Human-computer collaborative learning in citizen science
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Department Name: Faculty of Sci, Tech, Eng & Maths (STEM)
Abstract
This project explores the potential for collaborative learning between humans and machines within the framework of environmental citizen science. The term `citizen science' encompasses public participation in science and scientific communication to the public. Although not new, citizen science has gained renewed attention because of the opportunities arising from citizens' access to digital technologies in terms of data collection and annotation. While the vast majority of citizen science projects are aimed at data gathering, we instead propose a transformational shift to a new citizen science in which the public and technology are regarded not just as sensors or data recorders, but as a collective and empowered human--artificial intelligence that can help each other in science learning.
We will focus on the task of species identification from images. Citizen science projects such as iSpot invite the public to submit photos of wildlife. These are identified to species level and verified before being contributed to science. We will explore artificial intelligence as a means to automatically identify species in images. While this can save human effort, we are concerned about impact this might have on nature lovers. The introduction of technology is often associated with concerns of de-skilling. For naturalists, the honing of species identification skills is a key motivator of the recording activity. Hence, designing technology that provides opportunities for learning for both citizens and machines is essential, as is co-creating the technology to ensure that it is not only user friendly but responds to their motivations. Our approach will involve citizens collaborating with AI to arrive at
a species identification. AI will narrow down the choices and inform the citizen about how to distinguish the options. The citizen in turn will through providing an identification help the machine in its learning. We will study this learning interplay with respect to collaborative species identification, but will also explore technologies that foster wider science learning, environmental consciousness and data literacy through better communication of complex citizen science data. For this we will develop technology for Natural Language Generation that can communicate complex data through language.
Our proposed work programme seeks to bring about quantifiable benefits to (a) science, e.g., through the production of new knowledge and through monitoring key scientific processes at challenging temporal-spatial scales; (b) diverse stakeholders including the citizens themselves, e.g., through meaningful science learning for sustainability in formal and informal education contexts; and (c) wider society, e.g., through better societal understanding of current sustainability issues, leading to individual and societal action in support of the environment.
We will focus on the task of species identification from images. Citizen science projects such as iSpot invite the public to submit photos of wildlife. These are identified to species level and verified before being contributed to science. We will explore artificial intelligence as a means to automatically identify species in images. While this can save human effort, we are concerned about impact this might have on nature lovers. The introduction of technology is often associated with concerns of de-skilling. For naturalists, the honing of species identification skills is a key motivator of the recording activity. Hence, designing technology that provides opportunities for learning for both citizens and machines is essential, as is co-creating the technology to ensure that it is not only user friendly but responds to their motivations. Our approach will involve citizens collaborating with AI to arrive at
a species identification. AI will narrow down the choices and inform the citizen about how to distinguish the options. The citizen in turn will through providing an identification help the machine in its learning. We will study this learning interplay with respect to collaborative species identification, but will also explore technologies that foster wider science learning, environmental consciousness and data literacy through better communication of complex citizen science data. For this we will develop technology for Natural Language Generation that can communicate complex data through language.
Our proposed work programme seeks to bring about quantifiable benefits to (a) science, e.g., through the production of new knowledge and through monitoring key scientific processes at challenging temporal-spatial scales; (b) diverse stakeholders including the citizens themselves, e.g., through meaningful science learning for sustainability in formal and informal education contexts; and (c) wider society, e.g., through better societal understanding of current sustainability issues, leading to individual and societal action in support of the environment.
Planned Impact
We hope to achieve the following impacts through this research:
1. On Primary Schools and Secondary Schools
Citizen science practice, and notably technology, has been minimally promoted within formal education. We will unfold how the proposed collaborative learning technologies can be applied to citizen science in formal education settings and quantify the benefits to students and teachers.
We wish to see more schools take up citizen science and outdoor learning as means to enthuse students about science and technology. We expect this to lead to better learning outcomes for schools, and a more involved and engaged student community.
2. On Universities
We will demonstrate how citizen science can enhance STEM teaching in universities, and encourage its uptake within our universities. Citizen science is increasingly being viewed as a complementary approach to traditional science learning and research and offers several benefits, such as opportunities for students to work with their local communities, engage with technology, and involve themselves in designing and testing tools. It also allows academics to integrate their research with their teaching, which makes for a more stimulating student experience.
