Heidi Ballard is the Founder and Faculty Director of the Center
for Community and Citizen Science. You can find more information
about her past and current projects, and sign up for occasional
updates at the Center’s website.
I am interested in environmental education that links
communities, science, environmental action and learners of all
ages. Particularly I’m interested in what and how people learn
through public participation in scientific research (PPSR) as a
form of informal science education. From citizen
science-type projects for conservation to participatory action
research for natural resources management and environmental
justice, PPSR projects can create unique opportunities for
learning by participants and scientists. Understanding the
outcomes and processes of these projects can contribute to better
practices in environmental and science education, and better
conservation and natural resource management.
Research Interests
Environmental Education; Citizen science; Participatory Action
Research; In-service and preservice teacher learning; Science
Education; Secondary Education; Service-learning. For more
information.
Education
Ph.D. (2004) Environmental Science, Policy and Management
from University of California, Berkeley
M.A. (1999) Teaching Biological Sciences from Miami
University, Ohio
California Single Subject Teaching Credential (1994) Science
and English Literature, Stanford Teacher Education Program,
Stanford University
M.A. (1993) Education, Science Curriculum and Teacher
Education, Stanford University
B.A. (1993) Human Biology and English Literature, Stanford
University
Recent Publications
Youth-focused citizen science: Examining the role of
environmental science learning and agency for
conservation.
Authors: Ballard, H. L., Dixon, C. G. H.,
& Harris, E. M. Journal: Biological
Conservation.
Citizen science can improve conservation science, natural
resource management, and environmental protection.
Authors: McKinley, D. C., Miller-Rushing, A.
J., Ballard, H. L., and others. Journal: Biological
Conservation.
Bonney, R.; T.B. Phillips; H.L. Ballard and J. Enck.
2015. Can citizen science enhance public
understanding of science? Public Understanding of
Science 1-15.
McKinley, D.C., A.J. Miller-Rushing, H.L. Ballard, R.E.
Bonney, H. Brown, D.M. Evans, R.A. French, J.K. Parrish, T.B.
Phillips, S.F. Ryan, L.A. Shanley, J.L. Shirk, K.F.
Stepenuck, J.F. Weltzin, A.Wiggins, O.D. Boyle, R.D. Briggs,
S.F. Chapin III, D.A. Hewitt, P.W. Preuss, and M.A. Soukup.
2015. Investing in Citizen Science Can Improve Natural
Resource Management and Environmental Protection.
Issues in Ecology 19, Fall 2015.
Cigliano, J.A.; R. Meyer; H.L. Ballard; A. Freitag; T.B.
Phillips and A. Wasser. 2015. Making marine and coastal
citizen science matter. Ocean and Coastal Management
115: 77-87.
Monroe, M.; H.L. Ballard; A. Oxarart; V. Sturtevant; P. Jakes
and E.R. Evans. 2015. Agencies, Educators, Communities and
Wildfire: Partnerships to Enhance Environmental Education for
Youth. Environmental Education Research.
DOI:10.1080/13504622.2015.1057555
Long, J.; H.L. Ballard; L. Fisher and J. Belsky. 2015.
Questions that won’t go away in participatory action
research. Society and Natural Resources: An
International Journal 29 (2): 250-263.
Bonney, R.; J.L. Shirk; T.B. Phillips; A. Wiggins; H.L.
Ballard; A.J. Miller-Rushing; J.K. Parrish. 2014.
Next Steps for Citizen Science. Science 243: 1436-7. 28
March 2014.
Benz, S.; A. Miller-Rushing; M. Domroese; H.
Ballard; T. DeFalco; S. Newman; J. Shirk; A. Young.
2013. Workshop 1: Conference on Public Participation in
Scientific Research 2012: An International, Interdisciplinary
Conference. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of
America. January 2013.
Galt, Ryan E.; Damian Parr; Julia Van Soelen Kim; Jessica
Beckett; Maggie Lickter; Heidi L. Ballard.
2013. Teaching to transgress in sustainable agriculture and
food systems: lessons from employing critical social
constructivist pedagogy in a university course.
Agriculture and Human Values.
Jordan, Rebecca C.; Heidi L. Ballard; Tina
B. Phillips. 2012. Key issues and new approaches for evaluation
citizen-science learning outcomes. Frontiers in Ecology and
the Environment 10 (6): 307-309.
Shirk, J.L.; H.. Ballard, C.C. Wilderman, T.
Phillips, A. Wiggins, R. Jordan, E. McCallie, M. Minarchek, B.V.
Lewenstein, M.E. Krasny, R. Bonney. 2012. Public Participation in
Scientific Research: A Framework for Deliberate Project Design.
Ecology and Society 17 (2): 29.
