Involvement in research has been shown to be an efficient way to build critical thinking and communication skills, as well as tap into students’ creativity and ability to collaborate effectively with others. We included research in a series of biology courses across North Carolina using a citizen science project called Caterpillars Count! that uses arthropod surveys to test the hypothesis that climate change is causing phenological mismatch between birds and their prey. As part of our citizen science research experience, undergraduate students learn to survey plants for various arthropods, add their observations to a large dataset, manage these data, and use this national dataset to address a variety of novel questions.
East Carolina University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill each incorporated the Caterpillars Count! citizen science project into introductory biology courses. Each institution chose to emphasize slightly different content from the project and spent different amounts of time on it in class (ranging from a few lecture periods to several full lab periods). We assessed the utility of this citizen science research experience for teaching students about biology, and the nature and process of science. Our formal assessment efforts included pre- and post- assessment of student science literacy, with each university using the same assessment instruments.
Results/Conclusions
Across the three universities, 1449 students completed the pre-assessment and 1409 completed the post-assessment over five semesters. We calculated the learning gains as (post score-pre score)/(100-pre score) and found significant improvements in student understanding of science before and after involvement in this citizen science research experience. The largest learning gains were on questions dealing with the topics of citizen science (55% gain), taxonomic identification (24% gain), and phenological mismatches (25% gain). While an overwhelming majority of students showed gains, evidence suggests the use of this citizen science project produced the largest learning gains in students with the weakest background knowledge. Thus, the use of citizen science in introductory biology courses may be a valuable tool for engaging all students, especially those who may have been previously disadvantaged, in meaningful learning. We conclude that the use of this project changed the classroom climate to increase the spirit of discovery and provide a broader learning environment for all students.