Citizen Science in an Informal Middle School Summer Program: Developing Understandings of the Nature and Practices of Science

• In Event: Transfer for Learning Outside the Classroom: Informal Contexts to Examine STEM Learning Skills and Strategies

Abstract

Nationally, science educators recognize the value of complementing formal learning with informal science enrichment experiences for academically-engaged and/or high-achieving students (Michaels, Shouse, & Schweingruber, 2007; National Research Council, 2007, 2009). Such informal experiences have been shown to benefit underserved students (Jones, 1997). Yet in many locations, enrichment experiences outside of school are limited and come with barriers: many are costly and require long commutes. In this community, only privileged middle-school students have access to informal science enrichment opportunities.

This study reports on a week-long program that engaged middle-school students in what Lin & Schunn (2016) define as semiformal experiences centered around citizen-science activities. Because students in semiformal experiences develop competency beliefs, but may not develop scientific sense-making (Lin & Schunn (2016), this program was intentionally built to promote scientific sense-making. Students learned about citizen science projects, engaged in data collection, met scientists leading the citizen science projects, and practiced communicating scientific understanding through short presentations, creative representations, and multimedia presentations about their experiences. Our goals were to provide authentic science experiences, support student understandings of the nature and practice of science as described in the NGSS, and develop student identities as scientific thinkers.

The research design relied on mixed-methods and employed participant observation (Atkinson & Hammersly, 1994), written formative assessments (e.g. notebook entries and collaborative concept maps) by students, and summative assessments in the form of oral presentations by students. Program design, execution, and assessment were conducted by a professor of education and a professor of biology. The context was a non-residential day-program based at a private, regional university, and the program was developed in collaboration with the local school district. Participants come from middle schools in a local school district with a high proportion of economically disadvantaged students: many schools have 100 percent free and/or reduced priced lunches. Participants were recruited via email invitations sent through the district’s middle-school science teachers. Demographically, the participants were evenly distributed between males and females, and the racial and socioeconomic makeup of the group roughly reflected the demographics of the region. Data collected include students’ application essays, pre- and post- surveys of understandings of citizen science, documentation of students’ collective and individual understandings of the nature of science, students’ written records, and multimedia recordings produced by students about their experiences.

Data are currently being collected and will be analyzed using grounded theory approaches(Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The researchers are keenly interested in a few questions. First, what changes in students’ perceptions of the nature of science can be observed during the week-long program? Second, what are the benefits and drawbacks of structuring semiformal science enrichment experiences around citizen science projects? And finally, how does this context support participants’ abilities to obtain, evaluate, and communicate information relating to science (NGSS Lead States, 2013)?

Authors

• Mark T. Enfield, Elon University

• Jen Hamel, Elon University