6533b835fe1ef96bd129e7d8

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Developing contextualized educational tools and resources for the study of biodiversity in middle and high schools of the French West Indies

subject

description

International audience; The insular Caribbean is one of the most important hotspots of biodiversity in the world. The preservation of this invaluable natural heritage relies largely on the attitudes of local people towards biodiversity, especially among the younger generations. In this respect, scientific education in middle and high schools is particularly important. In the French West Indies, like elsewhere, the teaching of biodiversity would be even more effective if framed in a local context. However, most textbooks in life sciences written in French mainly rely on examples taken from animals and plants living in the French continental area, and are therefore poorly relevant for the teaching of biodiversity in the context of the Lesser Antilles. In order to improve on this situation, Caribaea Initiative (a Caribbean-based environmental and educational NGO) recently launched a new educational project, with funding support from the Agence Française pour la Biodiversité. It mainly consists in producing, in close connection with teachers from middle and high schools, new educational tools under the form of booklets illustrating key concepts and process about biodiversity and the environment, using examples taken from animals and plants living in the French Lesser Antilles, and, more generally, in the insular Caribbean. This project constitutes a unique opportunity for studying the contextualisation of teaching of life sciences in the Caribbean.