My students and I are currently collaborating with another first grade class to participate in Project Feederwatch. I have it to be crucial to bring students together following our birding and discuss our bird findings. For example, where we found the bird, what bird, what sound did it make, how many etc. The students and I then log our findings into our nature journals. If I log our bird findings into Merlin or ebird, I also show them the ebird map and how we and others around the world are playing a role in science and the understandings of birds. This REALLY peeks student interest. I feel our logging and discussion, helps them see the purpose of what we are doing. 

I teach high school science and will be implementing a new course in the fall 2024. The course title is "Introduction to Ornithology and Nature Journaling". Students will utilize eBird, Merlin and  Project FeederWatch through the course. The importance of data collection and being a responsible citizen scientists wil be reinforced throughout the course.

Just this month, my class begun making observations and bird watching to input data into our Project Feeder Watch account. For the introductory lesson to the project, we had Bird Watcher's Digest's editor, Jessica Vaughan, discuss with the students the importance of citizen science and how we input data into our account. Although, I am no expert at the project, I would tell other educators to explain to students the importance of citizen science and make sure to emphasize how their learning is greater then themselves. Miss Buzza's Class Conducting Observations For Project Feeder Watch

I have used Project Feeder Watch and one that involved herptiles. My students lost interest in the herptiles since they are not found in the colder months. I would really like to do the Project Budburst. I didn't realize that that project also had home connections for families and great additional projects. I want to do the one about if monarchs prefer to lay their eggs in flowering/nonflowering milkweed.

We participated in the NC EcoEXPLORE program and my son earned a game camera. This helped motivate him to spot new plants and animals and upload them into the app (which is connected to iNaturalist but protects the child's identity). It was a good project because it can be done independently, is geared towards young learners and provided incentives.

I have used a citizen-science project with my biology students. They have done ecological surveys of the plants around the land just outside our school. The students set up transects and took a survey about the numbers of native vs non-native plant species. The students determined that there were far more non-native plant species than native plants in the area surrounding the school. They were then given permission to take out the non-native plants and plant more native plants in the area. My advice is to find some way where students can participate in citizen-science by getting out of the classroom. They really enjoyed the hands-on experience of it.

I have not done any citizen science projects with leaners yet. I am very excited by the different and wide array of projects that were listed in the reading. I am most interested in looking for a project that involves organisms that are very common to my location and use that as a learning opportunity.

In past years, we have taken students on a Biodiversity Walk to answer the question "Is there Biodiversity around Mill Pond?"  This activity fits into our study of climate change and the impacts on our environment.  Our school abuts the Assabet River watershed and Mill Pond, and we are lucky to have a system of trails behind our school through which to explore this environment.  Students hone their observations skills while collecting data to answer the question. This year we are planning to extend this activity into citizen science by conducting a BioBlitz using the iNaturalist app.

I have worked with the Billion Oyster Project in Brooklyn, NY with my 8th graders. We monitored an oyster cage by counting living oysters as well as other found organisms. Students also recorded environmental conditions. This is part of an effort to reintroduce one billion oysters back into the NYC waterways in order to make this estuary ecosystem healthy again! It's really awesome for the students to get hands-on field experience and get a sense of what it's like to participate in such a huge and tangible effort to improve our environment. There is huge value in doing a project like this. Students gain understanding of what it's like to do science in the world, they feel empowered and hopeful that they can make a real contribution, and they're able to make connections with other areas of learning -- from studying population change in 6th grade to understanding how healthy shorelines help mitigate damage from (increasingly strong) storms. My main advice is to research projects in your local area and do an in-person training with the people running the program. You'll feel much more confident leading your students after having the hands-on experience yourself! Also know that field science is often messy -- it's good to prepare your students for that!

This year I want to conduct a bioblitz with my students in the pond habitat area next to our school.  I would like to start by having them install iNaturalist and eBird on their phones. We will start by learning how to use the apps and how to identify birds using a field guide.  Once students are comfortable with the apps, we will conduct our bioblitz!  I feel that the students will feel empowered that their own field data will be submitted and can help scientists to monitor the biodiversity of our area.

I have just registered for the birdfeeder watch. That will be our first. I think we also plan to do the great Backyard count in Feb. It would be fantastic if there were a chart with all of these possibilities and links in one place, with a short description of what each one does, or age its meant for! I am going from having no idea what to do, to suddenly so many options, how do I organize it all! Thanks for all this great information.

I have not done any of the citizen science projects.  I intend to add them to various grade levels.  It will be great fun! Using the Lost Ladybug Citizen-Science project the students will use their love of ladybugs for inquiry then they learn scientific methods.

I would really like to do a bird feeder project. At my all outdoor education program there are multiple areas away from students where we could place bird feeders. This project opens the door to so many opportunities to learn in manageable doses. From what feeder birds we might expect to see in our area, to analyzing choices of feeder placement, to what type of birds we might see depending  on the bird feeders we make. There are opportunities for analyzing species and behavior. This project also opens the door to hands on crafts such as home made bird feeders and also making structures for nests.

