VOA教育报道2023--English Professor Uses Board Games to Teach Climate Change

English Professor Uses Board Games to Teach Climate Change

Isidora Djukic is a biology and chemistry student at John Carroll University near Cleveland, Ohio.

She 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.

Djukic is taking a biology class called Climate Change: Global Impacts¹. 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.

"They both focus on global climate change," Djukic said.

Debra Rosenthal is the English professor. At first, Djukic said she was uncertain about Rosenthal's board game idea.

"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?'"

Rosenthal 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.

There is no winner

Students 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 Monopoly², where the goal is to win.

Rosenthal 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.

"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 planet³ was not destroyed."

During 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.

Djukic said it was a "way to have fun...while also learning⁴ about such a serious subject."

Both 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."

Climate educator approves

A 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.

Yousef uses a game called Climate Fresk to teach people about the UN's Intergovernmental Panel⁵ on Climate Change. Climate Fresk is also a French nonprofit organization.

Yousef 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."

Yousef's game has 42 cards. She said groups that play the game have a discussion⁶ when they place the cards on a long table.

If a player has a card called "destruction⁷ of the water cycle," they might start a discussion about severe storms, such as the one that flooded parts of California in August.

The goal of a Fresk is not to win, Yousef said. The idea is for players to learn about climate change and feel "energized⁸" to help their communities.

"It's very powerful for people to come together and acknowledge⁹ that other people care about this problem too," she said.

World games

Yousef 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.

Rosenthal 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.

The 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 affected¹⁰ another player on the other side of the world.

She said the games showed her that "in the game of climate change and the climate crisis¹¹, no individual wins."

"It's either we all suffer from this, or we all somehow collaborate¹² to work our way out of this and turn the clock back on climate change."

In Djukic's opinon, that is a good lesson for any student to learn.

Words in This Story

focus –v. to place one's attention on something

engage –v. to get involved in an issue or activity

conversation –n. an informal talk involving two or more people

collaborative –adj. involving two or more people working together toward¹³ a goal

deep dive –idiom (informal) to more closely¹⁴ examine something

pair –n. two of something

get one's head around (something) –idiomatic expression (informal) to make an attempt to understand something

acknowledge –v. to show that you know something exists

 

turn the clock back –idiomatic expression (informal) to bring back the past or make things like they were in the past

1 impacts   

影响，作用( impact的名词复数 )； 碰撞； 冲击； 撞击

参考例句：

• In particular, what alternatives and environmental impacts must be discussed? 特别是，必须讨论哪些替代方案以及哪些环境影响。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。

2 monopoly   

n.垄断，专卖，垄断物（商品），专卖商品

参考例句：

• His monopoly of shipbuilding in that country has been established.他对那个国家造船业的垄断已经建立起来。
• In many countries,tobacco is a government monopoly.在许多国家，烟草由政府专营。

3 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。

4 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

5 panel   

n.面，板，专门小组，控制板，仪表盘

参考例句：

• The unusual control panel on the walls caught our attention.墙上不同寻常的控制板引起了我们的注意。
• The panel of judges included several well-known writers.评判小组中包括几位知名作家。

6 discussion   

n.讨论，谈论；论述

参考例句：

• It is certain he will come to the discussion.他肯定会来参加讨论。
• After months of discussion,a peace agreement is gradually taking shape.经过几个月的商讨，和平协议渐渐有了眉目。

7 destruction   

n.破坏，毁灭，消灭

参考例句：

• The enemy bombs caused widespread destruction.敌人的炸弹造成大面积的破坏。
• Overconfidence was his destruction.自负是他垮台的原因。

8 energized   

v.给予…精力，能量( energize的过去式和过去分词 )；使通电

参考例句：

• We are energized by love if we put our energy into loving. 如果我们付出能量去表现爱意，爱就会使我们充满活力。 来自辞典例句
• I am completely energized and feeling terrific. 我充满了活力，感觉非常好。 来自辞典例句

9 acknowledge   

vt.承认...的权威，告知，收到，报偿

参考例句：

• With so much evidence against him he had to acknowledge his error.在这么多的证据面前，他不得不承认错误。
• It is ungracious of me not to acknowledge your help.你大力帮助而我尚未表示谢意，十分失礼。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

12 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

13 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

14 closely   

adv.紧密地；严密地，密切地

参考例句：

• We shall follow closely the development of the situation.我们将密切注意形势的发展。
• The two companies are closely tied up with each other.这两家公司之间有密切联系。