Silvia Huix
Silvia Huix is in charge of INED event publicity and has now organized, for the second consecutive year, the final event of INED’s contribution to the “Apprentice researchers” project (Apprentis Chercheurs). The project, run by the “Arbre des Connaissances” association, arranges for research institutes to bring middle school and high school students into their facilities for a hands-on initiation into the world of research. Under the guidance and supervision of professional researchers, the students conduct their own research project over the course of an entire school year, discovering science in the making while learning about and appropriating scientific approaches to questions—a rich experience that widens their horizons. Once their project is complete, the students, like researchers, give an oral presentation of their work, in this case to the Congrès des Apprentis Chercheurs, held on May 31.
(Interview conducted in December 2022)
This is the second year INED has received apprentice researchers as part of the “Arbre des Connaissances” program. Why did the Institute renew the experience?
Diffusing scientific culture to a large audience is one of INED’s stated missions, an important commitment and component of its work. Through the apprentice researcher project we’re able to reach and engage young students in a special, sustained way. The goal is to shape their critical thinking by providing them with knowledge they can access and that will enable them to better understand how research studies are constructed and statistical figures are obtained—because they themselves conduct a research survey over the year.
The students are supervised by institute researchers and personnel. How many researchers and staff members participated in the project and how many students?
Apprentice researcher students are guided and supervised by three researchers, three PhD students, three post-doctoral fellows, and three research technicians. This time, INED hosted 15 students—three more than for the last academic year. Middle school and high school student participants come to INED from three schools—the Collège [middle school] Miriam Makeba in Aubervilliers, the Lycée [high school] Bergson in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, and the Lycée Hélène Boucher in the 20th arrondissement—for a series of eight half-day sessions, one a month from November to June. Through our partnership with the Collège Miriam Makeba, situated in Seine-Saint-Denis like INED itself, we’ve been able to develop special ties with local actors and inhabitants.
In academic year 2021-2022, the students conducted a survey on the topic “Girls-boys: all alike, all different?” What was this year’s theme?
Like last year, the apprentice researchers produced their own statistics through an online survey of their peers at the same school (the survey is done at the school itself). This year the general topic was “The environment and our living environment.” Each team is in charge of drafting one section of the questionnaire—for example, this year, “refuse and living environment,” “climate warming and anxiety,” and “sustainable consumption.”
The students presented their survey process and findings at the Congrès des Apprentis Chercheurs at the Campus Condorcet conference center on May 31.
What are some of your strongest memories of this experience?
I have so many. In general, it’s seeing these young people develop. They tend to be timid at first, but as the months go by you see them develop as they grow more confident. You see them grow up not just physically but also and above all mentally.
And organizing the Congrès at the end of the school year is a fundamental component of the whole project.