Local Girl Scout Junior Troop #82424 shares how you can become a “Citizen Scientist”!
Did you know that anyone, kids and adults, can be a citizen scientist? A citizen scientist is a member of the public who helps with scientific research, often partnering with professional scientists! You don’t need any prior experience to participate and there are lots of ways to be involved. You can help with data collection, analyze data, or even help try new technology. Citizen science projects address real-world problems and help professional scientists around the world. You can make an impact in our community and world by becoming a citizen scientist!
We learned that being a citizen scientist means to be observant and give as much information as possible when explaining something. Being a citizen scientist means to get creative in solving problems by making observations and collecting data to learn about the world around us. We learned how to focus on sounds, sights and other senses and how important they are in collecting data and analyzing problems. We learned to pay close attention to the world around us!
We played observation games, formed hypotheses and scenarios based on animal tracks, and learned what it means to be a scientist before participating in actual citizen scientist projects. Our projects were all done online but there are lots that involve getting outside into the community to collect data as well! We looked at conservation images from Cedar Creek in Minnesota and helped to identify the animals that showed up on the trail cams to help figure out what species were living in an area. We also participated in several online projects with the Music Lab at Yale University – we answered questions about sounds and how they made us feel, took music quizzes, and experimented to see how we could tell the difference between tones.
If you want to get involved, we encourage you to check out SciStarter at https://scistarter.org – you can search through their database to find projects that match your interests and get started today!
By: Junior Troop #82424
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