3. On Students
Through taking part in citizen science, students will develop the most important Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills, including intellectual curiosity, problem solving,creativity, statistics and data-driven decision making. We will in particular engage with students in primary and secondary schools. While secondary school students can learn science and data skills in greater depth, it is important to get primary school students enthusiastic about science and technology. We are particularly conscious about the take-up of STEM subjects by girls and are keen to reach out to younger students who still need to decide which subjects to retain or drop in secondary school.
4. On Society and the Environment
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly argues for the need to ``take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species''.
Yet, the most recent State of Nature report concludes that the UK has lost significantly more nature over the long term than the global average and is among the world's most nature depleted countries.
In the decades that nature has been in decline, so too has our connection with it. Fewer than a quarter of British children regularly use their local patch of nature and many suffer from `Nature Deficit Disorder', impacting education and physical and emotional health.
Research that promotes science learning through increased interaction with nature thus has multiple benefits to society. It contributes to health and learning outcomes for individuals and the development of a scientific temperament and pro-environmental attitudes in society.
Or research promotes actionable citizen science, whereby individuals, schools and communities can maintain and repair their habitats in the context of pollinating species. Using our developed technologies, students and teachers will build the knowledge and skills required to collect data, enhance habitats and gain the confidence to become passionate environmental stewards. We will encourage students to, through creative campaigns, share their knowledge about insects, the scientific process and planting for pollinators with members of their local and online communities.
The school-based campaigns will also build the capacity to collect high-quality data about changing pollinator populations and the availability of high-quality habitats.
1. On Primary Schools and Secondary Schools
Citizen science practice, and notably technology, has been minimally promoted within formal education. We will unfold how the proposed collaborative learning technologies can be applied to citizen science in formal education settings and quantify the benefits to students and teachers.
We wish to see more schools take up citizen science and outdoor learning as means to enthuse students about science and technology. We expect this to lead to better learning outcomes for schools, and a more involved and engaged student community.
2. On Universities
We will demonstrate how citizen science can enhance STEM teaching in universities, and encourage its uptake within our universities. Citizen science is increasingly being viewed as a complementary approach to traditional science learning and research and offers several benefits, such as opportunities for students to work with their local communities, engage with technology, and involve themselves in designing and testing tools. It also allows academics to integrate their research with their teaching, which makes for a more stimulating student experience.
3. On Students
Through taking part in citizen science, students will develop the most important Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills, including intellectual curiosity, problem solving,creativity, statistics and data-driven decision making. We will in particular engage with students in primary and secondary schools. While secondary school students can learn science and data skills in greater depth, it is important to get primary school students enthusiastic about science and technology. We are particularly conscious about the take-up of STEM subjects by girls and are keen to reach out to younger students who still need to decide which subjects to retain or drop in secondary school.
4. On Society and the Environment
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly argues for the need to ``take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species''.
Yet, the most recent State of Nature report concludes that the UK has lost significantly more nature over the long term than the global average and is among the world's most nature depleted countries.
In the decades that nature has been in decline, so too has our connection with it. Fewer than a quarter of British children regularly use their local patch of nature and many suffer from `Nature Deficit Disorder', impacting education and physical and emotional health.
Research that promotes science learning through increased interaction with nature thus has multiple benefits to society. It contributes to health and learning outcomes for individuals and the development of a scientific temperament and pro-environmental attitudes in society.
Or research promotes actionable citizen science, whereby individuals, schools and communities can maintain and repair their habitats in the context of pollinating species. Using our developed technologies, students and teachers will build the knowledge and skills required to collect data, enhance habitats and gain the confidence to become passionate environmental stewards. We will encourage students to, through creative campaigns, share their knowledge about insects, the scientific process and planting for pollinators with members of their local and online communities.
The school-based campaigns will also build the capacity to collect high-quality data about changing pollinator populations and the availability of high-quality habitats.
