Social Studies, Science, and Civics: Teacher Education and Citizen Science in the 21st Century

Citizen science, research in which members of the public actively contribute scientific data, has recently evolved as a means to support scientific inquiry in the classroom, particularly in fields related to ecology and environmental science. Our research focuses on a collaborative project with teacher candidates, a science education professor, and a social studies education professor at a Canadian university. Teacher candidates were engaged in the classroom and beyond as they explored topics related to civics education and evidence-based decision making. Our findings demonstrate the potential effectiveness of a citizen science lens for science, social studies, and generalist teachers.