Weaving a web of connections through online citizen science

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/nzaroe.v26.6894

Keywords:

citizen science, science education, boundary objects

Abstract

This article explores how the funding process of New Zealand’s Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) has catalysed the coming together of an interdisciplinary research team of education researchers, information systems researchers, and teacher practitioners. Through two funded research projects, a large and growing web of connections is being woven, benefiting the research partnership and outcomes. Our collective aim is to investigate the affordances of online citizen science projects to enhance science teaching and learning. Using examples, we trace the development of some key lines of inquiry that have been made possible because of the interdisciplinary foundation of the projects.

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Author Biographies

Cathy Buntting, University of Waikato

Cathy Buntting is Director of the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato as well as Director of the award-winning Science Learning Hub and Principal Investigator for On2Science: Multiple affordances for learning through participation in online citizen science. Her research interests straddle science, technology and STEM education across the school years, with a strong focus on innovative approaches to education in these disciplines. She is passionate about the teaching-research nexus, and much of her research has led to the development of teacher-facing educational resources.

Cathal Doyle, Victoria University of Wellington

Dr Cathal Doyle is a senior lecturer at the School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington. He is a Principal Investigator for the TLRI project On2Science: Multiple affordances for learning through participation in online citizen science where the focus is on understanding how online citizen science can be used in the classroom. His research platform runs across three strands: design science research (DSR); technology and learning; and open science. His contributions come in both practical artefacts for professionals to use to solve problems, as well as theoretical in terms of how these stands can be developed further.

Dayle Anderson, Victoria University of Wellington

Dr Dayle Anderson is a senior lecturer in initial teacher education in the Faculty of Education  at Victoria University of Wellington. She is an experienced researcher in the field of primary science education with a number of international publications and national and international collaborations. She was a Principal Investigator for the Citizen Scientists in the Classroom project. Her research is largely classroom based and focuses on supporting and developing primary teachers’ practice for science.  Dayle is a co-facilitator of science education professional development for the Royal Society Te Apārangi's Science Teaching Leadership Programme.

Markus Luczak-Roesch, Victoria University of Wellington

Associate Professor Markus Luczak-Roesch leads the Complexity and Connection Science Lab at Victoria University of Wellington, where he is situated within the School of Information Management. The lab’s work is focused on theories and methods to understand the structures and dynamics of complex systems, and the development of Software tools that securely and meaningfully augment human intelligence. Markus Luczak-Roesch is also an Associate Investigator at Te Pūnaha Matatini – New Zealand’s Centre for Research Excellence on Complex Systems and Networks. Before joining Victoria University of Wellington in 2016, he held a Senior Research Fellow position at the University of Southampton, working on the prestigious project SOCIAM – The Theory and Practice of Social Machines (https://sociam.org/), which devised novel methods to understand the emergent socio-technical problem solving capabilities that arise on the World Wide Web.

References

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Published

2021-07-01

Issue

Vol. 26 (2020): New Zealand Annual Review of Education

Section

Articles

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