The Time Machine

After reading The Time Machine, students explored the various differences and struggles between the two distinct classes in the novel, the Eloi and the Morlocks, as well as time travel, and other social issues from the novel. Dr. Chris Vuille, a professor of physics at Embry-Riddle and author of his own work of science fiction, helped instruct students on Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity and the various obstacles that prevent us from developing time traveling machines.

Time Travel

Students developed pages on time travel, whether it is feasible, and how else it is used in Science Fiction.

Adam Berlier researched the history of theoretical breakthroughs that have helped us to understand the nature of time and, potentially, manipulate it.
Olivia Brown compared uses of crystalline components in The Time Machine and in episodes of Star Trek.
Mehmet Cakir investigated various topics that relate to issues of time travel, like gravity, wormholes, multiverse theory, and paradoxes.
Cory Edwards explained the concepts of Newtonian Time and Minkowski's Theory of Spacetime, as they relate to the time traveler's theories.
Arianna Eskew looked at the possibility of time travel, as described in different works of science fiction, given what we know from modern physics.
Philip Galiardo looked at the science of time travel, by describing worm holes and relativity.
Clare Maloney explained Einstein's discoveries and Berger's approach to time travel.
Dexter Robinette explored the feasibility of time travel in popular sci-fi vessels.
Ryan Sitler considered the way in which we perceive time and how different works of science fiction have portrayed time travel.
Logan Thomas described the ways in which different works of science fiction portray time travel, including multiverse theory and time travel paradoxes.
Jacob Volpe explained different concepts of time and time travel from The Time Machine.

Class Struggle

Here, students created pages in which they analyze the class struggles found in the novel.

Connor Bishop explored how The Time Machine deals with currencey, labor classes, and the rise of the proletarian class.
Mickael Faucher compared class struggle in The Time Machine with The Hunger Games and current society.
Dan Jones contrasted class division issues with real-world governments and religious views on economic classes.
Jake Kim, examined multiple works of science fiction to explain the inevitability of major class conflicts.
Aditi Korat considered how the novel helps us better understand theories of colonization, class systems, and future economies.
Zachary Lietzau examined how the theories of Marx and Engels comes across in the novel and how those theories relate back to the earlier work of Robert Owen, a utopian socialist.
Sommer Smith explored the lives of Morlocks as they evolved into creatures of the underground.

Social and Political Impact

In these pages, students explore political and social parallels to The Time Machine, from communism to social darwinism.

Patrick Hill explored the future of human revolution.
Nathan Kroboth researched the psychology of the Morlocks and their interest in the time traveler's machine.
Lucas Lesoeur investigated the ways in which entropy functions with the characters and classes in The Time Machine.
AJ Maiato explained the history and future of Marxism.
Oneil Ramdeen examines how The Time Machine illustrates certain evolutionary concepts, like The Founders Effect, Bottleneck Effect, and Genetic Drift.
Evan Williams explored the likelihood of the Morlocks being able to maintain the technological civilization that they have inherited.
Georgina Wood compared the degeneration of the Morlock and Eloi societies with environmental issues and over-consumption in today's society.

The Destruction of the Earth

These students examined Wells's description of the Earth in it's final days, and analyzed the feasibility of this as portrayed in The Time Machine.

Kaylee Cronberg investigated the many possible ways in which our world could come to an end.
Penny Mugford looked at the different hypothetical apocalypses as they compare with examples from science fiction.

Course designed and taught by Dr. Ashley Andrews Lear at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 2017.