Learning dimensions
Learning is a life-long process which begins at a young age, advances through school, higher education systems and progresses well into adulthood. Ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated, lifelong learning enhances social inclusion, active citizenship, personal development and self-sustainability and employability (Caltone, 2010; Falk and Dierking, 2012). Learning takes different forms in different stages of life and learning within school or university environments is substantially different than self guided learning in citizen science projects. How and what learning takes place in such settings is part of what we are trying to investigate in this project.
There are many dimensions to learning which can include increased understanding of a topic, increased awareness, behavior change and better appreciation of a subjects' complexity. Phillips et al. (2018) discusses many of these dimensions in the context of citizen science: interest in science and the environment; self-efficacy for science and the environment; motivation for science and the environment; increased scientific knowledge; skills of science inquiry; and environmental stewardship. At the same time, how this learning actually takes place and what factors are involved in such processes are not well understood.
Caltone, M.P. (2010). Handbook of Lifelong Learning Developments. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated.
Falk, J.H., and Dierking, L.D. (2012). Lifelong Science Learning for Adults: The Role of Free-Choice Experiences. In Second International Handbook of Science Education, B.J. Fraser, K. Tobin, and C.J. McRobbie, eds. (Springer Science & Business Media), pp. 1063–1079.
Phillips, T., Porticella, N., Constas, M., & Bonney, R. (2018). A framework for articulating and measuring individual learning outcomes from participation in citizen science. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 3(2).
Stylinski, C. D., Peterman, K., Phillips, T., Linhart, J., & Becker-Klein, R. (2020). Assessing science inquiry skills of citizen science volunteers: a snapshot of the field. International Journal of Science Education, Part B, 10(1), 77-92.
Roche, J., et al. (2020). Citizen science, education, and learning: challenges and opportunities. Frontiers in Sociology, 5, 110
Feel free to read more about the topic and suggest references for the group