Book Creator | Countdown to COP

What is the Countdown to COP challenge?

The countdown to COP challenge is a creativity and design project that looks for innovative ideas and solutions for issues that we face relating to climate change.

We are looking for imaginative and original ideas for the 5 themes of the Countdown to COP- Nature, Finance, Clean Transport, Energy Transition and Adaptation and Resilience.

These ideas and solutions can be about MITIGATION (actions to tackle the causes of climate change and minimise their impacts) or ADAPTATION (changing how we live to adapt to the impacts of climate change).

Examples of these would be to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by stopping burning fossil fuels (mitigation) and building flood defences and sea walls to combat rising sea levels caused by climate change (adaptation).

The Countdown to COP challenge is also about developing skills that are essential for us to thrive in our ever changing world.

Skills such as collaborating and communicating, being curious and creative and being able to adapt and take the initiative are key to thinking afresh about climate change.

Skills 4.0, Skills Development Scotland

SHARE YOUR WORK

And of course it should also be fun and enjoyable! The following pages set out the challenge we want you to tackle as teams; and the recommended process for you to follow.

There is no set time limit to do this, but we would recommend between 3 and 5 hours, which can be spread over a number of weeks.

When complete we ask that you share your solutions with us before the end of October; in order that we can share them with people from Scotland and beyond during COP 26.

Send your video/presentation or reports/photographs of your work to CountdowntoCOP@educationscotland.gov.scot or share on social media #CountdowntoCOP

What is COP 26?

COP 26 is the United Nations Climate Change summit; where world leaders will come to Scotland to work together and agree the steps we need to take to protect our planet and people. The event will take place in Glasgow in November, with up to 30,000 delegates attending from all over the world. The eyes of the world will be trained on Scotland and on the agreements that come out of the conference.

Climate change isn’t just something that threatens our future – it’s impacts are happening now. In 2021, we have seen reports of wildfires, hurricanes, flooding and droughts from every corner of Earth; and if we do not come together to tackle climate change as a global community, then these events will become more common and even more devastating.

We need innovative thinking and collaboration to tackle one of the greatest threats to life on earth. We need to think about adapting to live with the changes that are already here, and consider what we need to do to prevent further heating of the planet.

So let’s work together in your school or community to start to think about solutions to some of the everyday challenges we face where we live, study and work. Let’s be creative, imaginative and brave with our ideas.

Imagine a better future,

Tell people about it,

Listen to what others imagine a better future to be.

If we work together we can make these better futures a reality.

BIODIVERSITY
CRISIS

Biodiversity is the variety of all life and habitats that are found on Earth. Not only are these often wondrous and beautiful, they are our life support system, providing us with an atmosphere to breathe, food to eat, clean water and materials we use daily in our lives.

But biodiversity is under threat, not just from the direct actions of humans, but also from climate change. You can explore more about this in the Nature theme on Countdown to COP.

We need to protect and repair habitats across the globe, but we can also help by creating new homes and habitats where we live. And we can do this in small sites, from our window sills to our playgrounds.

THE CHALLENGE

THINGS TO CONSIDER

Design a product to support biodiversity that can be used in built up spaces.

This could be within a playground, a park, garden or even in the street.

It has to be a product that can be built and assembled easily, and will engage the local community to care about and protect local biodiversity.

Consider what biodiversity you want to support – pollinators, insects, birds, plants?

Will it be used as a “home” for nature, or focus on providing food and water?

Can it be made from recycled or reused materials?

How do you inform and engage local people to know what it is?

Does it have to be on the ground – could it be on the side of buildings, on trees etc.?
Can it be on water or even in the sky?

How attractive will the design be? Can you include seating, signage etc.?

It will need to be maintained.
Who will do this and why?

What will happen to it at end of life?
Can it be repurposed or disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner?

SET UP THE TEAMS

Working in teams is the best approach to trying to solve problems – we all have skills and knowledge that we can share and can look at the issues from different angles.

Think about the mix of skills and interests – what can you bring to the team?

What are the roles we are going to need for the project; Designer, communicator, builder, presenter?

Is there a leader for the team?

How will the team members be identified?

Plan out and agree how much time you will spend on each of the stages of the project outlined below e.g. 1 hour on research, 2 hours on prototype.

RESEARCH

It’s really important that we research the issue we are looking at – you can carry out desktop research online and it can be really informative to carry out market research with your friends and family using surveys and social media. You can make a start to your research HERE

Find out more about the issue and the challenges – what are the causes of the issue; what are the parts in the process that your design could tackle?

What kind of solution is it – e.g. is it an engineering solution or social, behaviour change solution?

Who are the user groups for your product? What do they need to do to engage with it?

Are there alternative products or services already available? What will make yours different or stand out (its USP – Unique Selling Point).

What are the costs going to be? Can you ask for advice for this from local businesses, Developing Young Workforce groups?

How are you going to tell people about it? What’s your marketing strategy?

IDEATION

VOTE

Ideation is the process of generating ideas. This is a really important part of the challenge process and should be fun!

Let your imagination run free and think creatively. For ideation we ask that you quickly write down as many ideas as possible – Ideas generate more ideas.

Write down ideas for solutions to the challenge and other thoughts you may have about it (e.g. this is targeted at young people, people who live rurally/in cities)

Use post its to record these or you can use digital tools such as Google Jamboards

If using post its stick them on a wall and start to group them by themes – you decide how you want to group them.

Spend about 30 minutes on this, keep it rapid with lots of fast ideas.

Go big! – the more far out there an idea the better (It’s easier to edit a fantastical idea closer to something realistic than the other way around)

Creative thinking and imagination is key

Keep in mind – quantity over quality at this stage!

It’s now time to decide on what idea you will further develop. You should have generated a lot of ideas and it can be useful to group them under similar themes (behaviour change, digital solutions, etc).

If you’ve posted them on a wall or window, you can vote for what you would like to work on by standing in front of them – we call this a human bar chart

There will probably be some disagreement on what to work on – time to dust off your debating skills!

Give yourselves a time limit to decide – 5-10 mins

You MUST choose one idea solution to develop over the next steps.

PROTOTYPE

This stage is where our creativity can really soar. A prototype is an early model or sample of product/service that allows us to test if it works or how we can improve it.

Every manufactured object that you use will have started out as a prototype. For this project you can build models, or draw how it will work or create a digital version.

MODELS

DIGITAL

ITERATION

Make models out of cardboard, used plastic etc

Reuse what you have available

Think about the sustainability impact of the materials you would use in the final product

If you are thinking about digital tools, can you mock up what it would look like on a screen?

If you’re thinking about apps on a mobile phone, draw what the screenshots would look like for the app user at each stage

Iteration is the process of refining your design/product to improve it

Look at your initial design – what could you do to improve it?

You can build multiple new versions (the next iterations) and if you do make sure you share this process in the next stage.