Inspiring Investigations through Citizen Science

The UC Davis article, “Real Science in the Palm of Your Hand”, provided three important practices for teachers to consider as they begin planning citizen science projects for their students.  As I read the article, I thought it was important that this information was included in the article.  Much of what we read in citizen science is focused on the projects and how to engage students in the projects.  I appreciated these paragraphs dedicated to the practice of teachers as they incorporate citizen science projects in their classes. The first practice is for teachers to conduct the projects in a way that students recognize themselves as people who do science.  I thought this was a great practice to encourage in teachers.  I often remind my students that anyone can practice science.  All they need is an inquisitive mind and the initiative to take time to observe what is happening around them.  Citizen science projects will instill these practices in students. In the second practice, we are encouraged as teachers to frame the citizen science project on a local and global scale.  With the variety of databases available to teachers today for citizen science projects this should not be an issue.  When students see that their data is being added into a global database for scientists around the world to use in their research projects, this will make the classroom project a real science project for the students.  Being able to share locally and to have the attention of school and community leaders will give value to the project for the students.  To see their community, act based on the work of the students will give the students encouragement to continue citizen science projects. For the third practice encouraged for teachers, I was reminded of some of my own experiences in field projects with students.  I like the way the authors described this in saying, “attend to the unexpected by paying attention to surprises that emerge.”  I refer to these as teachable moments.  I have had a few of them with my students.  As a teacher, we must always be aware of what is happening around us when we are with our students, this is especially true when we take our students outside the four walls of the classroom.  There is much to be seen and experienced in outdoor projects and we must be ready to answer questions or explain the unexpected to our students. I value all these practices and have varying degrees of experience with incorporating all of them in projects with my students.  I believe the first practice of helping students to recognize themselves as people who do science is the practice that I will focus on for citizen science projects.  If this is a trait that is strongly instilled in students, then it will hopefully stay with them throughout their lives, at least to some degree.  This will be planting a seed of appreciation and care for natural surroundings in young people whose lives will take many different directions.

I believe that work locally and globally is important. Not only does it allow for clear cross-curricular connections, but it also provides them with an understanding of the community. They are scientists that are a part of a broader scientific community they can participate in. We will do this by exploring some of the maps/data which are submitted from global citizen scientists. Understand how the data which we collect can make changes. Perhaps provide examples of how citizen science has created structural changes in the past.

Of the three, the practice that best suits and supports the work we are doing is to frame the work globally and locally. Many children are naturally drawn to animals, but for some children, particularly those in urban areas, the only animals they may identify with are domestics such as dogs and cats, or zoo animals. We think it is very important to nurture any and all respect for all animals, and recognize and relay there are things we do or use that affect wildlife in other countries or continents and that habitat loss is a global issue. However, knowledge of the wildlife in their own backyard is fundamental to them understanding and being good stewards of our local natural environment and how to best support it wherever they live.

I wish to model all of these practices in my teaching, but I especially want to focus on positioning youth as people who do science. I work with newcomer students who have little to no previous formal education, and my colleagues and I have found that developing a "growth mindset" around school-related work can be especially challenging for these students. By positioning my students as people who do science, and helping them become experts and active participants in citizen science, I hope to make my students feel proud, confident, and empowered. I think it's also important to make their science learning more authentic. I hope to model this in my teaching by finding real citizen science projects for my students to participate in, helping them see their roles as important and real, and supporting them by giving them the skills to become experts.

All three of the teaching practices that UC David recommends are important, but the one that stood out to me the most was "position youth as people who do science". This really resonates with me as an educator, because I have witnessed students feeling powerless or incapable of accomplishing different subject matter, and I think that citizen-science is really great for empowering students. By helping students take on meaningful roles in the citizen-science projects, they will value their contributions more and value themselves as well. I want to focus on modelling this teaching practice because I want my students to feel empowered and work on ways they want to contribute to their local and global community. One way I think I can incorporate this more is by taking my students outside more, and providing them with more opportunities to collect data and create their own procedures for doing so. In this sense it would be more student-lead than me just telling them exactly what to do.

1."Positioning youth as people who do science" seems integral but needs to be acknowledged and intentional as seen from the 2 questions asked of students in the article. How the CS project is approached can directly effect how engaged the students are in the collection of the data and the quality of the data. 2. "Frame the work both globally and locally" highlights how the students are helping make a difference in their world.  I think we, as teachers, can get caught up in our local project and all the good it will do and not share the global nature of the science or visa versa!  I like how the researchers make this a point to be attended to. 3. " Attend to the unexpected" is an essential part of environmental education, especially with young children.  Our job is to encourage the sense of wonder and love of science and the natural world- what better way than to give time and attention to new findings, mistakes and being upstaged by nature! As a whole, I'd like to model all three practices in each of my encounters with students.  In subsequent encounters, I will try to focus more on giving the students more control of the data collecting processes and engaging in the science and engineering practices offered through CS projects. This will  reinforce their role as true scientists and encourage them to view themselves in this role not just at school but in their broader experiences outside school.

Youth Share Findings  with Outside Audiences (Youth Key Practices) and PositionYouths as People Who Do Science (Eduacator Key Practices). The first is through the contribution including university degree theses that have to do with the subject, that is to say to somehow involve the school with a little more advanced research such as that of the university, in this way it will be a feedback where Both parties will benefit. It will allow children to approach and learn a bit about the structure of a more elaborate work or investigation, such as a university thesis, and in the case of the University, it will allow them to meet the observational optician who will undoubtedly be supportive and contribute material. additional for the support of the investigations. In the second point and continuing a little with the previous idea, it will position the children as researchers and not only as observers, since they will be providing first-hand very useful material for hypothesis formulation and research.

1. "Youth as people who do science." I thought it was important in how you frame this to students when beginning a citizen science (CS) project. The example used was a question that you could ask students: Could a scientist use this information? By the way this question is asked, gives students a sense of responsibility in the quality of the data they collect if they know someone else is going to use it. 2. "Frame the work globally and locally." Connecting science to a students sense of place is so important here. Depending on the socioeconomic status of students you serve, might mean that some students have not had experiences beyond a local geographic area. Therefore, it's critical to focus locally to help motivate students and give them a sense of ownership. For me personally, I do not reside in the area in which I grew up but compared to my students who are from here, I've been astonished about what they don't know of their "home." I'm constantly trying to bridge that gap and I think CS projects will help. 3. "Attend to the unexpected." This can be such a powerful teaching moment especially when doing CS in the natural environment when anything goes. It appears that many CS projects are conducted outdoors anyways, but if not, an outdoor learning environment would be critical for this to be able to happen.

I believe that all three of these teaching practices are important. The second, framing the work globally and locally, is essential. At my school, we have established or restored sustainable wildlife habitat around our campus. This transformation is giving students the opportunity to study animals and insect up close and have a hand in their ensuring the survival and conservation of these habitats and creatures. We've focused our efforts on Monarch Butterflies and Ladybugs, establishing two large gardens specifically designed to be habitat for them. Through the efforts of our students, we were able to get these areas certified as Schoolyard Habitats and Monarch Waystations. We've also raised a couple dozen or so Monarchs and Black Swallowtails and released them into the habitats. This allows students the opportunity to watch the lifecycle process up close and learn how to care for the creatures need (food, water, shelter, etc.). Throughout the project, students learned the larger global connection as well.