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Activity 1:Conference of the Faucets
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Activity 1

Title: Conference of the Faucets

Estimate Time: 30 minutes

Subject/Course: Climate change

Grade: 6th-12th

Topic: Conference of the Parties

SDG Integration: 13

 

Summary: Students will complete a mock COP activity utilizing the bathtub metaphor for climate change. The bathtub represents the earth’s atmosphere, the faucet represents the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the drain represents the amount of carbon the earth can reabsorb naturally into the ecosystem. If a worldwide climate disaster were to occur, the bathtub would overflow. In the activity, there are multiple faucets each representing a different party with a different contribution of water to the tub. The Conference of the Faucets has been called to discuss the high water levels in the tub and the parties’ contributions. The faucets will come to an agreement on future contributions to the tub. After completing the activity, students will be told about the metaphor and will make connections from their mock conference to the Conference of the Parties.

 

Materials/Resources:

Established Goals: 

Students will demonstrate an understanding of COP through participation in a mock COP activity and reflecting and connecting it to COP.

Essential Questions:

  • What is the Conference of the Parties(COP)?
  • Why is COP important?
  • Who attends COP?

Students will be able to…

  • Apply ideas and experiences from this activity to COP.
  • Understand the importance of COP in relation to climate change.
  • Infer the importance of climate policy through application to the activity.

Vocabulary Words:

  • Conference of the Parties (COP)
  • Climate Change
  • Climate Policy
  • United Nations (UN)
  • United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

                                                  Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks:

Step 1: Have students get into small groups of 3-4 students

Step 2: Explain that each group is a representative of a different water faucet filling the same bathtub, some faucets are contributing more water while others are contributing less. A conference has been called to discuss each faucet’s contributions to the tub.

Step 3: Assign the groups randomly by passing out the faucet graphics. The graphic explains what faucet they are, their contributions to the tub, and their conference objective. Give each group about 5-10 minutes to look over their objective and formulate an argument that aligns with their objective.

Step 4: After groups have discussed, start the conference by stating, “The Conference of the Faucets has been called to discuss water contributions to the bathtub, we are here to come to an agreement on future contributions. Who would like to start us off?”

Step 5: If no one volunteers, call on a group (preferably the orange, silver, or yellow faucets). Let the students have their conversation and let the discussion run freely. When everyone has shared their stance, start moderating a discussion to try to get the groups to come to an agreement, you can use your graphic key to ask opposing faucet groups their thoughts on each other. Try to get the groups to come to an agreement, but it is not necessary to complete the learning plan. Please allow at least 10-15 minutes for discussion.

 

                                                            Learning Plan

Learning Activities:

Explain that the Conference of the Faucets is a metaphor for the UNFCCC’s annual climate change conference called Conference of the Parties(COP). COF uses the popular metaphor, ‘Carbon Bathtub’ for climate change. Explain the Carbon Bathtub metaphor, you can use this graphic. The faucets represent the parties that attend the Conference of the Parties. Have students think about how this activity connects to COP and reflect on the questions below.

                                                Student Reflection Plan

Student Reflection:

Guide a group discussion utilizing the following questions:

  • How easy was it to come to an agreement with the other parties?
  • What is hard to stick to your objective after hearing other groups?
  • How did you feel about your contributions to the bathtub being high/medium/low and the responsibility that came with it?
  • How did the ideologies of the faucets with higher contributions differ from the ideologies of the faucets with lower contributions?
  •  How can this be applied to COP?

Additional resources

Work cited