Oregon Sea Grant

The activity’s primary goals are for students to build critical thinking skills solving real-world problems, and to appreciate the complexity of creating environmental policy given the often-difficult communication between scientists, policymakers, resource managers, and the general public. Our case study concerns the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs), in which students negotiate the terms of use of an MPA while assuming the identities of individuals with interests in the use and/or protection of the MPA.