As of yet, I have little experience with the citizen science programs, and seeing as I'm a college student, I haven't yet had the opportunity to implement citizen science in a classroom setting. In the future however, citizen science seems like a great way to get students involved and interested in science. While teaching a science lesson, I think getting students involved in a citizen science program would be helpful in teaching them that the work that they do and they science that they can get involved in is useful and important. Often times, science education is severely lacking when compared to math and reading, and I think citizen science can help to teach students about the scientific process as well as science content. Ultimately, sparking children's interests in science is the hardest part, but citizen science makes significant strides to help students get interested. As a native new Mexican I would be most interested in implementing the Pathways: Wildlife Corridors of NM.

I was a relief worker in social work, before COVID hit, and then was hired as a Stray Cat Feeder, in the interim. If I go back to social work, I would like to lead groups, or 1 on 1, in wilderness therapy. And one concept, is the INQUIRY CONCEPT, in regards to comfort and amazement, and how it relates to experience in the field. The first time you see a Red Winged Blackbird, or get a pic. of a Great Blue Heron, and then the 5th time. Does your knowledge increase ? Do you get excited with multiple taken pictures, multiple times ?   I, 2 years ago, I never had a RWBB, nor a GBH, photo. Now I have many. And it is exciting, and therapeutic. Also, validating, as you go on a walk, and then see the birds you are seeking. So the INQUIRY CONCEPT, and learning thru citizen science in the field, is a great cycle. Therapeutic, teaching, and real.

I have not used the specific citizen-science projects that I just read about.  The closest I have come is having students maintain a nature journal.  Each week, on the same day of the week when possible, we spend 20 minutes in the prairie garden and record in our journals.  Sometimes I provide a focus or other specifics.  There are some always required elements - noting the date, time, and weather. In the future I would include a focus on inverts or the phenology of plants in the garden.  The idea would be for the students to use their journal as a guide for inquiries and eventually a presentation to the class.  This will take some thought on how best to develop the project.

I have an after-school science club for middle school students.  We have participated in a citizen science program called Hoosier Riverwatch.  Our school has an outdoor classroom that my mom (who taught science for 38 years) developed and received grant money for.  This outdoor classroom runs next to the Wabash River.  Hoosier Riverwatch is a program where people from around the state are trained to collect data about our local waterways.  We collect temperature, nitrates, nitrites, bacteria levels, how fast the water is moving, how much water is moving, and the types of invertebrates found.  The advice I would have for any citizen scientist is to get trained.  We need to be able to collect accurate data for the program to be worthwhile.  Also, those collecting data should also know the purpose to what they are doing.  It will make the experience more meaningful.  In my science focus class, I would like to use eBird along with our outdoor classroom.

I have attempted a few Citizen Science projects informally with students without really knowing what they were! A few years ago, two students and I worked with our local park ranger to update signs and clean out the park's prairie plant library, an area of garden plots that used to contain native species. This proved to be too daunting of a task for just two students, and the park ranger moved on to another job. We never got far enough to do more inquiry than service, as I had hoped to, but would like to pick this project up again someday. I have also had the opportunity to work with students alongside staff from the Iowa DNR's research station at the local wildlife camp I have worked at, but just for a few hours at a time; again, not enough to truly develop a citizen science project.   The Citizen-Science Spotlights in the text and the links shared in this lesson give me so many ideas of projects to pursue! I think my students would really enjoy doing anything with birds, as one investigated native vs. non-native species for his science fair project and two just earned a birding merit badge through Boy Scouts. We have many experts in our area with the Iowa Arboretum, Wildlife Research Station at Ledges State Park, and our community was recently named a Bird-Friendly Community by Bird-Friendly Iowa. I love connecting my students with professionals whose areas of expertise match their interests, and that has been a challenge this year due to COVID. This is something I would like to continue next year if we are able.  Project Feeder Watch also looks like something that we could accomplish while at school, placing feeders in different locations as we have trees, cornfields, residential, and heavily-traveled roads all bordering our school's property.   Doing a project with trees would also be something I know my students and I would enjoy. Again, Ledges State Park & the Des Moines River Valley on which we live are home to many diverse native species of trees, and the Iowa Arboretum has a great deal of work to do repairing damage done by the Derecho that hit the Midwest this summer. My goal would be for students to develop questions and research them, hopefully culminating in a project for the Statewide Science Fair in March and focusing more on inquiry science than just on service work.

