Using Citizen Science to Support Social and Emotional Learning Needs During Covid-19 to Engage Students and Caregivers

This post contains the introduction to an article that was originally published on Classroom Science. To view the full article, click here.

As teachers, students and caregivers transition from in-person instruction to distance learning, hybrid learning, or a blend of both, many are struggling with how to develop a classroom culture that engages and inspires students as they develop an emotional connection, all while attending to both their academic needs as well as social and emotional needs. With limited time in person (or virtually), many teachers are looking for ways to connect with students and make space for students to collaborate with one another.  One possible answer – engage students of all ages in authentic, real world participatory science.

Youth-focused community and citizen science (YCCS) involves young people directly in the scientific production of knowledge. In YCCS, young people contribute to professional research, influence management and policy, and impact environmental conservation in their communities. Youth-focused community and citizen science (YCCS) engages students in real world authentic investigations while deepening their content knowledge and skills as well as increasing their capacity to tackle environmental and community problems. In addition to engagement with content standards, YCCS projects can also be used to make space for attending to the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) of students.

According to the Collaborative For Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) “Social and emotional learning (SEL) enhances students’ capacity to integrate skills, attitudes, and behaviors to deal effectively and ethically with daily tasks and challenges.”

YCCS projects can allow for lesson design that connects to content standards, makes space for collaboration and connection, and focuses on the SEL of students.  When looked at YCCS projects through a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) lens, we see that inquiry based projects that connect to authentic science allows for multiple means of engagement with content, as well as representation of student learning.

By engaging in a YCCS project whereby students are able to make observations from their own home or nearby outdoor space, they are able to begin observing the interconnectedness of their environment, connecting those observations to a CCS project, and comparing their observations with one another.

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