Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1915-1941 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| Journal | Journal of Research in Science Teaching |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| Early online date | 28 Nov 2022 |
| Publication status | Published - 19 Oct 2023 |
Abstract
In citizen science (CS) projects, citizens who are not professional scientists participate in scientific research. Besides serving research purposes, CS projects provide participants opportunities for inquiry-based learning to promote their topic-specific knowledge and scientific reasoning skills. Previous research suggests that participants need scientific reasoning skills to engage in scientific activities and to learn from inquiry in CS projects. Participants' scientific reasoning skills, therefore, might enhance the resulting topic-specific knowledge at the end of a CS project. On the other hand, scientific reasoning skills themselves are a learning outcome of CS projects. Hence, they might play a double role in CS projects: as a learning outcome and as a prerequisite for acquiring knowledge. In the informal education context of CS, it has not yet been investigated whether scientific reasoning skills predict topic-specific knowledge or vice versa. To address this question, the research presented here used a cross-lagged panel design in two longitudinal field studies of a CS project on urban wildlife ecology (N = 144 participants). The results indicated that participants' scientific reasoning skills positively influenced their topic-specific knowledge at the end of the project, but not vice versa. Extending previous research on individual learning outcomes of CS projects, the results showed that inquiry-based learning in CS projects depends on certain prerequisites, such as participants' proficiency in scientific reasoning. We discuss the implications for future research on inquiry-based learning in CS projects and for further training of CS participants in acquiring scientific reasoning skills.
Keywords
- citizen science, ecology, knowledge, longitudinal study, scientific reasoning
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Education
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Vol. 60, No. 9, 19.10.2023, p. 1915-1941.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Scientific reasoning skills predict topic‐specific knowledge after participation in a citizen science project 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 work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (grant numbers: 01|O1725, 01|O1727, and 01|O1728). The funding source was involved neither in conducting the research nor in preparing the article. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
PY - 2023/10/19
Y1 - 2023/10/19
N2 - In citizen science (CS) projects, citizens who are not professional scientists participate in scientific research. Besides serving research purposes, CS projects provide participants opportunities for inquiry-based learning to promote their topic-specific knowledge and scientific reasoning skills. Previous research suggests that participants need scientific reasoning skills to engage in scientific activities and to learn from inquiry in CS projects. Participants' scientific reasoning skills, therefore, might enhance the resulting topic-specific knowledge at the end of a CS project. On the other hand, scientific reasoning skills themselves are a learning outcome of CS projects. Hence, they might play a double role in CS projects: as a learning outcome and as a prerequisite for acquiring knowledge. In the informal education context of CS, it has not yet been investigated whether scientific reasoning skills predict topic-specific knowledge or vice versa. To address this question, the research presented here used a cross-lagged panel design in two longitudinal field studies of a CS project on urban wildlife ecology (N = 144 participants). The results indicated that participants' scientific reasoning skills positively influenced their topic-specific knowledge at the end of the project, but not vice versa. Extending previous research on individual learning outcomes of CS projects, the results showed that inquiry-based learning in CS projects depends on certain prerequisites, such as participants' proficiency in scientific reasoning. We discuss the implications for future research on inquiry-based learning in CS projects and for further training of CS participants in acquiring scientific reasoning skills.
AB - In citizen science (CS) projects, citizens who are not professional scientists participate in scientific research. Besides serving research purposes, CS projects provide participants opportunities for inquiry-based learning to promote their topic-specific knowledge and scientific reasoning skills. Previous research suggests that participants need scientific reasoning skills to engage in scientific activities and to learn from inquiry in CS projects. Participants' scientific reasoning skills, therefore, might enhance the resulting topic-specific knowledge at the end of a CS project. On the other hand, scientific reasoning skills themselves are a learning outcome of CS projects. Hence, they might play a double role in CS projects: as a learning outcome and as a prerequisite for acquiring knowledge. In the informal education context of CS, it has not yet been investigated whether scientific reasoning skills predict topic-specific knowledge or vice versa. To address this question, the research presented here used a cross-lagged panel design in two longitudinal field studies of a CS project on urban wildlife ecology (N = 144 participants). The results indicated that participants' scientific reasoning skills positively influenced their topic-specific knowledge at the end of the project, but not vice versa. Extending previous research on individual learning outcomes of CS projects, the results showed that inquiry-based learning in CS projects depends on certain prerequisites, such as participants' proficiency in scientific reasoning. We discuss the implications for future research on inquiry-based learning in CS projects and for further training of CS participants in acquiring scientific reasoning skills.
KW - citizen science
KW - ecology
KW - knowledge
KW - longitudinal study
KW - scientific reasoning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142897718&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/tea.21835
DO - 10.1002/tea.21835
M3 - Article
VL - 60
SP - 1915
EP - 1941
JO - Journal of Research in Science Teaching
JF - Journal of Research in Science Teaching
SN - 0022-4308
IS - 9
ER -