Top 7 Citizen Science Problems (And How to Solve Them)

Lost your smartphone? Rabbits eating all your sunflowers? Can’t seem to find opportunities right for you? Sometimes doing citizen science can bring some unexpected problems. But take heart — whatever challenge you’re facing, you’re likely not the first one to deal with it.  We surveyed SciStarter’s users about the problems they’ve encountered while trying to … Read more “Top 7 Citizen Science Problems (And How to Solve Them)”

Categories: Animals, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Other

National Academy of Sciences Report is a Guide to Making Citizen Science Work For Everyone

In 2018, the Committee on Designing Citizen Science to Support Science Learning gathered at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine to draft the 184-page report, Learning Through Citizen Science: Enhancing Opportunities by Design. (Darlene Cavalier, founder of SciStarter.org, was part of that committee.) The goal of the report “[was] to say something new … Read more “National Academy of Sciences Report is a Guide to Making Citizen Science Work For Everyone”

Categories: Citizen Science

12 Days of Christmas-y Citizen Science

Make sure you’re on Santa’s “nice list” this year. Lend your hands, hearts and brains to science during these 12 days leading up to Christmas! On the 1st day of Christmas, the Alliance for Saving Threatened Forests gave to me: A chance to monitor the invasive insects that attack both hemlocks and Fraser firs (the most popular … Read more “12 Days of Christmas-y Citizen Science”

Categories: Birds, Citizen Science, Geology & Earth Sciences, Health, Nature & Outdoors

Browse the Encyclopedia of Life

This project is featured in our Back to School 2013 round-up.  Imagine what it would mean if our knowledge about the many life forms on Earth – of animals, plants, fungi, protists, and bacteria – could be gathered together and made available to everyone – anywhere – at a moment’s notice.  Currently, this information is … Read more “Browse the Encyclopedia of Life”

Categories: Citizen Science

NASA Wants You to Share Your Out-of-this-World Creativity

Remember those old diagrams in your grade school science text books?  I used to flip through each chapter trying to find the coolest images, but was continually disappointed when I was forced to squint at tiny illustrations. As I continued through school, however, I found myself drawn to large illustrations that conveyed information effectively and … Read more “NASA Wants You to Share Your Out-of-this-World Creativity”

Categories: Computers & Technology

Are you up to the (water) challenge, today?

When you wake up in the morning and start your daily routine—take a shower, brush your teeth, cook breakfast—do you ever stop to wonder where all that water you’re using comes from? It’s availability (or lack thereof) is certainly not a common worry in the United States, where as of 2005 (the latest assessment of … Read more “Are you up to the (water) challenge, today?”

Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Contest, Do-It-Yourself, Ecology & Environment, Health, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water, Science Education Standards

BioBlitz: Explore the National Parks with National Geographic

Attention all backyard explorers and rosebush whackers: this is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Your days of leading patient parents on perilous neighborhood expeditions are over. Put down that “machete.” Stop mushing the dog. Grab your merit badges. The big leagues are calling, and they want you on their next adventure! This Friday, August … Read more “BioBlitz: Explore the National Parks with National Geographic”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Education, Insects, Nature & Outdoors, Science Education Standards, Workshops

Celebrate Shark Week with Some Citizen Science

You might not realize it, but it’s always out there. Planning. Growing. Waiting for the perfect time to strike. You never quite know when it will happen. Maybe July. Maybe August. But you know it’s coming, and you can’t escape it. In an awesome display of speed and power, it bursts from an otherwise calm … Read more “Celebrate Shark Week with Some Citizen Science”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water

Citizen Science Opportunities with The American Chestnut Foundation

Sara Fitzsimmons is the Regional Science Coordinator at The American Chestnut Foundation The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to restoring the American chestnut (Castanea dentate) to its original range. Once estimated to be 25% of the Appalachian forests, the species was all but eliminated from the landscape by an imported fungal … Read more “Citizen Science Opportunities with The American Chestnut Foundation”

Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Education, Nature & Outdoors, Science Education Standards