Nicola J. Mitchell|Maggie D. Triska|Andrea Liberatore|Linden Ashcroft|Richard Weatherill|Nancy Longnecker
Benefits and challenges of incorporating citizen science into university education
University of Western Australia|University of Western Australia|University of Otago|University of Western Australia|University of Otago
common feature many citizen science projects collection data unpaid contributors expectation data used research report teaching strategy combined citizen science inquirybased learning offer first year university students authentic research experience sixyear partnership australian phenology citizen science program climatewatch enabled biology students university western australia contribute phenological data plants animals conduct first research unvalidated species datasets contributed public university participants students wrote scientific articles findings peerreviewed others work best articles published online student journal surveys 1500 students showed environmental engagement increased significantly participating data collection data analysis however 31 students agreed statement data collected citizen scientists reliable end project whereas rate agreement initially 79 change perception likely due students discovering erroneous records mapped data points analysed submitted photographs positive consequence students subsequently reported careful avoid errors data collection making greater efforts contribute records useful future scientific research evaluation project shown embedding research process within citizen science participation university students given cause improve contributions environmental datasets true citizen scientists general enabling participants well scientists analyse data could enhance data quality address key constraint broadscale citizen science programs