EcoChains Card Games –
a Project of the Polar Learning and Responding (PoLAR)
Climate Change Education Partnership
Stephanie Pfirman
PoLAR Principal Investigator, Barnard College, Earth Institute, Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory, Columbia University
Jessica Brunacini
PoLAR Project Manager, Earth Institute, Columbia University
National Science Foundation: Climate Change Education Partnership II,
2012-2017
PoLAR Mission
The Polar Learning and Responding
(PoLAR) Climate Change Education Partnership seeks to
… inform public understanding of and response to climate
change
… through the creation of novel educational approaches
… based on fascination with changing polar environments and
… geared towards lifelong learners.
PoLAR Partners & Active Collaborators
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Barnard College
Columbia University
Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory
Teachers College
University of Alaska
Fairbanks
University of New Hampshire
American Museum of Natural
History
Association of Native Interior
Educators
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International Arctic
Research Center
Arctic Institute of North
America
Museum of the North
Kiel Future Ocean
World Wildlife Fund
Games for Change
-----------------------------------q  IAATO & AECO?
Project Goals Range from Raising
Awareness to Informing Decisions
thepolarhub.org
Venues Range from Classrooms to Public Spaces
thepolarhub.org
EcoChains food web card games
EcoChains: Arctic Crisis –
http://bit.ly/EcoChains-AboutTheGame
Joey Lee, Teachers College/Games Research Lab
Stephanie Pfirman, Barnard/LDEO/CU
EcoChains: Arctic Crisis
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Engaging and informative
ecosystem card game
Players learn components and
dependencies of marine food
web
Emphasizes ice-dependency
of species
Highlights effects of humancaused events and actions on
ecosystem
What was the most interesting or important thing you learned? “[That] even the
slightest change to the food web could alter everything.”
EcoChains: Testing in classes, focus groups,
informal settings (>500 people)
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Game is fun and effective in developing an
understanding of Arctic ecosystem function and
vulnerability to climate change and other stress
q  “I
certainly felt an adrenaline rush as I kept the possibility of a
major disaster impacting my web at the forefront of my mind to
strategize the best possible food web combination.”
q  “This activity definitely kept my interest because I am a competitive
person who loves games. I also enjoyed building the web and
seeing the relationships between the organisms.”
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Learning new knowledge through game play is “stickier”
than through conventional approaches
EcoChains Antarctica: Penguin Peril?
Working with Palmer
Long Term Ecological
Research Station to
develop a Western
Peninsula marine
version
¨  Will be distributed by
PoLAR & Palmer,
including at Palmer
Station visitors center
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For IAATO & AECO
We think that the EcoChains games will help people on your
expeditions learn about the polar ecosystems and how they
respond to warming.
We’ll set up game play over breaks and lunch today so you
can try it for yourself.
If you’re willing to try it on an expedition, see us and we’ll
give you some decks.
Thank You
Stephanie Pfirman, [email protected]
Jessica Brunacini, [email protected]
Project website: thepolarhub.org
Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/
175wZWI_c9U4cC_KMfKRB64huZ9-AYka5S-IUR6pY-7
8/viewform