I have not used any citizen-science projects, but I have worked on a unit about helping protect birds in the area and their habitat. We have not been able to carry it out, due to covid and virtual school. I have brainstormed ways of how to carry out this unit even from home,. Students can still observe birds in their natural habitats by just going outside their house and observing birds near their homes, however we really wanted to take the kids to a coffee farm that is known to have lots of birds. I like the citizen-science does not necessarily follow the scientific method because the method scientists use tends to change. It is not linear. I can do a better job of showing this to my students, not to necessarily follow some steps, but that it is OK to alter the steps or to go back to previous steps.

I hope to do Feeder Watch with my students when we are back in the classroom. I'm trying it out at home for the first time this year. I think the hardest part will be keeping kids interested when there are no birds at the feeders and timing it throughout the day.

During this virtual time, it's difficult to spark interests with students who come to the afterschool program.  I would like to be able to take students on nature walks and introduce them to the varieties of flora in the suburban landscape---discuss introduce vs. native species.  I would also like to introduce them to bird watching.  I've given them choices (so far, I only have 2 students so that really makes things difficult) and they only want to take pictures of squirrels and submit those photos to iNaturalist to the squirrel mapper project.  I'm a bit frustrated because I get the impression they are afraid to venture outside of their comfort zones---taking pictures of squirrles and uploading the image is pretty safe. In the past, I've taken students on bird walks throug the neighborhood and also just walked around one of the man-made lakes to see what we could find.  The students really enjoyed this.  I've also had them pull invasive plants on school property.  They enjoyed that a lot too.  But due to Covid, these activities are not permitted. I am encouraged by the number of citizen science opportunities that are listed in the Inverstigating Evidence Citizen Science Spotlight pages.  At this point, I'm simply thinking of introducing each one for students to "check out" and see if anything sticks.

At Earthroots Field School, we have a variety of lessons that concentrate on observing nature. We have a quiet sit, where we encourage students to observe their immediate environment, for a specific amount of time (shorter for kindy, longer for older kids/adults) We then reconvene and talk about what we noticed. We go on nature walks to locate and to discover on the spot. We look at tracks, water pathways, trees and plants, insects and local birds and animals. Sometimes we do these in structured way, have questionnaires after or sometimes we just let it happen naturally and spontaneously.

This year is the first year I've tried to incorporate citizen science in my classroom.  Over the summer I became familiar with, and used iNaturalist a lot.  I thought it would be fun to use it with my class.  Unfortunately, due to technology glitches and trying to problem solve virtually I haven't been able to get many of my kiddos on the app.  However, as I was reading through other opportunities for citizen science I was trying to figure out ways we might be able to participate in a project together.  Project Feeder Watch would be one we might be able to do together from my kitchen table.  I could bring my ipad and we could all observe the bird feeder for a bit together.  It's not ideal, but nothing about this year is.  In future years, my school has a decent sized outdoor area we could definitely use to participate in Citizen Science projects together!

As a Park Commissioner and I am creating a citizen science program for our Parks Department. We hope to engage our community to get involved with Citizen Science projects including local students, seniors and citizens at large. I plan to start by initially implementing a Tree Trekkers tree identification project, River water sample testing and birding projects. This course is providing information and insight for assisting in formulating and properly structuring the programs and processes we are working on launching. I look forward to getting our community involved in citizen science.

When I was still teaching, I used Project Budburst, and YardMap in my classroom. The students looked forward to the Big Leaf Maple tree near our building. Their observations and ensuing discussion built meaningful connections to the outdoors, seasonal changes, and appreciation of nature cycles. YardMap was a fantastic way to get to know, understand, observe nature in our own yards. I'm sad that this citizen science resource is no longer available. I personally have participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count. I think this project, the Christmas Bird Count, and Project Feeder Watch would be engaging to do with the neighbor children.

I definitely want to use the Great Sunflower Project in class and at home; sunflower seeds are affordable and can go home with students as well as be planted at school. We can use this as a multi-tiered lesson for months until blooms occur. In all that I'm considering for this fall at school, I'm considering what components can be used at home and at school; those that have crossover are topping my lists while planning.

I've had success with Globe Program. Students were able to participate with cellphones and tablets to make cloud and mosquito larva observations. Citizen Science provides real opportunities to get involved with a variety of projects. My advice for teachers that are new to citizen science? Find ways to incorporate data and have students research the variety of projects  that are available. Try integrating projects that are hands-on and provide curious and introspective ways to collect data.

I think that the project that I would like to most integrate into my classroom is not listed above, but was mentioned in the video, which led me to check out the website: Celebrate Urban Birds.  My school is located in a downtown area, and there is an abundance of bird life that feeds, nests and lives right on campus.  I teach students of color, primarily, and my goal is to help them get more involved in caring for the environment where we live and work.  I would very much like to get my students involved in observing, studying and recording the "other world" that lives right alongside us, starting with the bird residents of our campus, and potentially providing that feedback to the scientists working with CUBs, so that they see that what they do matters outside of the city where we live, as well as right here.

I teach in a mixed age classroom. My students are between 6 and 8 years old. Birding is my hobby and an area that I feel comfortable teaching to my students. Birds are everywhere, and I find that children in my classroom have a natural interest in birds. Our school is located in a rural, agricultural area approximately 25 miles from Sacramento, CA. We are located near two large nature preserves - one is wetlands and the other is riparian. Our locale provides us with an extensive variety of birds - ones that migrate through twice a year and others that live in the area year round. We've participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, and we've posted many of our sightings on eBird and iNaturalist. We use field guides to identify the birds we observe. We've been posting our iNaturalist observations under a project/organization where I received my Certified Naturalist training. However, since our school will be remote learning for at least four months, I plan to create our school as a project so we can accumulate our own observations. My plan is to use their observations as a foundation for many of our biology lessons while our school site is closed. My advice for citizen science (which I've recently heard referred to as community science) projects is to be realistic about what your students are capable of doing, especially if teaching younger children.

I love all these citizen science projects but don’t have any students to do them with. I have taught teachers about citizen science for years and shared many of these fabulous resources that we just read about in hopes of inspiring some of them to become involved with citizen science. I have also participated in a lot of professional development about citizen science to increase my own knowledge. And I have participated in several of these citizen science projects myself. I am hoping through this course to come up with a way that I may be able to incorporate citizen science into my volunteer work with youth.

My students created a butterfly garden 4 years ago as a result of doing a field study at their school. They raised money for the garden, decided where they wanted it, and designed it. They researched what flowers to plant to attract butterflies and planted the garden. I have this picture because we had another critter that appreciated the garden. Our garden has had many visitors besides butterflies so has been a great enjoyment for the whole school. We have not connected with a Citizen Science group so I looked into Project Bud Burst as a possible choice. A while ago, a couple of my students were observing the behavior of the crows around our school which turned into a project. The whole class became interested so we sat down and made a plan. I acquired a grant for bird study. We obtained feeders, nesting boxes, and 2 cameras, among other things. Our feeders are up and the students were really excited to see what birds came to the feeders. One of our students made five birdhouses with her grandfather and we have those posted around our school. Our cameras are not up and running because our school has been having work done on it but I am told that might happen soon. When I did some investing, of course, Cornell Lab came up which was last year and thus the reason I am writing here.

This year I facilitated my land trust's first online Tug Hill Bird Quest, an activity similar to Project Feederwatch, with school, youth, family and adult observers in the Tug Hill Region (2,100 square mile rural area west of the Adirondacks). For the Bird Quest, each participating group or individual collects and reports bird observation data during one common observation week in May.  The aim is to connect participants with nature through birds, and inspire them to get outside and learn more, particularly in the Tug Hill region. The land trust has conducted the event each year to limited extent with school classrooms on a voluntary basis for many years, but this was the first year we provided additional support materials online, such as slide shows and activity suggestions.  Schools closing so abruptly put a major wrench in classroom participation, but we had a healthy interest from homeschool groups, families, and adults throughout the area. I was able to provide regular support via email to those with online access, thankfully. The most challenging aspect for me was making sure participants were engaged and able to feel competent identifying and counting birds. I began two weeks before observation week sending a daily Bird of the Day email, as well as posting it on our Facebook page, picturing and providing interesting facts about a specific bird likely to be seen at the feeder. Participants were directed to Cornell and Audubon web sites for more further information, and encouraged to contact me with observations, discoveries and questions. Encouragement to join Project Feederwatch was supplied upon completion of the observation week - many had expressed a wish to continue watching feeders through the year. I am hoping to incorporate regular live meetings (show your artwork, meet a naturalist, etc.) in the next round, as well as expand availability of curriculum options in classrooms or at home.  It was great to see so many people so excited about birds, learning to identify the different species, and seeing things new to them that made them want to see more. I also hope to expand our participation into additional citizen science projects, such as water quality monitoring, invasive species monitoring and management, and climate change topics (Project BudBurst data over time?).

