New Tech High School Sophomore Tony Gonzalez spoke on air with NPR Science Friday host Ira Flatow on Friday, February 2, 2018, as part of the Science Friday Book Club’s reading of Frankenstein.
A parent of a student informed Chris Bach and Tom Serene, the co-teachers of the World Studies class at New Tech High School, of the opportunity to call and record messages as part of the book club. They in turn asked their students to call and record a statement in response to the Book Club’s question: “Do you see any parallels between Frankenstein and science today?”
Tony called every day for two weeks and got the attention of Science Friday producer Christie Taylor, who then invited Tony on air. Tony said, “I called in to get help at first, but then I wanted to share my work and ideas”.
Tony and his fellow World Studies students read Frankenstein and discussed the ethics of contemporary scientific innovations as part of the Frankenstein and the Ethics of Progress project. The project required that students work in teams to create and animate a creature over their own creation that represented the progress and ethical concerns of a scientific innovation.
The statements of other World Studies students were also featured on the Science Friday Book Club website and in an email sent out to subscribers to the Science Friday Book Club. Eva, a classmate of Tony’s noted an important realization and driving idea for the project when she said, “The problem Victor Frankenstein faced within the book is a problem we will be faced with again in the future. We need to consider the repercussions of our actions and our ideas.”
The final day of the Science Friday Book Club is Friday, February 9th, 2017. Tune in to see if any more statements from New Tech students are played on air.