Science Investigation and Developing Students’ Science-Process Skills Through Citizen Science

Graphical Abstract

Abstract

It’s 7:15 on a Friday morning and the ‘early birds’ have arrived. Eager students don their binoculars for Ms. Vigeland’s before-school birdwatching club. Ranging from fourth to eighth grade, these Hilltop Country Day School students gather every week to fill in their data sheets with bird species they identify for eBird, a citizen science project offered by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “I started Early Birds because my former and current students just couldn’t get enough of bird watching,” Ms. Vigeland said. “My students’ observational skills have grown so much since September. Now they look for beak color, field marks, and size.”

Keywords:

• Informal Education

Resources

So many opportunities for inquiry!

BirdSleuth’s Investigating Evidence program and course scaffolds educators in using all kinds of citizen-science projects to generate authentic questions and science investigations. The projects mentioned in this article include:

• eBird

• EyeWire

• Fold It

• iNaturalist

• Monarch Larvae Monitoring Program (MLMP)

• NestWatch

• Project FeederWatch

• Great Sunflower Project

• Harvard Forest Program

• East Bay Academy for Young Scientists (EBAYS)

Citizen science resources for educators

An increasing number of programs and organizations offer citizen-science support for educators. Some offer activities that scaffold youth learning or professional development to help educators tailor citizen science experiences to meet youth development goals such as STEM skills development and civic engagement. There are also resources to help educators select citizen science activities that fit their particular setting.

• BirdSleuth K–12 from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers teacher-tested and freely downloadable nature-based science lessons as well as a suite of citizen science and inquiry scaffolds that build science-process skills.

• GLOBE offers teacher’s guides to help students explore the Earth’s spheres (biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere) through a variety of data collection protocols.

• Journey North offers a variety of participatory projects that track seasonal change and migration, as well as educator materials.

• Nature’s Notebook from the National Phenology Network offers place-based, hands-on learning opportunities related to phenology.

• Science Action Club from California Academy of Sciences is a nationwide STEM program for middle school youth in out-of-school time.

• SciStarter provides a searchable project database and a growing assortment of teacher-friendly resources.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the many educators who have field-tested and worked with us to develop and improve BirdSleuth K–12 resources. A special thanks to the teachers mentioned in this article (Jodi Sikma, Janet Vigeland, and Phil Kahler) and the educators who participated in the Citizen Science Investigators project. Thank you to the staff and undergraduate student employees at Cornell Lab of Ornithology for providing invaluable support during the project and to known and anonymous reviewers for feedback on this manuscript. A special thanks to Tina Phillips for her advice on the evaluation and work on data analysis.

Author Contributions

Jennifer Fee ([email protected]) is manager of K–12 Programs at Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Fee

Jennifer Fee ([email protected]) is manager of K–12 Programs at Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York.