Science fiction can lead people to be more cautious about the potential consequences of innovations. It can help people think critically about the ethics of science. Researchers have also found that sci-fi serves as a positive influence on how people view science. Science fiction scholar Istvan Csicsery-Ronay calls this “science-fictional habits of mind.”
科幻小说可以促使人们更加警惕创新的潜在后果，也有助于人们批判性地思考科学伦理。研究人员还发现，科幻小说对人们如何看待科学有着积极影响。该领域学者伊斯特万·奇切里-罗内称这种影响为“科幻式思维习惯”。
Scientists and engineers have reported that their childhood encounters with science fiction framed their thinking about the sciences. Thinking critically about science and technology is an important part of education in STEM—or science， technology， engineering and mathematics.
多名科学家和工程师表示，孩童时期与科幻小说的邂逅构建了他们对各门科学的认知。批判性地思考科学与技术也是STEM教育体系的重要组成部分，该体系包括科学、技术、工程学和数学四大学科。
Complicated content？
科幻小说内容难懂？
Despite the potential benefits of an early introduction to science fiction， my own research on science fiction for readers under age 12 has revealed that librarians and teachers in elementary schools treat science fiction as a genre that works best for certain cases， like reluctant1 readers or kids who like what they called “weird，” “freaky” or “funky” books.
尽管在孩童时期接触科幻小说有潜在好处，但就我针对面向12周岁以下读者的科幻小说进行的研究来看，多所小学的图书管理员和教师认为，科幻小说这一体裁最适合部分特定受众，比如平时不愿主动阅读的人，或者偏好所谓“怪诞”“猎奇”或“新潮”书籍的儿童。
Of the 59 elementary teachers and librarians whom I surveyed， almost a quarter of them identified themselves as science fiction fans， and nearly all of them expressed that science fiction is just as valuable as any other genre. Nevertheless， most of them indicated that while they recommend science fiction books to individual readers， they do not choose science fiction for activities or group readings.
接受我调查的59名小学教师和图书管理员中，自称科幻小说爱好者的占了几近四分之一，而且几乎所有受访者均表示，科幻小说和其他任何体裁一样有益。然而，多数受访者也透露，虽然他们会向个人读者推荐科幻小说，但不会选择将此类小说用于兴趣活动或小组阅读。
The teachers and librarians explained that they saw two related problems with science fiction for their youngest readers： low availability and complicated content.
受访教师和图书管理员对此解释称，他们发现科幻小说对小学生读者而言存在两大问题：不易获取且内容难懂。
Why sci-fi books are scarce in schools
为什么科幻小说在校内稀缺？
Several respondents said that there simply2 are not as many science fiction books available for elementary school students. To investigate further， I counted the number of science fiction books available in 10 randomly selected elementary school libraries from across the United States. Only 3 percent of the books in each library were science fiction. The rest of the books were： 49 percent nonfiction， 25 percent fantasy， 19 percent realistic fiction and 5 percent historical fiction.
数名受访者表示，小学生在校内能读到的科幻小说确实不多。
