Possible futures (accessible version)

This guide is designed to help you think about the way in which a particular theme or issue may develop in the future.

Step1. Firstly you need to identify the theme or issue you want to explore, then move to step 2.

Step2. Now, thinking ahead, what is probably going to happen in relation to your theme or topic? What is likely to happen to it in the future? This is called the "probable outcome". When you have fully explored this, move to step 3.

Step 3. You have thought about what will probably happen, but now you need to identify what might possibly happen to your topic or theme in the future. What are the possibilities? Again, use this question to think about the possibilities in some detail, then move to 4.

Step 4. Lastly, think about the preferable outcome for your topic or theme in the future. How would you like it to change over time? What would be the best case scenario? You might want to think about how the "probable", the "possible" and the "preferable" futures for you topic or theme relate to each other. How similar or dissimilar are they?

Once all these steps have been finished, your assignment is complete.

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