Fostering Student Metacognition and Motivation in STEM through Citizen Science Programs

Hiller, Suzanne E.; Kitsantas, Anastasia

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-11062-2_8

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Students had to carefully observe features of grass, its flowers and leaves, decide on type of flower, flower head, suggest the likely grass species, and analyze generated data (Appendix S1). Learning approaches such as this are proven to be effective in increasing student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers (Hiller & Kitsantas, 2015). CS projects, like this one, can be considered as an important initial step toward professional development of young individuals.…”

Section: Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grass Gazers: Using citizen science as a tool to facilitate practical and online science learning for secondary school students during the COVID‐19 lockdown

Haeften

Milić

Addison-Smith

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has impacted educational systems worldwide during 2020, including primary and secondary schooling. To enable students of a local secondary school in Brisbane, Queensland, to continue with their practical agricultural science learning and facilitate online learning, a “Grass Gazers” citizen science scoping project was designed and rapidly implemented as a collaboration between the school and a multidisciplinary university research group focused on pollen allergy. Here, we reflect on the process of developing and implementing this project from the perspective of the school and the university. A learning package including modules on pollen identification, tracking grass species, measuring field greenness, using a citizen science data entry platform, forensic palynology, as well as video guides, risk assessment and feedback forms were generated. Junior agriculture science students participated in the learning via online lessons and independent data collection in their own local neighborhood and/or school grounds situated within urban environments. The university research group and school coordinator, operating in their own distributed work environments, had to develop, source, adopt, and/or adapt material rapidly to meet the unique requirements of the project. The experience allowed two‐way knowledge exchange between the secondary and tertiary education sectors. Participating students were introduced to real‐world research and were able to engage in outdoor learning during a time when online, indoor, desk‐based learning dominated their studies. The unique context of restrictions imposed by the social isolation policies, as well as government Public Health and Department of Education directives, allowed the team to respond by adapting teaching and research activity to develop and trial learning modules and citizen science tools. The project provided a focus to motivate and connect teachers, academic staff, and school students during a difficult circumstance. Extension of this citizen project for the purposes of research and secondary school learning has the potential to offer ongoing benefits for grassland ecology data acquisition and student exposure to real‐world science.

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Section: Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grass Gazers: Using citizen science as a tool to facilitate practical and online science learning for secondary school students during the COVID‐19 lockdown

Haeften

Milić

Addison-Smith

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Students had to carefully observe features of grass, its flowers and leaves, decide on type of flower, flower head, suggest the likely grass species, and analyze generated data (Appendix). Learning approaches such as this are proven to be effective in increasing student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers (Hiller et al 2015). Citizen science projects like this one, can be considered as an important initial step towards professional development of young individuals.…”

Section: Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grass Gazers: Using citizen science as a tool to facilitate practical and online science learning for secondary school students during the COVID-19 lockdown

Haeften

Milić

Addison-Smith

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted educational systems worldwide, in particular primary and secondary schooling. To enable students of the local secondary school in Brisbane, Queensland, to continue with their practical agricultural science learning and facilitate online learning, a small-scale citizen science project was designed and rapidly implemented as a collaboration between the school and a multidisciplinary university research group focused on pollen allergy. Here we reflect on the process of developing and implementing this project from the perspective of the school and the university. A learning package including modules on pollen identification, tracking grass species, measuring field greenness, using a citizen science data entry platform, forensic palynology, as well as video guides, risk assessment and feedback forms were generated. Junior agriculture science students participated in the learning via online lessons and independent data collection in their own local neighborhood and/or school grounds situated within urban environments. The project provided useful data on local distribution and flowering of grass species. The experience allowed two-way knowledge exchange between the secondary and tertiary education sectors. The unique context of restrictions imposed by the social isolation policies as well as Public Health and Department of Education directives, allowed the team to respond by adapting teaching and research activity to develop and trial learning modules and citizen science tools. The project provided a focus to motivate and connect teachers, academic staff, and school students during a difficult circumstance. Extension of this citizen project for the purposes of research and secondary school learning, has the potential to offer ongoing benefits for grassland ecology data acquisition and student exposure to real-world science.

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“…As an application of social cognitive career theory, citizen science is an instructional activity, which reinforces STEM career trajectories and self-efficacy for scientific observation skills through the modeling of a facilitator (Hiller & Kitsantas, 2015). For over a decade, research has found that for contributing volunteer researchers, citizen science programs heighten individual's interest, self-efficacy for science process skills, science literacy, and mastery experiences (Chawla & Cushing, 2007;Cronje, Rohlinger, Crall, & Newman, 2011;Hiller, 2012;Hiller & Kitsantas, 2014;Tomasek, 2006).…”

Section: Citizen Science Programs: Stem Achievement and Career Motiva...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, this type of activity heightens interest for STEM engagement, identity formation and career possibilities (Wallace & Bodzin, 2017, in press). The influence of this type of training extends to citizen science wherein the instructor scaffolds instruction so students develop fine-grained scientific observation skills (Eberbach & Crowley, 2009;Hiller & Kitsantas, 2015, 2016; this expertise is a dominating skill required for data collection used in scientific research studies.…”

Section: Citizen Science Programs: Stem Achievement and Career Motiva...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Citizen Science on African American Students' STEM Achievement and Motivation

Hiller¹

2019

Proceedings of the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting

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Citizen science, an activity in which volunteers collect data to support professional scientific research, has positive benefits for adolescents in terms of science achievement, selfefficacy, interest, and career goals. This mixed method exploratory study examined the impact of a citizen science program on science achievement and STEM career motivation for minority and non-minority (N = 30). Results highlight while students' self-motivational beliefs and achievement improved, African Americans had larger gains on science achievement and selfefficacy for scientific observation skills compared to their peers. Moreover, following the support of field experts during the intervention, African American males exhibited less anxiety.In addition, qualitative findings revealed that minority and non-minority students viewed the experience in both convergent and divergent ways based on science skills and learning, collaboration and self-efficacy, and career choices. Overall, the citizen science program impacted these students' identify formation as scientists. Implications for future research and practical applications are discussed.

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Fostering Student Metacognition and Motivation in STEM through Citizen Science Programs

Cited by 14 publications

References 38 publications

Grass Gazers: Using citizen science as a tool to facilitate practical and online science learning for secondary school students during the COVID‐19 lockdown

Grass Gazers: Using citizen science as a tool to facilitate practical and online science learning for secondary school students during the COVID‐19 lockdown

Grass Gazers: Using citizen science as a tool to facilitate practical and online science learning for secondary school students during the COVID-19 lockdown

The Role of Citizen Science on African American Students' STEM Achievement and Motivation

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