Citizen CI-TEAM Demonstration Project - Expanding the Zooniverse: Refining Resources to Support Educator Use of Citizen Science in the Classroom

参与真实的研究项目是吸引学生参与科学并向他们介绍科学研究中使用的计算工具的有力途径。然而，对于教育工作者来说，找到一个学生可以参与的真正的项目是非常耗时的，无论是找到一个合适的项目，还是准备课程来支持它在课堂上的使用。公民科学？非专业人员参与研究事业？已经被康奈尔大学等项目成功地应用到课堂上。s鸟类学实验室。目前，公民科学项目的努力往往集中在学生汇报实地工作上，或者停留在提供与研究主题相关的学科领域课程计划上。因此，它们与研究人员随后进行的分析没有很强的联系：在学生提供数据以得出研究结果后，没有介绍科学家使用的重要计算工具。此外，课程计划通常是作为项目设置的一部分制定的，如果没有额外的资金流入，就没有可持续的方式继续扩展或应用于新项目。Zooniverse公民科学联盟与Adler合作，开发了一个名为ZooTeach的框架，以支持教育工作者开发和共享课堂课程，这可以很容易地在Zooniverse的研究项目中实施。这个示范项目的团队首先要完善现有的ZooTeach资源，用试点资源播种，扩展和传播这个框架给正式和非正式的教育工作者。在这样做的过程中，该团队正在开发一套最佳实践，用于公民科学项目如何在课堂上使用，以鼓励在真实的科学工作环境中探索计算。阿德勒团队由互动媒体主任南希·罗斯·德里宾（Nancy Ross Dribin）领导，与阿德勒教育部门和公民科学倡议主任、Zooniverse创始成员克里斯·林托特（Chris Lintott）博士合作。一个由七人组成的顾问委员会，包括芝加哥公立学校、教育技术和计算科学教学的领军人物，为该项目提供信息。随着项目的顺利完成，阿德勒将：？评估和完善现有的ZooTeach结构，以确保它支持和鼓励教育者使用。预期的结果包括访问以寻找资源，以及作为直接作者和审稿人为资源开发做出贡献。与教育工作者合作提供这样一个环境，将为寻求鼓励教育工作者贡献材料的项目提供有价值的信息。？ 创建一个交互式支持动物园的使用，作为在科学研究中使用计算工具的介绍。通过支持非项目教育者作为课程的主要贡献者，这开启了使用未来资金创建更具体、更复杂的资源的可能性，这些资源有助于将学生完成的公民科学任务与团队科学家进行的计算工具和分析联系起来。更广泛的影响本项目将：？在适当的正式和非正式的教育者会议上以及在Adler的专业发展中推广使用Zoo Teach。除了鼓励教育工作者和非正式教育专业发展项目使用Zoo Teach之外，这也将使团队成员能够将项目发现传播给同龄人。？ 评估与公民科学项目相关的课程计划开发的开放、贡献式方法的有效性。如上所述，这一评价将通过会议和阿德勒？并通过与同行的电子通信。它将提供有关此方法的有效性和最佳实践的宝贵信息。

Participation in authentic research projects can be a powerful way to engage students in science and introduce them to the computational tools that are used in science research. However, finding an authentic project in which students can participate is time consuming for educators, both in terms of finding an appropriate project and preparing curriculum to support its use in the classroom. Citizen science ? the involvement of non-professionals in the research enterprise ? has been successfully adapted to the classroom by programs such as Cornell University?s Lab of Ornithology. Current efforts across citizen science projects tend to be focused on students reporting back fieldwork or stop at providing subject area lesson plans that relate to the topic of the research study. Thus, they do not have a strong connection to the subsequent analysis conducted by the researchers: there is no introduction to the significant computational tools that are used by scientists after students contribute data to arrive at research results. Additionally, the lesson plans are generally developed as part of the setup of the project, and have no sustainable way to continue expanding or be applied to new projects without additional influx of funding. In collaboration with the Adler, the Zooniverse Citizen Science Alliance has developed a framework called ZooTeach to support educators in the development and sharing of classroom curriculum, which can be easily implemented across Zooniverse research projects. The team in this demonstration project is first to refining the existing ZooTeach resource, seeding with pilot resources, expanding, and disseminating this framework with and to formal and informal educators. In doing so, the team is developing a set of best practices for how citizen science projects can be used in the classroom to encourage exploration of computing in an authentic science workforce context. Intellectual MeritThe Adler team is led by Nancy Ross Dribin, director of interactive media, in collaboration with the Adler education department and Dr. Chris Lintott, director of citizen science initiatives and founding member of the Zooniverse. An advisory board of seven people, including a mix of leading figures in Chicago Public Schools, educational technology, and computational science instruction, inform the project. With the successful completion of this project, the Adler will: ? Evaluate and refine the existing ZooTeach structure to ensure that it supports and encourages educator use. Expected outcomes include both visiting to find resources and contributing to resource development as direct authors as well as reviewers. Working with educators to provide such an environment will provide valuable information to projects looking to encourage educator-contributed materials. ? Create an interactive to support the use of the Zoos as an introduction to the use of computational tools in science research. By supporting non-project educators as the primary contributors of curriculum, this opens the possibility of using future funding to create more specific, complex resources that facilitate connecting the citizen science task completed by students and the computational tools and analysis conducted by the team scientists. Broader ImpactsThis project will:? Promote use of Zoo Teach at appropriate formal and informal educator conferences and in professional development at the Adler. In addition to encouraging use of Zoo Teach by educators and in informal education professional development programs, this will also enable team members to disseminate project findings to peers. ? Evaluate the effectiveness of an open, contributory approach to lesson plan development in relation to citizen science projects. As noted above, this evaluation will be disseminated via conferences as well as via the Adler?s website and via electronic communications with peers. It will provide valuable information about the effectiveness of and best practices for following this approach.