Do Ecological or Molecular Biological Citizen Science Projects Affect the Perceptions of Undergraduate Students Toward Pursuing Future Citizen Science?

Kristin Bedell,Terry Gates

doi:10.5334/cstp.426

Abstract

Science literacy, including intrinsic motivation to participate in science outside of STEM careers, is an important goal of introductory biology courses aimed at non-majors. Citizen science may be able to support science literacy and science participation goals in such classes by providing authentic research opportunities matched to course content such as ecology or molecular biology. As yet, it is not known whether using citizen science of different biological disciplines in introductory biology courses for non-majors effectively increases undergraduates’ motivation to participate in future citizen science. To investigate how the content focus of citizen science projects impacts students’ attitudes toward future citizen science participation, we conducted a multilevel cross-classified analysis (mixed linear model) on four years of non-major biology students’ student survey data (n = 2,962) responding to ecological versus molecular biology citizen science project assignments using self-determination theory (SDT) as a backbone. Results suggest that general content categories of citizen science projects seem to be less influential on student attitudes toward future citizen science participation than are student-level characteristics and features of individual projects that promote competence and relatedness. Course instructors should be aware that adding citizen science projects simply for course content alignment is insufficient for promoting students’ intrinsic motivation. Instead, time needs to be allotted for making deeper connections between the students and the projects.

Highlights

As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, supporting a scientifically literate populace is essential (e.g., Bridgman et al 2020), yet research suggests that non-STEM majors are more likely to hold misconceptions about science content, to feel trepidation about their ability to carry out scientific processes, to devalue the impact of science on their everyday lives, and to ascribe to a non-science identity than do STEM majors (Cotner, Thompson, and Wright 2017)
Developing science literacy, which is broadly defined as the science content knowledge, process skills, practices, and dispositions that researchers and policy makers consider necessary for life in modern society, is a central goal of biology courses aimed at non-STEM majors (Adams, 1990; Krajewski and Schwartz 2014; Aikens 2020; Vandegrift et al 2020)
When we reviewed the pool of students from College of Life and Agricultural Sciences (CALS) and College of Natural Resources (CNR), we realized the available Citizen science (CS) choices were less clearly tied to outcomes emphasized in programs such as Agribusiness Management (CALS) and Sports Management (CNR)

Summary

Introduction

As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, supporting a scientifically literate populace is essential (e.g., Bridgman et al 2020), yet research suggests that non-STEM majors are more likely to hold misconceptions about science content, to feel trepidation about their ability to carry out scientific processes, to devalue the impact of science on their everyday lives, and to ascribe to a non-science identity than do STEM majors (Cotner, Thompson, and Wright 2017). Developing science literacy, which is broadly defined as the science content knowledge, process skills, practices, and dispositions that researchers and policy makers consider necessary for life in modern society, is a central goal of biology courses aimed at non-STEM majors (Adams, 1990; Krajewski and Schwartz 2014; Aikens 2020; Vandegrift et al 2020) This raises questions of how to do so, when science literacy is not well defined (Roberts, 2007, 2011; Vandegrift et al 2020) and the literature encompasses a wide range of outcomes (e.g., Aristeidou and Herodotou 2020), including participation in scientific activities (e.g., Toomey and Domroese 2013), knowledge changes (e.g., Crall et al 2012), epistemic commitments (e.g., Price and Lee 2013), pro-science attitudes (e.g., Queiruga-Dios et al 2020), and even policy advocacy (e.g., Cronin and Messemer 2013). Mitchell and colleagues (2017) expand upon the previous work by showing that CS can benefit students in higher education classrooms by putting them in positions of responsibility and scientific integrity

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