The Thing from the Future: Speculative Curriculum
For this task, I explored The Thing from the Future imagination game to learn how prompts can inspire creative thinking about possible futures. After experimenting with several options in the shared Google Sheet, I chose one that asked me to describe a curriculum in a future where society has come apart, addressing issues related to AI while still feeling cheerful.
To bring the idea to life, I used Microsoft Copilot to generate a written response based on my chosen prompt. I then reflected on the result of how AI interpreted my words, what surprised me, and how it connected to my own understanding of learning and technology.
The screenshot below shows the prompt and how it looked in Copilot.
Reflection
Writing about a cheerful curriculum in a post-collapse future reminded me of some very real moments in my own teaching experience, times when things didn’t go according to plan but ended up becoming unexpectedly meaningful. I remember one morning when the power went out just before my Grade 3 students arrived. No projector, no internet, no digital lesson plan, just me, the kids, and natural light from the classroom windows. What began as frustration quickly turned into one of the most memorable days of the year. The students worked together to invent games, share stories, and even start a mini “survival challenge” using whatever materials they could find. It reminded me that learning thrives when curiosity, creativity, and laughter take the lead, even when technology disappears.
This experience came back to me while reading my AI-generated text. In the imagined future, AI wasn’t the enemy. It was a supportive partner. It helped people grow food, write poetry, and connect with one another across small, resilient communities. That vision resonated with how I already try to approach technology in my classroom: not as a replacement for human experience, but as a tool that can amplify connection when used thoughtfully.
The exercise also made me think about my own students growing up in a world where voice-to-text, translation tools, and chat-based AI are becoming normal parts of how they communicate. If society were to collapse, what kind of learning would truly matter? Perhaps not the memorization of facts or the mastering of apps, but the ability to stay curious, to work with others, and to see possibility in uncertainty. That’s where the “cheer” in my imagined curriculum really lives, not in ignoring hardship, but in creating joy and connection anyway.
Reference
Lab, S. (n.d.). The Thing From The Future. Situation Lab. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://situationlab.org/project/the-thing-from-the-future/Links to an external site.
Microsoft. (2025). Copilot [Large language model]. https://copilot.microsoft.com