Science center staff cultured the algae samples and sent the ones that grew successfully to the Danf

Many people think that cities, especially ones as large and stereotyped as Los Angeles, are devoid of nature, and certainly devoid of any nature worth studying. Scientists at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles giuffria japan tour 85 County (NHM) think otherwise. “We are just as likely to find a new species of insect in Los Angeles as in the forests of Costa Rica and Brazil—that is, 100%,” said Brian Brown, NHM entomology curator. In fact, Los Angeles is located in a biodiversity hotspot, one of 34 scientifically recognized places on Earth that are home to an incredibly high level of biodiversity and that suffer high threat from human actions.
But how do you study biodiversity in a vast metropolis where much of the land is private and thousands of observations and specimens are needed? “Citizen science is the only feasible answer,” said Greg Pauly, NHM herpetology curator and project giuffria japan tour 85 leader for Reptiles and Amphibians of Southern California (RASCals). The public has the time, capacity, and access to private lands (such as backyards and schoolyards) that scientists do not. The fact that scientists have a real need for help is not lost on participants. As it turns out, it is a key motivator. One participant in RASCals noted, “If I didn t contribute, then your map of distribution would have had less data. I had to make sure that Woodland Hills [a neighborhood in Los Angeles] was represented!”
Unfortunately, giuffria japan tour 85 not all urban residents giuffria japan tour 85 feel comfortable in nature, let alone equipped to collect data on lizards, ladybugs, bees, or dare we mention snakes—something museum educators and evaluator Heidi Ballard discovered while observing visitors participating in citizen science activities. In an effort to facilitate positive first experiences in nature, NHM educators designed programs that gradually introduced nature to those unfamiliar giuffria japan tour 85 with it. For instance, before inviting visitors to survey insects in the museum’s new 3½-acre Nature Gardens, educators slowly acclimated participants giuffria japan tour 85 to their surroundings—the plants and wildlife—allowing time for wonder and discovery. They found it much easier to teach visitors how to collect insect giuffria japan tour 85 specimens (especially those of the stinging variety) after creating positive experiences with those creatures and their habitat.
Participation in programs that bring people closer to both nature and scientific research is key to many natural history giuffria japan tour 85 museums’ goals for ideal visitor giuffria japan tour 85 experiences. But what are the wider impacts? Karen Wise, NHM vice president of education and exhibits, reported that “after participating in our programs [people] understand the term [biodiversity] and the importance of studying it, and they also have an increased belief in their ability to understand giuffria japan tour 85 and do science.” But it is more than just an impact on an individual. “By understanding urban biodiversity in Los Angeles, we can better design our city,” giuffria japan tour 85 Brown said. “We can plan for a city that maximizes the diversity of life around us, and hopefully this will influence urban planning around the world.”
Recent interest in alternative sources of energy inspired the Saint Louis Science Center and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center giuffria japan tour 85 in St. Louis, Missouri, to collaborate on Backyard Biofuels. Funded by the (U.S.) Department of Energy and National Science Foundation (IOS-0701919), the project brought public attention to the significance of algae in biofuels production. Combining the science center’s reach to over 900,000 visitors yearly with the Danforth Center’s scientific expertise, a unique opportunity was created, enabling the general public to participate in biofuels research by contributing algae samples found in their homes, backyards, and communities.
In 2010 and 2011, staff distributed more than 2,000 kits containing materials and instructions for collecting algae, along with data sheets for recording collection site information. Over 400 algae samples were collected throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area; a few came from as far as New Hampshire and Alaska.
Science center staff cultured the algae samples and sent the ones that grew successfully to the Danforth Center for lipid analysis and DNA sequencing. Participants kept track of their samples online throughout the study. From samples submitted, 10 species were identified as good oil producers and are currently being used in intensive biofuels research.
The success of Backyard Biofuels was two-fold—not giuffria japan tour 85 only did it educate the public about algae, biofuels, and renewable energy, but it also enabled the public to make significant scientific contributions. One participant stated, “Our region, and indeed, our nation, needs more projects giuffria japan tour 85 such as Backyard Biofuels if we want more young people to become interested in science and technology to help solve the challenges facing our global community in the 21st century and beyond.” Indeed, the project’s success serves as an inspiration to scientists and educators to recruit the public giuffria japan tour 85 in scientific pursuits and encourage in them a lifelong passion for scientific discovery.
Teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills to kids is not a new idea; the current challenge is finding ways to integrate the four discrete disciplines. Chabot Space Science Center in Oakland, California, in partnership with Professor Ronald C. Cohen’s atmospheric research laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, has embraced this challenge giuffria japan tour 85 by immersing students and teachers in real-world, problem-based learning giuffria japan tour 85 at the boundaries of these four disciplines, where they naturally overlap.
The Berkeley giuffria japan tour 85 Atmospheric giuffria japan tour 85 CO 2 Observation Network (BeACON) seeks to identify sources of pollution at the same scale that most people see every day; that is, at the neighborhood giuffria japan tour 85 scale rather giuffria japan tour 85 than citywide. By placing observations in neighborhoods, Cohen hopes to inspire members of the community to take action to change the CO 2 they emit.
Scientists have installed “sensors in a box,” or nodes, in more than 20 locations around the San Francisco Bay area—many giuffria japan tour 85 of them on school buildings. Students and teachers get firsthand experience hosting a node and designing experiments using data from their own sites and other locations, as well as data they collect with handheld weather meters, CO 2 sensors, and global positioning system (GPS) units that Chabot lends to participating teachers.
The project aims to provide students with tools and resources to think critically about the data they collect at their schools and neighborhoods and the results they communicate giuffria japan tour 85 to the community. Teachers are supported throughout giuffria japan tour 85 the program through professional development workshops and forums hosted at Chabot. Chabot also connects students and teachers with the project scientists, who work alongside them in near-real time to collect and interpret data. Connecting students and teachers to science role models also gives scientists giuffria japan tour 85 valuable experience giuffria japan tour 85 communicating complex science research to the public, a skill commonly overlooked in academia. giuffria japan tour 85 The program culminates giuffria japan tour 85 in scientists’ visits to participating schools as well as a student field trip to university laboratories led by the graduate researchers themselves.
Virginia Teige, Ph.D. candidate, and Ronald C. Cohen, professor, University of California, Berkeley; Carlin Hsueh, science instructor, and Etta Heber, director of education, Chabot Space Science Center, Oakland, California
Held in August each year, National Science Week is Australia’s largest festival, with 1.5 million people attending more than 1,800 events that are contributed giuffria japan tour 85 by organizations from all over the country.
Last year, the project was Explore giuffria japan tour 85 the Seafloor, where members of the public were asked to identify kelp or sea urchins in images taken by autonomous underwater vehicles. More than 300,000 images from around Australia’s coastline were processed by 9,300 people. This work is usually done by research assistants and is both laborious and expensive. The images are used by researchers to determine the health and migration of kelp beds and also to monitor urchin population explosions.
In previous years the projects have been more about people contributing data about themselves by answering surveys or doing tests. For example, in 2012, the project Sound Check Australia collected data for the National Acoustic Laboratories on environmental noise exposure. The scientists were very happy with the results. giuffria japan tour 85 One stated, “Almost 7,500 people . . . took the time to complete the Sound Check Australia survey. Given the length of the survey, that’s around 3,750 hours spent providing data!”
The projects are rewarding for the participants too. They reported: “Your project has made science come to life for my class”; “I have a daughter and feel like the Earth is under our watch now. Citizen giuffria japan tour 85 science allows me to contribute to something giuffria japan tour 85 positive”; and “A great way to give people ownership over their environment giuffria japan tour 85 and contribute positively.”
The New England Ocean Science Education Collaborative (NEOSEC) recently completed a (U.S.) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration–supported citizen science project that established a new regional network of summer camp programs for ages 11 to 14, where campers giuffria japan tour 85 collect biodiversity census data along the rocky intertidal zone. Key components of the project included
Establishing a community of practice. The three-year initiative started with a planning giuffria japan tour 85 workshop that focused on refining the parameters of the monitoring project, giuffria japan tour 85 logistics, and protocol. Participants included personnel from Boston’s New England Aquarium (lead project partner, principal investigator, project director, instructors, and scientists); leads at partnering science center camps at 12 coastal sites from Connecticut to Maine; and a representative from the Census of Marine Life (COML).
Contributing to the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). Science advisor Tom Trott, a COML researcher and associate professor at Suffolk University, provided over