Ballard, Heidi L.; Emily Evans; Victoria E.
Sturtevant and Pamela Jakes. In Press. The Evolution of Smokey
Bear: Environmental Education about Wildfire for Youth.
Journal of Environmental Education.
Evans, Evans; Cynthia Carter-Ching and Heidi L.
Ballard. 2012. Volunteer guides in nature reserves:
exploring environmental educators’ perceptions of teaching,
learning, place and self. Environmental Education
Research.
Fernandez-Gimenez, Maria E. and Heidi L.
Ballard. 2011. How Community-Based Collaboratives
Learn: Ecological Monitoring and Adaptive Management, in
Firehock, Karen and E. Franklin Dukes, (eds.) Effective
Collaboration for Natural Resource Management and Environmental
Protection. University of Virgina Press.
Ballard, Heidi L. and Jill M. Belsky. 2010.
Participatory Research and Environmental Learning: Implications
for Building Resilience in Communities and Forests.
Environmental Education Research.
Ballard, H.L.., V.E. Sturtevant and M.E.
Fernandez-Gimenez. 2010. Improving forest management through
participatory monitoring: A comparative case study of four
community-based forestry organizations in the Western United
States. In Lawrence, A. (ed), Taking Stock of Nature:
Participatory Biodiversity Assessment for Policy Planning and
Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bonney, R., Ballard, H., Jordan, R.,
McCallie, E., Phillips, T., Shirk, J., and Wilderman, C. C. 2009.
Public Participation in Scientific Research: Defining the
Field and Assessing Its Potential for Informal Science
Education. A CAISE Inquiry Group Report. Washington, D.C.:
Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE).
Fortmann, Louise and Heidi L. Ballard. 2009.
Sciences, Knowledges, and the Practice of Forestry. European
Journal of Forest Research. 9 December 2009.
Fernandez-Gimenez, Maria E.; Heidi L.
Ballard and Victoria E. Sturtevant. 2008. Adaptive
Management and Social Learning in Collaborative and
Community-based Monitoring: A Study of Five Community-based
Forestry Organizations in the Western USA. Ecology and
Society 13 (2): no. 4.
Ballard, Heidi L.; Maria E. Fernandez-Gimenez,
and Victoria E. Sturtevant. 2008. Integration of Local
Ecological Knowledge and Conventional Science: A Study of Seven
Community-based Forestry Organizations in the USA. Ecology
and Society 13 (2): 25.
Ballard, Heidi L. 2008. What makes a
scientist?: Studying the impacts of harvest in the Pacific
Northwest, USA, in Louise Fortmann (ed.), Participatory
Research in Conservation and Rural Livelihoods: Doing Science
Together. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.: Oxford, United
Kingdom.
Ballard, Heidi L., Joyce A. Trettevick and Don
Collins. 2008. Comparing Participatory Ecological Research in
Two Contexts: An Immigrant community and a Native American
Community on Olympic Peninsula, Washington, Carl Wilmsen,
William Elmendorf, Larry Fisher, Jacquelyn Ross, Brinda Sarathy
and Gail Wells, (ed), Partnerships for Empowerment:
Participatory Research for Community-based Natural Resource
Management, Earthscan, London.
Ballard, Heidi L. and Brinda Sarathy. 2008.
Inclusion and Exclusion: Immigrant Forest Workers and
Participation in Natural Resource Management, Carl Wilmsen,
William Elmendorf, Larry Fisher, Jacquelyn Ross, Brinda Sarathy
and Gail Wells, (ed), Partnerships for Empowerment:
Participatory Research for Community-based Natural Resource
Management, Earthscan, London.
Fortmann, Louise; Heidi L. Ballard and
Louise Sperling. 2008. Change around the Edges: Gender Analysis,
Feminist Methods and Sciences of Terrestrial Environments, in
Londa Schiebinger (ed.), Gendered Innovations in Science and
Engineering. Stanford University Press: Stanford,
California.
Ballard, H. and L. Fortmann. 2007.
Collaborating Experts: Integrating Civil and Conventional
Science to Inform Management of Salal (Gaultheria shallon), in
Hanna, Kevin and D. Scott Slocombe, (eds.) Integrated
Resource Management. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Ballard, H. L. and L. Huntsinger. 2006. Salal
Harvester Local Ecological Knowledge, Harvest Practices and
Understory Management on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington.
Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal 34 (4):
529-547.
Pilz, David; Heidi L. Ballard and Eric T.
Jones. 2006. Broadening Participation in Biological
Monitoring: Guidelines for Scientists and Managers. USDA
Forest Service General Technical Report, PNW-GTR-680. http://www.ifcae.org/projects/ncssf3/
Ballard, Heidi L. 2005. Integrating Knowledge
of Forest Management. (Invited Response.) Common Property
Resource Digest. Quarterly Publication of the International
Association for the Study of Common Property, December 2005.
