"Somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known."
- Carl Sagan
Everybody is a Scientist!
"Children can both learn from and contribute to citizen science. Scientific learning can develop children’s environmental citizenship, voices and democratic participation as adults (Makuch 2018)."
To create a culture of participating in science-related activities, your class will be undertaking a number of citizen science projects with my students each year. “Citizen science projects actively involve citizens in scientific endeavour that generates new knowledge or understanding” and are defined as “…hav[ing] a genuine science outcome (Robinson 2018).” Some of my student’s projects will be unique to a particular group of students, but other assignments will be repeated year-to-year.
The goal is to build science capital
“[S]cience capital points to the iterative relationship between people’s dispositions towards science, participation in science-related activities and science-related outcomes, including learning.” It is the idea that the more a student “is part of a culture of participation in science-related activities, the more one is likely to develop science learning outcomes and the disposition to participate further in science-related activities (Hecker et al 2018)."
As a student your job is the same as any scientist's, you are to:
1) Ask questions
2) Use the scientific method to answer said questions --------->
All the Data...
All the data on this page was generated by dedicated, industrious, creative, and inspiring students just like yourself. If you have a project idea that is NOT listed on this page but that you would like to try, just ask! The best science is the type that answers the questions you are interested in. If you think you need ideas visit the following sites:
European Citizen Science Association (ECSA)
Now get out there...
Take chances! Make mistakes! And get messy!!
Project Idea A: Backyard Bird Count
Backyard Bird Count Resources:
Website for the Bird Count project: FeederWatch.org
To learn more about migration patterns: Journey North
Project Idea B: Local Water Quality Project
Oaks Bottom
Project Idea C: Tidepool Project
pH
Salinity
Oxygen Saturation
Sea Star Counts
Project Idea D: Cook's Choice
The best projects are the one you come up with on your own. But it should be a vaguely biology related. Got an idea? Come talk to me. I love to hear about student ideas. We can figure out if it will fit the assignment requirements and timeline.
Sources:
Makuch, K., & Aczel, M. (2018). Children and citizen science. In Hecker S., Haklay M., Bowser A., Makuch Z., Vogel J., & Bonn A. (Eds.), Citizen Science: Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy (pp. 391-409). London: UCL Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv550cf2.34
Robinson, L., Cawthray, J., West, S., Bonn, A., & Ansine, J. (2018). Ten principles of citizen science. In Bonn A., Hecker S., Haklay M., Bowser A., Makuch Z., & Vogel J. (Eds.), Citizen Science: Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy(pp. 27-40). London: UCL Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv550cf2.9
Richter, A., Dörler, D., Hecker, S., Heigl, F., Pettibone, L., Sanz, F., . . . Bonn, A. (2018). Capacity building in citizen science. In Hecker S., Bonn A., Haklay M., Bowser A., Makuch Z., & Vogel J. (Eds.), Citizen Science: Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy (pp. 269-283). London: UCL Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv550cf2.26