With the Académie des Sciences in 2013-2014

With the Académie des Sciences in

2013 - 2014

COPED has continued channelling its efforts into the organization in Africa of major

colloquia focused on topics of crucial interest for development. Since the cooperation

initiatives in the field of chemistry in Francophone Africa is lagging behind, it has been

decided to focus on chemistry and its role in the characterization and repurposing

of natural resources - whether plant, animal or mineral. First, representatives from

seven Francophone African countries have been invited at the Académie des Sciences

at the end of 2013 to discuss on specific themes that could be considered on the

colloquium. Cotonou has been selected as the venue, with direct support from the

Académie nationale des sciences, des arts et des lettres du Bénin. First scheduled for

October 2014, this colloquium had been postponed for April 2015 due to the Ebola

epidemic that had stricken Western Africa. This colloquium involved about twenty European and sixty African speakers. A special

issue of the

Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des sciences

shall be devoted to it.

COPED was also involved in the 1

conference of the North-South Aemase (African-

European-Mediterranean Academies for Science in Education) programme of ALLEA,

organized on the initiative of the academies of Egypt, France, Italy, Morocco and

Senegal, with support from the IAP (InterAcademy Partnership) and NASAC (Network

of African Science Academies) interacademic networks. This colloquium, which was

held in Roma from 18 to 20 May 2014, was devoted to the theme of science teaching

in the service of society and development. Co-chaired by Académie Member Odile

Macchi, the Vice-President of COPED, it greeted representatives from the 26 countries

of the North-South area involved but also from the Americas and Australia. Thanks to

the quality of the interactions shared between Northern and Southern countries, bilateral or multilateral cooperation projects will be

launched on several themes: the professional development of science teachers, assessment of pilot projects on teaching, role of

the industry, relations between the formal methodology of school teaching and the informal science education of the citizen (at the

museum, exhibitions, fairs, etc.), using information technology in the classroom. The minutes of the conference have been published

at the end of 2014

When

La main à la pâte

goes international

In the aim to disseminate the experience of

La main à la pâte

outside the borders

of France, the Foundation for Science Cooperation [Fondation de coopération

scientifique]

La main à la pâte - Pour l’Éducation à la science

holds an international seminar and greets foreign delegations: the seminar

gathers every year a little more than forty participants from about thirty countries

of Asia, Africa and the Americas. It enables foreign participants to discover the operation

La main à la pâte

in France, and is often an

opportunity for establishing new collaborations;

takes part in international events: the conference of IAP’s

Science Education Programme

in Beijing (October 2014), a subregional

ministerial forum on spurring the academies on to aim technological development and the creation of youth employment opportunities

in Cairo (November 2014), an exploratory mission in Armenia (November 2014);

advises partner countries in the local implementation of their strategy: ten training sessions to the operation La main à la pâte take

place every year out of France (South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Vietnam, etc.) and in 2014 the

Foundation provided such new resources in English as the teaching module

Screens, the Brain and the Child

and the booklet

Setting

up, Developing and Expanding a Centre for Science and/or Mathematics Education;

carries out a specific action at the European level: coordinates the Sustain

(Supporting Science Teaching Advancement Through

Inquiry)

Project and is in charge of the national Contact Point of the

Scientix2

programme, coordinated by the European Schoolnet.