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Who Will Take the Heat?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worldbalance/roleplay/heat.html

PBS Teachers, NOVA

This activity engages students in a role play to negotiate an agreement between the United States and China about climate change policies. Students use given background material or can do their own additional research to present their assigned stakeholder's position in a simulated negotiation.

Activity takes three to four 45-minute lesson periods.

Learn more about Teaching Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness»


Climate Literacy

This Activity builds on the following concepts of Climate Literacy.

Click a topic below for supporting information, teaching ideas, and sample activities.

Energy Literacy

This Activity builds on the following concepts of Energy Literacy.

Click a topic below for supporting information, teaching ideas, and sample activities.

Excellence in Environmental Education Guidelines

4. Personal and Civic Responsibility:A) Understanding societal values and principles
Other materials addressing:
A) Understanding societal values and principles.
4. Personal and Civic Responsibility:B) Recognizing citizens' rightrs and responsiblities
Other materials addressing:
B) Recognizing citizens' rightrs and responsiblities.
2. Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems:2.3 Humans and Their Societies:A) Individuals and groups
Other materials addressing:
A) Individuals and groups.
2. Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems:2.3 Humans and Their Societies:B) Culture
Other materials addressing:
B) Culture.
2. Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems:2.3 Humans and Their Societies:C) Political and economic systems
Other materials addressing:
C) Political and economic systems.
2. Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems:2.3 Humans and Their Societies:D) Global Connections
Other materials addressing:
D) Global Connections.
2. Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems:2.3 Humans and Their Societies:E) Change and conflict
Other materials addressing:
E) Change and conflict.
2. Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems:2.4 Environment and Society:E) Environmental Issues
Other materials addressing:
E) Environmental Issues.
3. Skills for Understanding and Addressing Environmental Issues:3.1 Skills for Analyzing and Investigating Environmental Issues:A) Identifying and investigating issues
Other materials addressing:
A) Identifying and investigating issues.
3. Skills for Understanding and Addressing Environmental Issues:3.1 Skills for Analyzing and Investigating Environmental Issues:B) Sorting out the consequences of issues
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B) Sorting out the consequences of issues.
3. Skills for Understanding and Addressing Environmental Issues:3.1 Skills for Analyzing and Investigating Environmental Issues:C) Identifying and evaluation alternative solutions and courses of action
Other materials addressing:
C) Identifying and evaluation alternative solutions and courses of action.
3. Skills for Understanding and Addressing Environmental Issues:3.1 Skills for Analyzing and Investigating Environmental Issues:D) Working with flexibility, creativity, and openness
Other materials addressing:
D) Working with flexibility, creativity, and openness.
3. Skills for Understanding and Addressing Environmental Issues:3.2 Decision-Making and Citizenship Skills:A) Forming and evaluating personal views
Other materials addressing:
A) Forming and evaluating personal views.

Notes From Our Reviewers The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials
Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy | Technical Details

Teaching Tips

  • Appropriate for a science or social studies class.
  • This lesson would be a good cross-curricular performance assessment or final project.

About the Content

  • Students learn about the environmental, economic, and political issues surrounding global climate change policy.
  • Activity is from 2004 and can be enhanced with more recent scientific information that students can be challenged to find.
  • Concise, accurate background material provided. Many additional references provided.

About the Pedagogy

  • Stated learning outcome is one of participation in the negotiations. Ideally, the outcome can also include students demonstrating through their participation their understanding of related environmental, political and economic issues.
  • Lesson is well-organized with detailed readings provided and some helpful suggestions about how to set up the negotiations. Suggestions about how to assess students and expand the project are provided.

Technical Details/Ease of Use

  • Well-organized lesson that contains a plethora of readings for students to use in their role play as well as suggestions about how to teach students to effectively negotiate with their peers.
Entered the Collection: February 2012 Last Reviewed: July 2016

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