To know about science is to love it? Unraveling cause-effect relationships between knowledge and attitudes toward science in citizen science on urban wildlife ecology

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelForschungPeer-Review

Autoren

Organisationseinheiten

Externe Organisationen

  • IPN - Leibniz-Institut für die Pädagogik der Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik
  • Leibniz-Institut für Zoo- u Wildtierforschung (IZW)
  • Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien (IWM)
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Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)1179-1202
Seitenumfang24
FachzeitschriftJournal of Research in Science Teaching
Jahrgang58
Ausgabenummer8
Frühes Online-Datum4 Mai 2021
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 13 Sept. 2021

Abstract

Nowadays, citizens collaborate increasingly with scientists in citizen science (CS) projects on environmental issues. CS projects often have educational goals and aim to increase citizens' knowledge with the ultimate goal of fostering positive attitudes toward science. To date, little is known about the extent to which CS projects strengthen the positive interrelationship between knowledge and attitudes. Based on previous research, it has been suggested that the knowledge–attitude relationship could be further examined by focusing on different aspects: (1) different attitudinal domains, (2) topic-specific knowledge, and (3) its direction. Our study contributes to the clarification of the interrelation between scientific knowledge and attitudes toward science within the specific domain of urban wildlife ecology using cross-lagged panel analyses. We collected survey data on five attitudinal domains, topic-specific knowledge, scientific reasoning abilities, and epistemological beliefs from N = 303 participants before and after they participated in a CS project on urban wildlife ecology. Participants collected and analyzed data on terrestrial mammals in a German metropolitan city. Our results provide evidence for the relationship between knowledge and attitudes due to the topic-specificity of knowledge in CS projects (e.g., wildlife ecology). Our method provided a rigorous assessment of the direction of the knowledge–attitude relationship and showed that topic-specific knowledge was a predictor of more positive attitudes toward science.

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title = "To know about science is to love it? Unraveling cause-effect relationships between knowledge and attitudes toward science in citizen science on urban wildlife ecology",
abstract = "Nowadays, citizens collaborate increasingly with scientists in citizen science (CS) projects on environmental issues. CS projects often have educational goals and aim to increase citizens' knowledge with the ultimate goal of fostering positive attitudes toward science. To date, little is known about the extent to which CS projects strengthen the positive interrelationship between knowledge and attitudes. Based on previous research, it has been suggested that the knowledge–attitude relationship could be further examined by focusing on different aspects: (1) different attitudinal domains, (2) topic-specific knowledge, and (3) its direction. Our study contributes to the clarification of the interrelation between scientific knowledge and attitudes toward science within the specific domain of urban wildlife ecology using cross-lagged panel analyses. We collected survey data on five attitudinal domains, topic-specific knowledge, scientific reasoning abilities, and epistemological beliefs from N = 303 participants before and after they participated in a CS project on urban wildlife ecology. Participants collected and analyzed data on terrestrial mammals in a German metropolitan city. Our results provide evidence for the relationship between knowledge and attitudes due to the topic-specificity of knowledge in CS projects (e.g., wildlife ecology). Our method provided a rigorous assessment of the direction of the knowledge–attitude relationship and showed that topic-specific knowledge was a predictor of more positive attitudes toward science.",
keywords = "attitudes, cross-lagged panel analysis, informal science, science literacy",
author = "Till Bruckermann and Hannah Greving and Anke Schumann and Milena Stillfried and Konstantin B{\"o}rner and Sophia Kimmig and Robert Hagen and Miriam Brandt and Ute Harms",
note = "Funding Information: This study was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (grant numbers 01|O1725, 01|O1727, 01|O1728). The funding source was involved neither in conducting the research nor in preparing the article. We want to thank Gr{\'a}inne Newcombe for language review. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. ",
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T1 - To know about science is to love it? Unraveling cause-effect relationships between knowledge and attitudes toward science in citizen science on urban wildlife ecology

AU - Bruckermann, Till

AU - Greving, Hannah

AU - Schumann, Anke

AU - Stillfried, Milena

AU - Börner, Konstantin

AU - Kimmig, Sophia

AU - Hagen, Robert

AU - Brandt, Miriam

AU - Harms, Ute

N1 - Funding Information: This study was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (grant numbers 01|O1725, 01|O1727, 01|O1728). The funding source was involved neither in conducting the research nor in preparing the article. We want to thank Gráinne Newcombe for language review. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

PY - 2021/9/13

Y1 - 2021/9/13

N2 - Nowadays, citizens collaborate increasingly with scientists in citizen science (CS) projects on environmental issues. CS projects often have educational goals and aim to increase citizens' knowledge with the ultimate goal of fostering positive attitudes toward science. To date, little is known about the extent to which CS projects strengthen the positive interrelationship between knowledge and attitudes. Based on previous research, it has been suggested that the knowledge–attitude relationship could be further examined by focusing on different aspects: (1) different attitudinal domains, (2) topic-specific knowledge, and (3) its direction. Our study contributes to the clarification of the interrelation between scientific knowledge and attitudes toward science within the specific domain of urban wildlife ecology using cross-lagged panel analyses. We collected survey data on five attitudinal domains, topic-specific knowledge, scientific reasoning abilities, and epistemological beliefs from N = 303 participants before and after they participated in a CS project on urban wildlife ecology. Participants collected and analyzed data on terrestrial mammals in a German metropolitan city. Our results provide evidence for the relationship between knowledge and attitudes due to the topic-specificity of knowledge in CS projects (e.g., wildlife ecology). Our method provided a rigorous assessment of the direction of the knowledge–attitude relationship and showed that topic-specific knowledge was a predictor of more positive attitudes toward science.

AB - Nowadays, citizens collaborate increasingly with scientists in citizen science (CS) projects on environmental issues. CS projects often have educational goals and aim to increase citizens' knowledge with the ultimate goal of fostering positive attitudes toward science. To date, little is known about the extent to which CS projects strengthen the positive interrelationship between knowledge and attitudes. Based on previous research, it has been suggested that the knowledge–attitude relationship could be further examined by focusing on different aspects: (1) different attitudinal domains, (2) topic-specific knowledge, and (3) its direction. Our study contributes to the clarification of the interrelation between scientific knowledge and attitudes toward science within the specific domain of urban wildlife ecology using cross-lagged panel analyses. We collected survey data on five attitudinal domains, topic-specific knowledge, scientific reasoning abilities, and epistemological beliefs from N = 303 participants before and after they participated in a CS project on urban wildlife ecology. Participants collected and analyzed data on terrestrial mammals in a German metropolitan city. Our results provide evidence for the relationship between knowledge and attitudes due to the topic-specificity of knowledge in CS projects (e.g., wildlife ecology). Our method provided a rigorous assessment of the direction of the knowledge–attitude relationship and showed that topic-specific knowledge was a predictor of more positive attitudes toward science.

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KW - cross-lagged panel analysis

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JO - Journal of Research in Science Teaching

JF - Journal of Research in Science Teaching

SN - 0022-4308

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