Learning beyond the classroom can foster long-term impact, CIVIS Connect webinar highlights

The latest CIVIS Connect webinar highlighted S’enforester, a Swiss pedagogical structure developing projects that bring together collective intelligence and civic commitment through immersive outdoor education. This shows how learning beyond the classroom can foster long-term impact.

UNIL's "S’enforester – Fostering Dialogue and Transformation through Outdoor Education" project fosters critical thinking while reconnecting students with their environment. Based on interdisciplinarity and a long-term approach, the initiative encourages exploration of the real world and dialogue with local stakeholders.

Getting out of the classroom allows students to feel, observe and manipulate, which strengthens their commitment", explains Vanessa Bongcam, a gymnasium teacher and one of the project's coordinators.

One example is Living Rivers, where pupils analyse water quality over several years to better understand the links between the environment and human activities. This approach encourages them to become active citizens who are aware of the issues facing society.

The long-term aim of the project is to integrate this approach into all of Switzerland's canton's secondary school curriculum and beyond, by structuring learning that combines science, civic commitment and local roots.

The CIVIS added value

By encouraging collective intelligence and civic commitment, S'enforester embodies the spirit of CIVIS and shows that it is possible to combine education and concrete action to make a lasting impact.

CIVIS offers us a platform for sharing and receiving valuable feedback", emphasises Delphine Ducoulombier, science mediator at UNIL and one of the project's coordinators.

Being covered by the CIVIS Connect webinar enabled S'enforester to broaden its audience and nurture its thinking through exchanges with participants from a variety of backgrounds. The project's impact shows how educational initiatives can drive civic engagement and real-world transformation.

CIVIS Connect is a series of online seminars organised by the CIVIS Open Labs and running throughout the 2024-2025 academic year.

The series features eight monthly one-hour sessions focusing on key topics such as public engagement with research, challenge-led education, civic engagement, outreach, participatory research, and service-learning.

The first episode explored the theme of public engagement with research and the increasingly important role networks such as the European Science Engagement Association (EUSEA) and European University Alliances can play.

Boost Your Project with CIVIS Open Labs

Through CIVIS Open Labs, similar projects like S'enforester can gain international momentum. CIVIS can help scale up projects internationally with funding and access to a European research network. A rolling call for projects is open and provides funding opportunities for projects linking CIVIS universities and local communities, fostering innovation, co-creation, and inclusive collaboration through interdisciplinary spaces. It seeks to strengthen connections between member universities and local communities to foster participatory, inclusive, and impactful collaboration.

Whether you aim to replicate activities in another CIVIS city, co-create solutions with citizens, or organise thematic workshops, you now have a chance to amplify your impact.

*an article by Solenne Piaget-Rossel - UNIL