La main à la pâte - Académie des sciences, Institut national de recherche pédagogique, Ecole normale supérieure
Reference centre
European coordination
La main à la pâte
1, rue Maurice Arnoux
92120 Montrouge
France
Contact person
David Jasmin
Fibonacci European coordinator
Head of La main à la pâte
1, rue Maurice Arnoux
92120 Montrouge, France
Phone: +33 (0) 1 58 07 65 95
E-mail: Please enable JavaScript to reveal the Email address
National website containing information about Fibonacci
La main à la pâte - short overview
La main à la pâte is the national French public programme aiming at revamping and developing science and technology education at pre-school and primary school. It recommends that teachers implement investigative and inquiry activities with pupils, combining exploration of the world, scientific learning, experimentation and reasoning, mastery of language and argumentation, so that all children deepen their understanding of the objects and phenomena around them. Curiosity, creativity and critical attitude are the core of competencies La main à la pâte aims to develop.
Launched in 1996 by Georges Charpak, Physics Nobel prize winner, with the support of the French Académie des sciences and the Ministry of education, La main à la pâte has been in constant development since then, entering in a partnership with the National Institute for Pedagogical Research and the École normale supérieure (Paris). The work undertaken with the Ministry of education led to the launching, in 2000, of a national plan to renew science and technology teaching in schools.
Website: lamap.inrp.fr
More information can be found in this PDF document: depliant_lamap_angl_light.pdf
Activities with the Fibonacci project
La main à la pâte (Ecole normale supérieure) is in charge of the European coordination of the Fibonacci project.
The main tasks of the European coordination include :
- Management of the project.
- Supervision of the project’s global progress and fulfillment in terms of timing, tasks (deliverables) and costs.
- Supervision of the scientific quality of the project (scientific coordination shared with University of Bayreuth).
- Organisation of the project and functioning of the work flow and collaboration arrangements,
- Ensuring coherence and information circulation between the different workpackages – especially interactions between quality expertise, evaluation and communication and dissemination.
- follow up of each RC and TC, including visits of each of them.
- co-organisation of the seminars and conferences.
- internal and external communication and dissemination (newsletters and press releases, website feeding and update, awareness among stakeholders…).
David Jasmin, head of La main à la pâte, is the coordinator of the project. A Phd in physics, he has been working in Science Education and Science Popularization since 1995. He is a research engineer in La main a la pate since 1997 and Head of this programme since 2005. He is the author and the editor of various books on primary science education, and the scientific coordinator of the former POLLEN Project (www.pollen-europa.net).
He is assisted for the European coordination of the project by Janick Rajoharison, Anne Lejeune and Raynald Belay.
Other related projects
Since 1996, La main à la pâte has explored nearly all the aspects dealt with in Fibonacci: inquiry teaching in schools, ICT, educational resources production, scientific collaboration, training activities and dissemination, international cooperation in developed and emerging countries.
La main à la pâte offers today a full tutoring and support system which develops science and technology education through:
- a national team of about 20 persons, advocating for dissemination, empowering and public awareness of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) through conferences and seminars, expertise and recommendations, evaluation and assessment, training and publications...;
- a large network of resource persons and associated trainers in France and abroad, all main actors and practitioners of science and technology education;
- a decisive involvement of the scientific community, particularly through teachers coaching;
- a continuous elaboration and dissemination of free pedagogical and scientific resources;
- annual prizes under the aegis of the Académie des sciences, for primary teachers and trainer.
The resources developed by La main à la pâte include:
- online library of free learning units and scientific documents with more than 300 activities for the classroom covering all scientific topics;
- collaborative and interdisciplinary projects linking dozens of classes: On the steps of Eratosthenes; European discoveries; Living with the sun; Calendars, mirrors of the sky and cultures... See for instance (in English): www.lamap.fr/calendriers
- methodological guidelines and multimedia documents on teaching, training and sciences;
- learning units, scientific publications and science kits edited with private publishers;
- an itinerary exhibition: Teaching sciences at school: what an amazing story! (1830-2005).
La main à la pâte has a broad experience in combining innovative actions and practical implementations within educational systems at a large scale. In Europe, Ecole normale supérieure of Paris/La main à la pâte has been the coordinator of the following FP 6 projects: Scienceduc and Pollen (www.pollen-europa.net).