What is TL4CS?
Our project, Supporting Teacher Learning for Effective School-Based Citizen Science, or “TL4CS” for short, is funded by the National Science Foundation and will study what helps elementary teachers use citizen science to engage students with standards-aligned science content and practices. TL4CS will focus on two citizen science projects: Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) and The Lost Ladybug Project.
Participating teachers will:
- Implement CoCoRaHS and Lost Ladybug with their students using materials developed by our team
- Attend a 1-day in-person professional development workshop in the summer and attend a total of 8 hours of virtual PD sessions over the rest of the summer.
- Attend monthly one-hour virtual meetings to receive additional support throughout the school year
- Complete a weekly brief (5-10 minute) instructional log about project implementation
- Complete an online survey at the beginning and end of the school year
- Administer student research instruments near the beginning and end of the school year
- Collect anonymous student work throughout the year (materials and postage will be provided)
If you have questions, please reach out to our team at TL4CS@horizon-research.com.
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What are teachers saying about using these citizen science projects with their students?
“Every morning, students are excited to check the rain gauge!”
“Students enjoy the responsibility of going outside to collect data.”
“I like that I can use CoCoRaHS in math too because of the decimal and fraction connections.”
“My students developed an obsession with ladybugs, and it has been so cool to see their excitement.”
What is Citizen Science?
Citizen science is a partnership between the public and professional scientists to answer scientific questions together.
Often called community science or public participation in scientific research, citizen science projects use a highly collaborative approach to science that invites everyone to participate in the research with at least one professional scientist ensuring accurate data collection and high-quality results. Citizen scientists are an essential part of this type of science and generate new information that contributes to real scientific research efforts. In fact, the work often cannot be done at all without citizen scientist participation! Citizen scientists make it possible to collect data at very large spatial and temporal scales. Citizen science projects have a great track record of producing high-quality results while inviting everyone, regardless of their level of prior experience with science, to participate in authentic scientific research.
TEDxgreensboro: Caren Cooper
Citizen Science: Everybody Counts
Caren Cooper is an Associate Professor in Forestry & Environmental Resources at NC State and the author of “Citizen Science: How Ordinary People Are Changing the Face of Discovery.”