Citizen Science, Mobile Technology, and the Next Generation Science Standards [GUEST POST]

By Lily Bui, Mar 20, 2014

How one science educator used SciStarter to inform pre-service teachers how to use citizen science in the classroom and in curricula. See the Citizen Science App Matrix, which aligns citizen science projects found on SciStarter to teaching standards! This is my first attempt to enter the blogosphere, so please bear with me. As part of my … Read more “Citizen Science, Mobile Technology, and the Next Generation Science Standards [GUEST POST]”

Categories: Guest Contributor, Science Education Standards

Feeling Clumpy?

By Ian Vorster,

Citizen scientists can help ID the progression of bacterial infection in plant cells by determining how “clumpy” plant cell images are. Explore the microbiome around and inside you with these citizen science projects! The language on the Clumpy homepage might be considered a challenge for the average citizen scientist: “The model plant-pathogen system comprising the … Read more “Feeling Clumpy?”

Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment

Me, Myself, and My Microbes

By Sheetal R. Modi, Mar 19, 2014

Participate in American Gut to find out what bacteria live in your body and help scientists gather data on the diversity of microorganisms that affect our health. Explore the microbiome around and inside you with these citizen science projects! Bacteria usually get a pretty bad rap. Perpetrators of strep throat, food poisoning, hospital infections, the … Read more “Me, Myself, and My Microbes”

Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Health

Measuring Environmental Stewardship

By Lily Bui,

Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Environmental Behaviors Project seeks help in sorting and ranking environmental stewardship. Many citizen science projects have been very successful in collecting high-quality scientific data through the participation of citizen scientists. However, less emphasis has been placed on documenting changes to citizen scientists themselves. In particular, many projects hope participants will increase their environmental … Read more “Measuring Environmental Stewardship”

Categories: Ecology & Environment, Guest Contributor

Citizen Science in The Classroom: Monarch Migration

By Karen McDonald, Mar 16, 2014

Using Journey North’s Monarch Project to Meet Common Core and Next Generation Teaching Standards Citizen Science and Monarch Migration as a Teaching Tool Grades: K-12th Description: Journey North (JN) is a citizen science project for the observation and tracking of seasonal weather changes and phenology or life cycle changes in animals and plants. This website … Read more “Citizen Science in The Classroom: Monarch Migration”

Categories: Analyzing and interpreting data, Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering), Citizen Science, Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering), Developing and using models, EarthSchool, Engaging in argument from evidence, Insects, Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information, Planning and carrying out investigations, Science Practices, Using mathematics and computational thinking

Visionlearning: An innovative online resource for STEM education

By Carolyn Graybeal, Mar 13, 2014

In recent years there has been a growing emphasis on improving STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.  A correlate of this is has been the increase in digital resources available to students and educators. An excellent example of this is Visionlearning. Visionlearning is the brainchild of Dr. Anthony Carpi, professor of toxicology at John … Read more “Visionlearning: An innovative online resource for STEM education”

Categories: Citizen Science

Meet Your Invisible Neighbors: Microbes in SPAAACE (and at home)!

By Jenna Lang, Mar 12, 2014

They’re all around us–microbes, that is! Think of them as the neighbors you’ll never really meet. Here are some projects to help you explore the microbiome on earth, in space, and inside our own bodies. Project MERCCURI It’s time! Microbes collected by citizen scientists are heading to the International Space Station this weekend! This project … Read more “Meet Your Invisible Neighbors: Microbes in SPAAACE (and at home)!”

Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Health, Newsletter

CitSci.org “Feature Friday” Webinar on 3/7/14: Viewing Data: Observation list and Map

By Lily Bui, Mar 07, 2014

This is a citizen science webinar opportunity from CitSci.org. Greetings from CitSci.org! Please join us for our sixth “Feature Friday” webinar. These webinars invite you to offer your ideas and thoughts about improvements to CitSci.org. The first Friday of each month these webinars will focus on a specific topic / feature of CitSci.org. We will demonstrate how to … Read more “CitSci.org “Feature Friday” Webinar on 3/7/14: Viewing Data: Observation list and Map”

Categories: Citizen Science, Events

Citizen Science on the Radio: WHYY features Old Weather from Zooniverse

By Lily Bui,

This week on The Pulse and SciStarter’s segment about citizen science, producer Kimberly Haas takes a look at Zooniverse’s Old Weather, a project that dives into weather’s past in order to study our climate’s future. Old Weather is a Zooniverse project that dives into historical archives of weather observations. Citizen scientists can browse through online archival data of … Read more “Citizen Science on the Radio: WHYY features Old Weather from Zooniverse”

Categories: Citizen Science, Climate & Weather

Citizen Science in the Classroom Series: Phytoplankton Monitoring Network

By Karen McDonald, Mar 06, 2014

Citizen Science in the Classroom and the Phytoplankton Monitoring Network     NOAA National Ocean Service Phytoplankton Monitoring Network Citizen Science Project to Meet Common Core and Next Generation Teaching Standards Grades: 1st-12th (*see notes below about elementary grades) Description: The Phytoplankton Monitoring Network (PMN) is hosted through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). … Read more “Citizen Science in the Classroom Series: Phytoplankton Monitoring Network”

Categories: Analyzing and interpreting data, Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering), Citizen Science, Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering), Developing and using models, Engaging in argument from evidence, Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information, Ocean & Water, Planning and carrying out investigations, Science Practices, Using mathematics and computational thinking