Engaging youth in participatory science is a powerful approach for advancing both science learning and community-relevant knowledge production. By contributing to authentic data collection and analysis, students participate in the practices of science rather than merely learning about them. These experiences also enhance motivation and STEM identity development, particularly when students see their contributions informing real research or local decision-making. Because many citizen science projects are embedded in local contexts, they foster place-based learning and can deepen youths’ connections to their communities and environments. For teachers, participatory science offers a practical mechanism for integrating NGSS-aligned standards and practices into everyday instruction. For the field of participatory sciences, advancing youth engagement is essential to cultivating the next generation of contributors and collaborators who will shape the future of community-engaged research.
There were numerous sessions focused on youth education at CAPS 2026, including collaborative sessions on building teacher support materials, a conversation with students and teachers, a session on collaborative grant writing, and a robust talk session. Some key takeaways from these CAPS sessions included:
- Provide sustained teacher support in classroom-based participatory science. Participation grows when teachers receive incentives, standards-aligned materials, flexible guidance, and ongoing training. Building trust through consistent communication, clear expectations, and summer professional development strengthens implementation and data quality.
- Adopt a flexible, context-responsive program design. Successful classroom-based participatory science accommodates diverse instructional settings, limited time or transportation, and varying teacher needs. Adaptable resources, logistical supports, and opportunities for teacher feedback help projects remain usable and relevant.
- Promote youth agency as a core design principle. When youth help shape questions, conduct investigations, analyze data, and present findings, they develop ownership and see their work as meaningful.
- Foster partnerships and community relationships. Strong collaborations among teachers, scientists, Elders, and community-based organizations provide expertise, resources, mentoring, and continuity for youth engaged in participatory science. These relationships help ensure projects reflect local knowledge, needs, and values.
- Design intentional structures for culminating experiences. Effective student research symposia and other public-sharing events require clear roles in planning and implementation, equitable distribution of labor, creative funding strategies, and thoughtful logistics. When well-supported, these events reinforce student STEM identity and self-efficacy, highlight the value of their contributions to science research and their communities, and strengthen teacher and community volunteer engagement.
We know that youth can contribute meaningfully to participatory science. As we continue to engage young people in different forms of participatory science, our focus is now shifting to how to build the systems and relationships that enable youth to thrive as both leaders and contributors. Some of our next steps include understanding how incentives and other supports shape teacher participation in classroom-based participatory science, testing different participatory models for their efficacy in supporting youth agency, strengthening cross-sector partnerships to elicit what makes them durable and supportive of both youth learning and data quality, and evaluating different forms of youth-centered culminating research events to document how these events shape youths’ long-term engagement in participatory science.
