Citizen science in schools: Engaging students in research on urban habitat for pollinators

Abstract

Citizen science can play an important role in school science education. Citizen science is particularly relevant to addressing current societal environmental sustainability challenges, as it engages the students directly with environmental science and gives students an understanding of the scientific process. In addition, it allows students to observe local representations of global challenges. Here, we report a citizen science programme designed to engage school-age children in real-world scientific research. The programme used standardized methods deployed across multiple schools through scientist-school partnerships to engage students with an important conservation problem: habitat for pollinator insects in urban environments. Citizen science programmes such as the programme presented here can be used to enhance scientific literacy and skills. Provided key challenges to maintain data quality are met, this approach is a powerful way to contribute valuable citizen science data for understudied, but ecologically important study systems, particularly in urban environments across broad geographical areas.

Can school children support ecological research? Lessons from the‘Oak bodyguard’citizen science project

“…Citizen science programs can help to generate a large amount of data, but the quality has been questioned, especially when these 'big data' are not well structured by standard protocols 27,36 . Few studies have evaluated the quality of data collected by school children participating in citizen science programs 10,11,29 . It emerges from these studies that school children can actually provide data accurate enough to support ecological research, provided that the tasks they are requested to undertake are adapted to their skills and that they receive proper training 10,11,28 .…”

“…Few studies have evaluated the quality of data collected by school children participating in citizen science programs 10,11,29 . It emerges from these studies that school children can actually provide data accurate enough to support ecological research, provided that the tasks they are requested to undertake are adapted to their skills and that they receive proper training 10,11,28 . Although we could not provide face-to-face training sessions for every school partner involved in the 'Oak bodyguards' project, the project methodology was simple and based on a detailed protocol.…”

“…Typical CS studies in ecology address the effect of environmental factors on biodiversity e.g. [9][10][11] or climate change impact on plant or animal phenology 8,12,13 . In turn, volunteers engaged in CS programs can gain recognition for their skills and develop a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and the scientific process 14 .…”

“…The main reason for these concerns is that CS data are arguably of lower quality than those collected by professional scientists 16,24,27 . It has been proposed that data collected by school children involved in CS programs can contribute to environmental research, provided that research methods are kept simple and require skills that the children already have or are able to gain when mentored by adults 10,11,16 , and that the participant receives training, even remotely 28 . However, only a few studies have directly compared the quality of data acquired by professional scientists vs. the general public 10,11,29 .…”

“…It has been proposed that data collected by school children involved in CS programs can contribute to environmental research, provided that research methods are kept simple and require skills that the children already have or are able to gain when mentored by adults 10,11,16 , and that the participant receives training, even remotely 28 . However, only a few studies have directly compared the quality of data acquired by professional scientists vs. the general public 10,11,29 . Quantitative evaluations of the impact of CS programs on science are thus needed to reciprocally engage citizens with science, and scientists with citizens.…”