Hosted by OSOS , contributed by mersidala on 8 July 2021
Project presentation:
Education to sustainable development. The aim of our project is to make our pupils find solutions in our school to reduce our carbon footprint, share these solutions and convince people of the interest for our planet of eco-friendly attitudes and positive power.
Throughout different actions such as organizing a Clothes swap, a conference on eating insects, a veggie meal at the canteen, the visit of a local recycling centre collecting the canteen food, our pupils can become the actors of the project and make things change not only at school but also at home and in the local community when sharing their experiences and choices.
They also develop their scientific knowledge of the environmental problems and improve their language skills in English. Besides, they learn how to better cooperate within their group and with the school community. Finally, this project enables them to become aware of the notion of “circular economy” which is also essential to an education to sustainable development.
At the beginning of the project, to better understand the issues of the carbon footprint, students can discuss with a scientist from an institute specialized in environment and climat or meteorlogy. Throughout all the project, they can work with local associations to organize larger events based on the events done in the school.
We encourage you to visit: https://projetbeecoplus.wordpress.com/
Learning Objectives:
- Develop the awareness and motivation to live sustainably
- Become responsible for their choices and find the tools to convince the community of the righteousness of these choices
- Evaluate the result of their actions and how the community feels about them. Constantly try to improve.
- Understand not only the benefits for the planet but also for their own health.
- Develops their ICT skills and scientific skills
- Understand the importance of mastering the English language for research and communication
- Understand the importance of scientific data and enquiry to develop the project and be more effective.
- Use virtual tools but also experiment on the field (visits and interviews)
- Communicate their research findings, choosing the media according to the audience or the situation
- Act directly on their environment with the help and cooperation of others
- Understand the need to keep an open mind and to be ready to share.
RRI principles:
One of the key aspects of OSOS is the inclusion of RRI — Responsible Research and Innovation — principles (more information at RRI-Tools.eu). This is how this Accelerator fits into the RRI model:
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Governance |
Students will be able to find solution to reduce carbon footprint in their shcool with the help of the school community at large and external stakeholders. I.e.: Students can learn about the importance of sustainable development, carbon footprint and its impact on our planet by discussing with scientists. They can reflect on what can be improved in their school with the help of scientist and local associations and share the responsibility of changing their school with all the different stakeholders in their school (students, teachers, headmaster, canteen chef, cleaning team …). |
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Public Engagement |
At each stage of the project, the students will test their ideas and get feedback from the school community at large and the external stakeholders working with them. The project is based on a transdisciplinary approach and the action offered by the students to reduce the carbon footprint cover a wide range of disciplines. I.e.: Students will imagine a series of actions to reduce the carbon footprint in their school. Each action will involve the school community at large (students, families, teachers …), these actions can include conferences, after the action they get feedback from everyone who participated in the action. |
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Gender Equality |
The solutions offered by the students to reduce the carbon footprint will be established with a gender-neutral approach, it will benefit both men and women. I.e. : Students will discuss different actions and solutions and will decide on the most appropriate on terms of gender equality. |
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Science Education |
Students will use a scientific approach to reduce the carbon footprint of their school. They will investigate their school environment, look for ways to reduce the carbon footprint, find out solutions and implement them in the school. I.e.: Students will follow a scientific approach by testing their actions to reduce the carbon footprint in the school. They will give conferences to other students and members of the school community at large. They will organize all the actions, conferences and event by themselves. |
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Ethics |
Students will share responsibility in the project, in compliance with the research integrity and the social values of Science. The project is about reflecting on their school but it will certainly trigger a reflection about their homes and everyday life to become responsible citizens. I.e.: The students will be responsible for reducing the carbon footprint of their school. All the member of the school will benefit from the actions lead by students and will be able to conduct the same reflection in their homes and everyday life. |
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Open Access |
Students will share their knowledge and summary of their action online, free of charge. I.e.: Students will create a blog to share their experience with the project with anyone who is interested. |
Available partnership opportunities
- Family: The pupils discuss with their families about the current situation of the planet and the need to act effectively for their own future in reducing the carbon footprint at their level. Hopefully, families will support the pupils for the actions : recycling, avoiding food waste, helping for the clothes swap, modifying their eating habits, sharing about their experiences and choices’.
- Cité de l’Espace, science center: Bring scientific data and give the opportunity to lead scientific experiments linked with the carbon footprint and climate change. Discussion with a meteorology scientist.
- Cler Verts, Local recycling centre: Enables the pupils to discover concretely how the food waste from the school canteen can be recycled and transformed into a fertilizer which then can be used by the locals for gardens or cultures. Pupils become aware of a concrete example of circular economy. Enables them to discover a large spectrum of jobs and professional experiences linked with the activity and to meet the people involved.
- Local charity center: Donation of the remaining clothes of the “Clothes Swap”
- Teachers: Share ideas. Help to develop students project. Guide students preparing the interview with school staff, meteoroly scientist, industry.
- Other student: Test and participle at the events. Discuss about the sustainable development.
- Local community: Share experience. Develop sustainable development projects like projects done in the high school. Organize larger events based on the successful events made in the school
- Others stakeholders:
- School taff: participate to the event / accept some change in their high school (biology garden…) / available for interview
- Local industry: give to the students some foods or material to realise their project (in that case : insects based products)
Recommended resources
Relies on the observation of their school environment and interviews with the school staff, scientists and professionals.
The pupils will essentially need a Classroom dedicated to Language, a Biology classroom, IT room, colour printer, Access to the Canteen, and a bus booked for the visits.
Others suggestions
This project can be enriched with a work on plants and vegetables that are grown on the biology terrace. The aim is to make the students aware of the interest to protect biodiversity. We intend to work with a local company designing and building wooden plant stands. This company employs disabled people. We are also figuring out how to plant fruit trees at school so that the canteen staff can serve them to the pupils.
More activities are also planned to make their own cosmetics with only natural or organic products (They have already tried the making of a deodorant with the help of one of the maths teachers who knows how to make it and the advises of the school nurse).
The activities rely on the observations made by the pupils at the beginning of their school year since it is their first year in the school. But the activities can be changed according to the priorities set by the pupils and their personal interests.
The pupils are aware that their school is a “positive power” school.
Organization in charge of this Accelerator
This Accelerator has been developed by Dubois Christel (English Teacher), Gratien Mylène (Biology Teacher).
Lycée Léon Blum
8 Chemin du Tracas - B.P.34 31290 Villefranche-de-Lauragais
Téléphone : 0561460123
Mail : 0312915a@ac-toulouse.fr
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