FR EC People in touch with nature, a utopia ?

First, a discussion took place with all the students using 2 methodological documents to set the framework and rules for the debate : how to debate with others and the aquarium method.

The class was then divided into 4 groups. Each group has thought about and researched the evolution of the links between man and nature in a particular field : literature, arts, sciences or politics. They had to look for arguments and examples to answer the debate question : ‘Is man in contact with nature a utopia ?’ Each group summarised its arguments and examples in a mind map :

- Literature : Sepulveda, Rousseau, Hugo, Baudelaire, Sand, Verne, Colette

- Arts : music, painting, photography, architecture, etc.

- Sciences : big bang, human health and forest, ecology, biodiversity, from dependence to disconnection, biogeochemical cycles, 

- Politics : rural migration, green urban plan, protected areas,, ecological transition, environmental education and legislation, United Nations

Then 5 other groups of students were formed : 4 groups made up of 2 writers, 2 artists, 2 scientists and 2 politicians, so that each group was made up of students with knowledge of each of the 4 topics. And a pair to lead the 4 debates in 4 different ways : nature in the city, feelings in contact with nature, human experiences’ impact on nature, animal consciousness. 

4 debates: each group presented its role-play to the rest of the class using the ‘aquarium method’ : each group debated in the middle of the room, with the rest of the class observing the debaters and reporting back to them at the end on their behaviour during the debate. The exercise is called the aquarium, because the participants in the debate are observed like fish in an aquarium, with the observers and participants alternating roles.