Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed public health and wellbeing at the forefront of public concerns and interests, transforming the ways people interact and engage with science. One way to support and expand such engagement is through citizen science, which has seen huge growth over the past decade. Since many scientific fields are still largely underrepresented within citizen science, this paper explores the expansion of citizen science into new fields and settings. The study examines the learning processes and outcomes of students participating in a lab-based chemistry citizen science initiative, <em>Breaking Good</em>, and explores the “why,” “how,” and “what” of laboratory learning. Our findings reveal a dynamic learning environment characterised by the hands-on, authentic, and novel science experience within these labs. The broader context afforded by a citizen science approach was found to enhance student knowledge of course content and knowledge of both the process and nature of science alongside increased motivation. As universities are ideally placed to incorporate citizen science into higher education teaching, this paper calls for research institutions to take a leading role in this process, promoting student learning and the development of scientific fields by expanding the scope of citizen science.
Highlights
The rapidly growing field of citizen science has demonstrated potential to advance outcomes for science, society, and individuals (Shirk et al 2012; Turrini et al 2018)
This study focuses on undergraduate Special Studies Program (SSP) students at the University of Sydney, who participated in the lab-based Breaking Good program as part of their first-year laboratory training during
WHY LEARN THROUGH BREAKING GOOD? UNIQUE PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS In an extension of the work of Jennett et al (2016) and as foreshadowed by Kloetzer et al (2021) we were keenly interested in exploring the impact of the unique project characteristics of Breaking Good, and the impact of these characteristics on the learning processes experienced by students
Summary
The rapidly growing field of citizen science has demonstrated potential to advance outcomes for science, society, and individuals (Shirk et al 2012; Turrini et al 2018). On an individual level in particular, citizen science is an effective avenue for learning across a range of settings, with evidence suggesting that engagement can increase science knowledge, awareness, and appreciation (National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine 2018; Phillips et al 2018b). In a formal educational context, citizen science empowers students to learn disciplinary content and skills while engaging in authentic research. To fully realise the outcomes outlined above, detailed work is needed in the specific design and delivery of projects in formal education settings (National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine 2018). Facilitators of citizen science (those who lead, train, or educate groups of participants within a citizen science project) play an important role in shaping student participation and learning (Lorke et al 2019). By guiding students to make connections between the data they collect, their community, and daily life, learning is enhanced and the work they conduct is more meaningful (Jenkins 2011)
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