Organisations
Publications
Lakeman Fraser P
(2023)
X-Polli:Nation: Contributing Towards Sustainable Development Goals Through School-Based Pollinator Citizen Science
in Citizen Science: Theory and Practice
Sharma N
(2022)
Consensus Building in On-Line Citizen Science
in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Anderson HB
(2020)
Citizen science data reveals the need for keeping garden plant recommendations up-to-date to help pollinators.
in Scientific reports
Description | Widespread concern over declines in pollinating insects has led to numerous recommendations of which "pollinator-friendly" plants to grow to help turn urban environments into valuable habitats for such important wildlife. Through analysis of the data gathered through our citizen science project BeeWatch, we discovered that much of the plant use recorded on our project did not reflect practitioner recommendations. We concluded that generic "pollinator-friendly" lists fail to recognise the stark differences among species and pollinator groups or adapt to changing phenology or gardening practices. Or findings, published in Nature Scientific Reports, call for the increased use of up-to-date dynamic planting recommendations driven by live (citizen science) data to support pollinator-friendly management of garden spaces, and in the process transformative personal learning journeys through gardening. When implementing citizen science projects in schools through X-Polli:Nation, we found that school pupils enjoyed citizen science projects because they felt they were contributing to real world data collection but also because our co-design processes empowered them and made them feel listened to. We also witnessed students gain the confidence to become passionate environmental stewards, and translate attitudinal change into civic action in support of the pollinators. Evidence from this project thus points to a significant shift in the way citizen science may be understood: not simply as a tool for doing science, but most importantly as a process for defining 'what science', and helping communities of young people in society to take action in the face of global environmental change. |
Exploitation Route | The Royal Horticultural Society will use the information from the study to further improve its recommendations for bumblebee-friendly plantings, and to inform future research. Schools can use the resources we have created to introduce the topic of sustainability into their curriculum through a multifaceted program of indoor and outdoor learning and citizen science. |
Sectors | Education Environment |
URL | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-77537-6 |
Description | X:Polli-Nation has created a buzz amongst students, teachers, education professionals and academics across the UK, Italy and further afield. We have formed a hub (xpollination.org) for online and in-school explorations hosting a well-regarded package of resources for students to learn about, record, create habitat and communicate the importance of pollinators. Joining forces with European and UK Pollinator Monitoring Schemes and the Italian Institute for Research & Protection of the Environment, our citizen science survey is now collecting vital data across expanding geographic scales. Our project has been referred to in the 2021 Ofsted report for our partner school, presented at a COP26 green zone event in Glasgow 2021 (also receiving 1900 views on YouTube by November 2022), and showcased during Bees' Needs Week 2020 - 2022, public engagement events coordinated by DEFRA. Over 3000 participants (200 teachers and 2800 students) have been involved in X-Polli:Nation across the UK and Italy with our direct facilitation, and we also have a growing community of global supporters online. The www.xpollination.org website, launched in April 2020 has been visited over 15,000 times up to November 2022. Our @XpolliProject (#XPolli,#PolliPromise) Twitter account, launched in September 2020, has over 300 followers and 8,000 views of posted videos up to November 2022. Until November 2022 we have collected from schools 2386 records of pollinating insects through 238 timed surveys in the UK and 3126 records through 327 timed surveys in Italy. Students, teachers and scientists have all shared findings from the project in different forums, hosting a workshop at the 2020 European CS Association (ECSA) Conference, presenting a keynote at the UK's Young Nature 2021 Conference and Wildlife Trust's 'Wilder' strategy and culminating in a celebratory event with 170 primary and secondary school attendees from UK and Italy. The Covid situation limited our access to schools and we were unable to roll out our actionable pollinator citizen science programme through site visits. Instead, we invested effort into creating a collection of online resources on Pollinator Citizen Science, with interactive AI-enhanced elements based on our research. This provided a timely way for families and schools to explore our research and engage in science learning, and allowed schools to continue participation in X-Polli:Nation without requiring site visits from us. The school that partnered with us applied X-Polli:Nation as a mechanism to build on their maths skills and bring their whole community together. They named it 'Seeds of Hope' and gifted bags of seeds to the community (300 bags) to help with the pandemic recovery. They won a UK government award as part of the Census 2021 Let's Count programme, won a Hampshire Wildlife Trust 'Wilder School of the Year' award for their work, and were noted in a National Lottery Award. |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Environment |
