Recently, there has been much discussion in the scientific community about the potential benefits of engaging the public in ecological science programs since both the scientists and the public are expected to benefit from their involvement. Scientists gain from having an increased ability to gather larger datasets for their research, while citizen participants are expected to increase their understanding of scientific research and ecology. In practice, many programs focus on either the scientific data set or the public learning gains. Past studies have shown increases in both available datasets for researchers and elevated scientific understanding or engagement with local environmental issues for citizens. Following the model of pursuing both educational and research goals, we report on a citizen science program involving 93 participants in an invasive species mapping project in the northeast
Results/Conclusions
To document changes in participant learning, we used pre and post-test questionnaires. We also used a 6-month post participation self-report questionnaire about environmental behavior change. All questionnaires were validated and reliable with respect to construct and repetition. Non-quantitative data were coded following standardized methods. Through our evaluation, we found gains in ecological content knowledge with respect to plant species invasion as a result of participating in the program. We found, however, that participants overall were no more likely to either engage in behavioral change or increase their epistemological awareness as a result from participation in our program. With respect to the ecological data, we found that participants were able to generate a scientifically valuable data set. Here, we discuss the findings of our program and offer suggestions on how future citizen science projects might be successful in promoting public understanding of ecology. Further, we offer potential reasons attributable to the lack of civic and behavioral engagement post-participation, namely a diminishment of locus of control because of the breadth of the ecological issue at-hand and a need for reflection and targeted engagement to increase scientific process knowledge.
