AURORA, physics experiments in Lapland Erasmus Project

Project Title

AURORA, physics experiments in Lapland

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Pedagogy and didactics; Natural sciences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

The main theme of our international collaboration is the study of the northern lights and space .
Our project is a linguistic, scientific and cultural exchange between three European high-schools: one from France in Toulouse, one in Kiruna, Sweeden and the other in Kautokeino, Norway. In France 35 students from year 12 will be part of the project. In Norway, about 15 students between 16 and 18 years old will participate in the exchange. In Sweeden, a class is also involved in the project.
Different aspects around those phenomena will be studied thanks to a well-developed international collaboration between the students. For instance they will work on the causes of aurora borealis, on the Earth’s electro-magnetic field, on the interaction between matter and light, physics of waves and particles, solar phenomena and climatology. Exchanges will be organised between the students throughout the year on their scientific projects through emails and video-calls. A correspondence between the students will be organised so that they can discover each other’s cultures. Cross-border meetings between the participants will be held in Scandinavia and France. Hence the French students will be able to watch the phenomenon of the northern lights in order to put their scientific approach into perspective and to complete their studies.
Our strategy will be based on an international collaborative work between the students whilst guided by the teachers. It will also be the chance to develop the students’ skills on Information Technology. The students from the 3 countries will be able to collaborate on the websites of their schools and will create a collaborative blog. The students will have to take initiatives in order to do so.
Being in contact with a foreign culture will also be a chance for the students to develop their autonomy and their team spirit when being confronted to the cultural differences between the participants. Thanks to these exchanges, the students will become aware of how rich European cultures and heritage are. During the cross-border meetings, the students will be able to participate to the social life of the high-school that they are visiting. During their exchanges, their linguistic skills and their creativity will be reinforced. Their social and civic skills will also be developed. For instance the French students will become aware of the history of the Saami people and the question of native peoples. Hence the cultural diversity of this project offers a wealth of learning opportunities.
Beside the development of interdisciplinary skills, this project will also be the way to fight against absenteeism by motivating the students all through the year with this original theme of the northern lights. We hope to trigger the will to work in sciences among the students, especially girls, thanks to our collaboration with IRAP ( the Research Institute on astrophysics and planetology) in France and the Sweedish intitute of space and physics. By visiting and collaborating with these institutes, we will create a bridge between learning and the workplace.
A report of the scientific workshops during an event of dissemination will be organised in France with all the students and all the European partners of the project. All the members of the community (students from the school, the other teachers, the parents, Irap institute) will be invited to the conference which will be organised by the students themselves.
This project will also be the chance for the teachers of the 3 countries to exchange on their teaching methods. The students will also be able to exchange with their pairs during a transnational meeting on how each school system works and on the type of activities that they are doing in their class. We will try to implement innovative teaching methods, based on studies of the real world in order to develop the students’ skills. What’s more the teaching of science and maths will be done in English.
Finally this collaborative project will include the entire communities of the 3 participating schools. Each member (the teachers who do not participate directly into the collaboration, staff, students and parents) will be able to meet 2 different cultures and will be able to communicate in English in order to develop their linguistic skills. Hence the project will allow all the teachers of the 3 schools to exchange on their teaching methods and cultures.
To sum up, this project is a common work which promotes cooperation, learning with pairs and exchanging on everyone’s experience at a European level. All the participants of the 3 countries will be able to understand how rich and important our European heritage is. This will be a great opportunity to develop the students’ skills and will to succeed.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 68070 Eur

Project Coordinator

LPO BELLEVUE & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Malmensfriskola AB
• Samisk videregående skole og reindriftsskole