Learning Space

As a genre, science fiction is uniquely suited for highlighting and modeling the basic tenets of critical pedagogy, that branch of educational philosophy and theory devoted equally to 1) exposing the hidden power structures embedded in educational practice and 2) articulating equitable and sustainable alternatives. The science fiction novum – that is, the technological or scientific newness found within the text – serves as a catalyst not only within the textual universe but also, potentially, within the universe of the reader. New questions arise. Previously hidden beliefs come to light. Tacit assumptions are exposed. The unfamiliar nova of science-fiction can lead to new interrogations of our own all-too familiar surroundings, causing us to see our previously unquestioned worlds in a new way.

These new understandings are at the heart of critical pedagogy. The learning spaces within science fiction texts can expose the fault lines within the educational structures of the real world. Questions about what it means to be human, about the proper limits of technological power, or about the relationships and obligations of one species to another have profound implications for 21st century educators and learners, particularly those who are interested in creating just and equitable learning spaces.

Learning Space: Exploring Critical Pedagogy through Science Fiction draws on popular science fiction stories to provide current and future educators with the language, concepts, vocabulary, and practices to cast a critical lens upon their own learning spaces and their own pedagogical practices. For example, a critical examination of the way that Yoda trains Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back reveals a great deal about the insidious nature of deficit thinking, assuming that students learn best when they “empty their minds” and remain “passive.” The assumed hierarchical power structure between teacher and student, and the assumed relationship between learners and the knowledge with which they are supposed to be filled – all of these are called into question when viewed through a critical lens. The more we recognize the injustice in Yoda’s pedagogy, the more we might begin to see it in our own.

Similarly, Isaac Asimov’s classic Foundation trilogy imagines a world in which mathematical modeling and statistical computation are used not only to predict what people might do but instead to determine what they should do. This kind of algorithmic determinism is unfortunately common in contemporary education, and yet far too few educators and learners recognize just how much of their own agency has been given over to the machines. By highlighting the algorithmic inequities in the world of Asimov’s text, we begin to recognize similar inequities at play in our own world. Ultimately, this book uses science fiction to highlight educational inequities in such wide-ranging topics as standard English, literary canons, machine learning, notions of academic dishonesty, epistemicide, inequitable school discipline, and more. More importantly, however, it provides a framework for moving forward, giving current and future educators the critical knowledge and skills both to recognize pedagogical injustice and to create viable, just, and sustainable alternatives.

“Learning Space: Exploring Critical Pedagogy through Science Fiction offers an engaging, accessible path into a better understanding of critical pedagogy and science fiction, highlighting the role that both can play in forming a critical consciousness. Delamarter’s welcoming prose invites readers into the conversation, using highly recognizable science fiction texts and scenarios to encourage a practical, thoughtful reimagining of critical pedagogy’s ethos and praxis in today’s classrooms. Science fiction’s speculative vision provides fertile ground for understanding critical pedagogy’s role in creating a more just world through education, and Delamarter brings this richness to life on the page with helpful, relatable examples and through clear, organized chapters.”
Edward Ardeneaux IV, Associate Professor of English, University of the Ozarks

“Learning Space: Exploring Critical Pedagogy through Science Fiction is essential reading for pre-service teachers as well as the most seasoned veterans. Through his thorough and insightful exploration of the representation of learning spaces in science fiction ranging from Star Trek to Fahrenheit 451, Delamarter deftly articulates how applying critical pedagogy theory to such texts reveals the injustices and oppressions found in the real world, and in the real classroom.”
Stephanie C. Fulcher, Distinguished Practitioner of English Education, Murray State University

“In an age where science fiction looks more and more like reality, the book Learning Space: Exploring Critical Pedagogy through Science Fiction by Jeremy Delamarter brings insights and thoughtful questions to light for both educators and learners. From epic franchises to Paulo Freire, Delamarter explains the benefits of understanding critical pedagogy in the age of artificial intelligence through the lens of science fiction. Learning Space allows fans and nonfans to enjoy the lessons and excellent examination of prevailing ideologies in a detailed and highly researched text.”
Carey Millsap-Spears, Professor of Communications, Moraine Valley Community College and author of "Star Trek Discovery and the Female Gothic: Tell Fear No"

Acknowledgments

Foreword – by Dr. Liz. W. Faber

Preface

1. Worldbuilding: Sci-Fi, Justice, and Education

2. Fuel for the Fire: Canons and Cultural Literacy in Fahrenheit 451

3. Calculating the Future: Algorithms, Agency, and Oppression in Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy

4. Stepping into a Larger World: Knowledge and Community in Star Wars

5. The Hidden Curriculum Strikes Back: Crime, Punishment, and Privilege in Star Trek

6. There is No Try: Deficit Models and The Banking Concept in The Empire Strikes Back

7. War of the Words: Weaponization and Linguistic Justice in Arrival

Afterword – by Dr. Karlyn J. Gorski

About the Author

Index

Jeremy Delamarter

Dr. Jeremy Delamarter is an associate professor and chair of the education department at Saint Martin's University in Lacey, WA, an hour south of Seattle. His research to-date has focused primarily on the ways that pop culture representations of teaching influence, shape, and, sometimes, distort pre-service teachers' expectations of teaching. His "Inspiration/Content Dichotomy" (ICD) framework, which measures the extent to which pre-service teachers expect to foster affective or academic outcomes in their future students, is used around the world to help teacher educators, education programs, and future teachers develop healthy, realistic, and sustainable teaching practices.

Dr. Delamarter's current research interests are increasingly focused on helping education programs develop learning spaces that are, first and foremost, human. Given the mounting pressure to mechanize teaching and learning in the name of speed and algorithmic efficiency, Dr. Delamarter work seeks to highlight the ways that human learning processes are, in fact, bound in relationship to time, space, and other people. Delamarter's model of a sustainable educational ecology sees the limitations of human scalability not as a liability but as an asset, highlighting the crucial differences between a statistical and a relational understanding of the world, because, unlike statistical knowledge, relational knowledge begets mutual obligation and interdependence. This research has led Dr. Delamarter to be an in-demand consultant with Seattle-area tech companies working with AI in education.

In addition to his work at Saint Martin's, Dr. Delamarter holds teaching privileges at Roma Tre University, in Italy, and he serves on the executive board of the Washington Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. He is the author of Proactive Images for Pre-Service Teachers (Palgrave Macmillan) as well as numerous academic articles and other publications.

critical pedagogy; science-fiction; teacher education; social justice; critical theory; pop-culture; learning; educational justice

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Learning Space

Exploring Critical Pedagogy through Science Fiction

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