Model U.N.

Overview

Objectives

By participating fully in this activity, students will:

• Apply their knowledge about climate change and climate engineering to formulate and defend the positions of their (fictional) countries.
• Practice the skill of negotiation under complex situations.
• Understand that climate change is a complex issue with no single solution.

Grade Level

Grades 6-12, Undergraduate

Standards

These are Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations.

• MS-ESS3-4 Earth and Human Activity. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
• HS-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
• HS-ESS3-5. Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.
• HS-ETS1-1 Engineering Design. Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
• HS-ETS1-3 Engineering Design. Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.

This lesson also supports these international frameworks:

• Global competence (Asia Society and OECD): Recognize perspectives; Communicate ideas; Take action
• UNESCO learning objectives for SDG 13 (Climate Action):
  • Socio-emotional 3: collaborating on agreed strategies to deal with climate change
  • Behavioural 3: assessing the impact of decisions on other people and world regions
  • Behavioural 4: promoting climate-protecting public policies

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

• SD 10: Reduced Inequalities: Reduce inequality within and among countries
• SD 13: Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
• SD 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and built effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Materials Required

• Public information sheet of the countries
• Classified information sheets of the countries
• Blank paper to make placards
• Markers
• Name tags (to specify their country and role)
• Worksheet 1 (one per group)
• Worksheet 2 (multiple per group)
• Worksheet 3 (one per group)

Learning Sequence

Lesson Plan Introduction

This activity positions students in a model UN that takes place in the year 2030 where climate change has been getting steadily worse and nations around the world are feeling its effects. Representatives from six nations have traveled to the U.N. to begin negotiations. If they agree that deployment should start, it will begin in 2035, which is around the time global average temperature will be 1.5°C (nearly 3°F) warmer than in the preindustrial era.

Activity Details

Activity set-up

• The class is divided into six groups, and each group is assigned a nation: Angosia, Durhan, Florin, Tanoa, Molvania, and Guilder
• Nations have two sheets of information. One sheet is public information visible to all countries. The other sheet is classified information, visible only to that nation. Sometimes these two documents appear to contradict each other.
• Groups should have their placards stating their country on the table

Prior to Negotiation

• Use worksheet 1 to create specific roles for group members (e.g., president, treaty writer) and to identify public and classified negotiating goals.

Negotiation

• Group members move around to other groups attempting to negotiate their positions Use worksheet 2 to track formal treaties between and among nations.
• At 10–15-minute intervals the instructor will provide news briefs (see lesson plan) to the UN ambassador. These are designed to disrupt and change the course of the negotiations.
• Use worksheet 3 to track the news briefs and plan how to negotiate in response to those news briefs.
• After the negotiations, there should be a wrap up discussion where the students talk about how their negotiation went, what sorts of arguments they made and what they learned.

Conclusion

Conclude the activity with a group discussion about the challenges of negotiating for climate action and collective decision making. Some discussion prompts are included in the lesson plan.

Global Connections

Needs review: Claude drafted the Global Connections section, and the global competence and UNESCO SDG 13 entries under Standards, from the lesson materials. Review and edit them.

Start where you teach

Before the negotiations, ask each group which fictional nation's situation is most like their own country's, and why.

Bring in other perspectives

In the debrief, connect each fictional nation to real negotiating groups, such as small island states, the least developed countries, major emitters and fossil-fuel exporters, so students see whose interests they represented.

Share beyond the classroom

The summit can be held with a class in another country by video, with each class representing different nations.

Lesson materials

Download the files below to teach this lesson. PDFs are accessible versions; PowerPoint and Excel files can be edited for your class.

Teacher resources

• Full lesson plan

  • Download PDF: Full lesson plan

• Lesson slides

  • Download PowerPoint: Lesson slides
  • Download PDF: Lesson slides
  • Watch Slide video (no audio): Lesson slides

Student resources

• Mock U.N. public information sheets

  • Download PDF: Mock U.N. public information sheets

• Mock U.N. classified information sheets

  • Download PDF: Mock U.N. classified information sheets

• Worksheet 1

  • Download PDF: Worksheet 1

• Worksheet 2

  • Download PDF: Worksheet 2

• Worksheet 3

  • Download PDF: Worksheet 3

Credit and contact