Students imagine different future scenarios for their project and assess how it could impact future society in both positive and negative ways.
The method supports students in thinking both constructively and critically about their project’s potential impact and future possibilities.
Explain to the students the purpose of considering how their project might impact the future, both positively and negatively.
Students imagine possible consequences of their project and organise these into at least two categories: “Best case” (positive and optimistic scenarios) and “Worst case” (negative and pessimistic scenarios).
Based on the possible consequences, students describe how their project could impact society, the climate, or other relevant areas. Encourage them to include concrete examples and elaborate on the effects.
Students assess how likely each scenario is to occur and consider what actions are needed to promote the desired outcome and minimise the undesired one.
Besides best-case and worst-case scenarios, students can also create a realistic or most likely scenario for a more nuanced perspective.
Students can optionally create a diagram or timeline to visualise consequences over time, showing how small changes in the present can lead to significant effects in the future.
They can compare their scenarios with those of other students to gain insight into a wider range of possible perspectives.
Other groups can be invited to provide feedback on the future scenarios to introduce additional viewpoints and ideas.
Students can articulate the insights they have gained about their project’s potential impact. They can also identify actions they can take to support the most positive future scenario.
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