Using Superheroes to Teach Physics: College Courses in Sci-Fi

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Can Superman teach college students about fluid dynamics?

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the more perplexing questions facing science these days is this one: How do we get more young people interested in science? Leading the way are a number of college courses -- that can be taken for credit -- that focus on the science in science fiction. After all, why can't superheroes, Star Trek and Harry Potter teach us about the answer to life, the universe and everything? (Or, at least debate the merits of the answer "42".)

Perhaps the most scientific of these classes is The Science of Superheroes, a course taught at the University of California at Irvine. Superman becomes the poster-boy for fluid dynamics as he soars through the air. I'd imagine that students could learn about the drag produced by Superman's cape. Oh, and calculate how fast Lois Lane is plummeting toward the earth. How fast will Superman need to fly in order to catch her before she splatters on the pavement? Also addressed in the class: The strength of spider silk. You know that Peter Parker wants in on this one. WonderWoman and other superheroes are also used to illustrate basic physics concepts. If elementary and secondary school teachers used Superman and Batman to teach science, I wonder if there would be more early interest in science.

At Frostburg State University there is a class offered on The Science of Harry Potter. I guess it's more fantasy than science fiction, but deep scientific questions are probed in this course. Remember the three-headed dog? Perhaps genetic engineering can explain it. And flying broomsticks (and falling off of them) offer yet another opportunity to talk about the physics of flight and gravity.

Science fiction offers more opportunities than just studying science. Just as science has long provided a basis for some philosophical and ethical discussions, science fiction provides those opportunities. Philosophy and Star Trek, taught at Georgetown University, explores the deep issues presented in Star Trek, such as whether or not an android like Data constitutes a person. Race and metaphysics are also tackled. And topics encompassing the nature of reality and time travel are also discussed.

Sure, science majors aren't going to take these classes. But they could go some distance in helping everyone else learn a little more about science -- and even persuade a few more to become interested in following a scientific path.

© 2009 PhysOrg.com

   

• Doug_Huffman - Mar 31, 2009
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  Heinlein's books, or any of the early hard-SciFi writers' books, will provide much less diffuse science and much less post-modern social commentary.
  
  Read The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt.
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• Duude - Mar 31, 2009
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  If it takes superheroes to create interest in science, its benefits will be short-lived. Science captivates those with scientific minds. You aren't going to turn one who is artistic minded into someone who is scientific minded anymore than you're going to turn a boy into a girl.....bad example as we're already doing that....but you get the point.
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• thebulldogsolution - Apr 01, 2009
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  This is a great idea and is another example of using a little imagination and science fiction to promote advance mathematics and physics by a creative instructor. Star Trek science has been credited with inspiring useful technologies such as cell phones, hand held computing devices, alternative transportation and many areas in the medical fields. A simple Google search will prove this fact or you can visit Silicon Valley and see the impact that science fiction books and superheroes have had. You can also visit Pixar, Microsoft and Apple and find that many engineers and scientists in fact went into their fields because of daydreams and superheroes. These characters are just a tool to teach in the hands of an intelligent teacher. http://news.softp...91.shtml
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• bestcbstore - Apr 02, 2009
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  Teach the Bible to Change Lives -- the Course to Maximize Your Teaching Potential!
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• getgoa - Apr 09, 2009
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  To me science is for the independents not for the masses, and the superhero coming in to save the day from the masses makes sense to me.
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