Science learning via participation in online citizen science

Karen Masters; Eun Young Oh; Joe Cox; Brooke Simmons; Chris Lintott; Gary Graham; Anita Greenhill; Kate Holmes

doi:10.22323/2.15030207

Science learning via participation in online citizen science

Karen Masters, Eun Young Oh, Joe Cox, Brooke Simmons, Chris Lintott, Gary Graham, Anita Greenhill, Kate Holmes

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal Article › peer-review

60 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigate the development of scientific content knowledge of volunteers participating in online citizen science projects in the Zooniverse (www.zooniverse.org). We use econometric methods to test how measures of project participation relate to success in a science quiz, controlling for factors known to correlate with scientific knowledge. Citizen scientists believe they are learning about both the content and processes of science through their participation. We don't directly test the latter, but we find evidence to support the former - that more actively engaged participants perform better in a project-specific science knowledge quiz, even after controlling for their general science knowledge. We interpret this as evidence of learning of science content inspired by participation in online citizen science.

Original language	English
Article number	A07
Journal	Journal of Science Communication
Volume	15
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.22323/2.15030207
Publication status	Published - 2016

Keywords

Citizen science
Public engagement with science and technology
Public understanding of science and technology

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10.22323/2.15030207

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title = "Science learning via participation in online citizen science",

abstract = "We investigate the development of scientific content knowledge of volunteers participating in online citizen science projects in the Zooniverse (www.zooniverse.org). We use econometric methods to test how measures of project participation relate to success in a science quiz, controlling for factors known to correlate with scientific knowledge. Citizen scientists believe they are learning about both the content and processes of science through their participation. We don't directly test the latter, but we find evidence to support the former - that more actively engaged participants perform better in a project-specific science knowledge quiz, even after controlling for their general science knowledge. We interpret this as evidence of learning of science content inspired by participation in online citizen science.",

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T1 - Science learning via participation in online citizen science

AU - Masters, Karen

AU - Oh, Eun Young

AU - Cox, Joe

AU - Simmons, Brooke

AU - Lintott, Chris

AU - Graham, Gary

AU - Greenhill, Anita

AU - Holmes, Kate

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - We investigate the development of scientific content knowledge of volunteers participating in online citizen science projects in the Zooniverse (www.zooniverse.org). We use econometric methods to test how measures of project participation relate to success in a science quiz, controlling for factors known to correlate with scientific knowledge. Citizen scientists believe they are learning about both the content and processes of science through their participation. We don't directly test the latter, but we find evidence to support the former - that more actively engaged participants perform better in a project-specific science knowledge quiz, even after controlling for their general science knowledge. We interpret this as evidence of learning of science content inspired by participation in online citizen science.

AB - We investigate the development of scientific content knowledge of volunteers participating in online citizen science projects in the Zooniverse (www.zooniverse.org). We use econometric methods to test how measures of project participation relate to success in a science quiz, controlling for factors known to correlate with scientific knowledge. Citizen scientists believe they are learning about both the content and processes of science through their participation. We don't directly test the latter, but we find evidence to support the former - that more actively engaged participants perform better in a project-specific science knowledge quiz, even after controlling for their general science knowledge. We interpret this as evidence of learning of science content inspired by participation in online citizen science.

KW - Citizen science

KW - Public engagement with science and technology

KW - Public understanding of science and technology

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DO - 10.22323/2.15030207

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VL - 15

JO - Journal of Science Communication

JF - Journal of Science Communication

IS - 3

M1 - A07

ER -

Science learning via participation in online citizen science

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