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Let them participate! School students as citizen scientists and agents of change
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This paper discusses the Plastic Pirates program, where school students collect data on plastic pollution in the environment. It suggests students could also help connect their findings to policy-making and engage with local decision makers, beyond just gathering data for scientists.
Through citizen science initiatives, school students have contributed substantially to scientific knowledge. Often, their contribution is limited to the collection of data and other processes of the research cycle such as developing a research question or disseminating research outputs that are not part of a citizen science initiative. In this article we present the involvement of school students in the citizen science program, Plastic Pirates, investigating plastic pollution of the environment. We project two collaboration opportunities beyond data collection and purely academic work: fitting citizen science initiatives to policy-making processes and engaging with local stakeholders and decision makers. This would ensure that school students as citizen scientists do not only create data and knowledge but experience self-efficacy and step into negotiation spaces, where they are able to act on and engage with the investigated topic at hand. Keywords: school students, citizen science, self-efficacy, participation in research, decision-making processes
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Researchers reported on eight years of citizen science microplastic research conducted with school students through the Plastic Pirates program, sharing methodological experiences and lessons learned from involving more than 24,000 participants across Germany and other European countries in rigorous environmental monitoring.
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Researchers shared eight years of experience from the Plastic Pirates citizen science program involving over 24,000 school students and teachers in microplastic research across Germany, addressing challenges of contamination prevention, particle size, and sample processing in non-laboratory settings. The study evaluated the feasibility and scientific validity of engaging young citizen scientists in standardized riverine microplastic monitoring.
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The Plastic Pirates citizen science program in Germany engaged schoolchildren and teachers in monitoring plastic pollution in rivers over seven years, and this paper shares the communication strategies that made the program work at scale. Effective participant recruitment, guidance, and feedback loops enabled the program to generate peer-reviewed scientific data while building environmental literacy. The lessons offer a replicable model for using citizen science to expand microplastic monitoring coverage beyond what professional researchers can achieve alone.
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Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.