KQED's QUEST is a multi-year, multiple-media project seeking to influence the Bay Area's discussions about and activities related to science, the environment, and nature, with a particularly local focus. Rockman et al (REA), a San Francisco-based research and evaluation organization, conducted an evaluation of QUEST programming and activities over the course of several years. The evaluation examined general QUEST audiences, formal and informal educators' use of QUEST, and KQED's development and maintenance of a partnership among a number of Bay Area science and environmental organizations. The
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Elizabeth BandyMonnette FungKQED Northern California Public Media
The Citizen Science Central site developed by CLO clearly meets its goal of providing guidance and resources to individuals and organizations engaged in, or interested in undertaking, citizen science, volunteer monitoring, or participatory action research initiatives. The site embodies the ideas and insights generated by the Citizen Science Toolkit conference. In terms of the evaluation objectives, the evidence from the user surveys show that the site meets both of the standards listed below. Ease of use, sufficiency, and appropriateness of Citizen Science Central content Quality and
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Stephanie ThompsonCornell University
True to the design we formulated in our proposal, the Inverness Research evaluation studied the COSIA project on two levels: Partnerships and Contributions. The logic underlying these two layers of study is as follows: COSIA creates working and complex partnerships that serve as the engine for the development of new resources and programs. These resources and programs in turn make multiple contributions, ranging from increased institutional capacity, to more skilled delivery of programs by college students and ISEI staff, to benefits for research scientists, to an increased public
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Michelle PhillipsMark St. JohnUniversity of California, Berkeley
PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) is a three-year teacher professional enhancement program that will advance polar science education by bringing K-12 educators and polar researchers together in hands-on field experiences in the Arctic and Antarctic. PolarTREC activities and products will foster the integration of research and education to produce a legacy of long-term teacher-researcher collaborations, improvement of teacher content knowledge and teaching practices, shareable online learning resources based on real-world science, improved student knowledge of and interest in the Arctic and Antarctic, and broad public engagement in polar science. ARCUS will adapt and extend existing Teacher Research Experience (TRE) models and its own experience delivering TREC -- a TRE program supported by NSF for the Arctic -- to develop PolarTREC, a comprehensive, sustained field research experience program for K-12 teachers focusing on IPY science themes at both polar regions. Thirty-six teachers will spend two to six weeks in the Arctic or Antarctic studying a topic relevant to one of the IPY emphasis areas, with "Live from IPY" calls, Internet presentations, and podcasts from the field, daily teacher journals, interactive bulletin boards, photo galleries, online multimedia learning resources and activities, and participation in CARE (Connecting Arctic/Antarctic Researchers and Educators) web-meetings to support translation of experiences into the classroom and beyond. PolarTREC is relevant to the education goals of the IPY by 1) providing a hands-on field research experience that can be realistically implemented in the polar regions; 2) broadly disseminating teacher experiences to students and other professionals; 3) developing a sustainable learning community; and 4) providing clear and appropriate measures of project success through a formative and summative evaluation. Additionally, the PolarTREC evaluation will provide a basis for replicating or expanding the program structure and best practices. PolarTREC will benefit from close coordination with logistics providers and international programs to ensure operational feasibility and an international reach.
This Pathways Project connects rural, underserved youth and families in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho to STEM concepts important in sustainable building design. The project is a collaboration of the Palouse Discovery Science Center (Pullman, WA), Washington State University and University of Idaho, working in partnership with rural community organizations and businesses. The deliverables include: 1) interactive exhibit prototype activities, 2) a team cooperative learning problem-solving challenge, and (3) take-home materials to encourage participants to use what they have learned to investigate ways to make their homes more energy-efficient and sustainable. The project introduces youth and families to the traditionally difficult physics concept of thermal energy, particularly as it relates to sustainable building design. Participants explore how building materials and their properties can be used to control all three types of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The interactive exhibit prototypes are coupled with an Energy Efficient Engineering Challenge in which participants, working in cooperative learning teams, use information learned from the exhibit prototype activities to retrofit a model house, improving its energy efficiency. The project components are piloted at the Palouse Discovery Science Center, and then travel to three underserved rural/tribal communities in Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. Front-end and formative evaluation studies will demonstrate whether this model advances participant understanding of and interest in STEM topics and careers. The project will yield information about ways that other ISE practitioners can effectively incorporate cooperative learning strategies in informal settings to improve the transferability of knowledge gained from exhibits to real-world problem-solving challenges, especially for rural and underserved audiences. This project will also provide the ISE field with: 1) a model for increasing the capacity of small, rural science centers to form collaborative regional networks that draw on previously unused resources in their communities and provide more effective outreach to the underrepresented populations they serve, and 2) a model for coupling cooperative learning with outreach exhibits, providing richer experiences of active engagement.
These opening remarks took place at the start of the Citizen Science Toolkit Conference, held at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York on June 20-23, 2007.
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Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This PDF includes a synthesis of presentations and discussions that took place at the Engaging and Learning for Conservation Workshop on Public Participation in Scientific Research, held at the American Museum of Natural History on April 7 & 8, 2011. In a series of introductory presentations, participants are offered an overview of workshop goals and session formats, as well as opening thoughts on public participation in scientific research, illustrated by brief presentations of four project case studies. Co-PI Rick Bonney provides an overview of the state of the field, including early work on
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American Museum of Natural History
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This presentation is one of three focus point presentations delivered on day one of the Citizen Science Toolkit Conference (at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York on June 20-23, 2007) as part of the opening session titled “Citizen Science Challenges and Opportunities.” Vaughan discusses the importance of citizen science. He describes the Ecological Management and Assessment Network (EMAN), which he coordinates, and shares lessons learned.
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Hague Vaughan
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This is the opening talk of the session titled "Impacts of Citizen Science," delivered on day two of the Citizen Science Toolkit Conference at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York on June 20-23, 2007. Stephen Baillie, Director of Populations Research at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), shares examples of how research and monitoring undertaken by the BTO, based largely on volunteer surveys, has had an impact on conservation and environment policy in the U.K. Specifically, Baillie discusses a project related to the conservation of farmland birds and work on Avian Influenza.
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Stephen Baillie
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This PDF includes a synthesis of presentations and discussions that took place at the Engaging and Learning for Conservation Workshop on Public Participation in Scientific Research, held at the American Museum of Natural History on April 7 & 8, 2011. During this series of workshop sessions, participants are introduced to six key questions or overarching issues in the emerging field of public participation in scientific research, and to seven “steps” or stages of program development in an intentional program design process. The questions and steps are presented in a matrix that serves as a tool
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American Museum of Natural History
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This is the opening talk of the session titled "Community Building for Citizen Science," delivered on day three of the Citizen Science Toolkit Conference at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York on June 20-23, 2007. Linda Green, of the University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension USDA-CSREES Volunteer Water Quality National Facilitation Project, discusses community-based monitoring programs. Green shares successes and challenges associated with these programs and provides useful examples throughout the discussion.
Monarchs in the Classroom provides a wide variety of materials and professional development opportunities for teachers, naturalists and citizens throughout the US. Two groups of behind the scenes people work together in a unique partnership to make this program successful: classroom teachers and scientists committed to sharing their expertise with the broader community. All of our programs reflect this partnership, combining real science with techniques that work for teachers, students and citizens, and promoting practices in which children learn science in ways that reflect the inquiry methods used by scientists to understand the natural world.