Abstract
Citizen science projects are considered popular and efficient approaches to scientific research and conservation of sustainability. In addition, much research suggests that citizen science can improve participants’ environmental and scientific literacy when they participate in surveys over a period of time. However, considerable research indicates that people in short-term training programs do not change their environmental literacy significantly. Nevertheless, studies have stated that these results might result from inappropriate evaluation methods. In this study, we used personal meaning mapping (PMM) to evaluate participants’ knowledge, attitude, and behavior intention in relation to land crab protection. This method merges quantitative and qualitative dimensions, used in scientific knowledge research, which we extend to evaluate attitude and behavior intention. As a result, even with short-term training, we observe that participants’ knowledge, attitude, and behavior intention significantly improves. Although some individuals exhibit no change in certain respects, we use PMM to understand the causes in detail. Taiwan is an island, famous for its fertile landscapes and biodiversity, and we anticipate finding efficient means to improve public environmental literacy. According to our research, public engagement in citizen science projects is an excellent approach to environmental education and conservation for sustainability.
Highlights
Citizen science projects have become a popular and efficient approach to science research and conservation
Citizen science is the process whereby citizens are involved in science as researchers, so it is considered a bridge between scientists and the public [16]
Citizen science is one of the best ways for people to engage in ecological research and promote environmental education and enhance environmental literacy [18,19,20,21,22]
Summary
Citizen science projects have become a popular and efficient approach to science research and conservation. There are multiple citizen science project types, such as invasive species removal and monitoring, coral reef surveys, galaxy records, urban bird observation, and river otter monitoring [3,4,5,6,7]. These projects contribute many scientific reports to our governments to improve policy for the environment [8,9,10,11]. Little research has seriously evaluated how to change participants’ attitudes, behavior, science, and environmental literacy [13,14,15]. Most citizen science research focuses more on scientific results than on changes in participants’ learning outcomes
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