Oil or the environment? A role-play on the climate change debate

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Beschreibung

This educational resource introduces role-playing as an interactive teaching method to engage students in sustainability and climate change discussions. It consists of a compact methodological guide and a ready-to-use classroom activity that allows students to explore real-world dilemmas related to environmental and economic decision-making.

The method guide outlines the theoretical background of role-playing, its pedagogical benefits, and step-by-step implementation for educators. It highlights how role-plays foster critical thinking, social awareness, and problem-solving skills, making learning more engaging and experiential.

The teaching unit, “Creating Futures – Lesson 8”, presents a climate change role-play scenario where students debate whether to extract or leave newly discovered oil beneath their community. They take on different stakeholder roles—including government officials, climate experts, oil companies, and local residents—to analyze the economic, environmental, and social impacts of fossil fuel extraction.

Throughout the lesson, students engage in decision-making exercises, group discussions, and reflective analysis. The activity encourages collaborative problem-solving, helping students develop a deeper understanding of the complexities behind climate policies, sustainability challenges, and collective action.

This resource is particularly relevant for subjects such as Science, Social Studies, Environmental Science, Business, and Languages. It applies student-centered approaches, empowering students to explore real-world sustainability issues through role-play and debate.

By placing students in active roles, this resource develops their civic engagement and sustainability citizenship skills, preparing them to make informed, responsible decisions for the future.

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Wie Sie diese Ressource nutzen können

This resource includes a role-playing guide and a pre-designed classroom activity to explore climate change and decision-making.

1. Read the Method Guide (English or German)
   • Learn how role-play fosters critical thinking and problem-solving.
   • Follow step-by-step instructions for structuring and facilitating role-plays.
2. Implement the Classroom Activity
   • Preparation: Print role cards and introduce the oil extraction dilemma.
   • Role Discussion (20-30 min): Students develop arguments from different stakeholder perspectives.
   • Debate & Decision (25-35 min): Groups present views in a stakeholder meeting and vote.
   • Reflection (15-25 min): Discuss climate justice, power dynamics, and sustainability.

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Die Ressourcen

Role Play (English) PDF:

Role Play (German) PDF:

Link zur Ressource

Trocaire – Resources

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Lernergebnisse (Lehrkräfte)

• Abfrage des Vorwissens und Weiterentwicklung von Wissen und Verständnis von Schlüsselkonzepten der nachhaltigen Bürgerschaft, wobei etablierte Weltanschauungen und Werte in Frage gestellt werden.
• Anwendung einer Reihe von geeigneten Instrumenten und Rahmenwerken zur Förderung des bürgerschaftlichen Engagements von Studierenden im Bereich Nachhaltigkeit
• Reflektieren Sie die Praxis und untersuchen Sie die nationalen Lehrpläne, um Möglichkeiten zur Förderung der nachhaltigen Bürgerschaft auf interdisziplinäre Weise zu identifizieren und mit externen Interessengruppen in Kontakt zu treten.
• das Wissen, die Instrumente und den Rahmen gemeinsam zu synthetisieren, um Bildungsmaterialien und Unterrichtspläne zu erstellen, die an ihren eigenen lokalen Kontext angepasst sind
• Durch Workshop-Aktivitäten und Praxisgemeinschaften werden Kapazitäten und Handlungskompetenzen von Lehrkräften und Führungskräften im Bereich Sustainability Citizenship aufgebaut.

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Grüne Kompetenzen

• Nachhaltige Werte verkörpern: Nachhaltigkeit wertschätzen; Fairness unterstützen
• Komplexität in der Nachhaltigkeit berücksichtigen: Systemdenken; Kritisches Denken; Problemstellung
• Visionen für eine nachhaltige Zukunft: Zukunftskompetenz; Anpassungsfähigkeit; forschendes Denken
• Handeln für Nachhaltigkeit: Kollektives Handeln

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Creative Commons

This resource “Lesson 8” is entirely made by trocaire.org.
The original resource can be found here.

This adaptation by Cathérine Conradty of Universität of Bayreuth (UBT) for SYNAPSES academies is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This attribution does not imply endorsement by the original licensor..

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SDGs