You know, I find speculative fiction one of the most enjoyable, strangest genres we've ever explored in class.
The genre is so off the wall, with such strange funny metaphors used to explain science and relationships that never would've crossed my mind. I like the combination of fact and fiction into stories relevant to everyday people. The story we read about the creation of the universe, likening particles to next door neighbors all jammed together without privacy or space was strange, hilarious, and endearing all at once. It was as if the author gave science this weird, quirky personality. Theory becomes a platform for storytelling.
The irony is that this combination makes the facts all that more memorable. Through these stories, I find myself almost connecting to scientific events as I would to those nature documentaries narrating the mating of two animals like a forbidden love story. It's a matter of finding a point where humans can relate to events so far removed from daily life. That, the author does very well. Occasionally the metaphors are hard to follow without a degree of pre-existing scientific know-how. However, I wonder if high school science classes would benefit from reading one of these off-the-wall little speculative blurbs referencing the beginning of covalent bonds or how oxidation reduction equations are really balanced out.
In high school, I had a teacher for Honors Chemistry who had a love for telling stories. I will never forget her explanations on molecular bonding. She explained them in the form of gender attraction; one bond involved a girl and a guy particle, another involved two of the same kind, and with the third the particles "went both ways." Her metaphor was so funny relevant that I've never forgotten it, despite some of the technical names being thrown to the wayside. Perhaps with the inclusion of speculative fictions students could grow in both subjects, crossing the supposed boundaries between the right brain and left brain. I'd take a guess that students may even enjoy both all that much more because of it.
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