Towards Citizen Science-Inspired Learning Activities: The Co-design of an Exploration Tool for Teachers Following a Human-Centred Design Approach

Abstract

The integration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) activities into formal education is encouraged by policy makers to promote engineering and science studies among young people. Studies show that students would be more motivated if they connected STEM learning with real-world problems. We sought to understand how teachers used information about citizen science (CS) projects to promote knowledge connected to real-world problems. Our goal was to understand the design implications of a digital tool that could inspire teachers to create learning activities focused on real-world problems using data from CS projects and SDGs. This study described how we involved key stakeholders in the tool’s co-design process (N = 135). Results showed that key tool functionalities were optimised in the following sequence: search bar, filter(s), graphs and maps, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), real problems and CS project information, educational resources and links to other websites.

Keywords:

• Co-design
• citizen science
• learning design
• design card set

Acknowledgement

We also want to thank all the participants of the workshops for their participation and interest and Maria Mancheno for her help during the data analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by PID2020-112584RB-C33 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, the CS Track project, EU Horizon 2020 programme [grant agreement No 872522], the Ramón y Cajal programme (P. Santos) and ICREA under the ICREA Academia programme (D. Hernández-Leo, Serra Hunter) and a grant for activities to increase the social impact of research 2021 from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).

Notes on contributors

Miriam Calvera-Isabal

Miriam Calvera-Isabal is a PhD student in the ICT Department of Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Her interests include understanding the connection between citizen science and education and the use of technology in educational contexts to support teachers’ practice.

Patricia Santos

Patricia Santos is a PhD and Ramón y Cajal Fellow in the ICT Department of Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. She has consistently positioned her research in the field of Technology-Enhanced Learning with a focus on Human Computer Interaction, Learning Design and Learning Analytics.

Davinia Hernández-Leo

Davinia Hernández-Leo is Full Professor, Serra Hunter, and Icrea Academia Fellow at the ICT Department of Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Her interests include transversal topics in technology-enhanced learning research, technologies for learning design, collaborative learning, analytics and architectures for educational environments.