We are big fans of citizen science! Of course, science is always cool, and STEM/STEAM projects are an increasing part of everyone’s work and school experiences. So understanding how science works is not just fun, but a good way to understand what is going on in the world around us all.
So we are sharing some neat science you can do, contributing toward large projects, and learning new things. Maybe you can use this today; maybe you will save it for later. As long as you enjoy some exploration and learning new things – citizen science is for you! And it is definitely something you can use to bring some good programming to your library.
Check out this project from SciStarter:
| Goal | Create a resource for people to learn about the species on Earth |
|---|---|
| Task | Take wildlife photos, comment, research and write about species |
| Where | View map… |
| Description | The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) provides free, open, multilingual, digital access to trusted information on all known species through its website at http://eol.org. EOL is an international collaboration led by the Smithsonian that works to raise awareness and understanding of living nature. Citizen Scientists can participate in many ways, from contributing articles, photos, videos and sounds, to creating and using collections, to annotating and curating biodiversity content. |
| How to get started | Go to www.eol.org and click on “create an account”. This is free, and lets you customize your experience on our site. Then visit http://eol.org/info/contribute to find various ways to contribute information. You can join iNaturalist.org, or our Flickr group to contribute photos, our Vimeo or Youtube groups to post video, and you can add text directly to any taxon page. If you are not a professional biologist, one of our curators will visit your content to verify its accuracy. You will be personally credited for all your contributions to EOL. |
| Social Media | Follow Encyclopedia of Life on Twitter Find Encyclopedia of Life on Facebook Follow the Encyclopedia of Life |
| Total expense | 0.00 |
| Ideal Age Group | Families, Adults, Elementary school (6 – 10 years), High school (14 – 17 years), College, Graduate students, Middle school (11 – 13 years), |
| Spend the time | Indoors and Outdoors |
| Ideal Frequency | Unspecified |
| Average Time | |
| Topics | Education, Ocean, Water, Marine & Terrestrial, Birds, Ecology & Environment, Animals, Insects & Pollinators, Nature & Outdoors, Biology, |
| Classroom Materials | http://eol.org/info/ed_resources |
| Media Mentions & Publications | Browse the Encyclopedia of Life |
| Tags | algae, ambphibians, animals, archaea, bacteria, biodiversity, birds, checklist, crustaceans, encyclopedia, field guide, fishes, flowers, fungi, insects, invertebrates, mammals, molds, mullusks, mushrooms, photos, plants, protists, protozoa, reptiles, species, spiders, trees, viruses, worms, |
| Sustainable Development Goals | Relevant Sustainable Development Goals, identified by  ?:Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions Life on Land Zero Hunger |
| Website | Encyclopedia of Life |
And if you want to bring in a few of these ideas to your library, it is useful to have a variety of different program strategies to help share this project. We have a few suggestions to help you get started:
- Write an article or an essay about your favorite plant or animal
- Take pictures of the more interesting plant you see in your area
- Find videos of at least three different kinds of animals living in different places, preferably live cams
- Work with other people to create an encyclopedia of the living things in your environment – plants and animals