Imagining preferable futures, especially via backcasting, was seen by students as creating possibilities for agency¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Students expressed that imagination prompts action — values rather than short-term evaluation inspire agency (theme in 43% of interviews). → Tapio Rasa 2022

Evidence¶

Tapio Rasa 2022¶

Tapio Rasa, Elina Palmgren, Antti Laherto. (2022). Futurising science education: students' experiences from a course on futures thinking and quantum computing. Instructional Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-021-09572-3

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

Interview excerpt (Lydia) exemplifying the theme 'Imagining preferable futures creates possibilities for agency' (43% of 21 interviews), tied to the backcasting method practised in the course.

"I'd just always thought that you go with 'small steps' going forward, but if you start from there in the perfect image, it's really good to start from there and like, how you get there."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• After the futures-and-quantum-computing course, upper-secondary students reported a more optimistic or hopeful outlook on the future — related
• Students reported acquiring new futures thinking skills (scenario building, backcasting) that systematised their thinking — related
• Students saw technology and STEM careers as creating concrete possibilities for their own agency — related
• Language must also be subjective, emotional, inspirational, and aesthetic, so teachers should employ both the method of fact and the method of imagination — related
• Teachers perceived AI-supported futures as increasingly imaginable and linked to present actions — related
• Students' perceptions of futures broadened and pluralised, and deterministic thought patterns were questioned — related