English Professor Uses Board Games to Teach Climate Change
2023-11-12
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1Isidora Djukic is a biology and chemistry student at John Carroll University near Cleveland, Ohio.
2She never thought that one day she would be in a classroom where an English teacher asked her to play a board game in order to learn about climate change.
3Djukic is taking a biology class called Climate Change: Global Impacts.
4At the same time, she is taking an English class called Environmental Literature.
5Her university requires students to take two connected classes that examine the same subject in different ways.
6"They both focus on global climate change," Djukic said.
7Debra Rosenthal is the English professor.
8At first, Djukic said she was uncertain about Rosenthal's board game idea.
9"I was just like: 'this is interesting. Like we're going to learn about climate change by playing a board game? Like how fun is this actually going to be, and how much are we actually going to take away from it?'"
10Rosenthal thought her students would gain a greater understanding about how their own ideas and experiences affect climate change.
11After testing the games with some adults, she got permission to buy six copies of a game called Solutions.
12The goal is to pick cards and then add them to the game board in a way that helps reduce global temperatures.
13Students do not compete against each other.
14They work together to choose the best plan of action.
15The game is different from board games such as Monopoly, where the goal is to win.
16Rosenthal said she hoped the games would give students a chance to talk about climate change in a new way. During most classes, students read material and then discuss their ideas.
17"But by playing the games, it's a way to be social, to engage in conversation. There has to be a lot of energy around the table. It's very collaborative. And in the game that I chose to play, they really were able to work together and try to come up with a solution so that the planet was not destroyed."
18During the class, she said, students laughed, disagreed and had to call for votes as a way to decide how to move forward in the game.
19Djukic said it was a "way to have fun...while also learning about such a serious subject."
20Both Djukic and Rosenthal said many American high school students do not get a lot of information about climate change.
21The connected classes at John Carroll permit students to, as Djukic said, "take a deeper dive into the science of global climate change...This linked pair really opened my eyes."
22A comment like that would make Megan Yousef smile.
23She is a climate educator based in Cleveland. She was one of the people who took part in Rosenthal's test event.
24Yousef uses a game called Climate Fresk to teach people about the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
25Climate Fresk is also a French nonprofit organization.
26Yousef said the Fresk is a kind of climate card game that helps people "get their heads around the problem.
27The IPCC report is 4000 pages long."
28Yousef's game has 42 cards. She said groups that play the game have a discussion when they place the cards on a long table.
29If a player has a card called "destruction of the water cycle," they might start a discussion about severe storms, such as the one that flooded parts of California in August.
30The goal of a Fresk is not to win, Yousef said.
31The idea is for players to learn about climate change and feel "energized" to help their communities.
32"It's very powerful for people to come together and acknowledge that other people care about this problem too," she said.
33Yousef said the Fresk game started in France and 1 million people have played it.
34She said she knows people like her, in Australia, India, China, Thailand and many European nations, have worked to bring the game to students.
35They have brought it to health events and financial groups.
36Rosenthal said some of the games she looked at would be good for students who are already good at English.
37One, called Carbonique, is made for French speakers, so her students would need to use a translation program to turn the words into English.
38The games are global, Djukic said.
39That is because she and her classmates said they were able to see how one player's decision about agriculture affected another player on the other side of the world.
40She said the games showed her that "in the game of climate change and the climate crisis, no individual wins."
41"It's either we all suffer from this, or we all somehow collaborate to work our way out of this and turn the clock back on climate change."
42In Djukic's opinon, that is a good lesson for any student to learn.
43I'm Dan Friedell.
1Isidora Djukic is a biology and chemistry student at John Carroll University near Cleveland, Ohio. 2She never thought that one day she would be in a classroom where an English teacher asked her to play a board game in order to learn about climate change. 3Djukic is taking a biology class called Climate Change: Global Impacts. At the same time, she is taking an English class called Environmental Literature. Her university requires students to take two connected classes that examine the same subject in different ways. 4"They both focus on global climate change," Djukic said. 5Debra Rosenthal is the English professor. At first, Djukic said she was uncertain about Rosenthal's board game idea. 6"I was just like: 'this is interesting. Like we're going to learn about climate change by playing a board game? Like how fun is this actually going to be, and how much are we actually going to take away from it?'" 7Rosenthal thought her students would gain a greater understanding about how their own ideas and experiences affect climate change. After testing the games with some adults, she got permission to buy six copies of a game called Solutions. The goal is to pick cards and then add them to the game board in a way that helps reduce global temperatures. 8There is no winner 9Students do not compete against each other. They work together to choose the best plan of action. The game is different from board games such as Monopoly, where the goal is to win. 10Rosenthal said she hoped the games would give students a chance to talk about climate change in a new way. During most classes, students read material and then discuss their ideas. 11"But by playing the games, it's a way to be social, to engage in conversation. There has to be a lot of energy around the table. It's very collaborative. And in the game that I chose to play, they really were able to work together and try to come up with a solution so that the planet was not destroyed." 12During the class, she said, students laughed, disagreed and had to call for votes as a way to decide how to move forward in the game. 13Djukic said it was a "way to have fun...while also learning about such a serious subject." 14Both Djukic and Rosenthal said many American high school students do not get a lot of information about climate change. The connected classes at John Carroll permit students to, as Djukic said, "take a deeper dive into the science of global climate change...This linked pair really opened my eyes." 15Climate educator approves 16A comment like that would make Megan Yousef smile. She is a climate educator based in Cleveland. She was one of the people who took part in Rosenthal's test event. 17Yousef uses a game called Climate Fresk to teach people about the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Climate Fresk is also a French nonprofit organization. 18Yousef said the Fresk is a kind of climate card game that helps people "get their heads around the problem. The IPCC report is 4000 pages long." 19Yousef's game has 42 cards. She said groups that play the game have a discussion when they place the cards on a long table. 20If a player has a card called "destruction of the water cycle," they might start a discussion about severe storms, such as the one that flooded parts of California in August. 21The goal of a Fresk is not to win, Yousef said. The idea is for players to learn about climate change and feel "energized" to help their communities. 22"It's very powerful for people to come together and acknowledge that other people care about this problem too," she said. 23World games 24Yousef said the Fresk game started in France and 1 million people have played it. She said she knows people like her, in Australia, India, China, Thailand and many European nations, have worked to bring the game to students. They have brought it to health events and financial groups. 25Rosenthal said some of the games she looked at would be good for students who are already good at English. One, called Carbonique, is made for French speakers, so her students would need to use a translation program to turn the words into English. 26The games are global, Djukic said. That is because she and her classmates said they were able to see how one player's decision about agriculture affected another player on the other side of the world. 27She said the games showed her that "in the game of climate change and the climate crisis, no individual wins." 28"It's either we all suffer from this, or we all somehow collaborate to work our way out of this and turn the clock back on climate change." 29In Djukic's opinon, that is a good lesson for any student to learn. 30I'm Dan Friedell. 31Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. 32____________________________________________________ 33Words in This Story 34focus -v. to place one's attention on something 35engage -v. to get involved in an issue or activity 36conversation -n. an informal talk involving two or more people 37collaborative -adj. involving two or more people working together toward a goal 38deep dive -idiom (informal) to more closely examine something 39pair -n. two of something 40get one's head around (something) -idiomatic expression (informal) to make an attempt to understand something 41acknowledge -v. to show that you know something exists 42turn the clock back -idiomatic expression (informal) to bring back the past or make things like they were in the past 43We want to hear from you. Would you try the climate card games?