Citizen science in schools: the development of eco-citizenship capabilities

Abstract

Young people are taking increasingly public and overtly political action in response to environmental concerns. There is a need for schools to support young people in navigating current environmental challenges, however, the capacity for schools to do this is inconsistent and often inadequate. Research is needed to understand how we can better support schools and young people in confidently responding to contemporary and evolving environmental issues. This thesis explores how environmental citizen science can contribute to lived eco-citizenship in young people while they are in formal schooling. A major finding is that environmental citizen science experiences offer opportunities to connect pupils with scientific research practices in a way that offers authentic citizenship opportunities not ordinarily available in schools. The research took a qualitative, in-depth, multi-method, case study approach, exploring the experiences of school-based participants (n=74, pupils, teachers and scientists) across three different school-based citizen science projects. Drawing on place-responsive and new materialist orientations, situational analysis was the analytical approach applied throughout this research. This research found that the citizen science practice can be a sensory and relational experience for pupils. Identifying a range of factors that influence the development of eco-citizenship, including, caring for a place and intergenerational relationships, this research contributes to understanding when and how citizen science practice can support schools to respond to environmental challenges. Drawing on capability theory, this research explicitly identifies the significance of more-than-human encounters on the emergence of eco-citizenship dispositions in the pupils. The eco-citizenship capability to live with and in relation to the world of nature was found to be supported by more-than-human encounters during school-based citizen science projects. This is of particular importance for pupils whose relationship with environmental issues is mediated predominantly by their school experiences. Resource-related concerns were shared by the citizen science providers and schools in these cases, representing a challenge to the operational sustainability of citizen science projects with schools. Overall, this study has shown that citizen science practices in schools allow pupils, as young citizens, to make personal responses to environmental concerns across spatial, intersubjective, affective and performed dimensions. The findings suggest that we need to support schools as a vital context for young people to encounter and engage with citizen science practices, as these experiences can lead to the development of important eco-citizenship capabilities.