Citizen Science as a Model for Rigorous and Relevant C-STEAM Education

• In Event: Equity for ALL Students and Teachers in the Science Classroom

Abstract

Citizen science, broadly defined, is research performed collaboratively between scientists and curious members of the public. Through these multi-stakeholder partnerships, the practice of science is democratized as question-posing, data collection, data analysis, and data-informed advocacy are opened to more diverse voices, disrupting dominant narratives regarding who can be a scientist, where science happens, and how scientific discoveries are made. This case study examines the impact of citizen science professional development on pre-service teachers during a science methods course, with particular attention to the potential of citizen science to change teachers and students’ relationship to their community, to the natural world, to the discipline of science, and to each other. Implications for operationalizing citizen science in teacher education are also discussed.

Authors

• Brittney Leigh Beck, California State University, Bakersfield

• Jaclyn J. Tejwani, WestEd

• Valentin Pedroza, WestEd