Study Guides

My study guide for Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream by James Alan Gardner.   

This is a story about biology, history and the consequences of scientific discovery, suitable for upper high school students and college students (strong language and controversial religious themes).  It can be used both as a story about literary techniques and ethical quandaries, or as an introduction to a discussion of evolutionary biology/population genetics.  The study guide contains questions and notes, followed by ideas for essays (students should review the questions for each of the story’s three sections after reading the section). 

Extensive information about the population genetics embodied in this story, population genetics in general, and how to use the MATLAB code stored in this Web Community to simulate what's happening in the story are all found here.

 

My study guide for "Neutron Star" by Larry Niven

This story is good for introducing the concept of tidal forces, and also (more subtly) for introducing a discussion of the scientific method and the empirical approach to life.  The story contains no sex, or objectionable language, and is written in a straightforward style (with some flashbacks).  There is some gore and death in the story, but no scenes of violent conflict between sentient beings.  The story is available in the collection called Neutron Star, which is still in print (?), and belongs in Larry Niven’s “Known Space” future history as are all the stories in the collection (actually most of these stories belong to a subset of the “Known Space” future history that could be called “The Tales of Beowulf Shaeffer”).  This link connects to a site which offers the opening of this story on-line for free and the rest of the story for a fee.

My study guide for "Flash Crowd" by Larry Niven

“Flash Crowd” by Larry Niven (available in the collection “The Flight Of the Horse”) is a good story for teaching about the effects of technology on society (say, for a section in history class on the Industrial Revolution); there are also some lessons about conservation of energy and momentum.  In this story, a single invention (the “displacement” or teleportation booth) is postulated and the effects of the invention (good and bad) on all aspects of society are explored (in fact, Niven went back to this idea, and wrote five more stories, collected in “A Hole In Space” about the “displacement booth” universe).