Citizen Science Project for Future Educators

Citizen Science project for higher education (undergraduate) students majoring in education.

1. Preservice Teachers and Citizen Science: Hands-on Participation to Foster Future Classroom Practice Dr. Lucy R. McClain Penn State University

2. EE and Preservice Teachers Training future teachers is an essential element to introduce environmental education (EE) in schools Álvarez-García , Sureda-Negre & Comas- Forgas , 2015 Where do we often find future teachers? Universities!

3. SCIED 118: Field Natural History for Teachers Science Education program Department of Curriculum and Instruction College of Education

4. SCIED 118: Field Natural History for Teachers Students who take this class: Majoring in elementary and early childhood education or secondary education Mainly sophomores (second year) Usually grew up in Pennsylvania Self-described as being “unfamiliar” with natural history topics or ”disinterested” in science topics

5. SCIED 118: Field Natural History for Teachers Overview of the course: The overall goal of this course is to familiarize students with the natural history and biodiversity of Pennsylvania and techniques for educating in, for, and about the outdoors.  Phenology highlight Mini quizzes (content) Weekly discussion posts Natural History teaching demonstration Citizen Science project

6. NAAEE’s Guidelines for Excellence: Professional Development of Environmental Educators Theme 4: Planning and Implementing Environmental Education Emphasis on preparing future educators to know the learners, instructional methods, and resources to teach quality EE Theme 5: Fostering Learning and Promoting Inclusivity Provide opportunities for experiences that increase learners’ awareness of—and enthusiasm for—the natural and human- designed environment. Incorporate opportunities for learners to have firsthand experiences exploring the world around them. Citizen Science in a Higher Education course: Hands-on, real-world participation with a localized citizen science project with the foresight of incorporating the same project into their future classroom.

7. SCIED 118: Citizen Science Project

8. Citizen science and climate change Cornell University, 2019

9. Citizen science is a way to encourage us all to get outside, hone our senses, and undertake meaningful activity to monitor and maintain our environment, improve scientific literacy and, best of all, be happier and healthier. David Suzuki

10. SCIED 118: Citizen Science Project

11. List of projects students may choose from:

12. CitSci Project components: Project proposal (1-2 pages) Background on chosen project Outline for collecting and recording data through observations* *Students spend at least 8 hours of time participating in the project, making observations, and recording data throughout semester

13. CitSci Project components: Oral Progress report with instructor Share successes/challenges Share visual of project progress (e.g., screenshots of submitted data, handwritten field notes) *Halfway through semester

14. CitSci Project components Presentation to peers Background of project Timeline/methods/data How data compares to trends already known Lesson plan outlining how to integrate CitSci project into future classroom

15. CitSci Project components Final Project Report Lesson plan

16. Wrapping it up... Training future teachers is an essential element to introduce environmental education (EE) in schools Álvarez-García , Sureda-Negre & Comas- Forgas , 2015 One tool for implementing change at the top: Engaging future teachers (university students) with a semester-long citizen science project aimed to inspire citizen science in their future classrooms.

17. Please contact me if you would like to exchange ideas or see an example of the CitSci project write-up I use for this course! [email protected]