scholarly journals Translational Science Education Through Citizen Science

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison M. Young ◽  
Elizabeth F. van Mantgem ◽  
Alexis Garretson ◽  
Christine Noel ◽  
Toni Lyn Morelli
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Translational Science ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Decision Framing ◽  
Humboldt County ◽  
Similar Work ◽  
Rural Sites

Guided by the six elements of Translational Ecology (TE; i.e., decision-framing, collaboration, engagement, commitment, process, and communication), we showcase the first explicit example of a Translational Science Education (TSE) effort in the coastal redwood ecosystem of Humboldt County, CA. Using iNaturalist, a flexible and free citizen science/crowdsourcing app, we worked with students from grade school through college, and their teachers and community, to generate species lists for comparison among 19 school and non-profit locations spanning a range of urbanization. Importantly, this TSE effort resulted in both learning and data generation, highlighting the ability of a TSE framework to connect and benefit both students and researchers. Our data showed that, regardless of the age of the observers, holding organized BioBlitzes added substantially more species to local biodiversity lists than would have been generated without them. In support of current ecological theory, these data showed an urbanization gradient among sites, with rural sites containing fewer non-native species than urban ones. On the education side, qualitative assessments revealed students and educators remained engaged throughout the project. Future projects would also benefit by establishing quantifiable metrics for assessing student learning from project conception. Throughout the project, the fundamentals of TE were followed with repeated interactions and shared objectives developed over time within trusted community relationships. Such positive human interactions can lead new naturalists to think of themselves as champions of their local biodiversity (i.e., as land stewards). We anticipate that such newly empowered and locally expert naturalists will remain committed to land stewardship in perpetuity and that other scientists and educators are inspired to conduct similar work.

scholarly journals Research Usage and Social Impact of Crowdsourced Air Traffic Data

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Martin Strohmeier
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Traffic Data ◽  
Data Systems ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Crowdsourced Data ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Advance Research ◽  
Big Data Systems

Crowdsourced data have played an increasing role in research in the sciences over the past decades. From their early instantiations in the 1990s to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the concepts of crowdsourcing and citizen science have gained renewed popularity with the broad availability of big data systems. The OpenSky Network has been a poster child of the successful use of crowdsourced data in research and citizen science for many years, with more than 150 peer-reviewed publications using its data. In this article, we follow the efforts made and the results achieved by the OpenSky Network as a non-profit organization with the mission to advance research in and around aviation. We examine the backgrounds and typical usage patterns of OpenSky’s users, both academic and non-academic. We further look at the social impact of air traffic data, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis, and finally examine ways to improve some existing gaps in the data.

scholarly journals Factors Influencing Movement of the Manila Dunes and Its Impact on Establishing Non-Native Species

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1536
Author(s):  
Buddhika Madurapperuma ◽  
James Lamping ◽  
Michael McDermott ◽  
Brian Murphy ◽  
Jeremy McFarland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Vegetation Density ◽  
Dune Vegetation ◽  
Feature Extraction Method ◽  
Humboldt County ◽  
The North ◽  
Remote Sensing Techniques ◽  
Dynamic Communities ◽  
The Impact

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being widely used to monitor microtopographic and vegetation changes in coastal habitats using remote sensing techniques. Sand dune habitats are vital ecosystems along the North coast of Humboldt County in California. This study was conducted at the Manila Dunes, west of the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center, in Manila, California. Various factors influence dune movements, including vegetative stabilization and the creation of social trails. The purpose of this paper is to understand the dune movements in relation to social vs. established trails, vegetation density, topography, and also, mapping invasive vs. native species in the Mal-le’l Dunes area of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. A DJI Mavic Pro multicopter small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was used to fly a 22.5-acre plot of the Manila Dunes. The images from this flight were used to create an orthomosaic image using a photogrammetry process (Structure-from-Motion (SfM)). From our analysis, the installation of trails lessened the impact of dune movements. Social trails digitized within the study site were found to have more local movements than the established trails when compared to movements across the entire site. We compared two methods of classification, viz., the object-based feature extraction method and a pixel-based supervised maximum likelihood classification method, in order to identify the best way to classify dune vegetation. In conclusion, this study is useful for providing baseline dune movement information that can aid in informing how trail and infrastructure constructions can be impacted in land management or in areas with dynamic communities of flora and fauna.

scholarly journals A guide to the identification of the terrestrial Isopoda of Maryland, U.S.A. (Crustacea)

ZooKeys ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 801 ◽  
pp. 207-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Shultz
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Native Species ◽  
The State ◽  
Adventive Species ◽  
Terrestrial Isopod ◽  
Taxonomic Key ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
History Of ◽  
Littoral Habitats ◽  
Single Locality

The terrestrial isopod fauna of Maryland is inferred using the taxonomic literature, internet-based citizen science projects, and original collecting. Twenty-two species are either known or are likely to occur in the state. This includes 17 mostly-European adventive species that comprise the vast majority of records. Of the five expected native species, three occur in or near marine or estuarine littoral habitats and each has yet to be recorded or recorded from only a single locality. This situation likely reflects the long history of systematic work on the European fauna and the availability of keys for the identification of these taxa, which contrasts with the limited taxonomic work on native species. A taxonomic key, illustrations, and brief descriptions of species known or expected to occur in Maryland are provided.

scholarly journals GNAT — A Global Network of Automatic Telescopes

1993 ◽  
Vol 136 ◽  
pp. 244-249
Author(s):  
D.L. Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
The World ◽  
Do So

AbstractAll of us “have-nots” need more telescope time, for ourselves and for our students. There are also many programs where a global linkage is needed to accomplish the objectives. In addition, the world needs more and better science education; astronomy can be a leader if it has adequate facilities to do so. A global network of automatic telescopes can help supply these needs, which are global, spanning all countries. A new non-profit organization (GNAT, Inc.) has been formed to be the catalyst to develop and implement such a concept. We hope that many astronomers and organizations will become “members” of GNAT.

scholarly journals Assessing Statistical Competencies in Clinical and Translational Science Education: One Size Does Not Fit All

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Oster ◽  
Christopher J. Lindsell ◽  
Leah J. Welty ◽  
Madhu Mazumdar ◽  
Sally W. Thurston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Translational Science

Principles of translational science education

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-84
Author(s):  
Chris Sutherland ◽  
Benjamin Padilla ◽  
Evan Grant
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Translational Science

scholarly journals Aligning Needs: Integrating Citizen Science Efforts into Schools Through Service Requirements

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ginger Tsueng ◽  
Arun Kumar ◽  
Steven M. Nanis ◽  
Andrew I Su
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Science Project ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Formal Science ◽  
Citizen Science Project

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.

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