Charting the future: An experimental investigation of a chart tool's potential to support science fiction prototyping workshops

This study investigates the potential of chart tools to augment or replace facilitation functions in Science Fiction Prototyping (SFP) workshops conducted by young students. SFP is a workshop methodology that utilizes science fiction to foster future visions, but facilitating SFP workshops poses significant challenges, particularly for young people with limited experience and vocabulary. To address this, a chart tool was developed to complement or delegate facilitation, and an experimental workshop was conducted to compare participants' discussions with and without the tool. The results indicate that the chart tool effectively supports certain facilitation functions, including “divergence and convergence” and “reflection.” The tool also enhances the length of the stories, indicating improved participants' imagination. The results of the experimental workshops suggested that the developed chart tool has the potential to complement some aspects of the facilitator's role, however, it did not replace the experienced human facilitators.