A few years ago I took a group of middle school students into the Amazon Rainforest of Peru to immerse them in culture, service, and biodiversity. While there we participated in a project through the Smithsonian called, The Bio-Cube Project. The students LOVED being able to contribute data, and for a lot of them this was a highlight of the trip. The data was recorded through the Amazon Academy and EcoTeach. Other than that, I haven't incorporated CS into my classroom mainly because I myself get pretty overwhelmed by the different avenues in which one can contribute.  I often struggle with consistency rather inconsistency due to demands on the classroom.  I know my students are fascinated by nature and want to be outside more.  I am excited to make that happen this year since school is going to look a lot differently than it used to and I believe it is cruel to take kids out of quarantine and make them sit inside anymore!  I suppose sometimes I think about managing all of those students in small spaces as well. There will always be a few who do not want to participate and who demand your attention. Last semester, while my students were stuck staring at screens all day, I incorporated a weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, nature journal. If for no other reason than to just get outside, appreciate nature, and see all of the life sprouting up around them in the spring time.  I had students emailing me about birds and their nests/eggs, I had students excited to share their drawings of flowers, and for some I think they just loved being able to get away from their screen.  I LOVE BIRDS. I love amphibians/reptiles/mammals/insects/plants too!  But I love birds.  When I first started my naturalist work in the Great Smokies, I remember thinking " I will never learn all of these birds."  And now, there are so many birds I can hear and know who they are that it's even shocking to me! I have to say, that too is all thanks to Merlin Bird ID as well.  Each new year I name my classes based on something that I loved studying personally that year. I tried to pick my favorites in each category and keep my selection to those who frequent my state, NC. The year of birds was by far the best group of students I had ever had!  And you can bet those kids new how to ID the Chickadee, Goldfinch, Ruby-Throated, and the House Finch. We had calls so that I could get their attention and the connection I made with those students was stronger than any class that I have ever had.  I say that to say this, it is time for me to get some feeders on campus (I have been talking about it for awhile but always get wrapped up in other things and don't want to ask for permission).  Project Feeder Watch as well as Ebird are two tools that I would like to get started with right away.  I would also love to look into phenology on campus. I think it would be cool if we could get those kids working towards removing invasive species.  We already have our facilities department planting only natives, but even that took years! It would be cool to help them id those types of plants and educate their family at home. This generation of students is so precious and important to the future of our planet and I need to be better about making time to inspire them to wonder more. I also have been trying for years to figure out a way to use citizen science in the Amazon (no wifi) and compile data over time for my students. (we are supposed to go every 2 years). SciStarter/Zooniverse will have my attention.

I have completed the Canine Behavioral Assessment & Research Questionnaire, Feline Behavioral Assessment & Research Questionnaire, Celebrate Urban Birds, and Ant Picnic. These project were chosen to complete because they were easy and required little to no equipment to perform at home for my students during the "Corona" online period.

I have used EBird with learners and it seemed like children enjoyed the aspect of counting birds together! I like the above mentioned citizen science projects and platforms and feel that they may be better suited for students to participate in.

I have used ebird with my students. While I have raised and observed Monarch caterpillars with my students I have not done it in a formal way. For me, I prefer to start by developing the habit of nature walks and observations with students. This gives much more of an organic opportunity for students to drive the experience and develop structure out of students' observations. It also helps students understand why scientists use tools, specific methods of data collection, or structures for observation. It also requires a lot less teacher driven knowledge sharing. This is just my own experience. I don't mind things being unstructured for awhile, it helps the kids to see through their own experience how they are pattern finding, meaning makers, and that that this is part of science. I still plan to teach ornithology and use ebird, but our route getting there will be circuitous, and be determined by what the children find interesting and intriguing. Also I want it to be fun and joyful for us as a class, not just something we have to do.

I recently just participated in my first 2 citizen science projects this spring and loved it which, but have never conducted one myself which was my prompt behind signing up for this learning opportunity. As a non-formal educator, I work with all the students in my county. This year with our students anticipating the possibility of more remote learning, I am hoping to work with one of my middle schools' 7th or 8th-grade students and teachers. Each year my office does education contests with a theme and this year is "We all live in a Watershed" this year I am looking to incorporate this into a citizen science project by having students use iNaturalist, and work with the grade level teachers to help with compiling data students collect and students turning what they learn into reports, presentations. I would like for students to select something as their inquiry subject from within their watershed, whether it is macroinvertebrates, plant species around the pooling areas of water, pollinators in the area, specific wildlife they find in the watershed, or what they don't find that could be keeping something from the environment, such as pollutants.

I have not used any citizen science projects but have learned a bunch about them this summer through my professional development.  One course I tool through Indiana University on Educating for Environmental Change and another one hour workshop with my local park district.  I am extremely excited to try citizen science this year especially since it fits right in with remote learning and would offer lab activities since I will not be able to do traditional labs.  I am interested in a bird monitoring program through the local park district but also programs through Cornell, Monarch Watch, Project BudBurst and iNaturalist.  These would work well with all levels of students.  I would like to introduce my students to several options and then let their interests guide them to what they choose.  The timing is perfect for me to be learning about all of these options and my local park district naturalists are tremendous resources and very approachable so I think I can make this work!