#Welcome On this page you will find programming, activities, and resources related to formal and informal education. From here, you can: Join the conversation Learn how to integrate community science practices into your classroom Browse community science lesson plans from the Public Lab team Find activities for your classroom from the community Ask a question, answer a question, or follow future questions on education ## What Does Community Science Look Like in Your Classroom? Public Lab defines community science as community-led scientific exploration and investigation to address community-defined questions, allowing for engagement in the entirety of the scientific process. Unlike traditional citizen science, Public Lab’s approach emphasizes local and traditional knowledge, community ownership of research, and working together in scalable networks to encourage collaborative learning and civic engagement. [![Screen_Shot_2021-04-15_at_6.34.42_PM.png](/i/43663)](/i/43663?s=o) Classroom community science projects are youth-led with an approach that emphasizes participant and community ownership of research, from question identification through analysis, and working together to encourage collaborative learning and civic engagement. After identifying their interests, students conduct research as they join the efforts of people and organizations already working on these issues and take the lead in aspects of study design, data collection, and analysis. The data collected from these student-designed projects supports community action and civic engagement. [Read more about integrating community science methodologies into your classroom here](https://publiclab.org/notes/mimiss/04-16-2021/community-science-in-the-classroom). **** ## How Can You Get Involved? We're looking to build a strong community of practice where educators of all experiences can share resources, knowledge, and lend a hand. Here are some ways that you can help build Public Lab's educational community ### Join the Conversation Get notified about new #education posts by subscribing to related tags. Click the button below, and subscribe to tags like "education", "classroom", "lesson", as well as other topics that you're interested in. Subscribe ### Try These Lessons in Your Classroom and Share Your Experience After using one of these activities in person, let us know how it goes in the comments. We appreciate your feedback and encourage you to share how you modify the lesson to better fit your classroom. - [Classroom Community Science](https://publiclab.org/wiki/student-led-community-science-in-the-classroom-a-curriculum): An adaptable curricula for bringing student-led environmental projects into your classroom. - [Messages from the Mississippi](https://publiclab.org/wiki/messages-from-the-mississippi-lesson-plans): A 6-part series investigating microplastics in local bodies of water culminating in student artwork and advocacy. - [Wetlands Remote Sensing & Management](https://publiclab.org/wiki/wetlands-lesson-plans): Hands on lesson plans to introduce students in grades 8-12 to oil spill cleanup, monitoring wetlands, and managing natural resources. - [Air Quality Class](https://publiclab.org/wiki/air-quality-class): An 8-week program in which students work with air quality sensors to monitor indoor air pollutants. Participants catalog and analyze the environmental air pollutant hazards that affect neighborhood homes and will share their findings with other community members ________________ ## Activities Here are some different activities particularly suited for use in the classroom: [activities:education] **** ## Questions [questions:education] **** ## Resources To learn more about the methods, successes, and challenges in developing these programs, check out our reports and evaluations from these funded projects: 2021 National Academy of Sciences Project Evaluation: Community Science in the Classroom 2022 EPA Impact Report: Messages from the Mississippi 2022 EPA Environmental Education Evaluation: Messages from the Mississippi **For more information on funding resources for educators, [click here](http://publiclab.org/wiki/funding-sources-for-science-teachers) ** [![PartsNCraftsSpectralTurntable.jpg](/i/47464)](/i/47464?s=o)...
Author | Comment | Last activity | Moderation | ||
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vscott2731 | "Victoria Scott - 3/11/2022: My experience with collecting microplastics was not the setting I imagined. The area was completely covered with plants..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
awandrei36 | "The item that I saw the most often was plastic bags and paper cups. The plastic bags will take about 1,000 years to disintegrate but even then, the..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
chall0105 | "Caleb Hall- 3/10/2022/ - Field Trip Reflection My experience with the trip was not quite what I expected. I expected that we were going to come to ..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
dfolgar | "The collection process would have worked better if we had a high elevated platform like a bridge and lowered the trawlers into the water to get a f..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
carlo2005 | "My experiences collecting microplastics along the Mississippi River were different than expected. I thought it was going to be a much more fluent p..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
klanoix61 | "Lesson #2 reflection prompt, I had a fun time on this field trip. I think the items i seen the most was plastic. Plastics can take anywhere from 20..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
fooddieto675 | "The telecommunications network allows the exchange of data. Here the computers are linked and the linked computers can share the data.excellent pos..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
chall0105 | "Caleb Hall- 3/7/2022- Video Observation Many pollution statistics can usually make the audience feel its a far away issue, when in reality its not..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
chall0105 | "Caleb Hall-3/4/2022-Why 99% of ocean plastic pollution is missing It is believed that about 99% of plastic pollution in our ocean is "missing". The..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
adison1cooper | "Adison Cooper March 3rd 2022 Answering/Responding to: "Why 99% of Ocean plastic pollution is "missing"' The video explains that scientists once bel..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
mpoplay | "blog anda sangat menarik. terima kasih anda sudah mau berbagi. terus semangat untuk berbagi apapun itu. sekali lagi terima kasih. tuhan memberkati ..." | Read more » | over 2 years ago | |||
dragonrylee | "Microplastics cause damage to human cells in the laboratory at the levels known to be eaten by people via their food, a study has found. They found..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
amcreecy | "I learned from the video today that Dr. Scott Coffins job is to find information on microplastics and their influence on humans. He says that the p..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
queenj303 | "I thought today's video was rather informative because it gave an in depth look into how nanoplastics enter the body and where they would reside. I..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
ambreestamant | "I learned that most testing are intended to microplastics. They should be able to study into it more to be able to focus on how much it affects our..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
adison1cooper | "Adison Cooper 2/23/22 "Microplastics in The Drinking Water": by Dr. Scott Coffin Environmental Science - Rene Phillips - 2nd Block Dr. Scott Coffi..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
chall0105 | "Today, we learned that the history of microplastics is somewhat confusing. Only about 5 years ago, barely anyone knew what microplastics were, ther..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
Andrew2005 | "Andrew Smith 2.23.2022 I have learned various things today from Dr. Scott Coffin. He governs companies and prevents them from using microplastics. ..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
LoganRusso | "From Dr. Smith's experiment, I learned that humans might already have many microplastics within them. There are other ways microplastics can invad..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
Evergarden | "(Christian) Today I learned that even the tiniest bit of plastic can severely cause harm to our bodies over a period of time. Plastics so small tha..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
Andrew2005 | "I've learned various of facts about microplastics today. There is a variant called nanoplastics they are so microscopic that they are comparable to..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
queenj303 | "Today, I learned that microplastics the size of of a strand of hair can be lodged in the most vital organs that clean out the blood (liver, kidneys..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
chall0105 | "Caleb Hall- Environmental Science- 2-22-2022 Microplastic intrusion into the human body can occur in ways other than just drinking or eating fo..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
Evergarden | "(Christian) Journal Entry 1: I saw a plastic bottle on the ground when walking. Based on that, I can assume that once purchased by someone to quenc..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago |