Participatory science as a means to integrate management, science, and education at Acadia National Park

Background/Question/Methods

It is a part of the mission of national parks to support resource management, science, and education, and parks are widely recognized for the quality of their work in these areas. However, a variety of factors frequently limit integration of these activities. Separation of disciplines has some advantages in terms of ease of implementation and administration, but it limits the potential to maximize management, science, and education outcomes. At the Schoodic Education and Research Center, one of 19 research learning centers at national parks across the country, we have developed a program that is working to effectively integrate these three fields and developing ways to measure the outcomes that result.

Results/Conclusions

We have found that a tiered approach that includes basic management, science, and education activities, but features participatory science (or citizen science) is particularly effective. Participatory science can generate data that might be otherwise impossible to collect, and offers participants an opportunity to actively engage in science and management activities that include a substantive educational component. To measure the outcomes and optimize the techniques we use, we are developing a research and education program aimed at exploring the entire lifecycle of participatory science—from project development to implementation, data analysis, and project evaluation—in both formal and non-formal education environments and at local, regional, and national scales. We have found several insightful results, including the need to design programs with explicit science and education goals, provide substantive training throughout a project (sometimes in skill sets not recognized during project development), and evaluate projects from both the science and education perspectives throughout their duration.