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Location: Alien Project
Discussion: Alien Project
Keyword tags:
alien
biology
engineering
ethics
science
science fiction
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 NuffieldD&T |
Alien Project
May 16 2008, 7:23 PM EDT dch has started us of with a brillient set of wikipedia entrie and and iamge and film clip. What's the next step? My imagination takes me to D&T graphic products course work in developing Alien 5 and the associated pop up book along with Predator 3. May be we should talk to an examining body and QCA ]about the potential of a controlled task in response to sci fi films. The notion of the alien'f form being dependent on the original host impreganated by the face hugger gives lots of scope - remember the end of AvP - an predator alien combo - now there's a movie! I'm off to Forbidden Planet tomorrow to gather some stimulus material - will be in touch! 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
 dch1257 |
RE: Alien Project
May 17 2008, 4:25 AM EDT Hi NuffieldD&T, have added some Google sketchup links and graphics. Thought that these might be useful for the KS3 STEM Olympics project as well. Maybe look at some Biology and maths links next and maybe web guide? Do you find this valuable? |
 raym |
RE: Alien Project
May 19 2008, 4:18 PM EDT This is great progress. One observation - this all seems to be driven by scenarios set by 'us'. Alien and Predator are great - if scary - stimulus material, but is this missing a trick by not engaging the kids much earlier in the process. Shouldn't they be designing the aliens and then expalining/justifying the biology etc etc..... I also have an issue with the rather 'martial', combative tone of both movies - where does that leave us with gender issues and engagement/accessibility for all students? Do you find this valuable? |
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NuffieldD&T |
RE: Alien Project
May 19 2008, 5:49 PM EDT A qucik response to Ray re gender - Ripley is a woman, so is Valdez - let's not get stymied by stereotypes! Remember the classic line "Get away from her you bitch" - motherhood on stilts. But you have a serious point and inclusive involvement is important - any one read the "The female man" by Joanna Russ? Do you find this valuable? |
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raym |
RE: Alien Project
May 20 2008, 4:03 AM EDT Should have been clearer in the previous post. My point was the tone of the movies - 'shoot 'em up' aggression and combat - as the possible point of disengagement/disenchantment for some students - especially girls??? Willing to be guided by you teachers on this. Stereotypes was not my point, but as Dave raises them I would say they are incredibly significant. A lot of research supports this. Ripley certainly defies the stereotypical scientist/engineer, but possibly has a little too much 'attitude' and heavy duty weaponry for your average research lab (but perhaps not for a D&T class). Do you find this valuable? |
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dch1257 |
RE: Alien Project
May 20 2008, 12:43 PM EDT Hi Raym, thanks for post.Problem solved. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
 HelenClare |
RE: Alien Project
May 20 2008, 1:23 PM EDT "Hi Raym, thanks for post.Problem solved."Don't you get around some of this stuff if you let the children invent their own alien and devise their own story. Story-wise I think the interesting thing about all this alien stuff is why these creatures are alien - ie why they come to be out of their own enviroment. I'm not an expert on the genre but it seems to me that very often aliens arrive at this planet to conquer, to colonise, to exploit (we build our monsters in our own image). Alien is interesting because of that maternal theme (there's a feminist literary analysis in the making there, but I'll leave that to someone who can be bothered!) And strictly speaking aren't the humans the aliens? But there are lots of other reasons that creatures might travel the universe - exploration, escape, lonliness, redemption, pleaure, love. I have a vague recollection of a science fiction story I read when I was a kid about a young women who receives some sort of alien signal which turns out to be a kind of intergalactic message in a bottle from a lonely alien sent to connect with other lonely people through the galaxy. I wish I knew the rest of it or how to track down the story. But anyway, I reckon an alien could have just about any kind of story, any kind of personality you wanted it to have. H Do you find this valuable? |
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raym |
RE: Alien Project
May 20 2008, 2:22 PM EDT I am much more comfortable with this flexible approach which is less likely to discourage/disengage some students. Create and build your own alien with its own story, biology, technology etc etc. In my (limited) experience the student imagination is far more fertile and creative than anything I can feed it. Also suspect better engagement with their own creation than if invited to engage with/or explore someone elses?? . Wouldn't it be interesting to positively exclude the conquering/marauding/body-snatching agenda for an alien and encourage students to come up with another motivation for their alien's appearance - just as you describe Helen. Do you find this valuable? |
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NuffieldD&T |
Alien Project
May 20 2008, 3:05 PM EDT Helen - great idea, definitely the way forward but Ray why eliminate the alien bugaboo? That's the appeal to a whole load of disengaged adolescent boys and a major thread in sci fi - the BEM (bug eyed monster) thread. Do you find this valuable? |
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raym |
RE: Alien Project
May 21 2008, 3:59 AM EDT I agree that the common 'war of civilisations' Sci-Fi approach is a powerful hook for some of the audience. My comment was more of an observation that it would potentially make students have to think quite hard about the 'alien's story' if you closed off that particular storyline - especially the audience that would automatically go for the 'conquest' line. It was not meant to be a blanket ban. I was thinking that, depending on your class and intended outcomes, you could add this as a caveat to an activity. Also BEMs could be benign - plenty of Sci-Fi 'Beauty and the Beast' storylines. Do you find this valuable? |
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dch1257 |
RE: Alien Project
May 21 2008, 4:46 AM EDT Hi folks. There seems to be some confusion here (maybe on my part ;)). The Alien Project is a project based on the themes of the movie 'Alien'. I got involved in this because I am particularly interested in and enjoy this movie and its follow ups. It would be possible and enjoyable to do two other projects: - STEM themes via aliens - extraterriestal life forms. - STEM themes via science fiction. I think it would be possible to do both of these having read literally thousands of science fiction books I know the material is out there. The three projects overlap or link to a large extent - which incidently makes it a good idea to use a web based format. Having studied education theory formally for a masters and doctorate I understand the concerns raised about access, engagement etc, but at the moment I use a more praxis based approach. To this end I shall continue to explore STEM themes in the Alien movies for the adding media links etc when possible and I'll also start drafting out some ideas for the other two possible projects keeping in mind the concerns raised. Do you find this valuable? |
 DonnaTrebell |
RE: Alien Project
May 25 2008, 8:59 AM EDT Having spent the last week on a project based learning unit where KS3 pupils were studying movement through time driven by key questions such as What will human movement look like in the future? I found that the pupils really valued stimulus material in the case of this unit we studied hybrid vehicles, transformers and space travel but they got really excited when they started to create their own characters (aliens meet human kind) when narrating a holiday of the future. They also valued the opportunity to express themselves in a way that suited them with a choice of creative writing, web page design, the production of comic strips and model making. Another key pedagogic driver here was the collaborative nature of the enquiry where they showed that they were able to make the most of their complimentarity of skills when developing there answers to the big questions. This goes off the point of aliens a little though there were plenty of examples in their work but I thought it would be worth a teaching sharing current practice. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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dch1257 |
RE: Alien Project
May 25 2008, 10:22 AM EDT Hi Donna, nice description of your work. I could imagine an aliens project working like that , which would be great. Do you find this valuable? |
