April 13, 2016

National Citizen Science Day 2016

Posted by Laura Guertin

This year marks the first annual National Citizen Science Day (OK – so the “Day” is extending from April 16 to May 21, 2016). Organized by the Citizen Science Association (CSA) and SciStarter, it is an opportunity for individuals and organizations to come together and promote, celebrate, and/or participate in citizen science activities. Look for a kick-off event at the USA National Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, DC, wrapping-up with the US National Parks Bioblitz.

Citizen science projects can serve as an excellent basis for discovery-based projects on a university campus. For those that might have challenges transporting students off campus to visit field sites (such as I do), a campus can serve as an outdoor classroom and a way for students to establish a long-term monitoring project that helps students learn about their local environment and contribute to a national/international database. I’ve instituted the Smithsonian Global Tree Banding Project, the Picture Post Project, and Philly Tree Map program on campus where individual students and classes continually collect data and use the data for in-class laboratory exercises.

Check out the SciStarter map and calendar of events for this year’s National Citizen Science Day!