DISCUSSION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Working within this collaboration with a shared purpose was a mutually
beneficial experience for both the academic research group and the
secondary school science department, consistent with the key principle
of engagement necessary for quality citizen science projects. All
partners shared clear aims and expected outcomes, that were defined at
the start of the project and were realistic for the time and resources
available. The highly collaborative nature of the partnership was an
important part of its success. It was recognized and valued that
everyone involved in the project contributed different expertise. To
facilitate this collaborative relationship, ‘open-communication’ was
maintained between everyone involved in the project, which ensured that
there was a clear sense of shared ownership of the project (Maclaughlin
et al. 2004). This school-university partnership is recognized to have
all the important elements for success and this project provided an
opportunity to strengthen the new relationships which will likely evolve
over time (Green at al. 2019).
As a project aiming to facilitate learning, it was considered a success
because the students appeared to enjoy using the online tools during
this project as well as learning about grass and pollen. The students
were also able to learn about how this project related to the bigger
‘public health’ context, which was a challenging and new experience that
the school and the students had never undertaken before.
Throughout the duration of this project 42 data points were entered into
the EpiCollect5 tool and these points were distributed across Brisbane
(within a ~100km area). The students answered all of the
survey questions in the tool, however, some of the required images were
not properly uploaded or the incorrect part of the grass was
photographed. This is partially due description of the features to be
photographed, processes of this online tool, and not providing steps in
sufficient detail in the learning resources. This highlighted the need
for refinement of detail in the learning resources to ensure that the
data collected is of high quality. Although not all of the data from the
current project could be used for future research, this citizen science
project did provide a significant insight into what aspects need to be
improved prior to further use. Overall, it was evident that the type of
data collected could be highly useful in increasing local current
peri-urban and rural grassland diversity and phenology. The research
team were able to identify grass species present in different regions
across Brisbane and when they were seen to flower. The outcomes of this
project suggest that further use and extension of this citizen science
approach would therefore enhance our current knowledge of grass
distribution and phenology.
Throughout development and implementation of this project, the QUT ARG
and CSHS have both learned about the process and regulations of engaging
in a school/university partnership. For members of the QUT ARG this was
very valuable. It provided early stage researchers with insight on how
they can effectively communicate their research themes to the general
community. Whereas CSHS gained insights on how to use vertical
integration and university partnerships to help students learn Twenty
First Century skills in a real-world multi-disciplinary research
context.
Although the agricultural coordinator at the school was aware that some
students would struggle with extended written tests, he learnt during
this project that twelve and thirteen year old’s do not always have the
ability to navigate their way through difficult tasks without the
face-to-face assistance of a teacher. This therefore highlighted the
overall importance of teaching students how to deconstruct and address
complex problems.
Whilst the school and university team members used an online file
sharing and messaging software to communicate, it would be advantageous
to use an online communication and collaboration platform (e.g.
Microsoft Teams, Slack, Discord) for the students to discuss, connect
with peers and upload files relating to this project. An online hub
could provide a centralized location for all project resources and data.
The use of this type of platform would also provide students with an
extra level of peer to peer support to communicate any issues or
questions.
Another improvement that should be made is consideration of how the
students can extend use of the data after it is collected. Activities
should be developed for the students to graph and analyse the collected
data, gather other data sets online (e.g. local rainfall or temperature)
and answer a range of basic questions exploring mathematical, physical
and biological relationships. Moreover, the project would also benefit
from sample research data where the students could graph and form links
between grass flowering times, pollen counts and spikes in allergy
symptoms.
The QUT ARG reflected on the effectiveness of this project design and
whether they are able to obtain information from this type of citizen
science activity that has utility for research endeavors. The project
can be modified and extended for use in other schools, community groups
and the general public. However, funding will be a required input to
expand activity, which will involve more grant applications to support
for the research team and this citizen science project. It was evident
that lay language should be used to describe scientific concepts and
transfer knowledge to public audiences, but writing in plain language is
a skill that needs to be developed. The ability to write effectively in
this way is necessary to increase the visibility, transparency and
impact of science in the community (Kuehue & Olden 2015). From this
perspective, the learning modules were written for an intended audience
of junior high school students, but the language was further simplified
by the secondary school teacher. The learning modules should now be
transferrable for effective engagement of lay people in community for a
wider citizen science project.
The science coordinator at the school hopes to continue undertaking this
project with the next cohort of junior high Agricultural Technology
students in subsequent semesters. In the future, this project will tie
in with the plant identification topics of the science curriculum which
is a natural fit. Post COVID-19 lockdown, there may also be an
opportunity to run hands-on activities as part of the Junior
Agricultural Technology camp that is held at Oxley Creek Common, where
one of QUT ARG’s pollen monitoring site is located. Overall, this
project has been one of the highlights of the agricultural science
course and this will only improve in the future.
Whilst serving as a learning and engagement experience in the context of
the unique social setting of the CoViD-19 lockdown, undertaking this
type of citizen science project opens the opportunity to re-evaluate
approaches to conventional science learning. Collaboration between
secondary and tertiary education sectors deepens the nexus between
teaching and community participation in real-world scientific research.