Youth-focused citizen science: Examining the role of environmental science learning and agency for conservation

Ballard, Heidi L.; Dixon, Colin; Harris, Emily

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2016.05.024

Cited by 278 publications

(281 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…They encompass a limitless array of topics and frameworks, but the key to citizen science programs is that participants are involved in collecting data for scientific use (Table 2). Citizen science projects increasingly serve education and outreach goals in addition to scientific inquiry (Ballard et al 2017a;Domroese and Johnson 2017;McKinley et al 2017). Although most often applied to research projects, citizen science can be employed by museums to teach the public about the importance of museum collections while simultaneously giving them the ability to make direct contributions to those collections (Ballard et al 2017b).…”

Section: Informal Education: Citizen Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Arctic science education using public museum collections from the University of Alaska Museum: an evolving and expanding landscape

et al. 2017

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Alaska faces unique challenges in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, including limited accessibility to resources and learning opportunities, and a lack of place-based education resources. Museum education programs, traditionally focused on public outreach through docent-led tours, are playing an increasingly important role in both formal and informal aspects of STEM education to help address these challenges. The University of Alaska Museum (UAM) stands as a model in the Arctic region exemplifying how public natural history museum collections can be utilized to create active place-based learning experiences with the aim of increasing engagement in STEM literacy and building connections between museums and communities. These efforts take many forms, including the development of teaching materials involving physical objects and (or) online data from the open-access database ARCTOS, training preservice teachers, and implementing citizen science projects. Because many UAM specimens and objects are from Alaska, they are easily incorporated into place-based education, thereby demonstrating how the Arctic environment is unique at local and regional scales. Here, we showcase several programs that are either unique to UAM or part of larger national projects and include exemplar teaching modules in order to provide learning opportunities in the Arctic region and other rural settings.Key words : specimen-based science, STEM education, place-based education, citizen science, University of Alaska Museum.Résumé : L'Alaska est confronté à des défis exceptionnels en matière d'éducation en science, technologie, ingénierie et mathématiques (STIM), et parmi ces défis il y a l'accessibilité limitée aux ressources et aux possibilités d'apprentissage et un manque de ressources en éducation selon une approche locale. Les programmes éducatifs de musée, traditionnellement axés sur la sensibilisation du public au moyen de tours guidés, jouent un rôle de plus en plus important sur le plan tant formel qu'informel de l'enseignement de la STIM,

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Section: Informal Education: Citizen Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Arctic science education using public museum collections from the University of Alaska Museum: an evolving and expanding landscape

et al. 2017

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“…Many people do not value wetlands as much as they should owing to a lack of understanding of the importance of their ecosystem functions and their value to society (Lambert, 2003). One way of both educating people and involving them in the management of wetlands is citizen science (Ballard et al, 2017). In line with the citizen science approach, Kotze (2015) has developed a rapid health assessment tool for wetlands.…”

Section: Wetland Health Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent study by Ballard, Dixon and Harris (2017) demonstrated that involving local people in information gathering for the purpose of conservation initiatives capacitates them for future conservation efforts. The tools developed can enable communities to act; hence people must be able to understand them with minimal input from the specialists, and must be able to produce reliable data (Thornhill, Ho, Zhang, Li, Ho, Miguel-Chinchilla & Loiselle, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing wetland health using a newly developed land cover citizen science tool for use by local people who are not wetland specialists

Dumakude¹,

Graham²

2017

S AFR J Environ Educ

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“…A new, more holistic approach to stakeholder participation in conservation is emerging, encouraged by the success of many youth‐focused conservation initiatives and studies that point towards youth‐focused initiatives leading to better conservation outcomes, child and youth development, and educational advancement. The engagement of young people in marine conservation is receiving increased attention, with initiatives including educational gaming, training in stewardship and conservation, ocean recreation, and community and citizen science capacity building (Ballard, Dixon, & Harris, ; Colleton et al, ; Kwan, Cheung, Law, Cheung, & Shin, ; Pegas, Coghlan, & Rocha, ; Wiener, Manset, & Lemus, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Encouraging youth engagement in marine protected areas: A survey of best practices in Canada

Chen

Garmulewicz

Merner³

et al. 2019

Aquatic Conservation

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A holistic approach to stakeholder participation is emerging where youth are increasingly being recognized as core stakeholders in community‐based conservation efforts. A growing number of youth‐focused marine conservation initiatives and representation at international marine conservation conventions demonstrate that youth are taking an active role in marine conservation worldwide. This paper surveys current best practices in youth engagement in marine protected areas (MPAs) in Canada, across 10 different engagement strategies. These are: facilitate learning through experiential education; include studies of MPAs in academic and community programmes; utilize multimedia opportunities, including social media, film, website, and apps; provide meaningful volunteer opportunities; deliver professional development sessions for youth initiative building; create youth councils to assist organizations in an advisory role; hire youth for employment in internships, co‐ops and junior positions within organizations; showcase young people as Youth Ambassadors of MPAs; share opportunities through effective outreach and promotion; and, integrate under‐represented perspectives in MPAs. Recommendations are drawn from the case studies within each engagement strategy. Collectively, they offer insight into the variety of ways the international community can support, highlight and advance youth participation in MPAs.

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Youth-focused citizen science: Examining the role of environmental science learning and agency for conservation

Cited by 278 publications

References 29 publications

Arctic science education using public museum collections from the University of Alaska Museum: an evolving and expanding landscape

Arctic science education using public museum collections from the University of Alaska Museum: an evolving and expanding landscape

Assessing wetland health using a newly developed land cover citizen science tool for use by local people who are not wetland specialists

Encouraging youth engagement in marine protected areas: A survey of best practices in Canada

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