Abstract
Citizen science is a growing approach in science and the opportunities of new technologies and learning are considered more and more. We give an overview of the current practice of mobile learning in Germany by conducting an explorative survey among environmental citizen science projects using mobile apps. This study supports the idea that education is relevant in citizen science, and apps affect the learning experience of participants. However, several obstacles were identified that need to be considered, to be able to fully exploit the benefits of mobile learning in citizen science.
Funding statement: This publication was written as part of the project ‘Stadtnatur entdecken’, funded by the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).
About the authors
Ulrike Sturm is project leader of the project “Discover Urban Nature” and manages the development of the app “Naturblick” at MfN. Before that, she coordinated the EU Project “Europeana Creative” at MfN. She holds a Master’s degree in Urban Ecosystem Science from the Technical University of Berlin and a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Bremen. In her Master thesis she focused on the potentials of citizen science in urban conservation.
Dr. Alexandra Moormann is a researcher in the Department of Education at MfN. She holds a Diploma degree in Biology and is a trained teacher in Biology and Physics. Alexandra did her PhD in Biology Education at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin about the longitudinal development of students’ attitudes towards science subjects with a focus on transitions. For about 15 years, she worked as a museum educator at a botanical garden and a natural history museum.
Astrid Faber is head of the Department of Education at MfN and deputy head of the Science Programme Public Engagement with Science. Her tasks are the conceptional design of educational programs and publications as well as the initiation of educational collaborations and research projects. She holds a Diploma degree in Biology from the Freie Universität (FU) Berlin and studied Psychology at the FU and the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen.
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank Prof. Dr. Armin Lude, David Ziegler and the German citizen science platform buergerschaffenwissen.de for their help and support. We also thank Korantema Anyimadu for reviewing our English language.
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