Check out the Blue Water Task Force on SciStarter! The Surfrider Foundation is pleased to announce its participation in the first ever open data standard for the automated exchange of recreational water quality data. Recreational waters at ocean and freshwater beaches, lakes and rivers are monitored for harmful bacteria and pathogens that can threaten human […]

Post by Ruthanna Gordon, Ph.D. She is a steering committee member of the Federal Community of Practice for Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science. One strength of citizen science is in its ability to gather granular, hyper-local data—and to bring that data together into a big-picture understanding of what’s happening nationally or globally. How are patterns of rainfall shifting […]

The genetic modification of crops (GMOs) and the concept of designer babies (thanks to CRISPR technology) may be two of the most recognizable, yet controversial, topics related to the field of genetic engineering. At its core, genetic engineering, also known as bioengineering, is the genetic modification of an organism. Some view genetic engineering as an […]

As a gift to the citizen science community, this holiday season, SciStarter created a beautiful citizen science calendar!  This calendar was developed with the help of a lot of people. The Citizen Science Association Listserv and Jill Nugent compiled an awesome collection of events, and then Erica Chenoweth took this list and created a Google […]

England’s Royal Society, the national academy founded on November 28, 1660, is still churning out loads of scientific excellence. In this blog, a current fellow shares how we can all help combat climate change. On November 28, 1660, English scientist Christopher Wren spoke at Gresham College in Central London, launching what is now the Royal […]

This fall, students everywhere were treated to a citizen science virtual field trip organized by Discovery Education and the Girl Scouts of the USA. “Unleash Your Inner Scientist,” the title of virtual field trip,  featured SciStarter’s Founder, Darlene Cavalier, and was filmed on location at the 92-acre STEM Center of Excellence in Dallas, Texas. No […]

Busch, Akiko. The Incidental Steward: Reflections on Citizen Science. Yale University Press, 2014. 256 pages. Paperback $US16.00 One evening as she was preparing dinner, Jennifer Doudna’s son noticed her laughing out loud.  The biochemist had been thinking about how bacteria have the ability to protect themselves by finding and clipping a virus’ DNA—CRISPR—a clever mechanism […]

Citizen science can be an excellent way to engage learners in the process of science and to address the Practices as outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In each issue of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Journal, Science Scope, a citizen science project from the SciStarter Project Finder is featured! In the […]

This post is part three of a three-part series about how Curio can help citizens recognize, appreciate, and care for the highly beneficial green spaces around them. Special thanks to Megan Ray Nichols for putting all this together. Portions of this interview appeared in part one of this series. Part One | Part Two | Part Three What are […]

This post is part two of a three-part series about how Curio can help citizens recognize, appreciate, and care for the highly beneficial green spaces around them. Part One | Part Two | Part Three When I was 8 years old, a friend of mine fell from the very top of an extremely tall cypress […]