Lab Building

Bounded Future

Nobody knows the future, but it can be predicted better and better. From the start of 7.º ano, young people answer the same questionnaire at the start of the year and at the end of each term: how they predict, learn, pay attention, notice their body, deal with people and pressure, and what interests them. Their grades and tests, what the family observes (here or through the Bounded Companion) and small experiments in their own life are added to it. At the end of 9.º ano it all becomes a recommendation for secondary school, and in 10.º the thinking turns to higher education. Myths and principles help young people get past ideas such as ‘I have to work with my hands’ or ‘if I choose wrong in 9.º I am stuck’, and a psychologist joins only when the young person or the family asks.

Open the prototype

The idea we are testing

1A picture that takes shape over timeFourteen aspects drawn from predictive processing, constructed emotion and flexibility, asked again each term, alongside a 50-question family questionnaire. What repeats counts more than a single answer, and the margin narrows as the sources agree.

2A recommendation at the end of 9.ºThe course, the subjects, the reasons tied to the evidence, a strong alternative, what would change it and what to do now. In secondary school, a first list of higher-education courses and the entrance exams they ask for.

3A psychologist only when askedA vocational guidance session can be booked. The psychologist adds their own assessment, the system refines the picture and the recommendation with everything already there, and nothing is shared until the psychologist accepts.

Connected to the Bounded Companion

Bounded Future uses the same formulation as the Bounded Companion. Families can send what they have recorded in the Companion, so the picture of how a young person learns starts from what is already known.

Open the Bounded Companion

Where it is now

A first prototype exists. It is unfinished and changes often, so what you see may differ from what we finally release.

When it is ready, it graduates into a product or service.

Who it is for

Young people

From 7.º ano to the choice after 12.º: a questionnaire each term, experiments, myths and principles, and a recommendation they can read in their own words.

Families

Their own questionnaire, answered here or sent from the Bounded Companion, what the young person chooses to share, and a psychologist if they want one.

Psychologists

Accept a request, add their assessment, and review the refined picture and recommendation before anything is shared.

Taking part

We are looking for schools in Portugal, and families with a young person in 7.º, 8.º or 9.º ano, to try a first version this school year.

Let's talk

Tell the Companion about a moment that puzzles you, or write to Ricardo directly.

Talk to the Companion