World Climate:
Memorable, Engaging, and Scientifically Rigorous Climate Change
Juliette N. Rooney-Varga , Kenneth Rath , Victoria Kurker , Ellie Johnston , Drew Jones , John Sterman
Education
1
1UMass
2
1
3
3
4
Lowell Climate Change Initiative, 2SageFox Consulting Group, 3Climate Interactive, 4MIT Sloan
Need.
Like many other societal challenges, climate change represents a complex
system, driven by interactions, feedbacks, nonlinear processes, and time
delays. Not surprisingly, misconceptions about climate change are
widespread and are often linked to the non-intuitive behavior of complex
dynamic systems more generally. As the pace of climate change and
human responses to it accelerate, there is growing need for both climate
and systems literacy; to build a citizenry, workforce, and experts capable of
making science-based decisions, solving problems, and innovating in the
context of dynamic climate and energy systems.
Goal.
Our goal is to build both climate and systems literacy through immersive,
student-centered, and scientifically rigorous educational resources. In
particular, we are developing simulation-based role-playing exercises that
deliver key insights into the climate and energy systems. These exercises
simulate coupled human-physical systems, with physical systems being
represented by an interactive computer simulation, while role-play both
provides an immersive experience and enables participants to gain insights
into the social dynamics of decision-making.
The C-ROADS simulation, which enables
users to input emissions and land use
decisions, as well as assumptions about
climate sensitivity and feedbacks, and
provides real-time feedback on projected
climate change outcomes.
Interactive
computer
simulation
Shared social
experience
Participate in WCE
Affective
processing
Analytic
processing
How important is climate
change to you personally?
(p=0.006; ES=0.314)
Deep learning
How do you feel about
this issue?
(p=0.004; ES=0.383)
Pre
Post
Pre
Post
How would you rate your knowledge Pre
about climate change?
Post
(p=0.012; ES=0.331)
Motivation
What is the cause of ongoing
climate change?
(p=0.040; ES=0.230)
Pre
Post
What emissions pathway is
Pre
needed to limit warming to 2˚ C?
Post
(p=0.050; 0.300)
Behavior
Not at all
Very
Indifferent
Engaged
I have no knowledge
I am an expert
Don’t know
Mostly human activities
Emissions rise
Correct pathway
Comparison of matched pre- and post-survey responses across 11 implementations
Theory of change: Deep learning from analytic, affective, and social pathways
World Climate was engaging
Approach.
Our project is developing, propagating, and researching
learning outcomes from the World Climate Exercise (WCE), a
simulation-based role-playing exercise that puts learners in the
roles of delegates to the United Nations climate negotiations
and challenges them to negotiate a global climate deal. The
exercise is framed by C-ROADS, a computer simulation that
represents current scientific understanding of the climate
system. Development work has focused on resource content,
accessibility, and associated materials (videos, curriculum,
educators’ guides) to support learning from and propagation of
WCE. Research and evaluation has included development and
validation of survey instruments, pre- and post-survey studies, a
control vs. treatment (i.e., conventional lecture and reading
assignment vs. WCE) study, and a longitudinal study.
Propagation efforts have included workshops, webinars, online
materials, and presentations at professional meetings.
The impact of World Climate on desire to learn more about
I plan to others about it
I gained a better understanding of
countries’ perspectives on cc
The science of climate change
I cared about the outcomes
Potential solutions
I identified with my role
Politics as it relates to climate change
It was a good learning experience
Economics as it relates to climate change
As a result of this, I have a sense of urgency of cc
As a result of this, I want to learn more about
leading/effecting change in this area
Energy policies
Less interested
More interested
Strongly disagree
Strongly agree
Reactions to the World Climate exercise (post-survey responses from 11 implementations)
p=0.002; ES=0.89
Engagement
Understanding of climate change impacts
Comparison of World Climate to conventional pedagogical approaches (lecture, reading)
Simulated
outcomes
Role-play
World Climate role-playing
exercise at COP21 in Paris
(above) and an urban public
high school in the US (right)
Outcomes.
Our results thus far demonstrate that simulation-based role-playing exercises such
as WCE have tremendous potential as educational tools in both climate and
systems literacy. Briefly, WCE delivered gains in student understanding of the
stock-flow behavior of atmospheric CO2; understanding of climate change
impacts; and understanding of the scale and urgency of solutions needed to
effectively meet international climate goals. The exercise was also highly
memorable and engaging. Lastly, results thus far indicate that WCE was very
effective at motivating students to learn more and engage more deeply with
climate change.
Broader Impact.
We launched our propagation effort, the World Climate Project, at a White House climate literacy event
on August 17, 2015. By April 2016, 325 events were registered on our website in 35 countries around the
world, engaging 6,288 participants. We reached >250 educators through webinars, while >720 educators
have expressed interest in using WCE. We see
potential to reach tens of thousands (or more)
students, including many focused on disciplines that
would not normally include STEM content.
Ultimately, an important broader impact of the
proposed project is to provide a set of skills and
tools that enable members of the next generation
of active citizens and potential leaders to effectively
communicate and find solutions to climate, energy,
and other complex problems facing society.
Interested in using World Climate? Go to: www.climateinteractive.org/programs/worldclimate/
Interested in participating in our research effort? Go to: climate-changeinitiative.org/research/join-our-world-climate-project-research-effort
325 events held in 51 countries with 14,173 participants as of April 5, 2016
This project was supported by the
National Science Foundation under
grant number DUE-124558.