Using Citizen Science
projects to facilitate science
inquiry
(http://goo.gl/W9n3G)
July 18-19, 2012
Bruce Palmquist
Central Washington University
Workshop objectives
Learner Outcomes
1. Participant will describe
benefits of using citizen science
projects in their science class
Assessment
One-minute essay describing
benefits and applications to the
participants own classroom
2. Participant will use the
internet to identify citizen
science projects that can be
aligned with k-12 science units.
Two contributions to the
workshop Google Doc outlining
projects, classroom application,
topic
3. Participant will modify a
standard science lesson to
incorporate a citizen science
project.
Outline of a modified lesson
Workshop Schedule
Day 1
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Do a brief project
Discuss benefits of
citizen science projects
Do a brief project
Alignment with
curriculum
Citizen science websites
Finding projects
Homework
Day 2
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Do a brief collaborative
project
Assessment
Standards
Work on workshop
capstone project
Share capstone project
Next steps
Engage: Short plant project
• We will do a Project BudBurst single report
from the CWU Arboretum
• Get into groups of 2-3
• Look at the BudBurst Master Plant list
• Pick two plants from the list to observe
• Download and print out the appropriate
Single Report form
• We will enter the information later
Brainstorm the benefits
• Develop obs skills through inquiry
• Gets students out of the classroom to
explore surroundings
• Familiarize students with local plants
• Students use all of their senses
• Participate in real data
• Compare over time
• Ability to classify the environment
Watch this video
Benefits of Citizen Science
projects
• Many of these projects could not be done
any other way
• Teach inquiry skills
• Get students involved in real science
projects
• Interact with professional, citizen and
student scientists from around the world
• Value of GLOBE, an extensive project
Online citizen science lab
activity
• Go to http://goo.gl/YiByT to access the Moon
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Zoo activity.
Click File → Download as… Microsoft Word.
Save to the desktop.
We'll go through the tutorial together.
Analyze 2-3 images. Enter your information
on the worksheet. Start to answer the
discussion questions.
Discuss the activity
(Save your results for tomorrow.)
How do scientists benefit?
Based on a supernova identification project
• Scientists are freed from doing the initial data
analysis
• Supernova images are analyzed by multiple
people
• Multiple people can immediately follow up on
interesting candidates
• The large number of human classifications
collected can be used to improve machine
learning algorithms for automated
classification.
Comprehensive Citizen Science
Websites with multiple projects
• SciStarter: http://scistarter.com/
• Robust search engine, all types of projects
• GLOBE: http://www.globe.gov/home
• Many teacher resources, mostly
environmental projects
• Citizen Science Central:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit
• Searchable database, mostly nature-related
projects
Focused project sets
• These sites aren’t as comprehensive but also
are not a difficult to use
• Zooniverse: https://www.zooniverse.org/
• Mostly astronomy projects
• Project Budburst: http://neoninc.org/budburst/
• Monitor plants around the world, teacher
resources
• Did you feel it?:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/
• Report possible earthquakes in your area
You try one
• In groups of no more than 3,
find a project to work on for the
next 30 minutes.
• Go to http://scistarter.com/ and
use their search engine
• Report what you did, and how
you could use it in your school
• Enter project name and
application at
http://goo.gl/SPhk3
Homework
• Homework?
• Yes, homework
• Read the short article
from Middle Ground,
a middle school
magazine
• Think of how you
could incorporate a
citizen science project
into one of your
lessons or extra
Review from yesterday
• Worked on two citizen science projects
• Discussed the benefits
• Found an interesting sample project and
shared it on the class list http://goo.gl/SPhk3
Seasonal patterns of the
Eastern Phoebe
Preview of today
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Sample collaborative activity - combining
our moon zoo data and investigating a
student-created hypothesis
Discuss assessment
Practice alignment with a Laser Kit lesson
Discuss standards
Work on capstone project
Do people learn science?
According to the Cornell University
Laboratory of Ornithology, Citizen Science
projects…
• Increase participant's content knowledge
• Do not increase understanding of the
scientific process...
• unless they are organized in a way that
makes participants aware of the scientific
process they are involved in
Sample collaborative lab activity
• Go to http://goo.gl/BcdBZ to access the
group version Moon Zoo activity. Today
everyone will be working on the same
worksheet at the same time.
• Work with a partner to develop a
hypothesis you could test using your
existing data. Enter that on the worksheet.
• Enter your data from yesterday.
• We'll discuss the questions as a group.
Your assessment ideas
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Students make a chart or graph
Rubric of what the students should learn
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come up with a hypothesis?
prove or disprove hypo?
collect the data?
accuracy of data?
did they come up with another question?
did it lead to more research?
Bruce's assessment ideas
• Students fill out a template and answer
questions (similar to individual Moon Zoo)
• Students collaborate on a project to
generate and test a hypothesis (similar to
today’s Moon Zoo)
• Students present their results on a poster
either live or via Voicethread
• Lots of assessment info at
http://www.globe.gov/teaching-andlearning/assessment-tools/overview
Alignment with LASER kits
• Quickly review lesson 12 from Earth in
Space, a Washington LASER Alliance kit
typically used in 8th grade found at
http://goo.gl/FLiQ4
• Brainstorm how you could integrate the
Moon Zoo activity you just did with this
lesson
• Report back to the class
Earth in Space → WA Standards
State science standards
National Standards
Next Generation Sci
Standards
• Science practice
• Crosscutting concepts
• Disciplinary core ideas
• Emphasis on the design
of experiments and
design of solutions
• Interconnectedness of
science, engineering,
technology and society
Common Core Language
Arts
• Cite specific text analysis
• Follow a multistep
process
• Integrate verbal and
visual information
• Distinguish among facts,
reasoned judgment, and
speculation
• Compare/contrast
information sources
Workshop Capstone project
• Outline a lesson that incorporates a citizen
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science project. The outline should include:
Lesson topic and objectives
How the citizen science project will be
assessed
Standards addressed by the citizen science
project
Language arts reinforced by the citizen
science project
Share your lesson with the class verbally and
Next steps for you
• Get comfortable with one citizen science
website
• Integrate a project into one lesson or one
extracurricular activity
• Seek out another teacher to do a similar
project
• Compare results with the other classroom
and the rest of the world
• Contact CWU for more ideas
GLOBE: for advanced interest
• The Global Learning and Observation to
Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program is
a worldwide school-based science and
education program.
• GLOBE began on Earth Day, 1995. There are
more than 58,000 GLOBE-trained teachers
and over 1.5 million students.
• More than 23 million measurements added to
the GLOBE database for professional science
and school science projects.
• This project has a steep learning curve for
Contact information
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Bruce Palmquist
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palmquis@cwu.edu
Center for Excellence in Science and
Mathematics Education
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http://www.cwu.edu/cesme/
Contact for information about outreach
opportunities and equipment loan program