Learning through citizen science
Partnerships between scientists, social scientists and schools prove educational for all
New Year’s day may have been and gone, but it’s not too late for resolutions, especially when it comes to engaging the public with chemistry. One way to do this is to head back to school.
Well-designed citizen science projects can be really effective at enabling authentic learning experiences in the classroom and involving young people in real research. For many chemists, it can be daunting to translate research questions that are usually explored in specialised laboratories into something that works in the classroom. But as researchers in Israel demonstrate, scientists and social scientists can work in partnership to design effective projects for school children.