Blog: Citizen Science Projects, People, and Perspectives
By Jenna Lang, May 16, 2014
Let us tell ‘ya about the birds and the bees — for citizen science, that is! Here are just a few buzz-worthy projects to get you started. Also, don’t forget to stop by DISCOVER Magazine and SciStarter’s online Citizen Science Salon; look for our new collaboration in the pages of Discover starting this month; or … Read more “Citizen Science for Lovers of Birds and Bees!”
Categories: Animals, Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Insects, Nature & Outdoors
By Karen McDonald, May 12, 2014
Using Celebrate Urban Birds (CUB) to Meet Common Core and Next Generation Teaching Standards Grades: K-12th Description: Celebrate Urban Birds (CUB) is a project through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It is a year round project specifically designed to engage classrooms with local urban birds and citizen science. Cornell offers a free classroom kit for … Read more “Citizen Science in The Classroom: Urban Birds”
Categories: Analyzing and interpreting data, Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering), Birds, Citizen Science, Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering), Developing and using models, EarthSchool, Engaging in argument from evidence, Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information, Planning and carrying out investigations, Science Education Standards, Science Practices, Using mathematics and computational thinking
By Ian Vorster, May 09, 2014
Record plant observations and learn how changes in climate and habitat affect a plant’s lifecycle with Project Budburst. Track the phenology of plants and animals with these citizen science projects. Gardeners worldwide have their favorite sayings about when to plant, when to reap, how much rain is going to fall, or how dry it will … Read more “First Leaf, First Bud, First Fruit: Project Budburst”
Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors
By Ian Vorster, May 06, 2014
Has anyone noticed how much media coverage citizen science is getting? Bird counts, tree monitoring, bee cataloguing, water testing, ocean analyses, air sampling and star gazing—the list goes on and on. When the European Commission published an in-depth report in December of 2013 on whether or not participatory science influences policy, I thought—whoa, citizen scientists … Read more “A Coming of Age for Citizen Science [OP-ED]”
Categories: Citizen Science
By Lily Bui, May 04, 2014
Per the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American spends 90% of their time indoors. At the same time, when we think of citizen science, our mind’s eye often pictures the great outdoors: wide expanses of open space, jutting mountains, birds in trees, and frogs sitting near meandering streams. In part, that’s due to a perception … Read more “The Great Indoors: Sensing Carbon Monoxide Levels and Indoor Air Quality [GUEST POST]”
Categories: Citizen Science, Do-It-Yourself, Ecology & Environment, Guest Contributor
By Ashley R. Kelly, May 03, 2014
Science can be WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic), but researchers are working to change that. Four years ago three researchers in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia published an article in the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences entitled “The weirdest people in the world?” The authors, Henrich, Heine, and … Read more “Making Science Less WEIRD”
Categories: Citizen Science
By Jenna Lang, May 02, 2014
Fatigued from measuring all that April precipitation? Embrace cheerful blooms all around you and share your phenology observations (seasonal changes in plants and animals, year to year) with these citizen science projects. Find more phenology projects on SciStarter. Don’t miss this new post from DISCOVER Magazine and SciStarter’s Citizen Science Salon! Project BudBurst Choose a plant to monitor and … Read more “April showers, May flowers!”
Categories: Citizen Science, Nature & Outdoors, Newsletter
By Rae Moore - Editor, Apr 30, 2014
Help researchers determine accuracy of satellite data by capturing and uploading ground observations from your phone. Want more citizen science? There’s an app for that. We may not realize it, but artificial satellites are responsible for so many aspects of our daily lives. They dictate our ability to communicate with one another, assist in the … Read more “Verify the Sky with the SatCam App and Citizen Science”
Categories: Apps, Astronomy & Space, Citizen Science
By John Ohab, Apr 24, 2014
Non-profit citizen science organization Paleo Quest is very excited to partner with SciStarter at the USA Science and Engineering Festival (Hall DE, Booth Number 5337). Paleo Quest researcher John Nance will share marine fossils that are up to 25 million years old with attendees. Each fossil that will be on display was collected by the non-profit’s … Read more “Win a 25 million year old fossil at USA SciFest!”
Categories: Archeology, Citizen Science, Events
By Ian Vorster, Apr 23, 2014
Headed outside? Learn more about how you can help report invasive species with the What’s Invasive? smartphone app! Want more citizen science? There’s an app for that. I first visited Southern California in the spring. The hillsides were covered in emerald green grasses and spotted with great old Valley Oak trees—a landscape that is known … Read more “What’s Invasive? Find Out With Citizen Science.”
Categories: Citizen Science
