There are 2 Sci Fi types.
1. Science Based Fiction - say Sagan's "Contact" which I think he borrowed from Gunn's "The Listeners". There is a very limited place for this stuff in science class. Gives students a real example of how some of the theoretical stuff might be applied. Jules Verne was certainly a far sighted kind of guy in this area.
2. Science Fantasy - belongs in a Fiction class and nowhere else.
"2001" has some of both so could be discussed.
More than that. The SF community has two great categories: SF and fantasy (sword and sorcery). Within the SF category there's "hard science fiction," which extrapolates from genuine science, and there's a load of other stuff, some of the subcategories: sociological, dystopias, "space opera" (like Star Wars), etc.
Finally, somebody who knows the difference.
It drives me crazy when people include drivel like Star Wars in with Science Fiction.