CFR Education Blog: Global Matters

Why Climate Change Simulations Can Empower Students to be Changemakers

Gain insights from an established Political Science professor on how active learning can empower students to be civically engaged and better understand environmental challenges. 

Written by
Roni Kay M. O’Dell, California State University San Marcos
Last Updated

Anxiety about the environment is high. And for good reason: humans are at a crisis point when it comes to climate change.  

Young people are concerned with the impacts of climate change on the planet as well as on their own futures and lives. They learn about the statistics and the overall climate change trends. They see the impact on their environment such as pollution in their cities or higher temperatures and erratic weather patterns. They follow national and international policy-making and politicking on the environment, and they know the current human response is unpredictable, unreliable, and inadequate to address climate change and its impacts.  

Classrooms are often the main point of contact for young people to learn about facts, trends, and statistics about the environment. As instructors we have a double burden. One of introducing students to environmental challenges and the other of teaching students about environmental policy and environmental justice while empowering them to respond and be involved in their communities at local and global levels.  

The task at hand seems daunting but with the right tools, our classrooms can be epicenters of empowerment and hope. In this blog you will learn why active learning activities, including simulations, can make your job a bit easier, and you’ll read why simulations help students to be more involved in their world and gain greater environmental and policymaking literacy.

 

Simulations as Empowerment Tools 

 

To introduce the topic of climate change to my students, I use CFR Education’s suite of climate resources, along with other resources (linked below) that provide foundational knowledge for understanding the science behind climate change as well as the international negotiations and agreements that respond to climate change.  

After discussing the basics of climate change in your classroom, adding active learning activities on negotiation and policymaking helps students think through the difficult issues and gives them a deeper understanding of why it is so challenging for governments to respond.

Simulations—where students are invited to step into the role of policymakers and negotiate responses themselves—bring life to our discussions of climate change. On the policy front, we as educators can encourage students to understand the policymaking process by helping them identify who makes decisions, how decisions are made, and how power and resources are distributed within societies and worldwide.  

Elucidating the opaque and confusing world of policymaking to students can be a form of empowerment. At the very least, students begin to understand how their governments or community organizations impact their environment, the challenges they are facing, and the options for ameliorating environmental problems. At best, such activities encourage students to become involved in government or other policy-making themselves. Indeed, simulations—like those provided by CFR Education—put students in the shoes of policymakers facing the most pressing issues in international relations based on various hypothetical, historical, and current event scenarios.  

What is more, using active learning and learner-centered teaching pedagogy can inspire students to be changemakers in their own world, even if they never become policymakers themselves. Activities and simulations help students to think in terms of social, political, and economic systems and put their own minds to work on identifying the perspectives of state governments, international organizations, and different cultures and people groups.  

 

Life-Lessons Learned from Simulations 

 

Simulations or active-learning activities teach students the theory and practice of policy responses and solutions to climate change and environmental problems. But more importantly, they prepare students for lifelong environmental literacy and encourage them to promote and practice sustainability and civic engagement.  

In addition to simulations, I’ve included active-learning activities connected with my classroom teaching about climate change. Short activities might look like writing an email to a legislator connected to a discussion about carbon emissions, developing a service-learning assignment that engages students to participate in an environmental clean-up day on campus, or simply using a website to calculate one’s personal use of resources and ecological footprint.  

Because of their participation in a simulation or active-learning activity, students are more likely to

  • Participate in Local, National, and International Civic Life: Such participation might look like sending an email to their legislators about their concerns and policy desires; it could be in volunteering or doing internships with government entities; or it could simply be in paying attention and engaging in participatory activities like voting.  
  • Become involved in Community Organizations: Simulations help students understand the multitudinous groups, perspectives, and interests that vie for attention in policymaking and can encourage them to become involved in local civil society organizations on issues they find important. They might volunteer for local organizations that maintain clean environments, participate in service-learning opportunities, or create their own projects and organizations to address problems they identify in their lives.
  • Monitor and Change Personal Consumption and Production Patterns: Simulations introduce students to collective action problems and the impact of aggregate actions on our environment. While students may become involved in campaigns or activities that challenge government or corporations to become better stewards, simulations also encourage students to take responsibility for their own impact and influence by identifying and changing poor consumption patterns (by avoiding single-use plastics, for example). Students learn how to be critical of their own actions and feel empowered by making changes to their own impact on the environment. 

 

Some responses from students on their experiences:

  • "The simulation was a personal favorite of mine in this course. It was exciting being fully immersed in the same setting as world leaders who constantly strive for world peace."
  • "I found that difficult and political conversations are not as intimidating as they are made out to be. I also felt I was able to understand the value of listening and how reacting to matters is not always needed. I could not be more grateful for this experience."
  • "Overall, after completing the simulation, I feel a great deal of gratitude for my peers and surrounding advisors. This was a very unique situation that I will never forget."
  • "The simulation experience emphasized the crucial role of diplomacy and cooperation in navigating complex international challenges."

 

Explore these CFR Education simulations:  

 

Create Classroom Opportunities where Civic Engagement is the Main Point, Not The Afterthought

 

Rather than thinking of your classroom as a place where you enlighten students to the environmental catastrophes happening around the world, use your classroom as an opportunity to empower students to be civically engaged throughout the rest of their lives.  

Simulations and other active learning activities provide outlets for students to practice the theories and concepts they learn in the classroom, understand the complexity, and feel empowered to do something to respond to the climate anxiety they may feel.  

 

Select Resources  

 

Roni Kay M. O’Dell is a CFR Education Higher Ed Distinguished Ambassador and an assistant professor of political science at California State University, San Marcos. Her research, writing, and teaching center on environmental governance. Connect with her on LinkedIn or visit her faculty page.