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Ideas for teaching / learning about temporal globality Time Capsule Students work in small groups to compile a list of ten items they would like to place in a time capsule in order to provide people of 2050 with an understanding of the best and worst of life today. Each group reports back and the class debates and negotiates a final list of ten items most accurately representing our civilization. The capsule is buried in a comer of the school grounds, to be opened in 2050.
Newspapers Now 1
Students collect newspaper articles with the word 'future" in the title or articles with a strong futures orientation. These are pinned on a 'Futures' noticeboard or categorised in a scrapbook. In introducing the class to articles they bring to school students can be asked to explain what is being said about the future and how it will affect classmates’ lives.
Newspapers Now 2
Students collect articles on world problems which, at first glance, may not seem future-related. In groups, they discuss the contents from a futurist perspective. (This exercise is best done later in a course when students have become more practised and sophisticated in considering the relationship between post, present and future.)
Newspapers in the Future
Groups of students form writing editorial teams to compile a Future Times (or other title of their choice). They agree on a date ten, twenty or thirty years into the future and cover local, national and global news through reports, editorials and illustrations. Advertisements con also be included! Each newspaper should contain a retrospective 'Life in (present year)' column.
VISIT Students visit a city planning department or invite a city planner to visit the class to explain how the department sets about planning the local environment of the future
Interviews 1: Attitudes to the Future Students interview each other, friends, parents, relatives, teachers, etc., to find out their attitudes to and hopes and fears for the future. Alternatively, students design and use questionnaires.
Interviews2: Visions of the Future
Students interview prominent local people councillors, politicians, representatives of local organisations and pressure groups - to ascertain their visions and plans for the future. Attitudes, hopes and fears identified under interviews 1 can also be put to such people for comment.
Science Fiction
Students are assigned different science fiction short stories and are asked to assess whether the stories have anything significant to soy about the future. Conclusions are reported in plenary. Discussion follows.
Desirable Futures
Students, working individually, write a description of the world they would like to live in and of the lifestyle they desire for themselves in thirty years’ time. They then form groups of 4-6 and, in turn, read their descriptions and face questions. The role of other members of the group is to play devil's advocate by asking questions concerning the achievability, realism, morality and implications for both the environment and other human beings of the future desired.
Past, Present and Future
The future of the past is in the present The future of the present is in the past The future of the future is in the present.
Older students can use the above quotation as a basis for speculation upon the relationship between past, present and future. 'The--- of the--- is in the----¨’ Using the framework, they insert the words 'past', 'present 'and future 'and discuss the implications of the sentences created for exploring the relationship of the three phases of time.
Brainstorming the Future
Students brainstorm as many ideas as possible surrounding topics such as the following:
This lively lateral thinking exercise con be followed by group work aimed at clustering and ranking the ideas put forward.
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