Celebrate Citizen Science Day!

Citizen Science Day

April 16th, 2016 will mark the first official Citizen Science Day in the United States. Throughout April and May there will be many events to celebrate and get people like you involved in awesome science projects. We're celebrating at Share it! Science News with a giveaway from one of our favorite citizen science projects, Project BudBurst. (Giveaway runs from April 12th-April 18th 2016, details below)

What exactly is citizen science? Citizen science is when scientists collaborate with the general public in collecting data and making observations. There are a myriad of projects available from field work to online activities that broaden the abilities of professional scientists by using the collective power of the public. Citizen science is an excellent way to connect kids to authentic science in the classroom, through after-school programs, or camps.
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To learn more about Citizen Science Day events near you, check out this calendar from Discover magazine or this calendar from SciStarter. For some FAQ's on how to plan or participate in an event, check out this page

Citizen science has been a popular topic here on Share it! Science News. We've featured many different projects that are fun and easy to participate in. We especially like Project BudBurst because it is a project anyone can do, and there are many resources available for students and teachers. You can also get younger kids started with their BudBurst Buddies program. Project BudBurst collects plant phenology data. While this might sound complicated, it's not! Phenology is the study of cycles and seasonal phenomena. When you participate in Project BudBurst you observe plants in your area for seasonal changes, such as budding, bud burst and flowering, then report your observations online.

We've been fortunate to team up with Project BudBurst twice now for giveaways, and are excited to have you get involved this year. For more information about the program, check out our post: "Project BudBurst: Easy, Authentic Plant Science" 

http://www.shareitscience.com/2015/04/project-budburst-easy-authentic-plant.html

If you are interested in other citizen science opportunities visit these posts:





    Additional Resources for Citizen Science Day:

    Enter to win a Learning Pack from Project BudBurst! These are materials that would benefit any classroom or home citizen science project! 4 different winners will each win: 2 notepads, a Project BudBurst calendar, Season Spotter bookmark, scientist trading cards, plant profile trading cards and a tape measure for field work. This giveaway runs from April 12th-Midnight EST April 18th. You can enter in a variety of different ways in the Rafflecopter box below. Winners will be notified by e-mail and included in this post once the giveaway concludes. Good luck and have fun being a scientist! 


    a Rafflecopter giveaway

    2 comments:

    1. Since I am a homeschool mom,this would be a great win to have a plant svience project with the co-op group.

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      1. This would be an excellent homeschool project! You can easily do it with multiple ages and levels. Definitely check out the lesson plans that Project BudBurst has on their site for lots of great ideas. You can find them here: http://budburst.org/educators

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