Citizen-scientists are just that – typically amateur science enthusiasts who help scientists expedite research objectives by volunteering their time, observational skills and the combined power of thousands of home computers. Anyone, of almost any age, with an interest in any of hundreds of fields of science, from astronomy to zoology, can be part of a citizen science project, not only contributing collaborative research or observational skills, but also benefiting from some real hands-on learning. This is especially good news for families who like to learn together, like homeschoolers.
Advanced Everyday Science
Citizen Science gives a whole new meaning to “everyday science.” Most programs provide tutorials, open the data up to public inspection and use, and provide comprehensive educational information and resources for those interested in learning more. And fields of study are endless. At ScienceforCitizens.net, interested volunteers can search among citizen science projects about animals, archaeology, astronomy, biology, climate, environment, food, geology, insects, marine sciences, ornithology and physics. Projects can be selected by locations, level of time commitment and type, such as outdoors or suitable for children.
Citizen Science Opportunities
Citizen science isn’t new, just growing. One of the oldest and most successful citizen science programs in existence is the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count, which has been held every year since 1900. As a matter of fact, wildlife observation programs are among the most common of the citizen science opportunities available. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology hosts nearly a dozen programs, including the popular Great Backyard Bird Count and Project FeederWatch.
More technologically inclined amateur scientists might enjoy volunteer distributed computing projects that utilize computer down times to run calculations. SETI@Home, for example, searches for extraterrestrial signals and ClimatePrediction.net, produces predictions of the Earth's climate through 2080 to test the accuracy of climate models.
Other volunteer opportunities simply employ spare man (woman and child) power. Volunteers for Galaxy Zoo scan through hundreds of astronomical photographs as time and interest allow, categorizing galaxies by type to help organize and better understand the images. At the Open Dinosaur Project, volunteers collate dinosaur bone measurements. These and other similar projects take online learning to a whole new level.
Choosing a Citizen Science Program
BOINC, which provides open-source software for volunteer and grid computing, and a nice directory of volunteer computing projects, suggests some helpful things to take into consideration before participating in a volunteer project:
- Does the project clearly describe its goals?
- Do the goals appear useful and beneficial?
- Who owns computational results, and will they be published, and publicly available free of cost or will they belong to a for-profit organization?
- Are security practices in place and reliable? (An important consideration if when donating use of computer time.)
Citizen science offers a great way for amateur scientists to learn more about almost any topic in which they're interested. From a home learning perspective, as a lifelong learning opportunity, and as a family volunteering opportunity, citizen science not only opens up endless educational possibilities, but it’s also a meaningful and enduring way to contribute to an ever growing collection of human knowledge.
Theresa Willingham - My goal, as a writer and photographer, is to create thought provoking and informative content that inspires community engagement, and ...
