University of Massachusetts Lowell
EN-8: Staff Professional Development

March 27, 2014, World Climate Game Session. Students and faculty members were invited to join in a World Climate game session. World Climate is a role-playing simulation game that gives participants a chance to negotiate a global agreement to address climate change. It has been played by Nobel-prize winning scientists, former Secretary of State George Schultz, CEOs of major corporations, the President of MIT, and students around the world. Juliette Rooney-Varga (Director of the Climate Change Initiative) facilitated the session. No experience or prior knowledge was necessary. Students could sign up as players and faculty members could be players, help facilitate or simply observe. Jan. 15 and Jan. 16, 2014, Faculty Workshop on Cross-Disciplinary Climate Change Education - Faculty development workshop on interactive, cross-disciplinary climate change education tools. Workshop participants: • Obtained resources for explaining key climate change science concepts and overcoming common misconceptions. • Used systems thinking skills and tools to generate insights into complex, dynamic aspects of climate, energy, and related human systems. • Learned about and experience simulation role-playing exercises framed by Climate Interactive’s accessible, transparent, and scientifically rigorous computer simulations • Created an implementation plan for bringing climate change education into their own courses, with support from workshop facilitators and fellow participants. Support for this workshop came from UMass Lowell’s Climate Action Plan, the National Science Foundation, and NASA. Faculty from the UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative and staff of Climate Interactive, an organization at the forefront of creating decision-support simulations around climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy, led the workshop. The workshop was open to faculty from any institution. The Climate Change Teach-In is offered annually to students, faculty, staff and community members.