An adapted three-dimensional model of place attachment is proposed as a theoretical framework from which place-based citizen science experiences and outcomes might be empirically examined in depth.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Julia ParrishYurong HeBenjamin Haywood
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Advances in 21st century genetic technologies offer new directions for addressing public health and environmental challenges, yet raise important social and ethical questions. Though the need for inclusive deliberation is widely recognized, institutionalized risk definitions, regulation standards, and imaginations of publics pose obstacles to democratic participation and engagement. This paper traces how the problematic precedents set by the 1975 Asilomar Conference emerge in contemporary discussions on CRISPR, and draws from a recent controversy surrounding field trial releases of genetically
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. This travel grant focuses on broadening participation in STEM learning and advancing scholarship and practice related to Public Participation in STEM Research (PPSR). In PPSR, members of the public participate voluntarily in scientific processes, addressing real-world problems in ways that may include formulating research questions, conducting scientific experiments, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting results, making new discoveries, developing technologies and applications, and solving complex problems. Currently, participation in many PPSR projects does not often reflect the full range diversity in the nation. The Citizen Science Association (CSA), an organization that seeks to support the rigorous and ethical practice of citizen science--a form of PPSR--across a broad range of issues and communities, brings together PPSR practioners and scholars biennially. The CSA conference, to be held March 13-17, 2019, in Raleigh, North Carolina, will build networks and capacities to support scholarship and practice across the full range of citizen science and across diverse populations.
This travel grant supports 75 participants, 25 local and 50 national, from groups underrepresented in STEM, who are actively engaged in community-based environmental science and have not previously attended a CSA conference. Community-based environmental science projects, which often occur in minority communities, are increasingly relying on PPSR approaches, including engaging public participants in STEM learning through technology and the development of data literacies. Through this travel grant, the 2019 CSA conference will bring together the expertise and experiences of practioners and scholars from citizen science and community-based environmental science projects. The conference will facilitate four days of interactions and mutual learning with significant time for iterative reflection and active discussion to make the sessions personally relevant and meaningful. This intentionally allows for identifying areas of both commonalities and tensions across citizen science and community-based environmental science projects, with time to work through various approaches and issues with colleagues for greater learning. The interactions should allow for meaningful discussion of goals, theory, methods, recruitment and retention and other aspects of projects that make a difference in the success of projects. The structure of the conference includes panels, presentations, poster sessions, and discussion to increase the quality and extent of PPSR and community-based environmental science practice.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The University of Guam (UOG) NSF INCLUDES Launch Pilot project, GROWING STEM, addresses the grand challenge of increasing Native Pacific Islander representation in the nation's STEM enterprise, particularly in environmental sciences. The project addresses culturally-relevant and place-based research as the framework to attract, engage, and retain Native Pacific Islander students in STEM disciplines. The full science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pathway will be addressed from K-12 to graduate studies with partnerships that include the Guam Department of Education, Humatak Community Foundation, Pacific Post-Secondary Education Council, the Guam Science and Discovery Society, the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and the University of Alaska-Fairbaanks. As the project progresses, the project anticipates further partnerships with the current NSF INCLUDES Launch Pilot project at the University of the Virgin Islands.
Pilot activities include summer internships for high school students, undergraduate and graduate research opportunities through UOG's Plant Nursery and the Humatak Community Foundation Heritage House. STEM professional development activities will be offered through conference participation and student research presentations in venues such as the Guam Science and Discovery Society's Guam Island-wide Science Fair and SACNAS. Faculty will be recruited to develop a mentoring protocol for the project participants. Community outreach and extension services will expand public understanding in environmental sciences from the GROW STEM project. Project metrics will include monitoring the diversity of partners, increases in community engagement, Native Pacific Islander participation in STEM activities, the number of students who desire to attain terminal STEM degrees and the number of community members reached by pilot STEM extension and outreach activities. Dissemination of the GROWING STEM pilot project results will occur through the NSF INCLUDES National Network, partner annual conferences, and local, regional and national STEM conferences.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
John PetersonCheryl SanguezaElse DemeulenaereAustin Shelton
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It describes a professional development collaborative research project to explore commonalities between native and western science, infusing an indigenous voice into programs and exhibits focused on environmental change. Native Universe builds on the Cosmic Serpent project.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It describes a project that creates incubators composed of community members to foster innovative solutions to regional challenges.
This is one of three focus point presentations as part of the session titled "Community Building for Citizen Science," delivered on day three of the Citizen Science Toolkit Conference at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York on June 20-23, 2007. Geoff LeBaron, Director of the Christmas Bird Count at the National Audubon Society, provides a brief overview of the citizen science program and how it is used. In particular, LeBaron discusses the challenges of rewarding and maintaining an audience, your participants, and diverse users.
