A futuring approach to teaching wicked problems

Figures & data

Figure 1. The empty museum of the linear economy before the opening on 22 January 2020

Figure 2. Students working on the “detective wall”

Figure 3. Students making the object for the exhibition

Figure 4. Two students present their world from the perspective of 2050

Table 1. Summary of the contributions of the educational activities for each dimension of the course

Futuring as …	Educational activities	Contribution to doing and understanding futuring
Connecting to dynamics in practice	1) Excursions (e.g., to potential exemplars) 2) Guest lectures by practitioner 3) Interaction sessions with practitioners (e.g., Mixed Classroom) 4) Reflective writing assignments (e.g., practitioners profile)	Students observe and explicitly describe dynamics in practice: conceiving how societal institutions (i.e. consultancies or governments) work or do not work (system knowledge) Students envision their own potential role: understanding what students can do in shaping change by engaging with exemplars and role models in the present (transformation knowledge)
Experiential making	1) Developing design concepts (e.g., build and reflect upon detective wall) 2) Artefact creation (e.g., making a museum object) 3) Crafting and delivering a presentation	Students take ownership over their world building: personally identifying with a possible future (target knowledge). Students communicate through world building: understanding a possible future better by communicating it through different means and to different audiences (system knowledge).
Orientation to the future	1) Guest lectures by experts 2) Scenario development for futuring intervention	Students think and act beyond determinism and fatalism: conceiving a range of different possible and desirable future worlds (target knowledge). Students envision change better: connecting images of the future, policies, societal trends, and micro practices such as cultural rituals (transformation knowledge).