Abstract: Citizen science is an ideal vehicle for building smart and connected communities, particularly in
underrepresented and urban populations. It provides the means for a community to become vested in its local
ecosystem. It simultaneously engages students and schools, public and private stakeholders, educators, and
scientists. It plays an essential role in empowering local communities to restore biodiversity, ecological
productivity and ecosystem services.
Just as citizen science is a means by which a community can help form its ecological future, citizen
policymaking is the analog by which a community can help form its environmental future. The practice of policy
connects the diverse disciplines necessary for informed decision-making, such as science, law, technology,
economics and social sciences. The combination of science and policymaking, a staple of environmental
governance, creates for student, teacher and community member a creative venue for applied learning that
connects scientific discovery with civic engagement, scientific method with policy governance, and all-important
STEM skills with all the above.
Through a curriculum that explores the combined role of monitoring technologies, data collection and decision-making one can demonstrate the processes that harmonize STEM-based and ecological knowledge with policy priorities and environmental necessity for the greatest societal benefit. For students in particular, such lessons open the door to the interdisciplinary thinking and applied value of STEM in the professions. Just as our schools should be unrivaled training grounds for citizen science, so too should they be the hub for the applied interdisciplinary learning and skills that animate and enliven the principles of democracy and law.
Key words: STEM education, citizen science, environmental restoration, smart and connected communities.
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Chasing the Frontiers of Digital Technology: Public History Meets the Digital Divide
Digital technology has unquestionably become central to the enterprise of public history and cultural heritage. Yet the extent to which digital technologies have helped public historians animate higher levels of civic engagement and activism is unclear and becomes particularly problematic in the context of the digital divide. This essay examines the implications of that divide through an analysis of a community-engagement project in a distressed section of inner-city St. Louis. The experience provides a cautionary tale about the efficacy of chasing the latest digital wizardry in the pursuit of public engagement, but also suggests that digital technologies can enhance civic engagement and activism when blended strategically with more traditional formats for interaction.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1355406
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10023578
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Public historian
- Volume:
- 38
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0272-3433
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 69-88
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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null (Ed.)With more than 3 billion users, online social networks represent an important venue for moral and political discourse and have been used to organize political revolutions, influence elections, and raise awareness of social issues. These examples rely on a common process to be effective: the ability to engage users and spread moralized content through online networks. Here, we review evidence that expressions of moral emotion play an important role in the spread of moralized content (a phenomenon we call moral contagion). Next, we propose a psychological model called the motivation, attention, and design (MAD) model to explain moral contagion. The MAD model posits that people have group-identity-based motivations to share moral-emotional content, that such content is especially likely to capture our attention, and that the design of social-media platforms amplifies our natural motivational and cognitive tendencies to spread such content. We review each component of the model (as well as interactions between components) and raise several novel, testable hypotheses that can spark progress on the scientific investigation of civic engagement and activism, political polarization, propaganda and disinformation, and other moralized behaviors in the digital age.more » « less
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This paper describes the temporal progression of human and social dimensions that undergraduate information and communications technology (ICT) students realized during an experiential learning externship where they explored digital divide technology solutions for low-income neighborhoods in the surrounding urban community. The described research represents significant adaptation and use of socio-technical integration research (STIR) with undergraduate ICT students engaged in work based experiential learning to promote equity in STEM education, instill a sense of civic responsibility, and practice approaches to tackling complex societal problems. Methods used for the research study included: STIR, semi-structured interviews, and on-site group observations. Using STIR, an embedded social scientist conducted regular one-on-one dialogs with three of four student externs, to collaboratively describe each student’s consideration of human and social dimensions as part of their technical work, explore alternative choices and their potential outcomes, and engage in reflexive learning that in some cases, influenced deliberate changes to material and behavioral practices. The on-site observation of group activities within the ICT innovation center situated in the local urban community provided additional ecosystem context during technical solution design and development of the digital divide solution for local high schools and feeder schools. Outcomes for participating undergraduate ICT students showed: 1) Technology learning improvements for all students; 2) Capacity building to reflect, anticipate and respond to socio-technical interactions for some students; and 3) Each student was able to progress to a new level of socio-technical learning and decision making. Reflexive discourse with participants surfaced cultural assets and consideration of alternative knowledges in collaborative technology design, development, and implementation that can potentially lead to solutions that are more community centered now and in the future as the ICT students transition to the workforce.more » « less
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This paper describes the temporal progression of human and social dimensions that undergraduate information and communications technology (ICT) students realized during an experiential learning externship where they explored digital divide technology solutions for low-income neighborhoods in the surrounding urban community. The described research represents significant adaptation and use of socio-technical integration research (STIR) with undergraduate ICT students engaged in work based experiential learning to promote equity in STEM education, instill a sense of civic responsibility, and practice approaches to tackling complex societal problems. Methods used for the research study included: STIR, semi-structured interviews, and on-site group observations. Using STIR, an embedded social scientist conducted regular one-on-one dialogs with three of four student externs, to collaboratively describe each student’s consideration of human and social dimensions as part of their technical work, explore alternative choices and their potential outcomes, and engage in reflexive learning that in some cases, influenced deliberate changes to material and behavioral practices. The on-site observation of group activities within the ICT innovation center situated in the local urban community provided additional ecosystem context during technical solution design and development of the digital divide solution for local high schools and feeder schools. Outcomes for participating undergraduate ICT students showed: 1) Technology learning improvements for all students; 2) Capacity building to reflect, anticipate and respond to socio-technical interactions for some students; and 3) Each student was able to progress to a new level of socio-technical learning and decision making. Reflexive discourse with participants surfaced cultural assets and consideration of alternative knowledges in collaborative technology design, development, and implementation that can potentially lead to solutions that are more community centered now and in the future as the ICT students transition to the workforce.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1525/tph.2016.38.1.69
