Futures Studies

Students engaging in the Futures Studies unit will do a variety of activities. This is a multifaceted unit of study where students are challenged to analyze complex and unfamiliar information. The framework of this unit will guide students toward answering the following key questions:

• What is Futures Studies and why is it important?
• How is it possible to know about the future?
• What techniques are used by futurists?
• What are the factors, forces, events, and/or trends that shape our futures?
• What causes change?
• How do people understand and accept change?

The student learning objectives for this unit are:

• Define Futures Studies.
• Give reasons for studying the future.
• Identify and describe the influence on the future of the following factors: trends, events, choices, and adaptations to change.
• Identify key facts and features of a future invention.
• Define and apply each of the following tools of the futurist:
• Future Wheel
• Scenario Forecasting
• Trend Analysis/Extrapolation
• Synthesize futurist tools.
• Use knowledge of the future to interpret metaphors.

We will be doing some math, some science, some literature, and a little bit of various other subject areas as we work on our unit. Rich discussions typically abound when the future is our topic, so I will do my best to keep you updated on tidbits from in class.

One activity we have already done is a visualization exercise where I talked kids to the year 3,000. There, they observed elements of this future world, focusing on the cultural components they saw. This led to some great discussions afterward. It serves as good information for me as we begin our unit. It is helpful to know general attitudes and feelings about the future to help guide our work in the unit ahead.