Context/Background Our project “The network of European scholars” aims to study Europe through the net of intellectual debate and cooperation, from the 15th to the 20th C. In the same way as the intellectuals of the past (not only “scientists” but also “scholars”, in the 18th century sense of the word) our students will interact, exchange, discuss, debate, defend their ideas, in other words, and travel to improve humanity. All domains are concerned because the key-word until XVIIIth century is… transdisciplinary: “experimental philosophy” means “Physics”. Even today, the links between science and history/arts/literature are, obviously, numerous and strong. So our project aspires in some way to reproduce/replay the network of European scholars. The project is the ideal continuation and development of the previous Erasmus + project about the key competences and freedom and citizenship in the EU. Three of the schools involved took part in both projects and three new partners have been included. Citizenship is created also thanks to the input, influence and development of people creating and making new discoveries in different areas of science but not only. Citizens coming from their own countries travel and travelled to other places in Europe leaving their accomplishments behind; accomplishments to be used and taken out of by other people. So, we can say, Europe as we have it today, was and has been built by different European nations even way before the idea of the EU appeared. Objectives In particular, this project will contribute to the popularization of the History of science, which is based on the knowledge sharing (the correspondence of scholars in the 18th century foreshadowed the Internet.) Our work will underline the links between scholars, artists, writers, philosophers not only through space but also though time. The reference to Greek antiquity as the foundation of both scientific and philosophical thinking will be constant. The objectives are : 1. discover the impact of this European scholars’ network on today's scientific applications, on arts and on culture in general 2. favour social inclusion and the development of intercultural skills (e.g. by creating multinational/multilingual groups, by analyzing and discussing the topic from different perspectives) 3. promote students’ acquisition and consolidation of basic and transversal competences in a life-long learning perspective 4. promote the exploration of the material culture of science (historical scientific instruments, historical experiments) 5. introduce students to working with primary sources of the European scholars, artist, writer (manuscripts, letters, drafts kept in libraries or scanned/published on websites) 6. deepen the theories or works included in the national academic programs 7. favour the development and consolidation of their language competences Number and profiles of participants 1. 6 countries : France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain 2. Teachers from various disciplines: Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Philosophy, Dance, English, German, Latin, Greek, PE, Art, Social sciences 3. Students aged 14-17: each school will form a special class who - where possible - will be able to work on the project for the whole two years 4. Professors of universities, searchers, PhD, librarians, curator, engineers of local companies who will liaise with us to monitor and provide further support Activities and Methodology The project will be student-centered and problem-based: it will use multidisciplinary approaches and will boost critical thinking by analyzing cultural contexts, through using formal and informal activities in multilingual classes (e.g. study cases, debates, producing creative materials, slideshows, Prezi presentations, drama activities, roleplays, building/showing a symbolic artefact, short movies, reconstruction of historical experiments, fictitious letters, escape games, choreographies), and by promoting the acquisition and consolidation of most of the transversal competences (Communication in a foreign language, Digital competence, Learning-to-learn, Social and civic competences, Entrepreneurship, Cultural expression). During the meetings, each country will invite the group of students to visit their museums, collections, archives, etc. in order to explore the local asset requirement. The potential longer term benefits 1. Develop the link between high schools and the academic or professional world (setting up internships) 2. Students will be able to extend European collaboration among themselves or study in a European country 3. Students will understand the influence of science onto some other domains (such as art, sports, dance) and may well use it in their future experience and/or when they have to choose their professional carreers (high school class profiles, university) 4. Teachers will adapt some of the methodologies into their curricula; using the experience to attract students.
The school curricula of the 6 countries concerned mention the need to evoke the history of scientific discoveries, but few teachers make reference to this due to lack of time. Our project aims to demonstrate the very strong link established between European scientists from the 15th to the 20th century, a link that is particularly noticeable in epistolary exchanges, trips or missions to the various academies of science. Our project is structured around two axes corresponding to the two school years: the first axis focuses on the mutualisation of scientific knowledge and the sharing of scientific experiments; the second axis establishes the relations between sciences and artists from all over Europe. Our project is organised around 5 key moments. The first is a short-term joint staff training course on "How to integrate the history of science in our teaching? How to integrate science into other fields" (C2) which takes place online (Covid) and in situ: in Pécs from 13 to 16 December 2021. The second is an international meeting in March 2021, of high school students by country group in Brest (France) and in Pècs (Hungary) "IDEA CREATION / TRAVEL OBJECTS" (C1 and C3). Indeed, as our operation involves 6 countries, we organised duplicate international meetings. Thus, from 21 to 25 March 2022, the French hosted the Greeks and the Italians, while the Hungarians hosted the Poles and the Spanish. Then from 14 to 18 November 2022, an international meeting of high school students from the 6 countries was held in Bassano del Grappa "DIFFUSION OF IDEAS" (C4) with the aim of presenting the different means of cultural dissemination since the 15th century, a map of the European network of scholars and a debate/theatrical play between famous European scientists and kings. The international meeting of high school students by country group in Madrid and Gdansk has the theme "IMPACT AND REACTION" (C5 and C6) and emphasises the relationship between science, literature and arts (music, dance, painting). From 6 to 10 February 2023, the Spanish hosted the French and the Hungarians while the Poles hosted the Italian and the Greeks. The last international meeting of high school students from the 6 countries took place in Athens, from 26 to 30 March 2023 with the theme: "SCIENCE AND SOCIETY: FROM ERASMUS to ERASMUS+" (C7). ). During this stay, the following were carried out : a debate among students to try to answer the question of the topic, the recognition of the cultural heritage through the famous names given to programmes, institutions, discoveries, a think tank about the role of Science to help with solving today's problem.