This text is part of the special notebook Université du Québec à Rimouski
Environmental research is going well at the University of Quebec at Rimouski (UQAR), which established the Research Chair in Environmental Education and Sustainable Development at the end of 2021, in partnership with its foundation and Gardens. This entity’s mission is to deepen the teaching of environmental challenges to better educate younger generations about the importance of nature. And, why not, awaken some vocations.
“Our activities aim to develop the power to act of young people in primary and secondary schools with regard to environmental issues,” explains Geneviève Therriault, holder of the research chair. Several educational projects are launched each year, making it possible to build links between researchers, schools and citizens.
Specialist in environmental education, Mme Therriault leads teachers to integrate these questions in different disciplines, “mainly in science and technology, but also in the field of the social universe and in the ethics and religious culture program which will become Quebec culture and citizenship,” indicates she said. The projects allow school and community stakeholders in the same region to come together to offer immersion activities.
Raise awareness
Well aware that environmental challenges can generate anxiety, Mme Therriault underlines the need to raise awareness among students through kindness, in particular by teaching them the individual “eco-gestures” that they can make or by strengthening their decision-making power and critical thinking. “Young people like to choose the themes they must confront and the more they realize the complexity of environmental issues, the more interest develops,” she says.
The researcher is also delighted to note an evolution in the interest aroused by these questions since her beginnings as a professor, in 2009. Today, she receives numerous requests to participate in the activities of the chair, both from the share of schools as well as that of organizations working in the area. “Especially since the pandemic, there has been a boom in nature education, which has created an ideal context for environmental education,” she emphasizes. This year, the chair is organizing a summer school at the Bic national park for teachers who want to train in environmental education.
The ocean at school
Research and planning agent for this same chair, Gwenaëlle Gremion has been co-investigator of the international project “The ocean in your classes” since 2022, which aims to reach students throughout the Francophonie. “Young oceanography researchers present their background, their experiences and their passions to demystify their profession to children,” she explains.
Participants give 45-minute lectures online to students aged 6 to 12. “They ask very simple children’s questions which sometimes allow us to question our knowledge,” she says. The initiative allows young scientists to popularize their research in front of an audience to which they rarely address and not to researchers from academia. “It’s a whole popularization work that is increasingly requested in grant forms,” argues M.me Gremion.
Bringing forth vocations
If the oceanographer would like the project to be later expanded beyond primary school, she recognizes that it is good to awaken young people’s interest in issues affecting the oceans early. Biology, circulation in water and the effects of pollution on fish growth are all themes that scientists can address during their presentations. ” That [permet aux enfants] to understand for example that heat increases the volume of water and other things [qu’ils sont en mesure] to apprehend,” she thinks.
Perhaps this will also give rise to vocations, by introducing young people to professions. “You don’t necessarily just have to be good at math to study natural sciences. We ask our speakers to say what they loved when they were young, to show their versatility,” she says.
In the future, Gwenaëlle Gremion hopes to present other maritime professions, such as engineers who build boats or those who manage maritime traffic. “Knowing when the boat arrives exactly, when it must unload, so that it does not go around in circles in vain, is vital in the issue of climate change. We want to show all the trades that can make their contribution,” she argues.
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