Term

Spring 2020

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAED: NSEE

Facilitator(s)

Trish Harvey

Content Expert

Sarah Weaver

Abstract

Citizen science is a growing field of research that relies on public participation for successfully collecting and processing data in fields of ecology, astronomy and sociology. Citizen science has potential to connect diverse communities with science literacy, but historically has only reached a small portion of the population already invested in scientific research. Many citizen science projects fail to launch within the first year from researcher expectations not meeting volunteer expectations. Researchers face the same common pitfalls that others before them have with few stories sharing how success was achieved. A three day workshop was developed to explore the relationship between researchers and volunteers, and create an open dialogue to better prepare researchers for success. The workshop prepares researchers to have their projects interpreted by the public, and pursues strategies for engaging volunteers. By uncovering motivations between researchers and volunteers, researchers will be better prepared to reach out and connect to volunteers in a meaningful way through education. Since citizen science is moving towards simplified tasks with less background knowledge required for participation, opportunities to connect new communities into science go overlooked.

Keywords

Adult Education, Leadership, Motivation, Science

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Projects

Included in

Education Commons

Share

COinS