Measuring the Conceptual Understandings of Citizen Scientists Participating in Zooniverse Projects: A First Approach

Prather, E. E.; Cormier, Sébastien; Wallace, Colin S.; Lintott, Chris; Raddick, M. Jordan; Smith, Arfon M.

doi:10.3847/aer2013002

Cited by 26 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Previous work has found a correlation between astronomical content knowledge and length of participation in two Zooniverse Astronomy Projects (Galaxy Zoo and Moon Zoo; Prather et al [2013]). Another study used measures of the change in language of Zooniverse users on "Talk" between the first and last 10% of posts to demonstrate learning [Luczak-Rösch et al, 2014].…”

Section: Introduction To the Zooniversementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, science content learning can be shown to take place amongst at least a subset of volunteers in many online projects [e.g. Prather et al, 2013;Luczak-Rösch et al, 2014]. However, these two goals -of education and of scientific productivity -may often be in conflict, with time spent by project organizers furthering one not being spent on furthering the other.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Science learning via participation in online citizen science

Masters¹,

Oh²,

Cox³

et al. 2016

JCOM

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We investigate the development of scientific content knowledge of volunteers participating in online citizen science projects in the Zooniverse (http://www.zooniverse.org). We use econometric methods to test how measures of project participation relate to success in a science quiz, controlling for factors known to correlate with scientific knowledge. Citizen scientists believe they are learning about both the content and processes of science through their participation. We don't directly test the latter, but we find evidence to support the former — that more actively engaged participants perform better in a project-specific science knowledge quiz, even after controlling for their general science knowledge. We interpret this as evidence of learning of science content inspired by participation in online citizen science.

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Section: Introduction To the Zooniversementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Science learning via participation in online citizen science

Masters¹,

Oh²,

Cox³

et al. 2016

JCOM

Self Cite

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“…Prather et al (2013) offered Galaxy Zoo and Moon Zoo volunteers the opportunity to take questionnaires that tested their understanding of the astrophysics associated with each project and found that performance on this questionnaire correlated with high levels of participation in the projects. In a quantitative analysis of ten of the Zooniverse projects, Luczak-Roesch et al (2014) detected significant shifts toward more advanced vocabulary used on the discussion boards over the lifetime of each project.…”

Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ideas for Citizen Science in Astronomy

Marshall

Lintott

Fletcher

2015

Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys.

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We review the relatively new, internet-enabled, and rapidly-evolving field of citizen science, focusing on research projects in stellar, extragalactic and solar system astronomy that have benefited from the participation of members of the public, often in large numbers. We find these volunteers making contributions to astronomy in a variety of ways: making and analyzing new observations, visually classifying features in images and light curves, exploring models constrained by astronomical datasets, and initiating new scientific enquiries. The most productive citizen astronomy projects involve close collaboration between the professionals and amateurs involved, and occupy scientific niches not easily filled by great observatories or machine learning methods: citizen astronomers are most strongly motivated by being of service to science. In the coming years we expect participation and productivity in citizen astronomy to increase, as survey datasets get larger and citizen science platforms become more efficient. Opportunities include engaging the public in ever more advanced analyses, and facilitating citizen-led enquiry by designing professional user interfaces and analysis tools with citizens in mind.Comment: In progress. The most up to date PDF file should be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/CitizenAstronomyReview . We invite feedback via github issues at http://tinyurl.com/CitizenAstronomyReviewFeedback, and aim to submit to ARAA on September 2

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“…17 The well-known European Universe Awareness programme also makes it clear that project goals include the somewhat abstract outcome of changes in intergroup attitudes, but no guidelines as to how these domains might be measured are provided in their evaluation manual. 18 Rather, evaluation tends to be directed solely at the level of astronomy awareness, knowledge, understanding and skills, 19,20 for example, correctly identifying a galaxy (knowledge) or using a telescope (skills). A final example is provided in the evaluation approach of the Sol programme run by NASA for underrepresented communities.…”

Section: Challenges In Evaluating Astronomy Outreach Programmesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring and evaluating astronomy outreach programmes: Challenges and solutions

Chapman¹,

Catala²,

Mauduit³

et al. 2015

S. Afr. J. Sci.

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A number of tools exist to guide the monitoring and evaluation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and outreach programmes. Fewer tools exist for evaluating astronomy outreach programmes. In this paper we try to overcome this limitation by presenting a monitoring and evaluation framework developed for the International Astronomical Union's Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD). The mandate of the OAD is to stimulate sustainable development at an international level and to expand astronomy education and outreach globally. The broad assumptions of this programme are that astronomy has the potential to contribute to human development by means of the transferable nature of its science discoveries, as well as its potential to activate feelings of wonderment, inspiration and awareness of the universe. As a result, the programme potentially embodies a far broader mix of outcomes than conventionally considered in STEM evaluation approaches. Towards this aim, we operationalise our monitoring and evaluation approach by first outlining programme theories for three key OAD programmes: a programme for universities and research, another one for schools, and one for public outreach. We then identify outcomes, indicators and measures for each one of these programmes. We conclude with suggestions for evaluating the global impact of astronomy for development.

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Measuring the Conceptual Understandings of Citizen Scientists Participating in Zooniverse Projects: A First Approach

Cited by 26 publications

References 16 publications

Science learning via participation in online citizen science

Science learning via participation in online citizen science

Ideas for Citizen Science in Astronomy

Monitoring and evaluating astronomy outreach programmes: Challenges and solutions

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