A mining operation at night transformed by technology: autonomous haul trucks linked by glowing connection lines
Year 7 · Unit 05 · Lesson 01

What's Changing

One idea must land: 2040 isn't a fantasy — it's already running in prototype, in WA, today. Designers spot what's changing and push it further.

The capstone unit opens on an identity bomb: “The year is 2040. You are 26. This is your industry now.” Three claims about that future go up, calls locked — and the reveal recalibrates the room: all three are already true. Driverless trucks and trains run in the Pilbara today; whole sites are controlled from Perth; solar already powers parts of operations. Then the unit’s rule is announced with ceremony — UGLY DRAWINGS ONLY — and the pens move: 30-second sketch drills where innovation is taught as one deliberate edit, a 4-minute proof hunt (the future, sourced), and the lesson’s heart: THE SITE OF 2040, an aerial map of each student’s own imagined site, toured aloud in a structured talk protocol and defended against two “why” questions. It closes with THE CURVE — a prediction graphed by hand and defended in two spoken sentences — and the canvases are collected: Lesson 3 hunts problems on these exact maps.

Spark

The time traveller’s sums + the reveal

Every student computes their own 2040 age — then the three claims, locked before the reveal: all already true. The class met the Perth control room in Unit 4 Lesson 1; call back to it and watch the pieces connect.

The line that frames the term: “this isn’t a unit about the industry’s future — it’s a unit about YOURS.”
Warm-up

UGLY DRAWINGS ONLY

The unit rule, announced with ceremony: neat is slow, and slow loses — designers sketch to think. Two 30-second drills: a haul truck without lifting the pen, then the same truck in 2040 with exactly ONE thing changed, explained to a pair in a full spoken sentence.

The one-change constraint is the quiet masterstroke: innovation is one deliberate edit, not a fantasy rebuild. And nothing visual is ever assessed in this unit — say so.
Core

The proof hunt + THE SITE OF 2040

Four minutes, devices: one WA already-doing-it find per pair, sourced (no source, no evidence — three units old and still the law). Then 15+ minutes on the canvas: an aerial map answering four edge-questions — POWER · WATER · MACHINES · PEOPLE — everything labelled, followed by 60-second guided tours where every map survives two “why” questions.

Circulate with designer questions, not compliments: “where does the power go at night?” beats “nice trucks.” The room should be loud.
Land it

THE CURVE + the collection

On the canvas’s back: one hand-drawn line, 2025→2040, workers on site. No right line — but every line defends its shape aloud before it’s written. Then the canvases are collected with a promise that stings a little: “your map is now the property of Lesson 3. It’s full of ideas — which means it’s full of problems. We’ll be back for them.”

Teacher intel

“Where does your site’s power go at night?” (The best maps have an answer drawn in.)
“Your curve falls — so where did the workers GO?” (Unit 4’s families are the answer bank.)
“What’s on your map that no company has built yet? Why not?”
“Who checks the water on your site?” (Unit 3 is watching. Always.)
The talk threadPitch Day is four lessons away — every lesson between here and there rehearses explaining out loud. Post the talk ladder: “What if…” · “It’s like ___ but for ___” · “The problem with today’s way is…” · “By 2040 this is normal, because…” Reward unprompted use, loudly.
Watch for“2040 means flying cars” (the reveal corrects it) · “automation means no jobs” (jobs move — ask Unit 4’s question: if the truck drives itself, who’s paid, and for what?) · “I can’t draw” (correct — nobody can; that’s the rule).
Running shortOne drill instead of two; the hunt can become a teacher demo. Protect the reveal, the canvas, the tour and the collection — Lesson 3 is built on those maps existing.
Support / ExtendSupport: the four edge-questions double as a checklist; tours from notes are fine; “draw one rectangle, label it — now it’s a site.” Extend: a fifth zone nobody’s thought of, defended — or the same site drawn in 2025 in one corner, toured as a then-vs-now story.