Earth Sciences Are Amazing

The aim of this ESA² project is to fight against students' academic failure in scientific studies and to promote life and earth sciences. The target audience is the 15-17 age groups. In recent years, we have noticed that many students studying sciences were failing at school, often for lack of motivation. They consequently face difficulties in heading towards a specific choice before entering university, especially in the scientific fields. In addition, very few students choose courses of higher studies in the field of geosciences. However, these courses are varied and lead to business sectors that recruit: energy resources (oil), new energies (renewable: geothermal, solar, wind, hydro), mining, natural hazards prevention, etc. Through this European project around the theme of earth sciences, students will develop English language skills essential for pursuing higher education in the scientific field. They will also become aware of the interaction of the Earth sciences with other subjects such as mathematics, physical sciences, chemistry and geology that they will study with greater interest. Three European secondary schools are involved in the project: France (Lycée Pablo Picasso High School, Perpignan), Iceland (Laugarvatn) and Spain (Sagunto). Each participating European school has geological peculiarities which are observable in the field without danger and therefore motivating for the pupils. Indeed, through exchanges with their Spanish and Icelandic partners, they will acquire new skills in earth sciences. The field trips will be a real asset to generate motivation and a craze for science. In parallel with the field trips made during the trips abroad, the students will carry out practical activities throughout the year, combining the scientific disciplines (mathematics, physics-chemistry and earth and life sciences) and English. All the students involved in the project will be confronted with solving the same scientific problems in order to develop their skills in the experimental process. The research groups around these issues will be international, which will enable the students from the three European countries to communicate regularly in English thanks to “Twinspace” (created on the eTwinning platform). We will measure the achievement of our objectives considering the number of drop-out students in the scientific (and technological) pathways at school, the increase in applications for higher studies in geosciences, whether they are applied (renewable energies or mining industry) or fundamental (geodynamics, volcanism, climatology, ...) and finally, the increase in the number of students applying for Erasmus + scholarships to enroll in a European university or to find an internship in a company across Europe. We intend to establish a lasting relationship between the three European institutions. The students involved will receive a “Europass” and the heads of schools will sign a partnership charter. This project will serve as a showcase for the three schools promoting scientific culture and multidisciplinary learning. Finally we will use different media to spread the outcomes of our project: - The eTwinning platform through “Twinspace” in which the documents produced in English by the students from the three European countries could be used as work support by English or science teachers from other classes of the different schools. As a matter of fact, the scientific subjects discussed within the project are an integral part of the science curriculum. - Exhibition of scientific works at the science festival and open days at schools. - The local radios (“France Bleu Roussillon”, for France) with the diffusion of the students’ accounts on their trips abroad. - The local newspapers (the French papers “L’Indépendant” and “Le Midi Libre”) allowing a wider dissemination to the general public and thus a larger influence of the participating institutions and the project.