Children’s environmental citizen science: engagement, experiences and outcomes

<p dir="ltr">Millions of people across the world contribute to citizen science, defined as the engagement of the public in research under the direction of, or in collaboration with, a knowledgeable actor(s). Despite a growing body of literature on citizen science, children as participants are often overlooked, as well as stakeholders’ perceptions of the role children can potentially play in citizen science. Stakeholders are individuals and organisations who facilitate or fund a citizen science project or use the data produced. The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the engagement, experiences and outcomes of children’s environmental citizen science, by capturing the voices of stakeholders, educators and children.</p><p dir="ltr">This thesis used a sequential mixed methods approach, in which qualitative and quantitative research was conducted across three phases of study. First, stakeholders' motivations for and outcomes of supporting environmental citizen science and their perceptions of engaging children were examined through interviews. The stakeholders were motivated to support citizen science for scientific, environmental, personal, participant-driven and business-centric reasons, which appeared to be fulfilled when outcomes were discussed. The interviewees were generally supportive of children’s engagement in citizen science, although they acknowledged that the increased level of involvement in different aspects of science (e.g. co-created projects) would primarily be for education, not research. Analysis of stakeholders' perceptions of the learning outcomes children could gain from participation led to the creation of a framework that captures potential individual and societal benefits. This framework could be used to direct future research and inform the goals of citizen science projects.</p><p dir="ltr">Second, formal educators’ experiences and perceptions of environmental citizen science as an educational tool were explored using online surveys. There was a relatively even split between respondents working in primary schools (46.3%) and those working in secondary schools and sixth forms (50.3%), with the majority teaching science, geography or multiple subjects. Approximately half (47.0%) of the respondents had heard of environmental citizen science and 22.1% had used it as an educational tool. The respondents' demographic information and teaching iii characteristics could be used to predict awareness and use of environmental citizen science. Whilst respondents did identify barriers to using environmental citizen science in schools (such as time and resources), almost all participants stated that they thought citizen science would benefit their students. They perceived educational, environmental, scientific and well-being outcomes to be the most important for their students.</p><p dir="ltr">Third, children’s experiences and outcomes of participating in a co-created environmental citizen science project were examined. Fifty primary school children from four schools in the English Midlands engaged in the project. Their outcomes and experiences were measured using pre-test and post-test questionnaires and observational research. Whilst the citizen science project had minimal impact on the children’s scientific attitudes, and their environmental attitudes and behaviours, it was apparent that activities in the co-created citizen science project differed in their abilities to inspire the children to do science and feel responsible for the environment. The activity ‘doing the experiment’ was seen as the most inspirational and ‘observation and learning’ was the least inspiring for both the children's scientific and environmental attitudes.</p><p dir="ltr">The novel approach to this thesis has captured the voices of stakeholders, educators and children. This has allowed different research strands to be brought together and triangulated to answer the overall aim of this thesis, to investigate the engagement, experiences and outcomes of children’s environmental citizen science. When the findings of this thesis are taken together, it provides a deeper understanding of children's involvement in citizen science, supporting the notion that citizen science should not be adult-centric. Rather, this thesis has evidenced that children can meaningfully participate and research should look for ways to make citizen science accessible and relevant for children. This thesis has made important contributions to the existing literature, building on debates surrounding the engagement of children and schools, the experiences young people gain from collaborative and co-created projects and the outcomes gained by children participating in citizen science.</p>