Learning to See, Seeing to Learn: A Sociotechnical System Supporting Taxonomic Identification Activities in Volunteer-Based Water Quality Biomonitoring

作为加强非正式环境学习总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）项目为各种环境中使用的创新资源提供资金。该项目将开发和研究一个网络增强的非正式学习环境，以改进公民科学家的观测实践和分类技能。该项目将重点关注志愿者所需的分类鉴定技能，以便为当地溪流、湖泊、河口、湿地和地下水资源的水质监测提供高质量数据。为了使识别淡水昆虫的任务更容易、更吸引人，该项目将开发一种创新的教育资源，即大型无脊椎动物识别训练环境，该环境将使用可缩放的高分辨率图像、互动媒体和诊断特征注释来提高感知技能。其目标是提高从事鉴定任务的志愿人员的信心和准确性，同时提高他们为科学研究和保护工作所产生的数据的可靠性和质量。这个跨学科的设计研究和开发项目将使用网络的十亿像素图像技术来创建一个视觉环境，在这个环境中，用户可以无缝地从大型无脊椎动物的全景视图移动到极端的特写镜头，在不同的位置和缩放级别嵌入文本、图像、图形、音频和视频。该系统将与通过一系列设计研究设计的认知学徒培训模型相结合。设计研究将在两年的时间内进行，将包括检查各种生物监测程序的显著特征，审查现有的培训材料和策略，专业昆虫学家的专家性能分析，以及开发用户界面功能。项目开发人员将与五个区域性志愿者生物监测组织合作，在设计过程中吸引各种各样的志愿者，包括农村人口、老年人、城市青年以及为他们提供支持的培训师。该项目的工作将包括四项综合活动：基于设计的学习研究、建立昆虫学教学资料集、网络平台开发以及培训系统的外部评估。由此产生的大型无脊椎动物鉴定培训环境将根据其对志愿者在与大型无脊椎动物相关的分类活动中的准确性、信心和参与的影响进行评估。学习系统对培训师和志愿者生物监测组织的影响也将被审查。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings. This project will develop and study a cyber-enhanced informal learning environment to improve observational practices and classification skills among citizen scientists. The project will focus on the taxonomic identification skills needed by volunteers to provide high-quality data for water quality monitoring of local streams, lakes, estuaries, wetlands, and ground water resources. To make the task of identifying freshwater insects easier and more engaging, the project will develop an innovative educational resource, the Macroinvertebrate Identification Training Environment, that will use zoomable high-resolution images, interactive media, and annotations of diagnostic features to improve perceptual skills. The goal is to increase the confidence and accuracy of volunteers engaged in identification tasks, while also increasing the reliability and quality of the data they are generating for purposes of scientific research and conservation efforts.This interdisciplinary design research and development project will use networked gigapixel image technology to create a visual environment where users can move seamlessly from full panoramic views of macroinvertebrates to extreme close-ups, with embedded text, images, graphics, audio, and video at various locations and zoom levels. This system will be developed in concert with a cognitive apprenticeship training model designed through a series of design studies. The design studies will be conducted over a two-year period and will include examination of the distinguishing features of various biomonitoring programs, reviews of existing training materials and strategies, expert performance analysis of professional entomologists, and development of user interface features. Project developers will collaborate with five regional volunteer biomonitoring organizations to engage a diverse set of volunteers in the design process, including rural populations, older adults, urban youth, and the trainers who support them. The project work will consist of four integrated strands of activity: design-based learning research, creation of an entomological teaching collection, cyberplatform development, and the external evaluation of the training system. The resulting Macroinvertebrate Identification Training Environment will be evaluated in terms of its impacts on volunteer accuracy, confidence, and engagement in taxonomic classification activities related to macroinvertebrates. The impacts of the learning system on trainers and volunteer biomonitoring organizations will also be examined.