Driven to Discover: Enabling Authentic Inquiry through Citizen Science

明尼苏达大学正在与中西部的几个自然中心合作，将公民“技术人员”转变为公民“科学家”。“探索驱动”项目将利用现有的具有强大教育成分的公民科学项目，让12-14岁的青少年和他们的成年导师参与真正的研究。该项目的目标是为在各种非正式教育环境中与青年一起工作的成年人开发一种培训模式，使他们通过公民科学参与真正的科学探究，而不仅仅是数据收集活动。在概念验证阶段，由4-H青年、成年领袖和几位科学家组成的团队正在进行参与性行动研究，以了解导致青年充分参与生态研究的因素。在第二阶段，项目人员正在培训4-H教育工作者、博物学家和教师如何在其他4-H项目和其他非正式教育项目中吸引青年及其成年领导人与担任顾问角色的科学家一起进行生态研究。第一阶段大约有10名成年人和70名年轻人，而第二阶段大约有40名成年人和300名年轻人。前端研究定义了项目的目标受众和合作伙伴。形成性评价研究将监测研究小组成员之间的互动，总结性评价将衡量对参与者的知识、技能发展、态度和行为的影响。项目可交付成果包括青年产生的生态研究成果、基于网络的项目实施材料、年度会议以及一个让青年团体在非正式环境中参与真正的科学探究的模式。该模式预计将影响全国600多万青少年。

The University of Minnesota is partnering with several nature centers in the Midwest to transform citizen "technicians" into citizen "scientists." The Driven to Discover project will use existing citizen science programs with strong educational components to engage 12-14 year old youth and their adult mentors in authentic research. The goal of the project is to develop a training model for adults who work with youth in a variety of informal education settings to involve them in authentic scientific inquiry via citizen science rather than just data collection activities. In the proof-of-concept phase, teams consisting of 4-H youth, adult leaders, and several scientists are conducting participatory action research to understand what factors lead youth to full engagement in ecological research. In phase two, project personnel are training 4-H educators, naturalists, and teachers how to engage youth and their adult leaders in other 4-H programs and other informal education programs to conduct ecological research with scientists in advisory roles. Phase one involves approximately 10 adults and 70 youth, whereas phase two involves approximately 40 adults and 300 youth. A front-end study defined the project's target audiences and partners. Formative evaluation study will monitor interactions among members of the research teams and summative evaluation will measure impacts on participants' knowledge, skills development, attitudes, and behavior. Project deliverables include youth-generated ecological research findings, web-based program implementation materials, an annual conference, and a model for engaging youth groups in informal settings in authentic scientific inquiry. The model is expected to impact more than six million youth nationwide.