Publications and Communications

Several authors argue for the need to strengthen the dialogue between scientific research and education system, in particular schools (1-4). A way to do it is to create opportunities for scientists, teachers, and students to meet and exchange knowledge, experiences, and perspectives by reconfiguring schools as collaborative ecosystems -schools as part of an interconnected network linking educational contents, scientific research, and local and global realities (5). As such, new learning communities can emerge, where scientist, teachers and students work together focusing on the values of cooperative learning, mutual respect, collective construction of knowledge and problem-solving skills, while nurturing individual differences. In cooperative learning, all partners share the responsibility of identifying problems, thinking about possible solutions or alternatives, reflect of existing knowledge, gather new evidence, and integrating different perspectives (6-8). This educational methodology is deeply connected to the concept of citizen science (CS), which has been increasingly recognised as a powerful tool for science education (9;10). CS can be described as the collaboration between scientists and citizens in research, with the latter assuming different roles, from contributors to project leaders (reviewed, e.g., in 11). As an educational strategy, allowing teachers and student to lead the research design holds a great potential for successful engagement and learning outcomes (10). However, the (few) examples of embedding CS in educational contexts lack a closer collaboration between schools and universities, or the active voice of children in leading the research (12). Thus, how can CS effectively be use in education? In this paper we present an ongoing pilot citizen social science project design, led by high-school students with the participation of an interdisciplinary group of teachers and researchers that aim at identifying good practices for using CS in education.