Unit image overview

Unit 6

Using futures frames

Read the text below (left) before carrying out the activity.

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Possible futures

The writer and activist Susan George contrasts two views of the future and of our role in shaping that future. She attributes the 'TINA' view of the future to ex-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who often argued 'There Is No Alternative'.

Against this view Susan George argues for 'TATA', 'There Are Thousands of Alternatives': that current trends are not immutable, that change is possible and that there is a range of diverse solutions on offer if we choose to explore them.

Hicks has developed a scaffold to support us and young people in thinking about alternative futures grounded in the present. We will consider this in the activity on the right.

Activity Resources:

Activity

  1. Click on the Images icon and look at the 'Futures frame' showing an illustration of this alternative futures strategy (based on an idea in Hicks, 2001, p. 45).
  2. Now click on the Sound icon and listen to three clips from 'Living in a biosphere reserve' (BBC World Service, date unkown) about village life in the Danube Delta. To view the transcript for these clips click on the Text icon.
  3. Use the information to complete a futures frame for this area. Think carefully about the actions needed to make the probable into the preferable future. Consider your responses.
    • Was the preferable or probable future the most optimistic?
    • Why do you think this is?
    • Will this always be the case?
  4. Consider an aspect of your teaching programme, and review it using the 'Futures frame'. To give you an idea, click on the Images icon to see an example, 'A teacher's review of key stage 3 geography' (based on an idea in Hicks, 2001, p. 45).
  5. Use the outcomes from this activity to inform your planning for the future of geography at your school. Plan how to incorporate a futures frame into one of your own units of work. Think about how this will enhance a pupil's understanding of the concepts of citizenship, sustainability and the future. How could a pupil's understanding of these concepts be weakened if pupils were not encouraged to think geographically?

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