Impact Types | Societal |
Description | Online Open Course Materials aimed at Primary Schools |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
URL | https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/index.php?categoryid=417 |
Description | Reference in Ofsted Report |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or Improved professional practice |
Impact | The role of citizen science projects in primary education has been acknowledged and praised by school inspectors. This is a great step in gaining acceptance for such methodologies within formal education. |
URL | https://www.stalbansprimaryschool.co.uk/ofsted-and-performance-data/ |
Title | Human - AI collaborative interface for biological species identification from images |
Description | A Web Tool whereby members of the public can learn how to identify different species of Bumblebee and Butterfly using a key and getting help from Artificial Intelligence technologies such as image recognition. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This tool is incorporated into an online collection of course materials on Pollinator Citizen Science (https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/index.php?categoryid=417) It was publicised as part of DEFRA's Bees' Needs Week 2020 (https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bees-needs/) |
URL | https://citsci.kmi.open.ac.uk/xpolli-bumblebee/ |
Description | Blog / Article: iSpot: your place to share nature - A long-term citizen science platform for identifying and learning about biodiversity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This article was written as part of activities marking the 12 year anniversary o the launch of www.iSpotnature.org. It highlighted biodiversity loss the role citizen science can play in helping the public have a positive impact and facilitate change, noting what iSpot has achieved over the years. iSpot associated projects were also featured: iSpot is co-designing services for biodiversity and environmental citizen observations through a European collaboration (https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/) , exploring human computer collaborations in pollinator citizen science as well as the role of touch (http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/name/sense ), using smart devices in experiencing nature, enhancing biodiversity information enabling volunteers to record nature where it matters (https://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/decide), and leading innovation in citizen science and artificial intelligence (https://citsci.kmi.open.ac.uk/). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/creative-climate/ispot-your-place-share-nature |
Description | British Council STEM Education Hub Event - Citizen science and basic education: how to develop a project with schools' engagement in scientific research |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The British Council STEM Education Hub hosted an online seminar - Citizen science and basic education: how to develop a project with schools' engagement in scientific research? (https://www.stemeducationhub.co.uk/citizen-science-and-basic-education-how-to-develop-a-project-with-schools-engagement-in-scientific-research/) on August 11, 2021. The event had simultaneous interpretation available in both English and Portuguese. The event focused on demonstrating practical approaches to develop schools' engagement in scientific research. Specialists from the UK and Brazil led roundtables to discuss and explore with participants the concept of citizen science and practical approaches to implement research/evidence-based pedagogies. Ansine was invited to be a panellist and provided practice-based insights with examples of OU projects and platforms demonstrating UK collaboration between a university, schools and the public through citizen science. Presentation available here: https://www.stemeducationhub.co.uk/citizen-science-and-basic-education-how-to-develop-a-project-with-schools-engagement-in-scientific-research/. Citizen science project examples demonstrated included iSpot (www.iSpotnature.org), Treezilla (www.treezill.org) and X:Pollination (https://xpollination.org/). Teachers attended showed interest in all examples asking questions with further folllowup queries after the event. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.stemeducationhub.co.uk/citizen-science-and-basic-education-how-to-develop-a-project-with... |
Description | COP26 Green Zone Event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We presented our research from this project as part of a panel discussion in the COP26 Green zone in Glasgow (attended by around 100 people live, and over 1600 online). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76oloGAqtBc |
Description | ECSA Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Speaking at an international (European Citizen Science Association) conference to academics and citizen science practitioners who could use our approach in their own work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://ecsa.citizen-science.net/category/ecsa-2022-conference/ |
Description | Inaugural Lecture |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Siddharthan gave his Inaugural Professorial Lecture at the Open University, attended by around 100 participants in person and a further 1000 online. In this lecture he talked about his research into citizen science, including recent and ongoing UKRI funded projects. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OhRMKuIWaM |
