eeWORKS: Community and Citizen Science Programs Support Environmental Education Outcomes
UC Davis Analysis of 100 Studies Finds Community and Citizen Science Supports Environmental Education Objectives
Research determined that community and citizen science (CCS) programs achieve a variety of environmental education outcomes.
Citizen science programs have long been seen as a strategy of science education—where the goal may be to assist scientists by reporting information such as the date certain flowers bloom, the level of dissolved oxygen in a lake, or the number of bird species seen in one day. By increasing the number of people looking for evidence, scientists obtain a larger pool of data to better understand how the natural world functions. With a combination of making close observations, local knowledge, and training to reliably collect valid data, it stands to reason that participants will be learning something about the species they are observing, the tools they are using, and the system they are monitoring. In fact, they often learn much more.
This research review found documented evidence that many of these community and citizen science programs can achieve science education goals, as well as tend to emphasize pro-environmental attitudes, problem-solving skills, self and collective efficacy, and pro-environmental behavior change, with some assessed more often than others
Bottom Line
UC Davis researchers identified seven key findings from the review of environmentally focused community and citizen science programs. Two findings describe the breadth of the programs that were captured in the review: (1) programs cover a range of topics, participants, and places; (2) programs involve people in a wide range of scientific activities. Five findings describe the outcomes that were attributed to participation in the programs: (3) science content knowledge; (4) science inquiry skills and understanding the nature of science; (5) positive attitudes about science, the local place, and the environment; (6) community connectedness and cooperation; and (7) efficacy, identity, environmental behavior and stewardship.
Explore the key findings, research, and other materials
In addition to the whole report, find the executive summary for this topic and additional eeWORKS reports by visiting the eeWORKS collection.