McGill University and
École Socrates-Démosthène collaboration
The Hellenic Community of Greater Montreal is extremely pleased to announce an educational project the École Socrates-Démosthène is embarking on, in collaboration with McGill University, the Phrixos Papachristidis Chair in Modern Greek and Greek-Canadian studies, regarding Greek immigration. This project will give our students the opportunity to enhance their educational experience by connecting them to the Immigrec research project regarding Greek immigration to Canada. All students involved, regardless of whether they are of Greek origin, will have this glorious opportunity to participate in this activity on immigration.
McGill University is the leading institution of this collaborative research project running from July 2016 to December 2018, entitled “Greek immigration to Canada” and associating teams from the following universities: York University in Toronto; Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and the University of Patras in Greece. The project adopts a dual methodology, archival research and oral interviews. The objective is the establishment of a virtual museum of Greek immigration to Canada.
The older students, from all our campuses, grade 5, 6 and high school, will be participating in this project. It will be an interactive educational activity on immigration implicating the student’s families. Interactive and participative educational projects are considered pedagogically cutting – edge in today’s educational world. They associate all parties (schoolteachers, students and families) around a common project and allow students and families to engage with and grasp the meaning of educational activities.
Our Greek faculty will spearhead our school’s involvement. Members of the McGill team will help the teachers build the questionnaire that will be used by students in conducting interviews with their family members. McGill will also support the teachers in fully assimilating the technique of interviews so that they can share it with students; McGill will provide information on the way to use the results of the interviews and to build a public outreach event with the HCGM. In the end students and schoolteachers will present the outcome of the project to parents and the Greek community at large.
It should be noted that the material collected by the students during this project will remain the property of the students and the school. At no point will McGill take possession or use this material for its own research project since this would run counter to the strict research and ethics protocol they have to conform to. Though they are proud to associate with École Socrates-Démosthène and allow students to familiarize themselves with University research, it is also important to show our students that University research abides by certain rules.
Our students are going to benefit from such a fascinating and enriching collaborative experience, which will enhance their curriculum activities and increase their public outreach.
L’École Socrates-Démosthène
