Scientific Way of Thinking for Future Readiness

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Scientific thinking is recognized as a type of knowledge seeking which is intentional. Information is sought, which includes ‘asking questions, testing hypotheses, making observations, recognizing patterns and making inferences’[1]. Readiness for the future could be readiness for the social, economic, political, security-related, environmental, technological, legal and ethical aspects of human life, all which have a strong bearing on how we pursue our study of science. Therefore, we can see future readiness from the perspective of being ready for progress driven by mankind or be ready for certain eventualities in the natural environment. We believe, future readiness even goes a step further, based on recent research:

There could be a trajectory which is deterministic and science student fraternity could just participate in that trajectory, which is how most science education programmes are structured or it could be more participatory, by involving the student community in imagining the future and shaping it through conscious actions. One sees that a future orientation is necessarily steeped in real life and that is the context in which teaching-learning approaches for future readiness are grounded.

In this context, we see the emergence of ‘value-based science, responsible science, sustainability’[2] and a sense of student agency[3]. Do students believe they can impact the future and in reality, is that possible? For example, can they be informed and eventually become equipped to guide decisions about the ethical limits of genetic engineering or how far should a cyborg go in increasing his dependency on a mechanical or electronic device (should it be only to aid the physiological processes or also to augment one’s capabilities, such as brain implants for improving memory?) Will we see greater regulatory interventions and laws in the future and therefore the need for science students to be able to deal with such complexities?

Further, what skills would be required of them to be able to navigate the future and not just survive, but thrive? Another relevant point to consider is that, there is established scientific knowledge and there is scientific knowledge which is still open to debate. When we speak about future readiness, both become open to scrutiny, looking at all knowledge through a critical lens.

Research also shows us that students seem to have a dual-mode of thinking with regard to future – their own future may be seen in a positive light, but the future of say the globe or nation may not be viewed positively[4]. How does science become relevant in such a case? Empowering students also means, making them re-imagine the world (with plurality of futures) as opposed to reinforcing what exists today. Inherently, this means thinking collectively in some sense and moving away from an individual-centric thinking[5].

Technology is closely connected to the future, as our hopes and aspirations for the future, somewhere drive the course of technology. Research also confirms that technology gives people a sense of hope through innovative solutions for current issues. If technology develops along a path of meeting humanity’s needs (rather than its own idiosyncratic course), then we can see ‘futures thinking’ tying in very closely to not just science (and science education) alone but also STEM.

The Origin of ‘Futures Thinking’

‘The years 1939 to 1945 were a sustained exercise in futures thinking[6].’ This concept of futures thinking sees its origin in Project RAND, an organization formed soon after World War II to connect research and development decisions to military planning for the future[7]. Those were fragile times, with a new understanding that humanity had the wherewithal to uproot itself. A more systematic way of anticipating and planning for future was needed. From RAND spawned Kahn’s Hudson Institute and thereafter the Institute for the Future and the Futures Group[8]. Herman Kahn was an American futurist who believed in thinking about the future in unconventional ways.

This story of the origin is important to understand because even today, the overall guiding principle for ‘keeping the future within one’s line of sight’ stems from the uncertainty involved and the belief that we can shape the future for more beneficial outcomes.

Futures thinking involves a structured exploration into how society and its physical and cultural environment could be shaped in the future’[9].

Future Readiness

Some skills become critical in the ability to participate in the shaping of our future. These skills have been commonly referred to as the 21st Century Skills. To anticipate potential problems, using critical thinking skills to devise problem-solving strategies and having foresight are key areas of development that students should focus on. OECD, has proposed three dimensions in 21st century skills: a) information, b) communication, c) ethics and social impact.

Each of these in turn break up into several skills which are: creativity/innovation, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, communication, collaboration, information literacy, research and inquiry, media literacy, digital citizenship, ICT operations and concepts, flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, productivity, leadership and responsibility.[10]

Several key organizations have also focused on the need for lifelong learning. Some also argue for the inclusion of certain skills, prior to the ones stated earlier, referred to as “future scaffolding skills” – ‘the capacity of organizing knowledge in the present, imagining futures and moving dynamically and consciously, back and forth, globally-locally, between different space and time dimensions’[11]

Future Readiness and Science Education

While student-centric teaching-learning approaches naturally develop several of the 21st century skills, more specific future-oriented skills are developed using certain approaches or frameworks. Linking the future to Science education and developing a scientific way of thinking, requires an approach which looks at real issues. One approach is to use Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI). Socio-Scientific Issues touch upon those science topics which require students to participate in discussion and debate. They often involve moral reasoning, ethical concerns and use evidence-based reasoning and often these issues are controversial in nature[12]. They provide a strong context for the scientific matter. SSI is so personally relevant for students because it is able to make successful connections between science, technology, society and environment (STSE).

Exploring such issues can lead to a wide range of benefits, including[13]:

  1. Enhancing student’s interest in science
  2. Helps to shape the world we live in
  3. Encourages a culture of discussion and therefore the use of scientific language
  4. Fosters curiosity and inquiry
  5. Enhances critical thinking and moral reasoning
  6. Most critically, improves a students’ understanding of the nature of science

Some studies have used conceptual frameworks to incorporate futuristic thinking (therefore enabling future readiness) into science education. One such framework used real life scenarios (by picking SSIs), to[14]:

  1. Understand current situation – What happens currently and reason for it
  2. Analysing relevant trends – Comparing the now with past data, in what direction is the change happening?
  3. Identifying drivers – On closer examination of trends, are they related and what are the causes?
  4. Exploring possible and probable futures – Will trends and drivers continue on their path and how will that impact the future?
  5. Selecting preferable futures – What does the student want as a preferred outcome?