I used to teach at an outdoor school in San Diego County. The two citizen science projects that at the time I was allowed to teach was Project Budburst and the Golden Spotted Bore Beetle survey. All I have to say is that with Project Budburst students will mostly not be interested. One of those many reasons is that for most of the time plants are not really doing anything, they are either dormant or have already bloomed/got their leaves. Students where only there for a very short period and so for the most part, did not get to observe anything meaningful. My suggestion then would be to only use this if you have students who will be around for a much longer part of the growing season like a traditional year long school. The Golden Spotted Bore Beetle Survey had similar issues. The first being that most of the trees had already been surveyed before I started working there, then, observations would need to be observed over years to notice anything that needed to be sent in. Now that I think about it, we should have kept an internal spreadsheet of all the trees and their locations and when the last time they were observed. So instead it became more of an instructional model of how they could do this in their own neighborhoods. So overall my suggestion for doing citizen science projects would be to make sure that they are appropriate for the length of time that you have your students. Also, make sure they will be interesting to the students, don't make them stare at dormant plants

Since we have already been monitoring the local stream and lake for invertebrates and water quality parameters, I feel maybe I should try to incorporate other aspects related to to that into my curriculum. I may try to implement some animal track identification and making plaster molds from these tracks.  After making the plaster molds students could bring them back to lab and try to identify them. We could probably incorporate some research into these animals to find what is attracting them to the stream or lake and determine if the surrounding area provides good habitat for these animals.

I have taught our Junior Master Naturalist group how to use iNaturalist to identify things like invertebrates, plants, birds/bird sounds, tracks and scat, reptiles, and amphibians. We have also used Tree Trails to add data about trees to the AgriLife's database. This tool provides places to input tree measurements, GPS data, and tree species. It then gives feedback about how much that tree is worth monetarily, by how it provides shade for energy savings, habitat to beneficial wildlife, or even just perceived value to the community. The best thing to help kids master the technology and process used is to allow them to do it themselves. With adults, we have walked through the process using detailed lecture-style presentations. I don't think that would work as well with kids not only because experience-based learning is so much more beneficial, but also because kids often grasp technology faster than the older students.

I have not done a citizen science project with my students, but I have done investigating with frogs, macroinvertebrates, crayfish and insects. I am thinking I could expand on any of those activities to do long term citizen science projects. Which animals have we found in the creek? How do those animals indicate the health of the stream? What could be causing our stream to be polluted? What can we do to help?

Although I haven't used any citizen science projects with my students yet, I am familiar with quite a few that  I use myself. I'm a frequenter of eBird, iNaturalist, and Seek. I also participate in state level citizen science such as the Maine Bird Atlas, bumblebee atlas, and herp atlas. My goal by the end of this school year is to have each one of my nature clubs participate in a citizen science effort of their choosing. Bud Burst and the bumblebee atlas are two options that I think my students would really enjoy doing.

I have participated in project feeder watch and other citizen science projects. Currently I am working on a few citizen science projects, birds as well as flora and fauna. What we are doing is incorporating citizen science into programs. For example, National Bird Day, we are having a program about birds and will include Project Feederwatch. These are great resources to use to help gain more interest in subjects people are interested in as well as those that are like-minded. Kids are the same way, so it doesn't matter what age, if they have that inquiring mind to explore, learn and discover citizen science is for everyone.  

I have used the citizen science project Birdata, from BirdLife Australia, with students. I think participating in the Birdata surveys works best when completed as part of a broader learning program, where students learn about the birds and habitats in their local area, then participate in the citizen science survey activity, and follow up with analysing their data.

We have used NestWatch and FeederWatch- not necessarily in a class but as something for volunteers to help with. Monarch Watch is a popular program that we do every fall and is incorporated into our Monarch Program. Students learn about Monarchs and help to catch and tag Monarchs during migration. Teachers are encouraged to use data from the program and others that track migration patterns in the classroom. I love using citizen science programs whenever I can in a program, or at least mention them. I think that students feel much more connected to the animal, and science when they are part of something that matters.

I have not done Citizen Science with my students before, but am very interested in doing so. Citizen science allows students (and adults!) to participate in science investigations by actively doing science. Students contribute data that scientists use for their studies - that's very empowering for students. I am interested in using Nature's Notebook with my students. This project tracks plants and animals across the world to try to understand how they are affected by climate change. The project is very accessible for students whether they live in the suburbs, in rural areas or in the city. I think my students will be motivated to do the project and will be excited to be contributing to climate change science.

I also have not used any citizen science projects but they are important for students to compare their results/data with others that belong to another part of society. Science is a collaborative effort, especially on the professional level, to be able to compare results in similar or exactly the same experiment to see the effects in other parts of the country or world. I have taught students in middle school and high school that conduct similar experiments and have the high school students further the middle school students experiments further by questioning their methodologies or simply sharing what each student learned. A project like this would allow that comparison to be done on a much broader scope and scale.

I haven't worked with any citizen science projects specifically. While my classes do research and conduct experiments, we don't report our findings to anyone. I plan on implementing one citizen science project a quarter, hopefully a month, into my science classes based on the topics we are learning about. It would be great to work projects into my curriculum so students become familiarized with the term citizen science and what it expected of them and their projects as they progress to different grade levels in our school. As the Science Curriculum Coordinator for our middle school, I plan on working at least four citizen science projects into our curriculum for each grade, so when students graduate from our 8th grade class they will have participated in a variety if citizen science projects.