Unique every time

Since 2009, the Seine-Saint-Denis County Council has been backing “la Culture et l’Art au Collège (CAC)”. This project is based to a large extent on the presence in class for several weeks (40 hours) of an artist or scientist whose mission is to engage the students in a process of research and creation.

Contributors: oceanographers

Objectives:
Could it be said that an island is a land entirely subject to the influence of the sea surrounding it? This question forms the basis of a huge survey project coordinated by the students over several days on a real island.

Workshop:
The class project takes place in its entirety over 3 days on the Lérins Islands in the Mediterranean. It is supervised by a head contributor (marine biologist) accompanied by a multidisciplinary team. 

Day 1
Session with an ecologist: situating the island’s context and history (its inhabitants, its buildings); the students also learn about its reality: the ocean currents, the weather, its protected species and its fauna. The contributor gives the students a map of the island and some equipment (notebook, binoculars, compass). The students try out the equipment during a hike, and catalogue the landscapes on the map (rocky coasts, salt marshes, coastal forests).

Day 2
The impact of pollution and macro waste, tourist numbers and fishing: a walk along the coast makes these issues tangible. With the help of a botanist, the students conduct surveys of the coastal path:  exotic species, the siltation of terns’ nests, the risks of erosion. The students document their observations with sketches, photos and notes. With “Lérins Biodiversité”, the class then takes samples of invertebrates, recording specimen numbers in its ecosystem.

Day 3
The class boards a sailboat to take zooplankton samples. Back on land, the different samples are observed under a microscope; the students study anatomy, behaviour and shapes; they then try and identify the observed species with help of a database and dedicated software. The class meticulously records and registers all the data, images and samples taken during the trip.