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Polar Bears Go with the Floes Board Games

Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association

In this 45-60 minute high-stakes board game, everyone wins or everyone loses. As they play, groups of three to four children ages 8 to 13 build an understanding of how human actions impact global change. As teams, children play a game in which chance and choice determine the fate of a lone polar bear on an ice floe.

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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.

  • We suggest adding the names of the other animals on the game pieces (e.g. "Beluga Whale"). We suggest fact-checking the Eco-Facts beforehand. It would be a good game to send home with students after playing it in class. It may be good to play the game as is once and then have students create their own cards for future games. Try not to focus too much on the gloom and doom as this can become overwhelming for your students. Teachers might want to consider going to the [link https://cleanet.org/clean/literacy/tools.html 'CLEAN support guides'] for elementary teachers to understand how to address this.