In the wake of
an ice-breaker
_

In June 2016, GreenEdge scientists left for 2 months in the Arctic aboard the research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen. They carried out observations intended to improve their understanding of the behaviour and the role of the marine ecosystem in Baffin Bay. Within this framework, the communication team coordinated by Julie Sansoulet, with the collaboration of Pascaline Bourgain, set up an original and innovative teaching device intended for primary school students (8-10 years), which enabled them to discover the Arctic (environment and population), the scientific and non-scientific crews of the Amundsen, and the challenges of the undertaking research in the area.

The educational project was carried out in several stages:

In the partner schools' classes, during spring 2016

Pascaline, in charge of this educational project, took part into the expedition and met with 5 classes in partner schools from the Ile-de-France region to present our scientific mission. The students worked as groups in order to identify a certain number of questions (a confounded set of themes: science, environment, life on board, icebreaker, etc.).

Presentation, Hoops, Teamwork, Selected questions, Recording, Credit: Pascaline Bourgain

The choice of topics covered was made in line with the state education programs. The students provided assumptions with respect to the responses to their queries. The students were recorded asking the selected questions (on video if parental authorization is obtained, otherwise by audio). The students contributed to the video and sound recordings.

Elementary schools of Reuilly in Paris, Du Val in Meudon, Jules Ferry in Levallois-Perret, Diderot in Paris, Jules Ferry in Bois Colombes - Credit: Pascaline Bourgain

Aboard the research icebreaker Amundsen, end of June 2016

Short-films of one to two minutes in length were produced in response to each identified question (while answering directly to the students). Therefore, 20 different people were interviewed on board to answer the children questions : scientists of course, but also the doctor, the coast guards, and even the captain ! During the research icebreaker mission, teleconferences were organized with the 5 partner classes, enabling them to interact directly with the team members, live from the Arctic.

Discover below the first videos!

Science

 

Life on board

Festival of Science 2016, October 2016

The 13th of October, during the Festival of Science week, Pierre Coupel who participated to the expedition as a marine biologist, will come to Paris to present the expedition and its scientific challenges. While 5 classes will be present at the conference, many others will follow by internet and ask their questions through Twitter (#ConfGreenEdge). This will be an amazing opportunity for many young students to interact directly with one crew of the mission !
Thanks to the 20 short videos, the students will keep discovering the scientific expedition in an entertaining way in a classroom setting.

This project is made with the support of the region Ile de France and in partnership with the académie de Versailles, the académie de Paris and the APECS-France association.