Description
Summary of the Split meetingBy Tom Børsen
During the meeting in Split, WG5’s subgroup on Citizen Science, 8 persons continued / started its work on preparing a best-practices guide on how to work with citizen science in evolutionary biology as a means to promote scientific literacy. The guide will be presented / finalized at a joint meeting with two other COST Actions that also work with citizen science.
The group first clarified how it understands two central concepts: scientific literacy and citizen science. The group adopted the definition of scientific literacy of OECD -- "the ability to engage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen” -- and chose a broad understanding of citizen science. It includes different levels of citizen engagement: crowdsourcing (citizens as sensors), distributed intelligence (citizens as basic interpreters), participatory research (citizens co-create research questions), and extreme citizen science (collaborative research projects).
The second day engaged the subgroup meeting participants in two literature searches. Of a body of more than 40 identified examples of citizen science with an evolutionary focus, four illustrative examples was chosen to be included in the best practice guide. We also found literature on good didactical practices in science learning and on that basis formulated broad and evolutionary-specific characteristics of good science learning.
Towards the end of the meeting tasks were distributed among subgroup members: Some volunteered to analyze the four illustrative examples of citizen science with an evolutionary focus using the ladder of participation in citizen science and the broad and specific characteristics of good science learning. The tasks of drafting the program of the joint meeting with the two other COST actions working on citizen science, and the preparation of background material to that meeting was also distributed before subgroup participants ended the meeting.
| Period | 29 Sept 2019 → 1 Oct 2019 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Seminar |
| Location | Split, CroatiaShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |