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PROmOtinG Science teAchinG
in favour of a scientific universalism
Scientists have well understood the necessity to improve the transmission of knowledge to the public. contradictions
nevertheless remain: citizens have strong expectations regarding science and medicine, yet they also fear technological
progress; sciences are prodigious drivers of social progress and economic growth but the number of scientific vocations
is tailing off; and although many high technology tools are used on a daily basis, few users know what their operating
principles are.
Such a situation is an image of how terribly isolate the world of research remains: a new relationship between science
and society should thus be invented. in this context indeed, the Académie des Science has laid in 2014 the foundations
of its programme in favour of a scientific universalism:
Pour un universalisme scientifique
. this ambitious programme,
which will expand rapidly from 2015, is based on the scientist/heritage site/scientific discipline triangle, with:
Louis Pasteur, his house (Arbois, Jura), life sciences;
Antoine d’Abbadie, his castle observatory of Abbadia (hendaye, Pyrénées-Atlantiques), earth sciences;
Adolphe de Lépinay, his Ry-chazerat estate (Journet,Vienne), sciences in the service of the environment.
the actions proposed on each site will be inspired by the personal background
and scientific inputs of these personalities, and fit nicely into the economic,
environmental and cultural specificities of the regions where they used to live.
© elodieBouchot
supporting a transforming of teaching methods in haiti
The programme in favour of transforming teaching methods in Haiti,
Transformation de l’enseignement
en Haïti (TEH), fostered by the
Académie des sciences, the Centre national d’études spatiales (National
Centre for Space Studies, CNES) and Haitian Ministry of National
Education and Vocational Training, has continued, for the fourth year,
providing lifelong vocational training to primary school teachers.
The 2014-2015 academic year has been placed, since its
beginning, under the sign of autonomy for Haitian educators.
Indeed, a one-week training programme has been organized
in order to fortify the skills of about ten school counsellors (SC)
who shall themselves train their counterparts on sites that will
implement the TEH policy at the beginning of the next term. In
2013, the TEH programme involved 11 training sites, with 33 SC
on a total sum of 675 trained teachers. In 2014-2015, there will
be 15 training sites, their 45 SC and a total sum of 770 trained
teachers, for a mean number of 38,500 pupils benefitting from
the newly taught pedagogical methods.
The TEH programme receives support from the French Ministry of National Education, the Académies de Montpellier et de Versailles
[local authorities of the Ministry of National Education in Montpellier et in Versailles], the Institut d’Enseignement Supérieur et de
Recherche [Institute for Higher Education and Research]
Handicap et besoins éducatifs particuliers
[Handicap and Special Needs] and
the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Haiti.