Overview July 17, 2018

Social Configuration

The social configuration of participation refers to whether youth participate in groups, or as individuals, or virtually through online platforms, when participating in a CCS project. Each has implications for environmental science learning, which happens not simply through exposure to content knowledge, but also through the adoption of roles with respect to one’s peers, and the opportunity to communicate about the experience with others. On the other hand, projects that allow people to participate as individuals can be much more flexible, and may allow motivated participants to continue their work (and learning) on their own time.

In selecting or designing a project to support learning for youth, there are a variety of considerations about the social aspects of how youth participation is structured:

What resources or structures in the project allow for online virtual or in-person participation, or for helping people find each other to participate in the project in groups?

Would you like youth to work in groups, which can foster peer-to-peer teaching and learning, as well as apprenticeship for newcomers to learn from experienced participants?

Would you like youth to be able to do the project on their own time, either in outdoors individually or online?

Does the scientific activity (such as complex data collection sessions) require groups of participants to complete?

CCS projects might be designed for individual participation, group participation or online virtual participation. Some projects can include more than one. For example, the Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students (LiMPETS) is an example of a project where group participation is required: project leaders train educators to facilitate large groups of students in data collection on sandy beaches and intertidal zones; the methods involve multiple steps, requiring various tools and multiple helping hands.

Globe at Night, on the other hand, asks participants to monitor light pollution and star visibility and can be done by an individual participant or in a group.

The Plastic Tide is an online virtual participation project in which participants identify plastic waste in photographs taken of shorelines.

Group Participation

Individual Participation

Online Virtual Participation

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Commands