Community Review of Citizen Science | Common Sense Education

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Teacher Review for Citizen Science

Megan S.
Classroom teacher
Neil Armstrong 5-6 Middle School
Bethel Park, United States

My Subjects English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies

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My Rating

Learning Scores

Engagement

Pedagogy

Support

Classroom feedback

My Students Liked It Yes

My Students Learned Yes

I Would Recommend It No

Setup Time Less than 5 minutes

Great for Individual
Knowledge gain
Practice
Small group

Great with General

How I Use It

Citizen Science was used after teaching a unit on environmental science through a sub unit of Environmental Detectives. I thought it would be a neat way for the students to be able to argue and support the reasons why pollution and introduction of another species into a water source were harmful, as well as the effect of pollution on them. The game was confusing and students lost focus rather quickly. Moving their avatar around wasn't easy and often they weren't sure where to go next. The names of the characters made it confusing. I like that the students had to support their arguments about why a character shouldn't swim in a polluted lake however, the students had to use the game's reasons not their own.

My Take

Citizen Science is a neat way to show pollution dangers as well as the danger of introducing another species into a waterway, but it was lost on the students because of the jumping around from character to character. The character also time traveled which was lost on most students. I like the reading aspect of the conversation rather than the students just listening. However, the LARGE reading component made it difficult for the learning support and ELL students to maintain interest. Support was given to those students but it was still difficult to get them engaged.

Teaching Pollution through Anime

Learning Scores

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