The History of Teaching the Future: The Future of Teaching History

Molly Keenan¿s central goal in teaching high school students is to activate critical, engaged citizenship. The curriculum experiment described within this book, ¿Contemporary Issues Disguised as SF: Making the Future,¿ emerges from her desire to reveal the possibilities of a research-supported curriculum that uses science fiction media in the classroom to engage students in more fully learning social studies material. She encourages purposeful speculation, the use of technology, creativity, and differentiation. Keenan teaches urban students from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. She asks her readers this question: if science fiction can be leveraged as a tool of critical engagement, what could a social studies classroom that uses it to teach history accomplish? Could it succeed in transforming adolescents who feel disconnected from history and doubtful of their impact on the future into young adults who feel connected to history and potentially able to shape the future?