Citizen Science in Schools: Addressing Challenges and Maximising Impact

Citizen science is increasingly being incorporated into formal education settings, and this brings with it a range of opportunities and challenges for project developers, teachers and students alike. This presentation... [ view full abstract ]

Citizen science is increasingly being incorporated into formal education settings, and this brings with it a range of opportunities and challenges for project developers, teachers and students alike.

This presentation introduces The Microverse, a citizen science project which engages high school students with biodiversity research using cutting edge genetic sequencing technologies. The Microverse investigates the communities of micro-organisms living on buildings, to understand how the increased use of modern building materials is affecting microbial community composition. Students aged 16-18 use sterile sampling protocols to gather micro-organisms for ‘next generation’ genetic sequencing, generating new knowledge of this understudied urban ecosystem.

Using our experiences with The Microverse and a range of other museum-led case studies, we will explore the opportunities and challenges of implementing citizen science in a formal education setting, from the perspective of both project developers and teachers. Citizen science provides exciting opportunities for school teachers to implement key areas of the National Curriculum including taxonomy, genetics, evolution, the scientific method, peer review process and citizenship. However, potential educational outcomes stretch far beyond meeting curriculum guidelines. We will discuss recent museum-based research into the impacts of interacting with practising scientists, including changing perceptions of ‘who scientists are’, an increased identification with scientists on a personal level, and a greater appreciation of the relevance of their work and the career options available. We will explore how the findings of this research may be applied to the field of citizen science to increase the impact of this approach in formal education. Finally, we will discuss the challenges of implementing citizen science in a school setting, taking into account the time and curriculum constraints on teachers, and sharing lessons learned from these case study projects.