Is our thirst for energy killing the ecology of the Grand Canyon?

A new citizen science project invites volunteers to help study insect diversity in the Grand Canyon. Every night when she’s on the water, Gibney Siemion, a river expedition guide in the Grand Canyon, crouches at the edge of the Colorado River right on the line where the sand turns from wet to dry. Her equipment … Read more “Is our thirst for energy killing the ecology of the Grand Canyon?”

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

The RIFFLE Effect: Public Lab’s New Pilot Water Monitoring Sensor Tool

Public Lab announces RIFFLE, a new pilot program and open sensor tool to monitor water quality of Mystic River in Massachusetts. By definition, a riffle is a “short, relatively shallow and coarse-bedded length of stream over which the stream flows at higher velocity and higher turbulence than it normally does in comparison to a pool.” Similarly, Public … Read more “The RIFFLE Effect: Public Lab’s New Pilot Water Monitoring Sensor Tool”

Categories: Citizen Science, Ocean & Water, Science Policy

EPA Launches New Citizen Science Website; Resources Available to Conduct Scientific Investigations in Communities

(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has revamped its Citizen Science website to provide new resources and success stories to assist the public in conducting scientific research and collecting data to better understand their local environment and address issues of concern. The website can be found here. “Citizen Science is an increasingly important … Read more “EPA Launches New Citizen Science Website; Resources Available to Conduct Scientific Investigations in Communities”

Categories: Climate & Weather, In the News, Science Policy

Keeping the Kids Involved: A Look at COPPA and Citizen Science

This is a guest post by Anne Bowser, a PhD candidate at the University of Maryland College of Library and Information Science, and a Research Assistant with the Commons Lab of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Citizen science allows anyone and everyone to experience the thrill of scientific discovery. Children, who love being … Read more “Keeping the Kids Involved: A Look at COPPA and Citizen Science”

Categories: Citizen Science, Guest Contributor, Science Policy

Expert & Citizens Assessment of Science & Technology, for citizen scientists.

SciStarter is a proud founding partner of Expert & Citizen Assessment of Science & Technology (ECAST), a network that cordially invites you to the USA launch of the World Wide Views on Biodiversity project: A distributed, agile, collaborative, and non-partisan 21st century approach that integrates citizen participation, deliberation, expertise, and assessment into government policy making, … Read more “Expert & Citizens Assessment of Science & Technology, for citizen scientists.”

Categories: Citizen Science, Science Policy

The landscape and promise of Citizen Science

Some of you expressed interest in viewing the slides I shared during a talk at the Microbe.net workshop at UC Davis. The talk was designed to give an overview of citizen science projects and a peek at the opportunities and challenges ahead for people involved in the production of such projects. It also pointed towards … Read more “The landscape and promise of Citizen Science”

Categories: Citizen Science, Science Policy

NIH Lab Challenge: Submit your best citizen science experiments!

  Here’s your chance to help bring citizen science to the classroom — and win a little recognition in the process! The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is asking people to send in their best experiments for kindergarten through 12th-grade classrooms. After you submit your experiments, a panel of classroom teachers, students, scientists, and NIH … Read more “NIH Lab Challenge: Submit your best citizen science experiments!”

Categories: Science Education Standards, Science Policy

“Changing Planet” Town Hall: clean energy, green jobs

On Tuesday, July 26 at 9pm ET, The Weather Channel will air the “Changing Planet” Town Hall focused on clean energy and green jobs. Science for Citizens is a partner in this three-part series. Here’s more information from NBC News: This town hall broadcast is the second in a 3-part series that brings together scientists, … Read more ““Changing Planet” Town Hall: clean energy, green jobs”

Categories: Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, In the News, Science Education Standards, Science Policy

Conversations about conservation: public participation in scientific research

Energy is a strange thing.  It floats around you, fills you up until you’re about ready to burst, and then it skips off, leaving you to keep up as best you can.  Last Thursday and Friday were two full days of such energy, when 60 professionals from such exotic places as Alaska, Colombia and New … Read more “Conversations about conservation: public participation in scientific research”

Categories: Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, In the News, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water, Science Education Standards, Science Policy

The first class of Citizen Scientists: Student perspective

A few weeks back, I had an opportunity to speak with faculty at Bard College about the school’s new Citizen Science program. This week, I’ve got the inside scoop from the freshmen who took part in the intensive three-week course. Four students in Dr. Kate Seip’s section of the course were kind enough to share some … Read more “The first class of Citizen Scientists: Student perspective”

Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Health, Science Education Standards, Science Policy