Emily York, "Speculative Fiction in STS Pedagogies", contributed by Emily York, STS Infrastructures, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 14 August 2019, accessed 31 December 2024. https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/speculative-fiction-sts-pedagogies
Critical Commentary
Incorporating speculative fiction and design fiction into STS pedagogies in a STEM environment is one way that we work to challenge technologically deterministic assumptions, incorporate humanities into a STEM curriculum, and engage students in robust ethical reasoning about sociotechnical world-making.
In this visualization of Emily York's syllabus for an introductory required STS course, the 16-week semester is roughly divided into four four-week units, and each unit includes scholarly readings coupled with a speculative reading. In units 3 and 4, students additionally read a selection of Ursula K. Le Guin's nonfiction essays. By exposing students to similar concepts across three genres--scholarly nonfiction, speculative fiction, and nonfiction essay--students begin to recognize themes and interconnections while learning how to grapple with different forms of reading.