Citizen Science for Schools

Britt Gow, Hawkesdale P12 College

Friday 28th November, 2014

Science and Maths teacherHawkesdale P12 College

SW Victoria

Technoscience blog since 2008

Twitter @brittgowbrittgow@gmail.com

“Science is the foundation of our future and it’s very important that we remember that.” ~ Megan Clark, CEO of CSIRO and recipient of the Order of Australia this year.

Today’s learner’s are:

• Multi-taskers

• Digitally literate

• Mobile and connected 24/7

• Experiential and Social

• Visual / spatial learners with

• Fast response times & short attention spans

• The Power to Engage• Students use technology already • It's not going to go away...it will only grow• Professional development• Employers want their workers to use internet tools

Aim: To engage students and allow them to contribute to the collection of data for scientific research and enhance their understanding of science concepts.

Citizen Science

• “Scientific research, conducted in whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists, often by crowd-sourcing or crowd-funding.”

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

• “The systematic collection and analysis of data; development of technology; testing of phenomena and the dissemination of these activities by researchers primarily on an avocational basis.”

http://www.ala.org.au/get-involved/citizen-science/

• https://www.zooniverse.org/

• Projects include Space, Nature, Climate and Biology.

– How do stars form?

– Planet Four

– Cyclone Centre

– Old Weather

– Go wild in the Serengeti!

Galaxy Zoo

• http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

• A Zooniverse project to classify galaxies according to their shape

University of S.A. –Barbara Hardy Institute

• http://www.unisa.edu.au/Research/Barbara-Hardy-Institute/Research-1/Citizen-Science/

• Great Koala Count

• Be a Beachcomber

• Operation Magpie

• Operation Spider

• Operation Possum

“The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program. GLOBE's vision promotes and supports students, teachers and scientists to collaborate on inquiry-based investigations of the environment and the Earth system working in close partnership with NASA, NOAA and NSF Earth System Science Projects (ESSP’s) in study and research about the dynamics of Earth's environment.” https://www.globe.gov/

http://www.globe.gov/explore-science

GLOBE Science Projects

http://www.worldmoonproject.org/

World Moon Project

Citizen Science Apps

• OzAtlas “Atlas of Living Australia”

• Ecolinc “Biodiversity of the Western Volcanic Plains Flora and Fauna Field Guide”

• ClimateWatch

• Leafsnap

• Project Noah

Atlas of Living Australia

This is a field guide with distribution maps, information about biology and habitat as well as the ability to upload your own sightings, which adds to the database.http://www.ala.org.au/

Museum Victoria’s Field Guide to Victorian Fauna

This is a field guide with distribution maps and information about biology and habitat. You cannot upload your own images as yet.

http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/mv-field-guide-app/

Ecolinc – Biodiversity of the Western Volcanic Plains Flora and Fauna Field

Guide

This is a field guide with distribution maps, information about biology and habitat as well as the ability to upload your own sightings, which adds to the database.

Climate Watch

http://www.climatewatch.org.au/

Climate Watch is an initiative of the EarthWatch Institute, developed in conjunction with the Bureau of Meteorology and the University of Melbourne, that enables users to watch their favouriteanimals or plants and record the changes online.

Leaf Snap

• Leaf Snap is an app for Apple and Android devices that allows users to identify and upload images of leaves – it is designed for USA, but students can use the app to collect images of our native flora too.

http://leafsnap.com/

Project Noah

Most suitable for primary and junior secondary students, this app is designed to ‘spot’ wildlife, complete ‘missions’ and collect ‘badges’. Allows automatic sharing to Facebook and Twitter.

http://www.projectnoah.org/