Clarke was definitely no creationist. We had a thread on him, many years ago: Arthur C. Clark's Views on Creationism. It's one of the first threads I ever posted.
Interesting Clarke thread; I especially like the retro fonts. :)
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.
Oh so the great PH chimes in.