Turning Students Into Citizen Scientists

Highlights

• Schools can introduce vast numbers of citizens to participatory science.

• Students feel more engaged in their learning by participating in genuine scientific investigations where they are contributing to world knowledge.

• Citizen science projects offer opportunities for teacher professional development.

• Teachers have many opportunities to merge their curriculum with citizen science projects.

• Teachers need support in efficiently finding projects that fit their immediate classroom needs.

Introduction

Citizen science is growing in popularity, but most attention focuses on adult volunteers and their potential contribution to science and society. This disregards the millions of children studying science in school as they learn the skills of citizenship. Would hands-on involvement in real science projects simultaneously teach them about the scientific process and engage them with the world around them? Could these budding scientists contribute actual data and knowledge that adds value to science and society? Experience in education suggests that the answers to these questions are a resounding yes (see also Edwards et al.; Makuch & Aczel; Wyler & Haklay, all in this volume).

This chapter explores citizen science in schools. It highlights key learnings from the scientific literature, then explores a large teacher-developed citizen science project at the Leysin American School in Switzerland called LETS (Local Elevation Transect Survey). It includes the voices of students who participated in the LETS project. Finally, it shares ideas on how to integrate citizen science into teaching at schools. The conclusion discusses connections to the Ten Principles of Citizen Science.