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:
| Presented By | Department of Ethology at the Eötvös Loránd University |
|---|---|
| Goal | Investigate the foundations of dog-human relationships |
| Task | Fill various questionnaires about dogs |
| Where | Global, anywhere on the planet |
| Description | The Family Dog Project was founded in 1994 to study the behavioral and cognitive aspects of the dog-human relationship. It is currently the largest dog research group in the world. Assist in research investigating the evolutionary and ethological foundations of dog-human relationship by taking one of our online surveys. |
| How to get started | Participate in one of our projects by scrolling through this page https://familydogproject.elte.hu/participate-in-our-research/ Or access our questionnaires directly: Dog’s vocalization questionnaire: http://goo.gl/forms/awamZYHlgF Senior Family Dog survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf2XBtOZjbIPAPh5ifSPqhM2wGsVLfMoQbrLz7L3X95KXRGFg/viewform?usp=send_form Emotional load of artificial sounds: http://soundrating3.elte.hu Emotional load of dog and human sounds: http://soundrating4.elte.hu |
| Social Media | Follow Family Dog Project on Twitter Find Family Dog Project on Facebook |
| How-To Video | Check out the how-to video |
| Total expense | 0.00 |
| Ideal Age Group | High school (14 – 17 years), Elementary school (6 – 10 years), Families, Graduate students, College, Middle school (11 – 13 years), Adults, Seniors, |
| Spend the time | Indoors |
| Ideal Frequency | Just once |
| Average Time | |
| Topics | Sound, Psychology, Animals, Social Science, Biology, |
| Tags | canine, dog, emotion, human, vocalization, |
| Sustainable Development Goals | Relevant Sustainable Development Goals, identified by  ?:Good Health and Well-Being |
| Website | Family Dog Project |
| Project Updated | 08/25/2021, 11:45 pm CDT |
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:
- Do you have a dog? Have you been around dogs? Make a list of a few different types of dogs that might be good for your home.
- Write a story about dogs being able to talk. What kinds of things would dogs say to people? To cats? To other animals?
- Draw a picture of a dog that might be good a visiting your school or home, an imaginary dog with all kinds of different skills.