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A Study of Student Responses to Participation in Online Citizen Science Projects

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International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this study, students enrolled in a basic physics class participated in one of the online citizen science projects available on the Zooniverse website (www.zooniverse.org) as a homework assignment. They then wrote a 300–500-word reflection about their experience addressing several questions given as prompts. The analysis of the responses showed that a majority of the students enjoyed the experience saying that it was interesting, fun, and accessible. Many responses described a part of their science ideas that were either confirmed or changed by the experience. The science ideas included statements about looking for correlations among many data, the need to observe these data in order to find correlations, and the inherent uncertainty of the task and the data themselves. The ideas about science and scientific research expressed were in line with a competent view of science (Lederman, Handbook of Research on Science Education, 2, 831–879, Lederman, 2007; McComas et al., Science & Education, 7(6), 511–532, McComas, Almazroa & Clough, 1998). The insight given by this study is that participation in a citizen science project can be educationally beneficial in learning about aspects of the nature of science.

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Notes

  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_science

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Miranda C. P. Straub

  2. St. Paul, MN, USA

    Miranda C. P. Straub

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  1. Miranda C. P. Straub
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Correspondence to Miranda C. P. Straub.

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Straub, M.C.P. A Study of Student Responses to Participation in Online Citizen Science Projects. Int J of Sci and Math Educ 18, 869–886 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-019-10001-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-019-10001-8

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