Math Universe: Episodes in a Space Opera (Part 1)

This collection is the first of a series of short play collections, written with STEM curriculum standards in mind - AND with a cheeky sense of humor that will hopefully appeal to teachers and students alike. These plays are for kids to act out (in person, or remotely/online!) , and the action in each helps explain fundamental math and science concepts through metaphor, character interaction, and comedy.The plays are short, and each collection is connected thematically, so that the individual plays can be performed either alone or as a group in any combination. All characters can be played by anyone of any gender. The characters also have a wide range of dialogue requirements, ranging from verbose characters with multi-sentence lines to read or memorize, to group roles where characters speak in unison and/or contribute with nonverbal communication. The plays could be memorized, or performed as a reading, with scripts in hand.At the end of the collection is a Teacher Planning Section, with handy references for each play, summarizing the mathematical concepts presented, and listing a breakdown of the roles in each play: approximate line counts and short character descriptions, pointing out which characters are more verbal and which ones use more physical acting and few to no words - as a guide for casting.This collection is designed to provide a fun way to teach the key elements of mathematics.