Description | Interview for local news |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Following a press release and a video posted on University of Aberdeen's Twitter account (https://twitter.com/aberdeenuni/status/1349325455460020224), we gave an interview to the Press and Journal leading to media coverage (https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/2810275/aberdeen-research-creates-a-buzz-among-citizen-scientists-while-hoping-to-halt-species-decline). The research was also reported in the Evening Express (https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/bee-enthusiasts-swarm-to-help-with-project/) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/14603/ |
Description | Invited talk at the Green Data Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | The PI (Siddharthan) was an invited speaker at the 2019 Green Data Conference, London, organised by the Environmental Industries Commission and sponsored by UKRI and NERC. Siddharthan addressed a diverse audience from industry, government bodies, academia and the third sector alongside other speakers that included the NERC head of digital environment, deputy director of DEFRA, executive director of the Environmental Industries Commission and vice president of the World Resources Institute. There was a lively discussion that followed in which we explored topical issues around Artificial Intelligence and Citizen Science for environmental monitoring. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.acenet.co.uk/media/4149/green-data-conference-agenda-2019.pdf |
Description | Love Nature Day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The OU team had a stand at the Parks Trust's Love Nature event on the 4th of July 2022 in Milton Keynes, sporting a number of activities throughout the day. We engaged with children and adults alike about the fascinating world of moth eco-systems, demonstrated a range of hands-on apps about pollinators (bumble bees and butterflies) that uniquely are supported by AI for species identification to foster learning about them, and discussed the OU's X-Polli:Nation school projects in which students as young as six contribute to national biodiversity counts on garden patches in schools, and the DECIDE project for recording moths and butterflies from where data is most useful. As a rough rough estimate, we engaged with around 200 members of the general public, typically families with young children, but also professionals from various nature conservation charities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.theparkstrust.com/events/love-nature-day |
Description | NBN Conference 2020: iSpot Autumn Bioblitz & update on features, projects and future plans |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | In 2020 the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Conference and NBN Trust AGM took place online on Wednesday 18 November. and was co hosted by the iSpotnature.org team / Faculty of STEM, The Open University (https://nbn.org.uk/news-events-publications/nbn-conference-2/nbn-conference-2020/ ) Janice Ansine gave a presentation which included an introduction to iSpot related projects DECIDE, Human Computer Collaborative Learning / X;Pollination, highlighting opportunities that would be available for participants to get involved. A key engagement activity integrated practical use of iSpot through an associated NBN BioBlitz, a new feature for the Conference this year. Results demonstrated increased species group observations in fungi and lichens, plants and invertebrates, in comparison to iSpot's previous year's observation figures. There was also an increased engagement on the site, with 627 engagements in the BioBlitz Project's area and higher viewings of associated articles and news which also promoted the projects. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://youtu.be/izcoifrsx_U |
Description | NBN Conference 2021: Biodiversity data - from collection to use - OU / iSpotnature welcome |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | In 2021 the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Conference and NBN Trust AGM took place online on Wednesday November 24, and for the second year was co-hosted by the iSpotnature.org team / Faculty of STEM, The Open University (https://nbn.org.uk/news-events-publications/nbn-conference-2/nbn-conference-2021/ ) Prof. Advaith Siddharthan gave the welcome on behalf of the iSpotnature.org team / Faculty of STEM, The Open University in which he gave an update on recent activity iSpot related research and projects including DECIDE and Human Computer Collaborative Learning / X;Pollination, highlighting opportunities for participants to get involved. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGCrJeBC5yc |
