Citizen Science
Events & Registrations // Bird of the Month // Video Library
For Educators // Cornell Lab of Ornithology // Partners // Additional Resources
Homewood Science Center proudly presents
Citizen Science: All About Birds
Why Citizen Science?
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Citizen science projects are a fun and easy way to get families and people of all ages involved in science at home.
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Citizen science is collaborative and allows people of all age groups to contribute meaningfully to science.
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Citizen science gets you out in nature, away from the computer screen.
How can you participate?
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Register for monthly online events including Family Yoga and Spotlight On...
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Go hands-on with PopUp SCIENCE @Home activities
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Share your Bird of the Month observations in our Online Community Journal
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Explore more with Cornell Lab of Ornithology Celebrate Urban Birds
Inspired by
Sponsored by
Events and Registrations
Homewood Science Center is excited to bring you Citizen Science: All About Birds. From October 2020-February 2021, we will feature free interactive online events and activities for all age groups. Early learners, elementary students, and families will love our Virtual Family Yoga featuring Citizen Science topics. Middle school, high school, and adult learners are invited to our online talk series, Spotlight On, which will feature bird experts from across our region. Be on the look-out for our monthly PopUp SCIENCE @Home activities and pick-up dates to receive free hands-on activity kits to learn All About Birds.
Video Library
Homewood Science Center presents Citizen Science: All About Birds event videos.
We encourage your family or classroom to learn about birds by enjoying our webinar series, Spotlight On.
Our littlest learners will love an introduction to citizen science through movement with our Family Yoga series.
Bird of the Month
Meet our Bird of the Month! As part of Homewood Science Center's Citizen Science: All About Birds, we will highlight bird species featured in Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bird Guide. We encourage our citizen scientists to learn cool facts about our Bird of the Month and then share what you learned.
We encourage citizen scientists to:
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Make observations about the Bird of the Month by using Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bird Guide
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Spend time in nature and try to locate the Bird of the Month. We recommend Homewood Izaak Walton Preserve!
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Use our Bird of the Month Community Journal to share your own unique thoughts, stories, photos, and drawings about each bird.
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Check out what other citizen scientists are learning by viewing their entries in the Bird of the Month Community Journal.
Bird of the Month Community Journal
Meet our Bird of the Month! As part of Homewood Science Center's Citizen Science: All About Birds, we will highlight bird species featured in Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bird Guide. We encourage our citizen scientists to learn cool facts about our Bird of the Month and then share what you learned.
We encourage citizen scientists to:
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Use our Bird of the Month Community Journal to share your own thoughts, stories, photos, and drawings about each bird.
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Check out what other citizen scientists are learning by viewing their entries in the Bird of the Month Community Journal.
Click on the pencil to make a Bird of the Month Community Journal Entry
Citizen Science in the Classroom
NGSS // Resources for Educators
Hello educators! We encourage you to incorporate Homewood Science Center's Citizen Science: All About Birds in your classroom curriculum. You can do this by downloading our Educator Guide, reserving PopUp SCIENCE @Home kits for your PreK-5th grade students, or utilizing our Bird of the Month Community Journal. We also encourage your students to attend our Citizen Science events. We will offer extra credit codes at our speaker series, Spotlight On...
We also recommend the free resources in Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Celebrate Urban Birds program.
"Celebrate Urban Birds is a citizen science project focused on better understanding the value of green spaces for birds. This project connects people of all ages and backgrounds to birds and the natural world through the arts and fun neighborhood activities."
Educators can download the following materials for free by visiting the Celebrate Urban Birds website.
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Instructions
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Bird silhouette poster
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Bird ID poster
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Tally sheet
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Data sheet
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“Zero means a lot” sticker
Citizen Science & NGSS
The strongest connection between the NGSS and citizen science is to the science and engineering practices:
The NGSS requires that students not only know science facts, but can actually use them to explain phenomena and solve problems using the science and engineering practices that are one of the 3 dimensions. Phenomena are essential to NGSS instruction - they not only provoke questioning and investigation, but they also support the creation of the conceptual models students can use to understand science concepts. Integrating the science and engineering practices into science instruction will allow students to begin to use scientific skills to “figure out” the answers to scientific questions. Building concrete scientific skills will increase students’ awareness of, and confidence in, their own ability to contribute meaningfully to scientific research which is supportive of student self-efficacy.
Citizen science projects also support self-efficacy and achievement in the classroom:
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Active engagement in science through voice and choice
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Supports student autonomy
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Allows students to undertake, persist in, and fulfill a learning goal
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Contribute to authentic science research
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Opportunity to communicate scientific knowledge to others
NGSS science content connections depend upon the citizen science project and how it is implemented:
Not all citizen science projects require students to understand content to participate, but a 2018 consensus study by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine found evidence that content learning does occur in citizen science projects, such as Celebrate Urban Birds, that requires participants to develop expertise in identifying and documenting species, or objects, or other natural phenomena and gathering and organizing related data.
Celebrate Urban Birds works towards these elementary and middle school NGSS performance expectation core ideas:
Life Science Performance Expectation Core Ideas:
LS1.A - Structure and Function
LS2.A - Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
LS2.C - Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning and Resilience
LS4.C - Adaptation
LS4.D - Biodiversity and Humans
Thank you to our partners!
Homewood Science Center gives a huge thank you to all of our partners who are working together to bring Citizen Science: All About Birds to children, families, and classrooms across the Chicago Southland. Please visit our partners' websites to learn more about their programs.