Choosing a participatory science project
The participatory science projects used in Wild Davis in 2019 and 2020
are listed in Table 1 , along with some important traits for
consideration when choosing a project. The most important traits were
that the students could complete the activity from an urban location
(especially a backyard) without special sampling equipment or training
and with limited guidance from the instructor. The lack of
in-the-moment, one-on-one guidance led the instructor to select projects
that assisted users with identifying the organisms or structures in
their observations. Additionally, the constraint of using backyard or
neighborhood locations led the instructor to select projects whose
website allowed for viewing and visualizing previously-reported
observations. In this way, even if a student’s backyard was not
conducive to making new observations in the project, the student could
still participate in the activity by summarizing other user’s
observations from their region or comparing nearby regions. This
secondary option for participating in the field activities was only
necessary for the Debris Tracker activity, in which not all students
were able to find litter or debris in their neighborhood.
Two participatory science projects were used in traditional instruction
in Wild Davis in 2019 but were not used in 2020: CALeDNA, and School of
Ants. CALeDNA involves collecting soil or sediment samples to mail into
the project for environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis. This project has a
particular sampling protocol and requires some sampling and sample
storage supplies. The timeline between the shift to remote instruction
and the schedule for this activity meant there was not enough time to
mail individual students the supplies and so this activity was replaced.
School of Ants involves setting outdoor baits and collecting the ants
that are attracted to the baits to mail into the project for
identification. While the sampling protocol is simple and could easily
be completed in a backyard, and the supplies needed are minimal, the
project does not include identification of ant species during collection
(only after the samples are mailed in). When completed in traditional
instruction, the instructor invites an ant expert guest speaker who can
identify the ant species and share some interesting ecological,
biological, or life history facts with the students. While this activity
is frequently described as the students’ favorite on course evaluations,
the instructors did not believe it would translate well to remote
instruction in this particular case and chose to replace it.