To boldly go where no learner has gone before

Abstract

Possibilities for a different form of education have provided rich sources of inspiration for science fiction writers. Isaac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, Neal Stephenson, Octavia Butler, and Vernor Vinge, among others, have all projected their own visions of what education could be. These visions sometimes engage with technologies that are currently opening new horizons in education—sources both of wonder and of anxiety—but they also grapple with concerns about student agency, the shape of schools, and the societal purposes of education. This article is an exploration of schools, learning communities, and ways of knowing on offer in science fiction. It suggests science fiction representations of the future as tools for analyzing and choosing the technologies proposed in education today, posing these questions: Why are we adopting this technology? How might this tool be used in different ways, and to what ends? Does this technological intervention prioritize individual development, or collective growth? Do we believe that intelligence is a matter of nature, or of nurture? How do we support student inquiry and why? Ultimately, is a particular educational technology really what we want, or are we really looking for a shape of social change?