The Juggling Act: The challenges and achievements to coordinating 7 research projects in a citizen science project in Puerto Rico

In order to determine Efficacy of Informal Science Education (ISE) practices to develop Hispanic citizen scientists in the Watershed of the Rio Grande of Manatí, Puerto Rico, the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico (CTPR)... [ view full abstract ]

In order to determine Efficacy of Informal Science Education (ISE) practices to develop Hispanic citizen scientists in the Watershed of the Rio Grande of Manatí, Puerto Rico, the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico (CTPR) developed two objectives; How do Hispanics 1) Learn and 2) teach science in an informal setting. To achieve these goals, we partnered with five ecologists and two evaluators that investigate process of learning and teaching. Each ecologist has different replicate study sites and has developed a different calendar of activities within four municipalities in the watershed. The evaluators implemented their IRB approved instruments at various stages within the planned ecology activities. The CTPR has provided a full time and 2 staff that work 50 % of their time to coordinate these activities and follow up deadlines of key tasks. The logistics of preparing the field equipment, waivers documents, tracking pre-post evaluations, surveys, questionnaires, transportation, snacks, etc. for the seven research projects simultaneous has been a logistical challenge especially since majority of the activities occur during the weekends. The use of volunteer leaders within the project has been a success to address these challenges. The volunteer leaders were properly train in environmental interpretation, filming techniques, first aid and recruitment of volunteer to assist CTPR staff and researchers in logistical support. Through this experience CTPR recommends for future Citizen Science projects to use one rather than five ecological research project to evaluate impacts on education. Additionally we recommend having a task force of volunteer leaders to manage the many logistical factors within the project. Further, we encourage scientists that partner in Citizen Science projects to choose research methodologies that are easy to learn with low complexity that still demonstrate the science inquiry methodology.