Dung beetles for agricultural education – ColCopEA

In response to a request made by students in agricultural education (AE), a consortium involving AE, MNHN and CEFE was created in 2021, in order to study the complex and poorly-known relationship between livestock breeding and coprophagous beetles communities. Over the course of two years of collaboration, systems that not only answer the initial question, but also enrich educational approaches, improve scientific knowledge and question practices have been devised, discussed and tested with students and teachers in a dozen establishments. They are now intended to be deployed in agricultural schools throughout metropolitan France. Designed to answer the questions of AE learners, these systems allow future farmers to become familiar with the scientific approach and to participate in the constitution of a new knowledge, a key issue for agroecology development. Initiated early in their career, the approach should accompany future farmers in their practices and thus concern a large part of the society, while enriching research questions.