• Chose one of these questions, or you may combine several, or you may use only part of one, or you may modify one. If you combine questions, you must combine them, not just put them together into separate sections. You need to write one unified essay. This is a paper, not a quiz, so the emphasis is on thinking and writing, not just "answering the question." Remember to refer to at least some of the stories from the book, the discussion board postings, and the websites which are linked in the module.
• Go back to the discussion boards, and post ideas and issues you are thinking about for your paper. Suggest some questions I didn't include.
• Take a look at the "Tips for Writing Assignments" in the Writing Assignments section above.

This paper will be due before 9 AM on Friday, March 28. NO late papers!

Questions for Module Five

1. Analyze Anne McCaffrey's "Weyr Search." What's the meaning of this story? It's science fiction, but it reads a lot like fantasy, but what's the point? Why did she write this story, and why try to make these points in this way?
2. How do the stories in this module portray children? Do these portrayals fit with your opinions and experiences of children? (From knowing them or being them).
3. Is there a conflict between science and faith? Is it possible to be rational and religious at the same time?
4. Did you ever learn anything that made you question all that you thought you had known? How did you react? How should people react to this kind of learning? Is it ever possible to keep an open mind?
5. Do you see the world differently now than you did five years ago? ten years? twenty? What changed? What will change in your world view in the next five, or ten or twenty years?
6. You are now yourself, but you are ten years old (or five or fifteen, you choose). Write a letter to your parents. What do you know that they should know, but don't?
7. Why is science fiction worth reading? Why is it especially worth reading for children or young people? What is the "golden age" of science fiction?
8. You are an alien anthropologist. You are studying these strange Earthlings, but your race has no childhood...you just hatch from an egg as an adult. Write a report to your supervisory Throognet, explaining human childhood, especially child/adult relations.
9. When there is a conflict between science and faith, SF generally says that science should win. But...do you have "faith" in science itself? Are there questions that science can not, and should not, answer?