Steps
- WATCH – Cue up the video below and watch it with the class
- HAND OUT – Have the student booklets ready to hand out after showing the video
- THINK – Give students time to reflect and complete their booklet
- SHARE – Have students share their ideas with the class or work in their groups
- CONSIDER – Go deeper by adding an activity from the extension buffet below
- COLLECT – Collect workbooks till the next session
- FEEDBACK – Record your feedback below
Extension Buffet
- DISCUSS – In the video, it shows images of what people who lived in the 1900s thought the year 2000 would look like. Discuss how these things compare to what actually happened. What are the improvements we want to make to life as it is now? What are some of the challenges to be faced when designing a community of the future?
- WATCH – View this inspiring Cities of the Future video (5:33)
- QUICK DRAW – What will the year 2030 or 2040 look like? Invite students to do a ‘quick draw’ or write their own thoughts/visions. What will -insert your town- look like in 2030? Ask: How old will you be? How will you get around? Where will your food come from? What do you do for fun and recreation? What is your job? Allow 5-10 minutes for this activity, then pair share and have a class discussion. Teacher note: Depending on the feelings of the group, there may be a need for some supportive debriefing- How did they form their ideas? Does it need to be that way or are there other possibilities? Do they feel like they have agency in building their futures? Does technology hold all the answers?
- CLIMATE – Climate specific content *coming soon*
- DEFINE – We use the word ‘sustainable’ and ‘sustainability’ throughout the lessons. Beyond Recycling defines sustainability as “meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. The dictionary defines sustainability as “the quality of causing little or no damage to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time”.
- 7 GENERATIONS – Seven-generation stewardship is based on the Great Law of the Iroquois First Nations that states “In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation… even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine”. A generation refers to all of the people born and living at about the same time and is considered to be about 30 years. Have students calculate how long seven generations is (7×30=210 years) and discuss if society currently is thinking ahead.
- UN GOALS – Take a look at the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Could the community of the future choose to work towards one of these goals? UN Sustainable Development Goals
We have completed the first invitation lesson for this Community of the Future project and the overall response from students so far is positive. The first thing that I would do differently is just print one master black line master of the Design Booklet. Then I need to select the printer option to flip on the long edge instead of the short edge because when I printed 26 copies of the whole booklet for my class the backsides of the pages where upside down and this caused the page numbers to be in a mixed up order. I think this could be fixed by printing a master copy on 1 sided pages, then use the printer options to ensure the double sided booklet pages line up correctly.
The second lesson that came out of this project launch was that students needed several reminders to use technology or solutions that we have available now and not depend on hopeful inventions. Some of that is okay and I described to my students how they could make a list of the challenges that they still need to sort out the details for. The main thing that we discovered by the end of the lesson was that a lot of the considerations can also be habits, systems, and social behaviour changes instead of just infrastructure planning. The key is to identify better systems and cycles first, then create an infrastructure plan/map that accommodates those systems or cycles.
Amazing discussion before “invitation” with what they would think about in a future city. Then showed the intro video. More detailed discussion and handed out the booklet. I then showed the “Cities of the Future” video from the above link. Even more enthusiastic discussion! Will need more time to get into groups to finish this lesson with the associated booklet pages.
A great start!
My class was very interested. We brainstormed what a community of the future might be and what features it might have before we watched the video. The students really enjoyed the video and are excited to begin.
We started the first lesson today. The students were not very interested in my introduction (I’ll have to jazz it up next time). However, when we watched the second video “Cities in the Future”. They got really excited. The images and ideas kind of blew their minds.
I found the brainstorming with drawings very helpful, as many of my students prefer to show their learning this way. I also suggested that they could use labels to help explain their ideas. Several students used an “info graphic” style of drawing, using arrows to show how things were connected. (Their idea, not mine!)
Afterward, we discussed what “Sustainability” and “Green” means. Surprisingly, many did not know. I found the two definitions listed above to be very helpful, and we had a great discussion. Perhaps a handout/video would be helpful at the very beginning to address these topics. (Or perhaps, this is coming later in the program?)
My students are excited to create!
p.s. There is a small typo on page 2
“What do you imagine you (*your) Community of the Future will look like?”
We did the Invitation lesson today. I think the student workbook is fantastic. It was easy to print and put together (once I realized to print with ‘flip on short edge’ setting). The students are very excited. The videos are great to get them engaged and excited! I am not sure why but the videos were extremely quiet compared to other videos on my computer so we had to use the closed captioning so students didn’t miss the information. We then logged into the Minecraft for Education Sustainable City and students toured around looking for examples and ideas based on the discussion we had. We’re all looking forward to the next lesson!
I thought I had posted this comment a while ago but I guess I forgot to hit the post. A great introduction that students are definitely excited to start. The 7 Generations Rule was a great tool and really made students think about how our decisions today impact future generations. The word Sustainable was definitely a word that needs to be explained and referenced throughout all the lessons. The Cities of the Future was an excellent video and really got students thinking about how they can develop their future cities. Also, it was great to bring in the UN Goals to provide a global context. Our students need to realize how our lifestyles affect us locally, nationally, and internationally. The UN Goals led to a great conversation about Needs and Wants, which ultimately provides the foundation for creating sustainable cities of the future.
We tried out the quick draw activity following the introduction video. The students seemed excited to draw what they think the world would look like. As a teacher I like the variety of activities included in each lesson.
We had a good discussion after the invitation video about whether the ideas of what the 2000s would be like came to fruition. Students really enjoyed getting ideas for the video Cities of the Future and connecting these ideas and theirs to the UN sustainable development goals (previously explored this year). Some had difficulty with the idea of using existing solutions and ideas as opposed to magic. So far I have found they do not have enough knowledge of solutions — I am hoping the other sections will help give them the foundational knowledge to be able to complete the final project. They appreciated the definition of sustainability, but could use more examples and ideas.