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The other two links
within the "Careers" section of this online supplement focus on jobs and
training for existing careers. With this page, we invite you to let your
imagination roam a bit. Given the current trends of energy development
and consumption, what might be future jobs in energy?
While thinking
about the future can involve whimsical contemplation, there are many
professionals and programs designed to provide strategic ways to
forecast what may come.
Use the ideas and
links on this page to think about the future of energy. Then, we ask you
to consider the knowledge and skills students of today may need to be
prepared to meet these future energy needs.
Futurist - A person who studies
past and present trends in science, technology, and society in order to
forecast possible and probable future outcomes.
Activities and Lessons
Following is a brief
description on a few strategies futurists use to forecast future
possibilities and probabilities:
1. Trend
Analysis - an approach that involves examining graphs and charts to
identify patterns and possible projections.
2. Futures
Wheel - the end result of this technique looks like a concept map. It
involves selecting and circling a decision or situation and identifying
various outcomes of that situation and subsequent outcomes of those
situations. Each series of outcomes are arranged in concentric circles.
3. Scenario
Writing - a strategy that involves projecting how today's decisions
might affect future situations.
Here are some
Energy Careers Futures teaching ideas:
1. The
Wisconsin Energy Statistics published each year by the Department of
Administration includes many graphs that chart trends in energy
consumption. Have students use Trend Analysis and other strategies to
predict future consumption rates. How might these projections affect the
job market?
2. Using
the Future Wheel technique, explore possible outcomes that could arise
with a change in energy technology. For example in the center of the
wheel write "Fuel Cells in every home." What are the various outcomes of
that action? What jobs would be created and needed to build and maintain
homes in America that are powered by Fuel Cells?
3. Have
students use Scenario Writing to contemplate outcomes of global climate
change. Different students could explore different perspectives.
Whichever outcome they chose to explore, encourage them to consider what
jobs may be created or phased out within this future world.
Sample Academic
Standards Addressed:
Social
Studies B.12.14 Analyze the role of economic, political, educational,
familial, and religious institutions as agents of both continuity and
change, citing current and past examples.
Student Projects
Challenge students to write and present a play that takes place in the
future and that highlights energy-related careers.
Sample Academic
Standards Addressed:
Art and Design E.12.2 Communicate ideas by
producing advanced design art forms, such as graphic design, product
design, architecture, landscape, and media arts, such as
film, photography, and multimedia
Art and Design E.12.3 Communicate ideas by
producing popular images and objects, such as folk art, traditional arts
and crafts, popular arts, mass media, and consumer products
1. Involve students in an
Energy Issue Investigation and Action Project.
2. Have students make a
Science Fair presentation about their research.
Websites
Wikipedia includes
an extensive discussion on futures studies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_studies
This site offers an
interesting approach to considering future careers:
www.howhist.com/jfraser/careers.htm
Other Resources
Forecasting the
Future: Exploring evidence for global climate change. 1996.
National Science Teachers Association. Classroom curriculum and activity
guide.
Following is a limited selection of books listed on
the Futurist Bookshelf web page, within the World Future Society's website:
www.wfs.org/bkblurbs.htm#build
Energy Trends
Sustainable
Energy: Choosing Among Options
by Jefferson W. Tester, et al. MIT Press. 2005. Human survival depends
on a continuing energy supply, but our ever-increasing need for energy
has presented us with a dilemma: how can we provide the benefits of
electric power to the Earth's population without causing further damage
to our environment, eroding social stability, or threatening the
well-being of future generations? The solution will lie in finding
sustainable energy sources and more efficient means of converting and
utilizing power. This textbook addresses the challenges of integrating
diverse factors and the importance for future generations of the energy
choices we make today. According to Jack Gibbons, former presidential
science advisor and former director of the Office of Science and
Technology Policy, this book "provides the intellectual tools and
perspectives needed to devise a sound strategy for ensuring
sustainability."
Tomorrow's
Energy
by Peter Hoffmann. MIT Press. 2001. The future economy will be driven by
hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe. Hydrogen derived
from water and solar energy could replace fossil fuels and offer the
world a nonpolluting renewable source of power. Hoffmann demonstrates
how hydrogen sources can be adapted by different countries and
economies.
Future Trends
Lessons for the
Future: The Missing Dimension in Education
by David Hicks. Foreword by Wendell Bell. Trafford Publishing.
2006. The study of the future is largely absent from school curricula.
Futures scholar Hicks examines the importance of preparing young people
for the future in a series of essays on seizing opportunities for
creating successful personal futures and identifying responsible futures
that affect the global human family. Chapters offer thought-provoking
classroom activities, stories of hope, holistic learning techniques for
studying global issues, and much more.
Vital Signs
2005: The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future
edited by Linda Starke, the Worldwatch Institute. W.W. Norton & Company.
2005.
Part of the Worldwatch Institute's Vital Signs series, this book is a
compendium of the various food, energy, economic, environmental, and
societal trends sweeping the globe. The articles contained here provide
a picture of our changing world that is both complete and full of
nuance. "The world is in the midst of a period of unprecedented and
disruptive change, offering enormous opportunities and even greater
risks. . . . Understanding the dynamic present is a first step, we
believe, to crating a better future," writes Worldwatch Institute
President Christopher Flavin.
Jobs
America's
Fastest Growing Jobs (Seventh Edition)
by J. Michael Farr. JIST Works. 2002. This volume offers up-to-date
information on the best jobs in the new economy. Students, career
changers, and job seekers will find detailed descriptions of more than
100 fast-growth jobs, including those requiring college degree,
postsecondary training, or high-school diploma.
The Best Jobs
for the 21st Century (Third Edition)
by Ronald L. Krannich and Caryl Rae Krannich. Impact Publications. 2002.
Whatever your job is today, it will probably be history tomorrow. This
readable and illuminating guide identifies the best jobs and places to
work in the decade ahead.
Career
Intelligence: The 12 New Rules for Work and Life Success
by Barbara Moses. Berrett-Koehler. 1998. 283 pages. Paperback.
To succeed in the rapidly changing work world, you must become a "career
activist." Career-management expert Barbara Moses advises: Keep up with
trends in business and in other areas, look beyond the bounds of your
own region, keep on learning, and rise above the daily frenzy of work to
live a life that's in sync with your values.
Youth
The Changing Adolescent Experience: Societal Trends and the
Transition to Adulthood edited by Jeylan T. Mortimer and Reed W.
Larson. Cambridge University Press. 2002. Eight essays focusing on the
future of adolescence in postindustrial societies. Change, opportunity,
innovation, and challenge will test the resourcefulness of the new
generation. This book examines factors that will impact adolescents'
lives and their futures as adults.
What Teens Need
To Succeed: Proven, Practical Ways To Shape Your Own Future
by Peter L. Benson, Judy Galbraith, and Pamela Espeland. Free
Spirit. 1998. Especially written for teenagers, this book shows how to
begin building your developmental assets, such as creativity, integrity,
conflict-resolution skills, and a sense of purpose. Checklists and
creative exercises focus on external assets such as family support,
school and neighborhood relationships, and peer influence, as well as
internal assets such as caring, honesty, restraint, and interpersonal
competence. These assets form a strong foundation for life that empower
you to build the future you want.
The World's Youth:
Adolescence in Eight Regions of the Globe
edited by B. Bradford Brown, Reed W. Larson, and T.S. Saraswathi.
Cambridge University Press. 2002. Scholars from around the world
describe the distinct nature of adolescence in such diverse regions as
sub-Saharan Africa, southeast Asia, India, and the Arab world. These
essays depict how rapid global change is altering the adolescent
experience, creating new challenges for young people and adults alike.
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