scholarly journals STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS SCIENCE: THE CONTRIBUTION OF A CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT FOR MONITORING COASTAL WATER QUALITY AND (MICRO)PLASTICS

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 881-893
Author(s):  
José Luís Araújo ◽  
Carla Morais ◽  
João Carlos Paiva

The promotion of positive attitudes towards science is an important goal of science education. This research aimed to identify students' attitudes towards science and whether their participation within a citizen science project has contributed to positive attitudinal changes. So, an attitudinal scale was developed, validated, and applied (as a pre and post-test) to 574 students aged between 12 and 14 years old. Positive attitudes towards science were recorded from the outset among children of both groups. Students' participation within the experimental group enhanced relevant positive attitudinal changes at the level of the critical analysis dimension, related to the perception of skills development such as questioning or critical thinking. Furthermore, positive attitudinal changes were achieved within the affinity dimension, related to perceived self-efficacy and appreciation of science and science classes. Positive attitudinal changes towards science among students indicate that citizen science contributes to enhance affective and attitudinal domains of their scientific literacy. Keywords: attitudes towards science scale, attitudinal changes, citizen science, science education, water quality monitoring

Author(s):  
José Luís Araújo ◽  
Carla Morais ◽  
João Paiva

The active participation of citizens in scientific research, through citizen science, has been proven successful. However, knowledge on the potential of citizen science within formal chemistry learning, at the conceptual...


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Candice J. Skelton ◽  
Amelia S. Cook ◽  
Peter West ◽  
Ricky-John Spencer ◽  
Julie M. Old

Citizen science websites and mobile applications are credited for their ability to engage members of the public in science and enhance scientific literacy, while operating as a cost-effective, geographically vast data-collection tool. Recruiting participants, tailoring online platforms to users’ needs and harnessing community values are key to creating a successful, sustainable citizen science project. However, few studies have conducted a detailed examination of the recruitment experience when trying to build an engaged and active citizen science audience to assess wildlife diseases in Australia. The present study aimed to determine the most effective methods to recruit and continue to engage citizens to use the tool called WomSAT (Wombat Survey and Analysis Tools). Various marketing techniques were employed to recruit participants. A survey was also disseminated to gain feedback on WomSAT and understand the driving factors behind participation. Participation in the WomSAT project was driven by a collective desire to help and learn about wombats. Preliminary distribution data collected by citizens suggest that WomSAT contains the necessary elements to enable it to be an important tool for monitoring wombats and the distribution of disease. Continuation of the WomSAT project will support scientific research while fostering conservation messages amongst the Australian community.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Brooks ◽  
Ben Fitch ◽  
John Davy-Bowker ◽  
Soraya Alvarez Codesal

CHEMKON ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 328-336
Author(s):  
Katrin Kruse ◽  
Katrin Knickmeier ◽  
Daniela Honorato‐Zimmer ◽  
Magdalena Gatta‐Rosemary ◽  
Anna Weinmann ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grégoire Borst

Online citizen science allows to bridge the gap between researchers and non-researchers and to improve scientific literacy of non-researchers. The aim of the present study was to determine whether a 5-week randomized control trial conducted by the teachers in their classroom could improve 6 to 12-year-old children’s inhibitory control (IC). As expected, children in the IC training group improved their IC efficiency to a greater extent than children in the control training group. We provided the first evidence that such online science project can be effective to improve children’s IC abilities and bridge the gap between the lab and the classroom.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ginger Tsueng ◽  
Arun Kumar ◽  
Steven M. Nanis ◽  
Andrew I Su

AbstractCitizen science is the participation in scientific research by members of the public, and it is an increasingly valuable tool for both scientists and educators. For researchers, citizen science is a means of more quickly investigating questions which would otherwise be time-consuming and costly to study. For educators, citizen science offers a means to engage students in actual research and improve learning outcomes. Since most citizen science projects are usually designed with research goals in mind, many lack the necessary educator materials for successful integration in a formal science education (FSE) setting. In an ideal world, researchers and educators would build the necessary materials together; however, many researchers lack the time, resources, and networks to create these materials early on in the life of a citizen science project. For resource-poor projects, we propose an intermediate entry point for recruiting from the educational setting: community service or service learning requirements (CSSLRs). Many schools require students to participate in community service or service learning activities in order to graduate. When implemented well, CSSLRs provide students with growth and development opportunities outside the classroom while contributing to the community and other worthwhile causes. However, CSSLRs take time, resources, and effort to implement well. Just as citizen science projects need to establish relationships to transition well into formal science education, schools need to cultivate relationships with community service organizations. Students and educators at schools with CSSLRs where implementation is still a work in progress may be left with a burdensome requirement and inadequate support. With the help of a volunteer fulfilling a CSSLR, we investigated the number of students impacted by CSSLRs set at different levels of government and explored the qualifications needed for citizen science projects to fulfill CSSLRs by examining the explicitly-stated justifications for having CSSLRs, surveying how CSSLRs are verified, and using these qualifications to demonstrate how an online citizen science project, Mark2Cure, could use this information to meet the needs of students fulfilling CSSLRs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 56-82
Author(s):  
Ginger Tsueng ◽  
Arun Kumar ◽  
Steven Max Nanis ◽  
Andrew I Su

