Education
education

#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
liz "What kind of net is used to sample for plankton? Is it more finely woven than the nylon "babylegs" tights or different in any way? If so, can we sw..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
liz "What a fantastic update! It's great to hear from you @EdMallon. An underwater logger running for a year on a single coin cell battery?? COOL. Taggi..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
Andrew2005 "The video that I watched in class informed me about what led up to the creation of Public Labs. The oil spill that occurred in 2010 caused the comm..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
queenj303 "The video I watched in class gave some insight on how Public Labs started. After the 2010 oil spill people in the community came together to learn ..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
chall0105 "Caleb Hall- 3/15/2022 The video " The DIY Community Microscope Kit" goes over a few topics dealing with the public organization, their aspirations,..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
EdMallon " It’s been a long time since I posted, and you’d be forgiven for thinking the Cave Pearl Project was yet another victim of COVID. While the attend..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
AnJah "Approaching the cite of where we were going to be collecting microplastics, I noticed there was a lot of trash and unexpected debris. There were ma..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
Ag8n "I need to give further explanation. I'm recovering from cancer, now. Without the polymer based medical devices giving the nasty chemicals, that w..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
Ag8n "How will the general public be convinced? Right now, there are many plastic plants in the US employing thousands of people. That is before We menti..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
queenj303 "Jedah Tanner- 3/11/22 Collecting microplastics was more interesting than I expected. I mostly saw plastic bottles, food wrappers, foam cups, wood, ..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
Andrew2005 "The Mississippi River is important to me in various ways. The river is a vital source of hydroelectric energy, provides drinking water for millions..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
adison1cooper "Adison Cooper 3/11/22 The most common items we found in the Mississippi River were bottle caps, bottles, and plastic bags. These materials will tak..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
Andrew2005 "My field trip experience was intriguing. The environment of the location was the complete opposite of what I thought it would be. Plastics can take..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
chall0105 "Caleb Hall-3/11/2-2022 The Mississippi river is important to me and other around me for many reasons. Firstly, it is our main source of water for ..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
J_aidaM "Jaida Manson 3/11/21 - I had fun using the water trawl to collect microplastics. It wasn't how I thought it was going to be. I mostly saw candy wra..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
madison125c "The items that I saw the most often was water bottles, plastic grocery bags, and soda cans. I think that it will take 20 to 500 years for those ite..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
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 » almost 3 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 » almost 3 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 » almost 3 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 » almost 3 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 » almost 3 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 » almost 3 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 » almost 3 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 » almost 3 years ago