15-1 Engaging K-12 students Through Place- and Curriculum-based Citizen Science Projects

Session: Geoscience Outreach Efforts to Broaden Participation, Part I

Presenting Author:

Katherine Boggs

Authors:

Boggs, Katherine Janet Elizabeth¹, Dubois Gafar, Amrine², Neild, Charles³, Humphries, Jennifer⁴, Wilson, Alice⁵, Bergquist, Bridget⁶, Nichman, Leonid⁷, Mariani, Zen⁸, Julien, Isabel⁹, Dumanski, Stacey¹⁰, Bird, Alison¹¹, O'Connor, Kevin¹², Lehnherr, Igor¹³

Abstract:

The Community Science Liaison (CSL) program builds place-based curriculum Citizen Science projects for K-12 classrooms that are co-designed by teachers, scientists, and outreach specialists. The Geological Bumble Bee Program has grade 2-9 students build and install bumble bee boxes and collect a rock to study climate change through geologic time. Many rocks originate from glacial till providing hands-on opportunities for these students to connect with the rocks and minerals modules covered in many Canadian provincial and territorial grade 3 science curriculum. The first bumble bee boxes were recently installed in Inuvik (NWT) providing the opportunity for these grade 3 classes to contribute important data to bumble bee population studies in a region where there is overlap between the northern boreal forest and the tundra bumble bees and a significant gap in data from scientific programs. A new module on permafrost was trialled in Inuvik, which was co-created with a Grade 3 teacher, permafrost scientists (NWT Geological Survey, and Aurora Research Institute (ARI)) and the ARI outreach coordinator. Here students do background research, collect field data, then evaluate and synthesize the data. These modules will soon be expanded to the other four communities across the Mackenzie Delta region.

New projects include monitoring mercury in plants and animals to identify “hot spots” to avoid when gathering plants across the Mackenzie Delta region. With Environment & Climate Change Canada we are developing place-based experiments for these classes in the lead up to the January 2026 visit to Inuvik of a scientific team that will be studying the Arctic atmosphere and testing instruments before deployment on satellites. The CSL teams will be designing modules to use data from the Global Water Futures Observatories to monitor their local watersheds. The deployment of Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) Systems in British Columbia and Ontario-Quebec provide exciting opportunities to design projects guiding strategies for responding appropriately to EEW alerts.

Schools in the CSL program will be partnered with schools from other geographic regions to share their results, with the expected student outcomes in developing pride in their place. These place-based curriculum Citizen Science activities were proven to be incredibly successful by the Whitehorse (Yukon) Experiential Science Grade 11 program at recruiting over 60% of their students into university STEM programs over 30 years.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-10697

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