A 21st-century civic education project!

To train teachers and students in Martinique in risk culture, as part of a collaborative project with regions in the Caribbean and the Americas, by designing prototypes for smart and resilient cities, is the challenge undertaken by the Higher School of Teaching and Education (ESPE) in Martinique as part of a multi-year initiative running from 2018 to 2020. This is the NUMERISK AmériCaraïbe initiative…

This is an educational project focused on training and raising awareness about major risks, which will utilize computer science, digital technology, and robotics, as part of an approach aimed at collaboration with countries in the Caribbean and the Americas subject to the same types of risks. Students will use their creativity to envision an ideal resilient city, while developing their sense of citizenship and cooperation and utilizing digital technologies—which have been a priority area in the National Education guidelines since 2016.

Project manager Nathalie Méthélie explains the Numérisk approach: «We train those who will educate future citizens—that is, young people—and if these teachers are able to raise awareness among young people, even children, at a very early age, and encourage them to think critically as citizens about their local community, that might just be the right solution! That’s how the idea got started, and I was also approached by the Paris Center for Interdisciplinary Research, which is working on the project «Smart City Maker» (1), a research project on smart cities in schools. They asked me if I wanted to work on it—that is, to bring discussions about the community we live in into the classroom. They set up a working group and a MOOC called «The Research Adventurers» (2), for which I became a facilitator. ”The idea is to bring research into schools. Starting in Cycle 3—in fourth grade—students are asked to take a stance on a specific issue, such as the ‘smart city,’ and they’re supported by mentors who are experts in their fields (researchers, architects, etc.)…”

One of the highlights of the operational program will take place on Friday, April 13. This is the R2T2 Challenge (3), which was named this year, «Operation Richter.». We are in the future; we have evolved. We have just experienced a violent earthquake. The population is safe, but the tsunami protection systems we had put in place have been damaged, and a tsunami is coming in an hour. So, teams of students spread across Martinique, Mexico, Saint Lucia, and French Guiana will have to remotely control the robots and work together to clear the debris and restore the safety system. This year, three pilot middle schools have joined the initiative: Saint Esprit Middle School, Couvent de Cluny Middle School, and Beauséjour Middle School in Trinité. There will be 16 teams worldwide, including 4 in Martinique. All the challenges are based on creative collaborative problem-solving—the goal is to bring all these bright minds together!

We use the THYMIO educational robot to teach children robot programming and introduce them to the concept of sensors, and we can start as early as preschool. It involves visual programming using images and sounds. This way, digital technology can be used to foster cross-curricular learning across all subjects.

This project promotes 21st-century values^th 21st-century skills—that is, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, computational thinking, and problem-solving. «Madinina Smart City» will soon be rolled out in all schools in Martinique.

Nathalie Laulé

(1) «Smart City Maker»: Developing creative projects aimed at improving today’s cities and envisioning the cities of tomorrow. Learning through the design and co-creation of smart cities.

(2) «Les Savanturiers de la recherche»: A national educational program developed by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research, which works to promote education through research in schools.

(3) «R2T2»: An international educational programming and robotics challenge led by Prof. F. Mondada of EPFL and D. Roy of INRIA. It aims to foster humanistic values and the co-creative resolution of problems that are significant to society.