Citizen science is an increasingly valuable tool for both scientists and educators. For researchers, citizen science is a means of more quickly investigating questions which would otherwise be time-consuming and costly to study. For educators, citizen science offers a means to engage students in actual research and improve learning outcomes. Since most citizen science projects are usually designed with research goals in mind, many lack the necessary educator materials for successful integration in a formal science education (FSE) setting. In an ideal world, researchers and educators would build the necessary materials together; however, many researchers lack the time, resources, and networks to create these materials early on in the life of a citizen science project. For resource-poor projects, we propose an intermediate entry point for recruiting from the educational setting: community service or service learning requirements (CSSLRs). Many schools require students to participate in community service or service learning activities in order to graduate. When implemented well, CSSLRs provide students with growth and development opportunities outside the classroom while contributing to the community and other worthwhile causes. However,  CSSLRs take time, resources, and effort to implement well. Just as citizen science projects need to establish relationships to transition well into formal science education, schools need to cultivate relationships with community service organizations. Students and educators at schools with CSSLRs where implementation is still a work in progress may be left with a burdensome requirement and inadequate support. With the help of a volunteer fulfilling a CSSLR, we investigated the number of students impacted by CSSLRs set at different levels of government and explored the qualifications needed for citizen science projects to fulfill CSSLRs by examining the explicitly-stated justifications for having CSSLRs, surveying how CSSLRs are verified, and using these qualifications to demonstrate how an online citizen science project, Mark2Cure, could use this information to meet the needs of students fulfilling CSSLRs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Ángel Queiruga-Dios ◽  
Emilia López-Iñesta ◽  
María Diez-Ojeda ◽  
María Consuelo Sáiz-Manzanares ◽  
José Benito Vázquez Dorrío

Curricular integration in formal teaching of citizen science can bring to the classroom aspects of scientific literacy that encourage the involvement of citizens. In particular, these include non-epistemic aspects related to the sociology of science (which are often not transferred to the classroom). Furthermore, this practice raises awareness among students, and encourages them to become participants in the attainment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article describes a proposal for the integration of a citizen science project into the secondary education curriculum that can be reproduced in any educational center. Eighty-three secondary school pupils (14–15 years old) took part in this research at a city-center school in Northern Spain. A questionnaire based on validated studies was created and used to analyze the changes in attitudes of pupils towards science and technology and their improvement in scientific literacy in terms of scientific processes and scientific situations. The results indicate a significant improvement in the attitudes towards science and technology among the participating learners, as well as a better understanding of scientific processes and situations. Likewise, the results reflect how the implementation of the citizen science project contributes to the SDGs.


Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 309
Author(s):  
Rhian A. Salmon ◽  
Samuel Rammell ◽  
Myfanwy T. Emeny ◽  
Stephen Hartley

In this paper, we focus on different roles in citizen science projects, and their respective relationships. We propose a tripartite model that recognises not only citizens and scientists, but also an important third role, which we call the ‘enabler’. In doing so, we acknowledge that additional expertise and skillsets are often present in citizen science projects, but are frequently overlooked in associated literature. We interrogate this model by applying it to three case studies and explore how the success and sustainability of a citizen science project requires all roles to be acknowledged and interacting appropriately. In this era of ‘wicked problems’, the nature of science and science communication has become more complex. In order to address critical emerging issues, a greater number of stakeholders are engaging in multi-party partnerships and research is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary. Within this context, explicitly acknowledging the role and motivations of everyone involved can provide a framework for enhanced project transparency, delivery, evaluation and impact. By adapting our understanding of citizen science to better recognise the complexity of the organisational systems within which they operate, we propose an opportunity to strengthen the collaborative delivery of both valuable scientific research and public engagement.


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