Description | STEM Education Hub - Launch of E-Book |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | This event was hosted on May 19, 2022 to mark the launch of the first e-book publication that gathered extracts from lectures held by the STEM Education Hub, dealing with topics such as citizen science, critical pedagogies, decoloniality, racism, scientific capital and communication. An online event "STEM Education in Schools: connections between Brazil and the United Kingdom" was hosted as a conversation that discussed various initiatives aimed at making STEM teaching more dynamic and inclusive. Mediated by Arthur Galamba (King's College London), the event included the participation of Jussara Almeida Bezerra (UFABC), Diana Ribas Roque (UFABC), Janice Ansine (Open University), Ronaldo Christofoletti (UNIFESP), Ana Carolina de Souza Gonzalez (Fiocruz) and Anita Benite (UFG). Janice Ansine's contribution at this event focused on a talk made at a STEM Education Hub Workshop last year which formed the basis of the book chapter, she authored entitled: From local to global - citizen science projects from the Open University: Ways to engage students with the environment and build their knowledge (p 62 - 75). ISBN 978-65-994942-2-2. Recording of event: https://youtu.be/qYU_IqlVg7A . E-Book available here: https://www.stemeducationhub.co.uk/e-pub-seh/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.stemeducationhub.co.uk/e-pub-seh/ |
Description | School Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | We hosted a series of workshops (May 2021) with 60 students in a Secondary School (Year 8, 9 and 10) to test the usability of the tool we have developed with young people. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Science Showcase at Dynamic Earth - 2-day exhibition with Citizen Science exhibit featuring iSpotnature.org and Treezilla.org |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The Science Showcase at Dynamic Earth, Scotland was an exhibition with interactive activities for all. Attendees were able to meet academic and student scientists from The Open University involved in BBC broadcasts, find out what they do and how they do it. They were also able to get involved in our virtual science experiments and a range of hands-on activities. This included discovering the space robots used to explore comets and the planets; trying being an ocean explorer or food scientist; and getting involved in citizen science with iSpot and Treezilla. And much more.discover how we "do Science" at a distance for students! Exhibit description: There is a fascinating world around us and the Open University (OU) provides tools to help us explore this; extending beyond the field, laboratory or lecture hall. iSpotnature.org is the OU's online citizen science platform for biodiversity and for over ten years has amassed a collection of over 43,000 species through our online database of over 1.5 million images from over 70,000 participants. Join us and expand your interest in wildlife, help others identify what they find or see how you can learn more, build your skills and become a citizen scientist. You can also find out about our ambitious effort to map trees across Britain with Treezilla.org: the monster map of Trees! |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/scotland/events/science-showcase-dynamic-earth |
Description | Twitter Channel |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Twitter account for our project, with over 250 followers and close to 400 tweets. We use it to campaign on environmental issues, advertise our project resources, and to run competitions, for example for photos of pollinator habitats submitted from school grounds. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020,2021,2022 |
URL | https://twitter.com/XpolliProject |
Description | Workshop at European Citizen Science Association Annual Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | We demonstrated our AI-enabled Biological Species Identification tools of described the X-Polli:Nation (cross-pollination) citizen science project that the tools is embedded in. This engagement has sparked new engagements with pollinator citizen science groups in Europe. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.ecsa-conference.eu/ |
Description | World Environment Day Webinar: Biodiversity and Citizen Science - Connecting Nature |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | This was an online webinar held on World Environment Day. Below is the summary of the event: Biodiversity was the theme for World Environment Day (WED) in 2020 and the June 5 campaign "Time for Nature" is a call to action to help combat the accelerating species loss and degradation of the natural world. The Covid-19 pandemic makes this even more relevant as we all see the connection between human health, our well-being and the environment. As we appreciate and re-examine our relationships with the natural world can citizen science be a way for us as global citizens to take action and make "Time for Nature"? Biodiversity is indeed complex, and understanding and untangling its many inter-relationships is fascinating. At the same time, documenting global biodiversity is a major challenge - which is attracting volunteer involvement, i.e. citizen scientists. Already doing your bit, interested in building your relationship with nature through citizen science or just curious? Do join us for what promises to be a stimulating discussion. This special WED webinar will be led by an Open University team experienced in citizen science, research and teaching in ecology and environmental science, from the Faculty of STEM: • Janice Ansine - Senior Project Manager - Citizen Science • Dr. David Robinson, Honorary Associate, School of Environment Earth and Ecosystem Sciences • Dr. Yoseph Araya - Lecturer in Ecology & Environmental Science, School of Environment Earth and Ecosystem Sciences • Dr. Mike Dodd, Curator - iSpot: Your place to share nature (www.iSpotnature.org ) Date & Time: June 5, 2020. 13:00 - 14:00 BST Session outline: • 8 - 10 minute presentation by each panellist followed by Q&A and discussion with the panellists. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=6T3sd1F35n0 |