A Futures Learning Experience
Thanks to Rosa Alegria and Thayani Costa for submitting this work at Estilo de Aprender-Sao Paulo
Imagine: Extraterrestrials Living in 3022
Have you ever imagined what extraterrestrials living in 3022 (a distant future, much further away from Earth in 2023) might think when they set foot on our planet and observe our human way of living?
This was the exercise proposed for kids and parents at Estilo de Aprender, a primary school located in São Paulo, Brazil in December 2023. Estilo has included futures in the regular curriculum. The activity resulted in the exhibition “Intergalactic Expedition: a Catalog of Human Absurdities”, which took place on December 9, 2023. It was a powerful exercise in critical thinking and imagination.
The project was designed by Aline Alegria from Brazil Hub, in partnership with Escola Estilo de Aprender @estilodeaprender.
In times of "normalization of abnormalities", the displacement of the common perception pathway activates other angles of view on lived and constructed realities" says Aline Alegria, who created the exhibition.
About the Exhibit and Teaching Orientation
Futures Literacy Teaching:
A CATALOGUE OF HUMAN ABSURDITIES
Conception and Design by Aline Alegria
The teaching premise—
In 2023, the Reminin people (Peonian galaxy) were assigned the mission of reaching planet Earth to observe the behavior of human beings, collecting some of the objects commonly found on this planet, and recording the habits of Earthlings.
The result of this mission was cataloged by the Reminins to report to the Peonians how human beings live.
A copy of this catalog was recently found on Earth and part of it was presented in an unprecedented way, in an exhibition-experience format, on 12/09/23, at the Estilo de Aprender school, in São Paulo. Aline represents the global Teach The Future movement in Brazil.
Concept
The objective of this exercise is to showcase current circumstances in four main areas of human endeavor and impact: 1) plastics, 2) forests, 3) cities, 4) food commodities, and invite consideration of these human actions/choices.
Displays were made showing current examples of how these areas appear in our world today. Students were led on an exploration with an invitation to envision how these areas might appear in the future. This included in-class discussions, with time for drawing, writing, and envisioning different outcomes. The students' work was presented to parents and community members, inviting more discussion.
Outcome
This exhibit involved approximately 40 minutes of classroom time and included several hundred students and their families in the exhibit.
The exhibition experience precedes the classroom. The key idea here is to invert the class-exhibition order to exposition-class, making the exhibition the primary teaching tool.
The next stage will be the post-exhibition in the classroom (incorporated in the futures literacy program), through the narrative guidance proposed by the exhibition, incorporating in this second moment, imaginary activation exercises.
“Creating the exhibition was a very interesting and challenging personal exercise. We examined the displacement of the already naturalized path of perception regarding human behavior. The study is not easy, but is fascinating!”—Aline Alegria
Would you like to support futures thinking and foresight literacy? Donate to Teach the Future here.
Learn more about Estilo de Apprender in Sao Paulo here.
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