Native Universe: Indigenous Voice in Museums, a collaboration between the Indigenous Education Institute, University of California-Berkeley, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo, builds on the successful NSF-funded Cosmic Serpent collaborative (DRL 07-14631/DRL 07-14629). The Cosmic Serpent professional development project explores commonalities between native and western science, enabling participants to use STEM as an entry point for museum programs and exhibits. Native Universe endeavors to move to the next level by creating a professional development program which fosters systemic institutional change through the infusion of indigenous voice in programs and exhibits focusing on environmental change. Topics to be explored include species distribution, environmental vulnerability, adaptation of human systems, and science and policy issues on the local, regional, and global levels. This project is designed to assess how cultural background and exposure to indigenous knowledge systems integrated with western science influence these perspectives; develop sustainable institutional competence in presenting multiple perspectives on environmental change; and create models for inclusion while building an enduring community of practice. The project design relies upon a conceptual framework grounded in the literature on indigenous voice and traditional ecological knowledge, as well as current models for institutional change. Front-end, summative, and process evaluation will address questions related to how science museums facilitate engagement and inclusion of indigenous voice in the presentation of environmental change content, stages of readiness, and the emergence of models for this process. Methods for data collection include reflective logs, pre-post questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews at multiple points to measure the degree and nature of change within museums, as well as how change was initiated, supported, and sustained by staff. Project deliverables include three museum case studies developed during 9-month residencies, public experiences for visitors, a culminating virtual conference, and a dynamic community of practice among museums committed to indigenous voice in informal science education. The museum residencies will take place at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and the Museum of the North in Alaska. Intensive case studies will be conducted at each site following the Diné Strategic Planning Process (consisting of initiation, growth, implementation, and renewal) and featuring the Ìmiloa Astronomy Institute as a model for institutional change. Exhibits and programs have been identified at each site that will be developed or expanded to integrate environmental change content and native perspectives. Dissemination of the project findings will be accomplished through publications, conference presentations, videos, webinars (four per year), and the virtual conference. It is anticipated that this project will impact over 1.2 million visitors at the collaborating institutions, in addition to the professional audience of museum staff. Native Universe may provide valuable interpretive tools for the field to understand and address the challenges associated with integrating cultural perspectives and science content. The museum case studies will contribute knowledge about the cultural process of science learning, and may transform the way science is presented in museums by leveraging indigenous voice to enhance public awareness and understanding of environmental change from a culturally-grounded perspective. The overall benefit is increased participation of indigenous individuals in STEM and increased public science literacy in the area of environmental change.
The Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography is implementing a three-stage sequence of workshops that will bring together science journalists, communications professionals, informal science education professionals, and NSF-funded (RAPID) research scientists who are studying the Deepwater Horizon oil rig failure and its impact on the Gulf of Mexico. During this period of focused interest by the public, the three stages will allow for an iterative process of capacity-building by journalists and informal science educators that will result in a set of experiences and resources to improve the public understanding of the oil spill's impacts and the specific scientific techniques used to assess the impacts. The project's outcomes also include strengthening the communication skills of the research scientists via new media and talks tailored to journalists and informal science educators. The three stages are: (1) Three sessions at the October 2010 conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists; (2) an April 2011 2.5-day seminar in Louisiana co-hosted by Louisiana State University and Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (including field experience on an LSU research vessel); and (3) a June 2011 week-long "science immersion workshop" (including laboratory and field experience on a URI research vessel) and five associated public lectures at the Metcalf Institute, including web cast live via Internet2. The three programs are being evaluated by faculty at the Public Policy Research Lab of LSU Manship School of Mass Communication.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sunshine MenezesNancy RabalaisLisa LundyRobert GoidelChristopher D'Elia
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This is one of three focus point presentations delivered as part of the session titled "Technology and Cyberinfrastructure," delivered on day two of the Citizen Science Toolkit Conference at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York on June 20-23, 2007. Sarah Kirn, Vital Signs Program Manager at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, discusses the cyberstructure-enabled citizen signs project called VitalSigns. Kirn explains how the program works, what they've learned, and how the program will grow and improve in the future.
This is one of three focus point presentations delivered as part of the session titled "Technology and Cyberinfrastructure," delivered on day two of the Citizen Science Toolkit Conference at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York on June 20-23, 2007. Dave Lemberg, Director of the Michigan Heritage Water Trails and Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Western Michigan University, discusses Michigan area citizen science projects related to geography and the issues associated with this type of data.