their professional experience.
Finally, the professor is available for some moments of discussion and explanation in addition to the scheduled lessons (to be agreed with him by phone or e-mail), especially, even though not exclusively, for those students who cannot attend the course.
More precise details about lessons, seminars, trips, exams and relationships with the professor will be indicated each year in a special file entitled "Descrizione del corso e modalità di esame", which will be uploaded before the beginning of the lessons in the course home page of the E-learning website of the Insubria University. Students are kindly requested to download it as soon as possible and to read it very carefully in all its parts.
Office hours are scheduled at the end of each lesson of the course, or in any moment at the Department by appointment, to be agreed with the professor by phone or e-mail.