Citizen Science and STS/STSE Education: Considering Contributions, Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Citizen science, which allows the involvement of students and their teachers in authentic scientific initiatives that take place in real-world contexts, constitute a way of promoting science education with a STS/STSE orientation, by helping the student to understand science and scientific research practices and to apply them to solve real environmental issues, in collaboration with scientists, teachers and the wider community. This article presents a characterization of citizen science as a way of involving citizens, including young students, in scientific research processes, developed to address socio-scientific issues and emerging problems and carried out in a participatory way and with potential reach on a global scale. It also reflects on the potential contribution of citizen science to the achievement of the main objective of STS/STSE education, which lies in the use of real-world experiences that allow students to explore the interfaces between science and the social world and to enable them to understand and act in the environment in which they operate. Finally, it seeks to reflect on the potential and challenges of the integration of citizen science in formal and non-formal contexts of science education.