辅导 GEOG0093 Conservation and Environmental Management辅导 留学生Matlab语言程序

YEAR 2022-23

3. Details of fieldwork project

4. Abstract

There has been substantial academic research on the value of citizen science projects, but less attention paid to the benefits for school-age participants (MacPhail and Colla 2020). With considerable potential identified for situating citizen science in an educational context, this research hopes to address this knowledge gap by examining the relationship between participant motivation, attitudes and outcomes (Makuch and Aczel 2018). Situated in temperate rainforest in the Bovey Valley, fieldwork will involve a pre-project questionnaire and interviews, interviews with participants and staff on-site, and post-project interviews to examine how attitudes have evolved over time.

6. Aims and objectives of project

The project aims to analyse how involvement in education-led citizen science can deliver benefits for school-age children, exploring motivations, attitudes towards participation and potential impact on participatory outcomes. Current literature has considered the impact of citizen science on participants (e.g. Shirk et al. 2012) and conservation more broadly (e.g. McKinley et al. 2017), with Makuch and Aczel (2018) noting that children can both learn from and contribute to citizen  science. A recent drive to restore Britain’s temperate rainforests has harnessed public engagement in conservation efforts (Shrubsole 2022), providing an opportunity to explore the potential benefits of citizen science within environmental education beyond knowledge production.

Working with our partner Plantlife, we will run a test project pairing scientists with GCSE students to monitor key indicator species at our temperate rainforest location in Devon. Interviews before, during and after monitoring will gauge participant perceptions of environmental issues and their own potential role in environmental management.

Objectives:

1.   Address gaps in current research literature on the role of citizen science within

environmental education, specifically attitudes towards participation and impact on participatory outcomes

2.   Identify ways participation in citizen science impacts children’s attitudes towards the environment and their own role in conservation

3.   Establish extent to which citizen science processes can generate scientific literacy, engagement, and environmental enthusiasm

4.   Impact academic debates on how citizen science and environmental education can produce benefits for participants and scientists beyond knowledge production

7. Proposed research (including background, research location, methodologies and project timeline)

The field of citizen science has grown rapidly in recent years, opening up possibilities for conservation projects, but also raising questions about its limitations and best practice (MacPhail and Colla 2020). Assessment of value has often been based on its contribution towards science    through data collection, augmenting professional research and providing cost-effective means of ongoing monitoring (e.g. Blaney et al. 2016, McKinley et al. 2017). Citizen science can also influence policy and management practices, to the extent this can motivate citizen science research design (Geoghegan et al. 2016). The benefits derived from citizen science participation and motivations for involvement have also been an increased focus of research (e.g. Shirk et al. 2012, Geoghegan et al. 2016). These include developing knowledge and skills, promoting a relationship with nature and influencing attitudes and behaviours (MacPhail and Colla 2020).

Understanding these factors can help identify and overcome challenges of citizen science projects, including the recruitment of contributors (Geoghegan et al. 2016). Motivations for participation often overlap with motivations for volunteering in general, with a desire to help wildlife, support specific sites and contribute to scientific knowledge observed as common incentives for involvement (Geoghegan et al. 2016). While participation in citizen science has been shown to increase pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, most volunteers already have a pre-existing  interest in conservation (Toomey and Domroese 2013). This research project aims to address this gap by investigating the evolving relationship between participant motivation, attitudes and behaviour. School-age children are more likely to be engaged in citizen science for educational purposes, providing an interesting opportunity to probe the potential link between varying motivations for involvement and stated outcomes (Makuch and Aczel 2018). The reciprocal benefits of children taking part in research have been noted, empowering participants and teaching them new skills while delivering potential benefits with longer-term applications, both for researchers and for educators (Kellett 2005, Makuch and Aczel 2018). Yet this has been underexplored, with existing literature often focusing on undergraduate citizen science participants (Oberhauser and LeBuhn 2012).

Citizen science projects can improve the environmental education of volunteers, suggesting there are possibilities to be explored by situating citizen science in the context of environmental education (Branchini et al. 2015). Environmental education can increase scientific knowledge but also has the potential to promote pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour and drive longer-term psychological, physical and educational benefits (Lewis and Maslin 2015). This research will ask children how they feel about environmental issues and their relationship with the environment, testing whether attitudes may evolve during participation in the citizen science project. High-school age children participants taking part in a conservation internship programme were found to have expanded their perceptions of skills and attributes needed to contribute to environmental work, suggesting similar possibilities for children participating in citizen science  (Gupta et al. 2021). Our researchers will explore how participation can build not just knowledge but a sense of scientific ownership and a foundation for future careers in conservation, or ‘environmental science agency’ (Ballard et al. 2017). This project therefore aims to build on research across the fields of environmental education and citizen science, exploring the motivations and perceptions of school-age participants to ultimately identify benefits beyond knowledge and skills production.

Figure 1: Map of Bovey Valley woods and surrounding area created using public submissions

(Lost Rainforests of Britain 2022)

The presence of oceanic and temperate rainforest climate and their epiphyte indicators in Britain has led to increased interest in how such indicators can be monitored, with calls for citizen scientists to contribute data (Ellis 2016, Shrubsole 2022). Our partner Plantlife is undertaking citizen science projects in Devon’s Bovey Valley woods (figure 1), using volunteers to monitor light levels, woodland vegetation and lichen communities as part of its ongoing effort to create lichen corridors in the East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve (Plantlife 2019). Our research will consider children participating in data collection through school partnerships, analysing attitudes towards involvement in conservation and identifying benefits of citizen science situated in the context of environmental education. Research will be conducted as follows:

• Project set-up: Finalising permissions and partnership agreements (see question 11).

