Month: May 2014

In ten minutes, record the number of urban birds you observe in your neighborhood; your observations can improve the bird habitat in your community. Want more birds and bees citizen science projects? We’ve got you covered! Spotting birds in an urban environment not uncommon and these feathered friends have certainly found a place for them […]

How to use the American Meteor Society’s smartphone app (iOS and Android) to create observer reports of fireballs and meteors during the Camelopardalids this weekend. Coming soon to a sky near you: a brand new meteor shower! Barring all cloudy conditions and light-polluted landscapes, you should be able to bear witness to the Camelopardalids this […]

Track phenology events in Appalachian mountains and contribute to climate change research with Mountain Watch! Want more spring citizen science? We’ve got you covered through April showers and May flowers. There is nothing more rewarding than taking in the view from above tree-line. A challenging hike always seems like a distant memory after gazing upon the landscape […]

Observe and collect data to learn how climate and habitat affect plants and animals with Nature’s Notebook. Track the phenology of plants and animals with these citizen science projects. Most North Americans are relieved that spring has finally arrived, especially after a winter when ice storms, snowstorms, frigid temperatures or droughts were regular occurrences. For […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]