03 Jul 2025
By Sarah Kirn
Sharing and Reflecting on CAPS 2025 with the NASA Cit Sci Leaders Series

Sharing and Reflecting on CAPS 2025 with the NASA Cit Sci Leaders Series

Uncategorized
On June 24, nearly forty people gathered on a video call as part of the NASA Cit Sci Leaders Series to share what they learned at  Conference for Advancing Participatory Sciences (CAPS) and hear about what they missed. We had a lively discussion focused on themes addressed by the conference presenters. Ideas shared covered new topics like artificial intelligence and machine learning, and new ideas about old challenges such as engaging and training volunteers. Here are some of the things that our conversation covered:  Strategies for engaging new communities and participants in projects that center these new groups, and tips…
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20 May 2025
By Sarah Kirn
Resources Explained: Navigating US federal funding for participatory sciences with the NASA Cit Sci Leaders Series

Resources Explained: Navigating US federal funding for participatory sciences with the NASA Cit Sci Leaders Series

Resources, ,
Note: 2025 has brought unprecedented changes to the US federal funding landscape for scientific research, including participatory sciences. While the information below was accurate at the time, funding to support the named programs is uncertain. Seeking grant funding for participatory science work presents both challenges and opportunities. Some challenges stem from misunderstanding or underestimation of how rigorous citizen science research methods can be. Opportunities arise from the fact that citizen science rarely delivers just one set of outcomes; successful projects invariably deliver positive outcomes for participants as well as scientific results. Our series has featured several talks over the years…
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20 Mar 2025
By Sarah Kirn
Resources Explained: Design Thinking Tools

Resources Explained: Design Thinking Tools

Resources, , ,
Back in 2021, we produced a series of events for NASA citizen science project leaders focused on citizen science project design, and more specifically, website design. NASA, by formal policy, uses citizen science as a research method and holds citizen science projects to the same standards as any other research (SPD-33). Project teams are funded to produce scientific results, which as any seasoned participatory science professional will tell you, requires a high quality volunteer experience. The purpose of our series was to provide support to teams of scientists to help them be efficient and successful at these challenges.  In addition…
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01 Sep 2016
By Sarah Kirn

Learning* through Citizen Science: An Aspirational Vision and Ten Questions to Prompt Reflection on Practice

Education, Resources
CSA’s Education Working Group has taken on as its mission to enable, inspire, investigate, and facilitate effective integration of scientific and educational goals, practices, and outcomes in citizen science. We offer the Citizen Science Association community the following vision for what learning, and benefit to learners, is possible through participation in citizen science. Through participation in citizen science, people of all ages and backgrounds contribute to science while building passion for and understanding of scientific ways to investigate the natural world. One of the powerful things about the citizen science community is the great diversity of projects. This diversity is…
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