• Literature review andfinalpreparatory work: Literature review considering role of citizen

science within environmental education alongside a document review of Plantlife internal evaluations of citizen science projects. This review will analyse participant attitudes towards conservation before and after involvement in citizen science projects, alongside outcomes of participation (objectives 1, 2 and 3). Findings will be used to inform. questionnaire and interview question design.

• Fieldwork and on-site data collection: Fieldwork will be conducted in three phases. Participants will be asked to complete a questionnaire before being interviewed by our researcher at their school ahead of on-site data collection. Questions will consider how and why they got involved, what they hope to get out of participation, and broader attitudes towards  conservation and their own future aspirations. In October our researcher will visit participants on-site at Bovey Valley to ask questions about how they are finding the project, including what they have learned and enjoyed (or not). Our researcher will also interview staff to consider their own observations, including levels of student contribution. Interviews will be recorded, and additional observations (such as participant demeanour) noted in a field diary. The third and final phase will take place after the monitoring project has finished, with participants completing an end of project questionnaire before being interviewed at their school. Questions will be structured similarly to phase one, monitoring changes to attitudinal statements and outcomes  including whether participant expectations were met (objectives 2 and 3).

• Analysis of empiricalfindings: Research findings will be analysed with reference to objectives 1-4 and overarching themes for discussion identified, situated in wider academic debate.  Questions to be considered include: what makes people engage with citizen science projects? To what extent does citizen science generate scientific literacy, environmental engagement and/or enthusiasm among participants? Is there a link between motivations   and outcomes of participation, and if so what drives it? What benefits can participation in such projects deliver, both for schoolchildren and for scientists?

• Research write-up for publication and wider dissemination: Findings will be written up for publication and disseminated more widely (see question 10).

Timeline

•   April – June 2023: Project set-up

•   July – August 2023: Literature review and final preparatory work

•    September – December 2023: Fieldwork in Devon, including on-site data collection by participants

•    September 2023: Pre-project questionnaire and interviews

•    October 2023: Mid-project interviews

•   Early December 2023: End of project questionnaire and interviews

•   December – February 2024: Analysis of empirical findings

•    February – April 2024: Research write-up for publication and wider dissemination

8. In country collaborations and local benefits

Our primary partner will be conservation charity Plantlife, with our research supporting their existing citizen science project monitoring lichen in Bovey Valley (Plantlife 2019). This partnership supports Plantlife’s strategic aims to drive collaborative action to restore temperate rainforest and work with others to harness the interest, ability and resources needed to support conservation projects (Plantlife 2021). Research questions will be designed in consultation with participating schools to derive benefit including monitoring outcomes for students.

9. How will the project further geographical knowledge?

This project will contribute to academic debates concerning the role of citizen science, advancing understanding of its value in an educational context and more broadly. This builds on work looking at motivations for participation and potential benefits for participants but situates it in the context of environmental education, providing the chance to explore links between motivations, attitudes and outcomes in an emerging audience of interest. By testing assumptions that participation in citizen science projects can influence attitudes and drive action, this research can provide recommendations for future project design and contribute to wider academic debate.

10. Project outcomes and wider significance, applied benefits and plan for local and wider dissemination of results

Findings will be included in Plantlife’s annual report and research will form the substance of two academic articles. The first, focusing on how motivations and attitudes towards involvement can impact outcomes of participation in citizen science, will be submitted for publication in Biological Conservation. Findings will be presented at either the Citizen Science Association Conference or the Engaging Citizen Science Conference in spring 2024. We will also join the Environmental Observation Framework (UKEOF) Citizen Science working group and present initial findings at the UKEOF Conference in March 2024.

A second article focussing on the potential implications for environmental education will be submitted to International Journal ofScience Education. We plan to engage the wider educational community by presenting at the Geography Teacher Educators’ Conference and the International Conference on Environmental Education and Research in March 2024. By directly engaging with  educators we hope to demonstrate how citizen science projects can be used to deliver benefits, outlining how citizen science can be used not just to support delivery of projects but to engage young people with conservation issues.

We will also share findings with Guy Shrubsole, creator of the Lost Rainforests of Britain project, to support wider media outreach.

11. Permissions needed

A formal partnership agreement will be signed with Plantlife, who have access to the field site and employ the scientists working with student participants. As this research will involve children and young people under 18, ethics approval will be needed before the project commences.

Permission to conduct, record and publish research will be required from participating schools and parents/guardians of children involved. As fieldwork will take place in Britain no visas will be required.

12. Summary of key elements of ethical assessment

This project has been designed in accordance with Ethical Research Involving Children guidance   (ERIC 2022), considering relative harms and benefits, privacy and confidentiality, the requirement for informed consent, and payment and compensation. The project is designed to deliver findings of ultimate benefit to children and young people, with participants’ privacy and confidentiality respected throughout the research process. Research participants will be ‘aware subjects’, with informed and willing consent sought for participation in questionnaires and structured interviews (Alderson 2005). To ensure agreement from participating schools, research may need to follow additional organisational processes alongside ethical processes such as participant anonymity. The researcher will reflect critically about the impact of their research on participants, themselves and  the wider knowledge being investigated (Graham etal. 2013). They will seek advice on how to navigate data collection sensitively, assessing the competence of participants to consent, and ensuring participants (and guardians if participant is under 18) are able to withdraw consent at any time during the research process.