Social and educational potential of Citizen Science

Abstract

Citizen science is an innovative approach to involve people in research activities guided by professional scientists and helps bridge the gap between science and society. The development of mobile technologies has favored the growth of citizen science so much that the number of citizen science projects has grown in recent years as well as the "citizen scientists". The motivations that push people to participate in projects are often related to personal interest in the topics covered, but often also to altruism and the satisfaction of carrying out activities useful to society. Citizen science is therefore a promising model both from an educational point of view, to improve scientific literacy and from an educational point of view, to stimulate civic engagement. This article indeed sought to highlight the potential of integrating the participatory dimension and the scientific dimension into the educational context. Citizen science in fact allows the development of innovative teaching, in which students use their knowledge and skills to carry out concrete activities for the common good, combined with a scientific dimension of applying disciplinary contents to concrete and proactive learning contexts. The article finally presents some citizen science projects that have been experimented at school in Italy focusing mainly on environmental issues where students are engaged in the collection and observation of scientific data and in their critical interpretation.