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FOR EDUCATORS

A participatory design workshop for students to develop imagination, futures thinking, ethical reasoning, collaboration/communication skills and agency. 

Overview

“Practicing Futures” is a two-session, in-person studio (2–3 hours each) where students co-design speculative villages several years after an apocalypse. The goal: strengthen collaboration/communication, ethical reasoning, and student agency.

Learning outcomes

  • Collaboration & communication: Structured roles, group decision-making, peer critique
  • Ethical reasoning: Fairness, consent, inclusion, care under scarcity
  • Student agency: Futures literacy, idea ownership, linking future vision to present action

Workshop structure

  • Introduction to Topic: Introducing Students to the concept of speculative design and what the workshop will look like.
  • Group Ideation Exercise: Break the ice with a collaborative world building exercise
  • Introducing you characters: Bringing students deeper into the discussion through individual social dreaming
  • Forming Teams: Breaking out into teams through an engaging light-hearted activity
  • Goal Setting: Initiating their village designs through goal setting and future foresight
  • System Mapping: Discussing and mapping out their villages
  • BREAK
  • Village Personality: Delving deeper into the vision of their villages
  • Designing a Community Activity: A prototyping activity to practice imagination  and collaboration
  • Setting the rules:
  • Backcasting
  • Conclusion/Reflection

  • Assessment toolkit (optional)

  • Pre/Post Pulse Survey (5 items) on futures confidence, collaboration, and agency
  • Rubric (1–4 scale): Plausibility & clarity; Equity & ethics; Resilience & repairability; Communication & teamwork
  • Exit ticket: One insight, one question, one action
  • Optional reflective journals (short prompts)

Logistics

  • Group size: ~15 students; can repeat across classes
  • Space: Classroom with movable tables and wall space
  • Materials: We bring paper, markers, sticky notes, cardboard, tape, scissors
  • Language: English; bilingual prompts available

Safeguarding and wellbeing

  • Content warning and opt-out procedures
  • Quiet space designated; breaks and water available
  • No sensational disaster content; emphasis on care and agency
  • GDPR-compliant; separate photo/recording consent
  • Student work anonymized if shared externally

Accessibility

  • Plain-language, icon-supported templates
  • Multimodal participation (drawing/audio/writing)
  • Role rotation to balance voices and reduce power dynamics

Research and pedagogy

This workshop design draws on participatory co-design, speculative design, and experiential futures. Activities are adapted to secondary classrooms and align with outcomes in collaboration, ethical reasoning, and agency.