Ballard, Heidi L.; David Pilz; Eric T. Jones
and Christy Getz. 2005. Training Curriculum for Scientists and
Managers: Broadening Participation in Biological Monitoring.
National Commission on the Science for Sustainable Forestry.
http://www.ifcae.org/projects/ncssf3/
Kerns, B. K., D. Pilz, H. Ballard, and S. J.
Alexander. 2003. Compatible Management of Understory Forest
Resources and Timber, in Monserud , R.A., R.W. Haynes, and A.C.
Johnson (eds.) Compatible Forest Management. Kluwer Academic
Publishers.
Ballard, H. 2003. Harvester Knowledge and
Science: Participatory Research on the Impacts of Harvesting
Salal (Gaultheria shallon). Proceedings of the Rural
Sociological Society 2003 Annual Meeting, Montreal, Quebec.
Ballard, H.; Kraetsch, R. and Huntsinger, L.
2002. Collaborative Monitoring in Walnut Creek, CA.
California’s Changing Oak Woodlands. USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report PSW-GTR-184 2002.
Ballard, H., D. Collins, A. Lopez and J.
Freed. 2002. Harvesting Floral Greens in Western Washington as
Value-Addition: Labor Issues and Globalization. 2002.
Proceedings of the International Association for the Study of
Common Property Biennial Meeting June 2002, Victoria Falls,
Zimbabwe.
Stanford Human Biology Middle Grades Life Sciences Project.
1998. HUMBIO Ecology. HUMBIO Your Changing Body. HUMBIO
Sexuality. HUMBIO Reproduction. Everyday Learning Corporation,
Chicago.
Blair, R. B. and Ballard, H. L. 1995. Conservation Biology: A
curriculum for high school students (Teacher and Student
Editions). Kendall-Hunt Publ. Co.: Debuque, Iowa. 263 p, 83 pgs.
Mukai, G.; Ballard, H. and Enimoto, A. 1995. Feeding a Hungry
World: Rice in Asia and the Pacific. Stanford Project for
International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) Institute for
International Studies, Stanford, CA.
Professional Experience
K-12 Teaching Experience
1995-1998 Henry M. Gunn High School, Palo Also, California.
9-12th Grade Biology, Global Science, Physics, Applied
Biology
1993-1995 John F. Kennedy Middle School, Redwood City,
California. 7th Grade Life Sciences
Curriculum and Teacher Professional Development
1992-1993 Curriculum Developer, Stanford Project for
International and Cross-Cultural Education
1993-1996 Curriculum Developer, Human Biology Middle Grades
Life Sciences Curriculum Project, designed and wrote activities,
and conducted teacher professional development for Evolution,
Ecology, Human Sexuality and Reproduction curriculum units.
2000-2001 Science Consultant, Prentice Hall – Pearson
Education, Conducted science textbook presentations and inservice
workshops for middle and high school teachers throughout
California.
Awards and Honors
2015-2020 Chancellor’s Fellow
2010-2011 UC Davis Hellman Fellow
2004 University of California, Berkeley, University
Fellowship.
2002-2003 Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Departmental Fellowship.
2002-2003 Ford Foundation Community Forestry Research
Dissertation Fellowship.
Current Activities and Service
Advisory Board, citizen science project “Political
Participation Observer“, University of Vienna, funded by
the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and
Economy
Governance Council member for the Center for Collaborative
Research for an Equitable California, a UC Multi-Campus Research
Initiative.
Community Forestry and Environmental Research Partnerships
(steering committee member)
Courses Taught at UC Davis
Winter Quarter 2012 Office Hours: W 2-4pm and F 10-12pm,
contact Dr. Ballard
EDU 142 – Introduction to Environmental Education (NEW in
Spring 2010)
EDU 292 (soon to be 238) – Participatory Action Research
EDU 264 – Scientific Literacy and Science Education Reform
EDU 292 – Graduate Seminar in Environmental Education
EDU 294 – Science, Agric. and Math Education Graduate Seminar
EDU 206 B/C/D – Inquiry into Classroom Learning (Teacher
Action Research
Graduate Student Researchers
Emily Harris
Colin Dixon
Karen Bush
Jennifer Metes
Sinead Brien
Funded Research
“Pathways Grant – Citizen Science in the California
Naturalist program: Building the nexus between learning and
action” – PI, National Science Foundation Informal Science
Education program, 2011-2013.
“Public Participation in Scientific Research for
Environmental Education: Research on Engaging Diverse Communities
for Environmental Science Learning and Stewardship” – PI, Stephen
D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, 2012-2013.
