Learning from the Trees: Using Project Budburst to Enhance Data Literacy and Scientific Writing Skills in an Introductory Biology Laboratory During Remote Learning

Abstract

Citizen science projects can be used in college laboratory settings to allow students to gain hands-on experience in research during emergency remote learning. During the 2020 spring semester, we used the citizen science project, Budburst, in our introductory biology laboratory during the COVID-19-induced emergency remote learning period. The instructors were able to quickly adapt the project for emergency remote teaching because of the versatility of citizen science projects. The goals of this paper are to describe the project the students completed and to determine which data literacy and scientific writing skills were gained through the process. The students were provided with the research question: "How does temperature affect the phenophases of your trees?" Students collected their own data and downloaded Budburst data sets from the website to compare between years and to connect their results to long-term temperature data sets. The final project was a scientific paper based on their findings from both data sets. After the semester, a subset of papers was scored by two researchers using a previously validated rubric designed to evaluate students' research skills. We evaluated students' higher-order thinking by investigating their ability to develop a prediction statement, and to improve their qualitative skills by developing graphs, statements on the limitations for methods and results, and alternative explanations for their findings. We saw that using citizen science during remote teaching enabled the students to gain authentic research experiences and continue to improve their skill set even if they could not be in the laboratory.

Retrospective ratings of learning across pre-pandemic, emergency-remote, and post-pandemic instruction in an introductory biology laboratory

“…Recent reports show some aspects of biology teaching where online learning may have advantages over in-person instruction. For example, collaborative documentsharing platforms can make it easier to collect, graph, analyze, and present data virtually than in-person (Lichti et al, 2021). Recent investigations have demonstrated that the transition to online pedagogy during the COVID-19 pandemic did not detrimentally affect students' academic performance in undergraduate animal genetics and animal physiology courses.…”

Citizen Science Apps in a Higher Education Botany Course: Data Quality and Learning Effects

“…This is also true for applications that do not contain automated image recognition, but only a digital version of a scientific key that appears to be more user-friendly than turning pages in a book [84,85]. In general, students in higher education found the use of a citizen science-based mobile application to support species identification motivating [30,51]. The not significant, but still higher average number of species identified in the first round, when Bachelor's and Master's students were allowed to use PlantNet, could be an indication that this was true for our student groups as well, although many plants could also have dried out until June due to the limited rainfall in spring 2021.…”

“…The challenges recognized are the different levels of engagement with CS, logistical and data quality problems, and difficulties when referencing the scientific literature and other sources [28,30,31]. Interestingly, the COVID-19 pandemic facilitated or even accelerated the inclusion of CS approaches and tools in many higher education courses to engage students working from home [28].…”

The project-based learning model and its contribution to life skills in biology learning: A systematic literature network analysis

“…The purpose of implementing projects in biology learning is to improve students' life skills (Jaharudin, 2018) and this can be achieved by using the Project Budbrust learning method which is a direct research project activity performed carried out at home in addition to increasing students' research abilities and understanding of biological concepts. This can also bring students closer to their parents and the community in their environment (Lichti et al, 2021). Direct research using simple tools and materials at home can be applied to several biology materials to become a solution to the problems that exist during the implementation of PjBL during the pandemic.…”