During the uLearn21 Conference, I attended two sessions on Citizen Science. This is an area that has really piqued my interest - probably because I've held a long-time interest in flattening the classroom, connecting with mentors, and finding opportunities for learners to connect with the world around them.
I've had a long time connection with ePals in the past. This is an amazing platform where you can connect with people from all over the world, share learning and teaching and also experiences. We even had a shared Wikispace - remember those! - where everyone collaborated on their learning. It was about 2010 and exciting times.
Attending the two sessions on Citizen Science brought back a lot of the excitement I had for those days. The first session was a short taster session presented by Carol Briesman and Cathy Bunting. They provided a fantastic summary of what Citizen Science is:
"...scientific work undertaken by members of the general public, often in collaboration or under the direction of professional scientists and science institutions." (Eitzel, Cappadonna, Santos-Lang, Duerr, Virapangse, West, et al., 2017).
BENEFITS
- Access to mentors
- Access to larger data samples to work with
- Being part of the scientific process
- Grow science capabilities and connect to the Science community
- Encourage students to 'think like Scientists'
- Build student agency / whakamana
- Exploring possibilities in terms of future careers and, most importantly,
- The chance to make a difference in the world.
LINKS WITH DESIGN THINKING
I must own up to having a bit of an obsession with Design Thinking and the opportunities it offers our students to connect with the world around them and make a difference. Empathy is a key component of Design Thinking and this also kept coming through in the presentations on Citizen Science.
This is a nice summary of what Design Thinking is....
This is a great summary of what Design Thinking can DO - especially when learners run a project....
This was a Makerspace Project at a previous school. I supported students to learn the skills and we learned more about the Design Thinking Process by working together to create an awesome space - The Creator Ops STEAM (named by the project lead - one of my 13 year-old students).
POSSIBILITIES AND WONDERINGS
We are currently in Level 3 in Tāmaki Makaurau - and we're not sure how long for. I teach at Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu - The Correspondence School, where we are mostly an online school with face-to-face catchups once a week when we are at Level 1...so how can I make something as powerful as this work? What do I need to do as a teacher to make this work and how can I use my experience as a blended learner and teacher to make a difference in the learning of my students? We also have a Citizen Science Module available for our students - how can I use this and extend the learning from this starting point?
The second person who presented was Matt Boucher from Thorndon School in Wellington. Matt shared what he has been working on for quite a while with a range of students and contexts. The more projects he shared and explained, the more ideas I had for how this could work in our context at Te Kura. Matt's passion for what he has created really gelled with my Teacher Inquiry and the questions I have around bringing more Science into an online learning environment and how that could possibly work well.
RESOURCES AND WHERE I NEED TO HEAD NEXT
My next steps will be to explore the resources at the links below, and watch the recording of the uLearn21 sessions again. From this, I will develop a plan that fits in with my Teacher Inquiry around bringing more Science into our learning environment at Te Kura and how that can happen no matter what the situation. My big question is around how we capture the real time excitement around experiments and thinking like scientists. I think Citizen Science could provide most of the answers for this question.
Exploration Links
Science Learning Hub - Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao
National Geographic - Citizen Science
National Geographic - Citizen Science Projects
Citizen Science New Zealand - Facebook Group
These will be enough to kick off the exploration and thinking as well as ideas for how we can make this work in our particular learning environment. Stay tuned!
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