Role Play: Pollution Solution
Subjects:
Geography, Environmental Science, Biology, Social / Political Studies, Language Arts
Objectives:
Identify the problems caused to the environment and society by an oil spill and the subsequent clean-up operations and discuss them in class.
Prerequisite:
none
Material:
- List of fictitious characters (see below)
- Optional: newspaper / magazine articles / information from the internet about oil spills
Procedure:
- To get a sense of the impact of an oil spill, have a role-playing discussion. Each student or a group of students
take up the role of one the fictitious characters. Have each character write some notes that would be taken to a press
conference held to find out what happened when a tanker went aground and caused an oil spill along a coastline.
Some members of the class can be reporters, directing questions to any of the participants.
- The reporters should ask questions about (a) the chain of events that led to the oil spill, (b) how each party helped
with the cleanup operation, and (c) how the spill affected their lives. Students responses will vary widely but should be
consistent with the attitude and professional knowledge suggested by each fictitious character's name and position.
Students should be able to conclude that the responsibilities for cleanup must be shared and that the local people are
affected by the oil spill long after the cleanup crews have left.
Fictitious Characters
| Name | Position |
| Captain Shipley | Captain of the tanker that went aground |
| Mrs. Petrol | Spokesperson for the Giant Oil Corporation |
| Mrs. Swap | Head of cleanup operations |
| Mr. Scout | Head of the airborne surveillance team (reporting to Mrs. Swap) |
| Mrs. Cirrus | Spokesperson of the National Weather Service |
| Mrs. Marchand | President of the local merchants' association |
| Mr. Greene | Spokesperson for a national conservation group |
| Mr. Hook | Spokesperson for the local fishing community |
| Mrs. Wright | President of the Town Council |
| Mrs. Labb | Scientist at Innovate Corp., a bioengineering firm |
| Mr. Ivory | Salesperson for Kleen-Up Supplies, Inc. |
| Mr. Byrd | Conservationist from the National Fish and Wildlife Service Office |
| Mrs. Goodley | Spokesperson for volunteers |
| Mrs. Interested | Reporter |
| Mr. Talkative | Reporter |
Credits: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, http://www.SmithsonianEducation.org