“Educating Families by Educating Youth about Wildfire” – PI,
USDA Forest Service, 2009-2012.
“A partnership model for recruiting non-traditional and
underrepresented high school students into agricultural
sustainability degree programs” – Co-PI, USDA Higher Education
Challenge Grant, 2011-2013.
“Environmental learning, mitigation strategies, and lion
conservation in Tanzania” – PI, UC Davis Collaborative
Interdisciplinary Research Grant, 2010-2012.
Past Projects:
“Social Learning in Contested Fields: Collaborative research
and action among rice growers and migratory bird
conservationists” – UC Davis Hellman Fellowship, 2010-2011.
“Making ‘hands-on’ science ‘minds-on’ science: Creating
connections between classrooms, farms and habitats” – Cooperative
Research and Extension Service for Schools Collaborative Research
Grant
“Sustainable Harvest Project” – Laura Jane Musser Foundation
“Ecological Monitoring in Community Forestry in the U.S.” -
Ford Foundation
With Youth-focused Citizen and
Community Science (YCCS), youth contribute to authentic science.
They can do this through data collection, but also interpreting
or sharing findings. But what does this mean for science
learning? To answer this question, we began conducting case
studies with YCCS projects in Northern California and bringing
together key stakeholders to explore when and how YCCS works
best.
This blog post, authored by Ryan Meyer, Heidi Ballard, and
Lila Higgins, originally
appeared on the Blue Sky Funders Forum blog.
When do experiences with science lead young people to create
change in their lives, landscapes, and communities? Consider this
reflection from Rachel Anne Arias, a 12-year-old living in La
Crescenta in Southern California:
This post, written by Molly Michelson, originally
appeared on the website of the California Academy of
Science.
We’re going to need a lot of people
to save planet Earth—scientists, for example! Their research can
help policy-makers and governmental agencies make conservation
decisions about the regions, animals, and plants to save. But
there simply aren’t enough of these academics to go around.
Heidi Ballard, associate professor of environmental education,
presented talks on citizen science and public participation in
scientific research at the Cambridge Conservation Forum in
November 2014 and at the first-ever
Citizen Science Conference that preceded the annual
meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in
February.
Heidi Ballard,
associate professor of education, has been selected as a 2014-15
Chancellor’s Fellow. The Chancellor’s Fellows Program recognizes
“the rising stars who shine as teachers and campus citizens, and
whose scholarly work already puts them at the top of their fields
— garnering attention far and wide.” It is one of the highest and
most prestigious honors on this campus.
The Center for Community and Citizen Science is a home to programs and partnerships that revolutionize how—and with whom—science gets done. Based on a foundation of research excellence, the Center helps scientists, communities, and citizens collaborate on science to address environmental problems as a part of civic life.
Associate Professor Heidi Ballard, an expert in environmental
science education, is embarking on two newly funded research
projects to study the efficacy of employing citizen science as a
learning tool and a sustainable model for rigorous research. One
project will focus on adults and the other on children.
Associate Professor Heidi Ballard, an expert in environmental
education and citizen science, is used to working with educators,
environmentalists, students and nonprofits to engage
non-scientists in learning about environmental science and acting
on their learning to influence their communities.
In Summer 2012 she traveled to Mpimbwe, Tanzania, to lend her
expertise to a larger project led by two UC Davis researchers
that engages local people in the conservation of one of the
largest wildlife parks in that country, Katavi National Park.
Heidi Ballard, associate professor in environmental science
education at the UC Davis School of Education, received a
three-year $283,907 grant from the National Science Foundation to
examine how participation in authentic scientific practice
fosters and supports lifelong science learning.
This project arose from the realization that projects involving
public participation in science vary widely, and often work in
isolation from each other. These range from ‘citizen science’
projects for which people submit data about birds or plants
online, to environmental justice-oriented community-based
participatory research, and everything in between. These projects
all revolve around members of the public collaborating in some
form with scientists to answer environmental science questions.
Associate Professor Heidi Ballard, an expert in environmental
education and citizen science, is used to working with educators,
environmentalists, students and nonprofits to engage
non-scientists in learning about environmental science and acting
on their learning to influence their communities.
In 2012, she traveled to Mpimbwe, Tanzania, to lend her expertise
to a larger project led by two UC Davis researchers that engages
local people in the conservation of one of the largest wildlife
parks in that country, Katavi National Park.
Heidi Ballard, an assistant professor in the School of Education,
has been selected to be a 2010-2011 UC Davis Hellman Fellow and
will receive an award of $20,409 to be used in support of her
research activities.
Coming from a long line of teachers, Heidi Ballard was sure of
one thing when she entered college: she was not going to become a
teacher. Five years later, she found herself teaching high school
biology.
