Time for the future on the schedule!

Because the future is not predetermined, and it is not created by anyone else. It is created by us.

In a world where technology is developing faster than ever, climate challenges are global and societies are fundamentally changing, we need to equip children and young people with foresight. Not just to understand what might come, but to be able to influence what actually happens and give them an understanding that the future is not predetermined and teach them the tools that make it possible to create it. By training the ability to think in alternative futures, looking for weak signals and reflecting together, we not only create understanding - we create hope and action!

Become a future detective

Under Vetenskapsfestivalen in Gothenburg has a special programme for school classes where I participate and teach a lesson called "Become a future detective!" It is structured in three parts:

• Scout: what is a weak signal and how do you find it?
• Tell: how to build a future story using the question "What if..?"
• Take action: how can we use our insights to make an impact today?

Scout

We exemplify with signals about AI pets in elderly care, that cassette tapes and old mobile phones have become popular again, about NASA's plans to send people to Mars, about clothes that react to your emotions, and about researchers who believe that the first 200-year-old has already been born.

Robotic animals increasingly common in elderly care ( research.se)

Example of cassettes (taylorswitft.com)

After 25 years, the Nokia 3210 is back (mobil.se)

NASA wants to send humans to Mars in the 2030s (astronomy.com)

Emotional Clothing: the smart garments that change color based on your mood (new-east-archive.org)

The first 200-year-old already alive (aftonbladet.se)

Tell

Students discuss in small groups what might happen if these signals become large, and consider how they feel about it. They also have the opportunity to reflect on what they could do today, based on what they discover.

You can also look back to look forward. In this way, you can, for example, gain new perspectives on the possibility of change, but also realize that there is probably much in our time that we will look back on as outdated in the future. A good film to illustrate this is Sjövett 1964, which shows how people thought about waste management 60 years ago.

Seamanship 1964 from Keep Sweden Clean (youtube.com)

Act

Finally, we consider together what we can do today with the thoughts and ideas that have now been raised. Perhaps we want to learn more about the emotional effects of robotic pets or what it takes to go to Mars and live there.

Let's give students the tools

We don't know exactly what the future will be like. But we know that we need more young people who can imagine different possible paths to get there - and who dare to start walking.

Let's give them the tools!

Want more inspiration?

Please check out Tänk Tech - an exemplary effort that gives school students the opportunity to think creatively and critically about the future through speculative design. I had the privilege of being the award presenter at the final in December, and was impressed by the students' creativity and the teachers' initiated supervision.

ThinkTech - High school students explore the subject of technology