Citizen Science as a Potential STEM Pathway for Urban Youth

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Mapping the Places of STEM Education

Abstract

Students are disconnected from the natural world and generally don’t see the relevance of school science to their current or future lives (Danaia, Fitzgerald, & McKinnon, 2013). In particular, minority students are less likely to pursue degrees or careers in science than their white peers, and participation in environmental science is even less encouraging (Brewer & Taylor, 2006; Kearney, 2013; Pandya, 2012). Citizen science has been touted as a way to combat these trends, but why students participate, and what they gain, is poorly understood. We sought to investigate what motivated students in an urban citizen science project, how participation influenced environmental attitudes, connection to place and content knowledge, and whether participating affected students’ interest in science courses and careers.

Authors

• Cornelia Harris, University at Albany - SUNY

• Alan Berkowitz, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

• Chris H. Bowser, Hudson River Estuary Program

• Rhea M.M. Esposito, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies