Category: Blogs

Figure Five: Forum participants choosing where to allocate resources. Image Credit: Museum of Science, Boston Citizen Science Citizen Science Connected Blog Climate Environment 

Boston is Wicked Hot: Here’s What They’re Doing About It

Science Connected, , , ,

Want to learn more about this initiative? Check out the Wicked Hot Boston series, Parts One and Two. Want to address climate hazards in your community? Head over to SciStarter.org/NOAA to find a citizen science project. Wicked Hot Boston It’s true: the world is getting hotter, and Boston is becoming WICKED hot.  This past summer, the Museum of Science, Boston (MOS) team and local citizen scientists began to measure extreme temperatures. They used sensors provided by CAPA Strategies to make an ambient air temperature map of Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline,…

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Book Reviews Citizen Science Connected Blog 

Seeking the Sasquatch

Science Connected, , ,

Book Review: When the Sasquatch Legend Teaches Us About Critical Thinking By Patricia Balbon (@watscicomm) Gordon, David George. The Sasquatch Seeker’s Field Manual: Using Citizen Science to Uncover North America’s Most Elusive Creature. Mountaineers Books, 2015. 176 pages. Paperback US$12.26. It’s late, and you’re seeking shelter for the night after a long hike. Something’s lurking among the shadows; pungent wafts of musk barrage your nostrils. In the soft mud, you glimpse a fresh footprint with claw contours.  The fronds of a nearby fern are in shreds—could it be a bear?…

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Photo 5726794, (c) Sean Blaney, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC). This observation on iNaturalist is of a species tracked by the Northeast Alpine Flower Watch project. Biodiversity Citizen Science Citizen Science Connected Blog Ecology 

Explore Biodiversity with iNaturalist

Science Connected, , ,

Do you want to know more about the world around you? You can get outside and explore biodiversity and the natural environment with iNaturalist!  iNaturalist allows anyone, anywhere to contribute to a global record of biodiversity by uploading pictures of plants and animals with their smartphone or computer. In a new podcast episode (listen below!), co-host Justin Schell talks with Dr. Carrie Seltzer, the Stakeholder Engagement Strategist for iNaturalist, and with representatives and a volunteer from the Appalachian Mountain club. Tip: add your iNaturalist username to your SciStarter dashboard, and…

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A red crane sits idle at the SWRP mine next to Boulder Ridge. A chain link fence separates the two properties. Citizen Science Citizen Science Connected Blog Environment Health 

Researchers, regulators, and residents collaborate to test air quality sensors

Science Connected, ,

This article was originally published by SciStarter on February 4, 2019. By Margaret Hinrichs In early 2018, Scistarter and Arizona State University began the process of collaborating with a local community, Boulder Ridge, to measure the quality of its air. Boulder Ridge is a 55 and older retirement community in Phoenix. Over the past three years, Boulder Ridge residents began to notice increased blasting, crushing, and trucking out of rock and dirt from an open stone mine next door operated by Southwest Rock Products, LLC. On days when there were no…

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smart science project recommendations Citizen Science Citizen Science Connected Blog 

Smart Science Project Recommendations

Science Connected, , , , ,

By Caroline Nickerson (@CHNickerson) Portions of this post are excerpted from the accompanying podcast episode and from notes shared between the SciStarter team and Kobi Gal’s research team. Smart project recommendations on SciStarter With thousands of citizen science projects listed on SciStarter, a main challenge can be finding the right project for you, one that really suits your needs and your interests. After meeting at a workshop on the Open Science of Learning hosting by CRI, Kobi Gal, a leading expert in human-centered artificial intelligence, and Darlene Cavalier, the founder…

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Citizen Science Citizen Science Connected Blog 

Citizen Science in Australia: Spotlight on Michelle Neil

Science Connected, , , ,

By Caroline Nickerson (@CHNickerson) As the interviewer and the author of this Citizen Science Connected Blog post, I’ll reveal my bias now: meeting Michelle Neil, the secretary and social media moderator of the Australian Citizen Science Association, was a highlight of the Citizen Science Association’s conference for me. I’m an unabashed Michelle fan. She sat down with me this past March in Raleigh for a wide-ranging discussion of how she got into citizen science, citizen science in Australia, and her future plans for this work. Michelle wrote about her experience…

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Blogs Citizen Science Citizen Science Connected Blog 

Rhetoric and Citizen Science in the Digital Age

Science Connected,

Wynn, James. Citizen Science in the Digital Age: Rhetoric, Science, and Public Engagement. The University of Alabama Press, 2017. 224 pages. Paperback US$24.95. Citizen scientists have repeatedly faced resistance from skeptics questioning their experience, training, and ability, but recent technological advances have brought citizen science into the digital age, transforming many aspects of the process. This ranges from the experience of being involved in a project as a citizen scientist to implementing project design and communicating results as a practitioner.  James Wynn, in his 2017 book, Citizen Science in the…

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Citizen Science Citizen Science Connected Blog Ecology 

STEM Career Q and A with Joe Siegrist

Science Connected, , , , , ,

This STEM Career Q and A is part two of three in a collaboration between SciStarter and Career in STEM, in which writers will spotlight different citizen science projects, interview project leaders about their careers, and create educational content for teachers and students. This series is available from Science Connected, Career in STEM, SciStarter, and Discover Magazine.  In this STEM Career Q and A, we talk with the lead of Project MartinRoost. Learn about his STEM career and how you can participate in the project. Q: What citizen science project do you represent? Three projects:…

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Citizen Science Citizen Science Connected Blog Ecology 

Project Martin Roost: A Scavenger Hunt in Your Backyard

Science Connected, , , , ,

This is part one of three in a collaboration between SciStarter and Career in STEM, in which writers will spotlight different citizen science projects, interview project leaders about their careers, and create educational content for teachers and students. This series is available from Science Connected, Career in STEM, SciStarter, and Discover Magazine.  As the sun sinks low below the horizon and the crisp night air begins to descend, a miraculous sight can be seen in many areas across the continental United States. Hundreds of thousands of birds will suddenly appear…

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Citizen Science Connected Blog 

Behind the Scenes of INVENTING TOMORROW with the WaterInsights™ Team

Shayna Keyles, , , ,

by Caroline Nickerson INVENTING TOMORROW, a documentary, follows several young scientists on their journey to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), a program of Society for Science & the Public. With their projects, these scientists tackle complex environmental issues affecting water, air, and soil quality. After you watch, you can help one of the teen science stars, Sahithi Pingali, achieve her goal of creating a global platform to share water quality data, so someday all people have clean water in their homes and environments. First, select the WaterInsights™…

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