Innovative Pedagogies: #4 Citizen Inquiry

This Innovative Pedagogies series is based on the article Innovative Pedagogies of the Future: An Evidence-based Selection that offers “a set of innovative, evidence-based pedagogical approaches that have the potential to guide teaching practitioners and transform learning processes and outcomes.” The past few years have seen rapid adoption in educational technology, and this series offers ideas for changes in the practice of teaching and learning to accompany those technology advancements.

Citizen inquiry is the last innovative pedagogy in this series. Citizen inquiry refers to active participation by the public (students in our case) in scientific research. Most often citizens (students) are in the role of volunteer to further a line of research through data collection and analysis tasks such as observation and measurement. In higher education this is most closely related to the practice of undergraduate research. The significant difference being that citizen inquiry asks the student to participate in the research simply through data gathering or measurement, while undergraduate research usually requires the student to design, construct and conduct the entire inquiry from start to finish. Why not scaffold the student’s learning of the scientific process through a more limited participation in citizen inquiry?

The theory behind this innovative teaching strategy is inquiry learning. Inquiry-based learning theory asks people to explore new ideas and focus on solving problems; and it emphasizes the student's role in the learning process. An active engagement in research, rather than simply consuming it, encourages higher-order thinking skills, increases the accuracy and degree of self-correction of observations, and increases engagement and satisfaction with learning. Citizen inquiry helps participants learn to evaluate evidence and think critically, while better understanding the scientific approach. Participating in citizen inquiry removes the veil of how scientific inquiry works and invites students into the process in a non-threatening way.

What Citizen Inquiry Looks Like: An Example on our own SCC Campus

Danielle Cowan, Library Faculty at Scottsdale Community College, conducted some citizen science on an Artie Walk this Fall at SCC. Danielle runs the Maricopa Native Seed Library on campus and asked all walk participants to gather seeds during the one-mile walk to help supply the seed library. There was a small explanation, and then active participation in the collection. Walk participants learned a little about each of the plants to be collected and how they benefit wildlife. They also learned where to find seeds in plants, how and why to gather seeds, and who knows what else! Citizen inquiry is most often volunteer based, just like this Artie Walk.

Citizen inquiry currently has limited adoption in higher education, but its place is clear. Undergraduate research is taught and often required in capstone courses and to complete degrees. The use of citizen inquiry prior to these capstone requirements would set students up for a better understanding of the process, and possibly since the process is more familiar, students may have better ideas of what and how to research. As we become familiar with concepts, we apply them more effectively in different situations.

Using this innovative teaching strategy adds fun to learning and can be simple to undertake. The most popular type of citizen inquiry is “citizen science.” Citizen science activities can be done through online platforms such as nQuire at The Open University, Zooniverse people-powered research, and Volunteerscience.com engaging people all over the world in behavioral science research. You can even set up your own research through some of these websites. To read more about citizen inquiry, visit Benefits and challenges of incorporating citizen science into university education by Mitchell, et al.