All of the above questions are looked at from an individual, local, national and global perspective in this framework.

This framework was tested in 3 classrooms, spanning the age groups 8-16 years, to see how future-focused activities can be incorporated into the science curriculum. One of the classes (14-year-olds), was asked to think about future foods.

They had six 50-minute lessons and final group presentations, where they presented the future food that they had designed. Questions, within the framework stated earlier, included

1) What are the current foods,

2) What are the trends – prevalence of certain types of foods such as fast foods, exposure to different global cuisines,

3) What are the drivers – such as health issues, quality of land and yield, food availability with population increase,

4) Possible and probable foods – introducing omega 3 or other nutrients for enriching food, potential for genetically modified foods using latest technology,

5) Preferable food – Students were required to design a food of their preference, keeping all of the above in mind – examples included additional Vitamin A foods; combining benefits of two high nutrition food items and so on. Scientific requirements and risks were not explicitly discussed.

The scientific way of thinking for future readiness requires detecting, inventing, analysing and evaluating possible, probable and preferable future outcomes[15]. There is the need to look at ‘input data (observations, raw data and empirical evidence used to arrive at trends); trends (trajectories, extrapolations, projections and predictions based on the input data); drivers; events that are high impact but low probability and outcomes’[16].

In some studies, the backcasting technique[17] is used, moving back from the “preferable future” to the present state and in the process identifying the various stages and hindrances. Thus, there is an active participation through vivid imagination.

In the example above, we can see the possibility of not only developing most of the 21st century skills but the potential for inter-disciplinary learning and putting things into practice through a practical design, provided the time and resources are available for the same.

The Sustainable Development Goals, OECD, European Commission and several research papers have particularly called for going beyond ‘using science for informed decision-making’. Rather, it is future-focused if we question our choices based on ethics. There is a need for action driven by clear intention (and cut off from constraining factors) and referred to as transformative agency.

One other interesting example of a project that explored the area of future-oriented science, is the ‘I SEE’ project, funded by EU. This example is interesting simply because it goes beyond environmental issues, which are typically taken up for future studies. Specifically, this project looked at how to enhance students’ futures thinking and agency by introducing them to a novel course on quantum computing[18].

We see significant work in the area of future readiness for students and support being provided to teachers for the same. An example being the “Future Thinking Teacher Pack” document prepared by the National Foundation for Educational Research[19] which covers the areas of PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education), Citizenship, English and Geography. Another example is FEDORA[20], Future-oriented Science Education to enhance Responsibility and Engagement in the society, which brings together 6 institutions from 5 European countries. FEDORA provides a wide variety of resources, which specifically aim at developing the future skills of science students and also shares case studies from various national contexts.

Ironically, research reveals that while science and technology give students the ray of hope for the future, students’ perceptions of role of science and technology in shaping our future can also sway from one extreme to the other – deterministic, utopian or dystopian!

By developing a scientific way of thinking for future readiness, we make students architects of the future, dispelling any misplaced fears regarding our collective future. Whether we place sustainability at the centre of our discussion or we find the need to make our science education more relevant to other current and future needs, the development of scientific way of thinking in our students for future readiness is indispensable. Placing the future within our sight ensures that future thinking skills and tools are combined with: a) student’s belief that he can make an impact and b) relevant socio-scientific issues, thus developing a meaningful science education programme.


[1] Kuhn, 2002 cited in J.J.Jirout, Supporting Early Scientific Thinking through Curiosity, 2020

[2] T.Rasa, E.Palmgren & A.Laherto, Futurising Science Education: Students’ Experiences from a course on

  Futures thinking and Quantum Computing, 2022

[3] Autonomous social action through which we transform the world we come in contact with

[4] Cook, 2016 cited in ibid footnote 2

[5] Ibid footnote 2

[6] A.Hines, When Did It Start? Origin of the Foresight Field, 2020

[7] Rand.org

[8] Ibid footnote 6

[9] A.Jones, C.Buntting, R.Hipkins & L.Conner, Developing Students’ Futures Thinking in Science Education, 2011

[10] O.Ioannidou and S.Erduran, Policymakers’ Views of Future-Oriented Skills in Science Education, 2022     

[11] Tasquier et al, 2019 cited in O.Ioannidou and S.Erduran, Policymakers’ Views of Future-Oriented Skills in

   Science Education, 2022

[12] D.L.Zeidler and B.H.Nichols, Socioscientific Issues: Theory and Practice, 2009

[13] A.Jones, C.Buntting, R.Hipkins & L.Conner, Developing Students’ Futures Thinking in Science Education, 2011

[14] ibid

[15] R.Amara, The Futures Field: Searching for Definitions and Boundaries, 1981

[16] DERA, 2001 cited in A.Jones, C.Buntting, R.Hipkins & L.Conner, Developing Students’ Futures Thinking in   

    Science Education, 2011

[17] Bishop et al, 2007 cited in A.Laherto & T.Rasa, Facilitating Transformative Science Education Through

    Futures Thinking, 2022

[18] T.Rasa, E.Palmgren & A.Laherto, Futurising Science Education: Students’ Experiences from a course on

    Futures thinking and Quantum Computing, 2022

[19] www.futurelab.org.uk/futures-thinking

[20] Fedora-project.eu/future/