Writing Fictional Short Stories About the Anthropocene: Effects on Students’ Futures Thinking

Abstract

This article deals with the identification of some general guidelines for teaching aimed at developing futures thinking about themes of the Anthropocene. For that, we estimate such teaching activities at the intersection of socioscientific issues, environmental education, and futures education. We describe two teaching contexts designed on this principle, and centered on pupils’ writing fictional narratives, and analyze the effects on their futures thinking. The results show that it is important to design teaching activities that make it possible to think about the temporalities of processes and phenomena, and to invest in relational responsibilities. In order for the pedagogical activity to take temporalities into account, we propose that the backgrounds of the futures on which the stories take place be built using the scenario method. Writing short stories can also allow for a deeper understanding of relational responsibilities, based more on the framework of capabilities. One perspective is to integrate fictional short stories writing into the repertoire of possible activities to be conducted in an inquiry-based pedagogy about the Anthropocene.

Futures Thinking in Middle School Science Textbooks

“…In New Zealand, Jones et al (2012) showcased this by employing futures thinking to delve into the ecological and societal impacts of topics like genetically modified foods and the sustainability of dairy farming. This movement extends to France, where the work of Julien et al (2018) and Hervé & Panissal (2022) involved students in envisioning the future through drawing and fictional narratives. In Italy, Branchetti et.al.…”