Mardi 29 mai 2018

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Newsletter - June 2018

April showers bring May flowers that bloom in June…

Institute Seminars

Il est difficile de croire que nous sommes déjà arrivés à la fin de l’année scolaire 2017-2018. Tout au long de l’année, les enseignants de l’Ecolint ont partagé leurs expertises via les séminaires offerts par l’Institut. C’est avec grand plaisir que nous accueillons parmi les participants nos collègues des écoles de l’AGEP, du DIP (maintenant DFJ - Département de la Formation et de la Jeunesse) et de l’Éducation Nationale (Haute Savoie). Nos conversations sont enrichies par les différences d'expérience et de contexte.

Le 24 avril, Hélène Trudel, enseignante en primaire à LGB, nous a présenté la méthode des orthographes approchées en lien avec celle de la philosophie pour les enfants. La communauté de recherche philosophique, lorsque pratiquée en classe, nous engage, enseignants et apprenants, dans une démarche de collaboration et de pensée critique. Avec beaucoup de finesse, Hélène a partagé des exemples pratiques d'exercices auprès de jeunes élèves, où la démarche philosophique est mise au service de l'apprentissage de l'orthographe.

Helen Timperley asks us to consider this question:  “What do we as teachers need to learn to promote the learning of our students?”[1] If we want to maximize the potential for student learning, to make our own professional experience more satisfying, then we should draw from as much valid data and educational research as possible in order to inform and improve our practice.  The  month of April brought a presentation on “Neurons, Neurogenesis, Teaching and Learning; what research tells us”  by the Institute’s own Alison Ball. In addition to her work with the PGCE, Alison has passionately pursued her interest in the potential of Mind, Brain and Education Science to alter our teaching methods for the better.

Pedagogical discourse focuses increasingly on how little we know about the future and yet we are supposed to be preparing children for productive lives in that future. What do they need to learn? Drawing from the work of Lynn Erickson, Lois Lanning and Jerome Bruner, among others, LGB Middle School teacher Shireen Ali-Khan offered a thought-provoking Symposium on Concept-Based Learning. Shireen urged us to continue along the path towards a curriculum that is idea-centered, intellectually substantive and that will, above all, help our students to make valid connections and meaning to their world.

Si vous souhaitez proposer un séminaire pendant l’année scolaire 2018-2019, je vous prie de me contacter (karen.taylor@ecolint.ch).

[1] Timperley, H. (2008). Teacher professional learning and development. International Academy of Education.

 

Study Day / Journée d’étude et de réflexion

Le 25 juin, les élèves de l’année 11 de toute la Fondation se réuniront pour la Journée d’étude et de réflexion (Study Day). Chaque année, cette journée offre un moment de partage pour une exploration approfondie d’un sujet.

In Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, psychologist and Harvard professor Steven Pinker argues that the eighteenth-century Enlightenment has born its fruit. Human beings live, on the whole, longer, healthier and more peaceful lives than has ever been the case.

Pinker’s argument is compelling. And yet so is that of his critics. There exists a great deal of inequity in terms of access to the benefits of progress, be they intellectual, humanitarian, scientific or material. And despite the naysayers, climate change is a reality, biodiversity is threatened, as are the long term prospects for humanity. If we are to maintain and expand access to the positive developments of which Pinker speaks then we must act.

In 2012, the UN first announced the 2030 Agenda with its seventeen Goals for Sustainable Development. The SDGs offer a framework in which to shape our efforts to ensure a better, cleaner, and more equitable future for our planet. The eminent speakers who join us this year for Study Day will share their experience and help us to consider some of the ways in which we might engage as individuals in this global project.

Research Informed Practice in Education

On June 30th, 38 participants from schools and universities in Switzerland, France and the UK will come together for the first RIPE (Research Informed Practice in Education) conference, organized in collaboration with Evidence Based Education in Durham, UK and the AGEP.

The purpose of this conference is to bring together university researchers and classroom practitioners with the aim of promoting action research while providing the opportunity for all participants to benefit from a rich exchange of views and experience. With this event our aim is to lay the foundation for future Summer Institutes to be held in Geneva to school based research in international schools.

2017-2018 ANNEXE VI Reports