The Finnish Meteorological Institute puts science into high school STEM courses by offering students the possibility to collect actual data and to do real science alongside researchers. Mixing citizen science with STEM education could benefit both in the future, thinks researcher Atte Harjanne.
The 5T project coordinated by the Finnish Meteorological Institute offers high school students the opportunity to participate in actual research under the guidance of scientists. The two-year project is financed by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.
Participation in the project is open to all interested high school groups. The process usually begins with a visit to the FMI in Helsinki where the students meet the scientists and get an overview of the research topics. The students can choose their projects among several themes, for example measurements of the depth and coverage of snow, phenology, the amount of pollen, observations of the Aurora Borealis and climate change actions taken by local communities. They can also help by designing novel mobile weather services -some may even have the skills to code these applications.
In the field the students contribute to research by for example making observations on different phenomena in their everyday environment. The work can be included in a STEM subject course or it can extend over a longer period of time and include several subjects.
The role of the teacher is to integrate the research projects to the context and pedagogical goals of the subject or course.
Citizen science benefits both researchers and the public
The 5T project links the traditional aspects of outreach and STEM education with the trending global movement of citizen science, says the project’s contact person, researcher Atte Harjanne from FMI:
“Citizen science is a rising trend around the world. It is a big thing especially in meteorology and climate research, which rely on observations.”
Millions of people around the world have already participated in citizen science projects that take advantage of the power of crowdsourcing. Anyone with a smartphone can participate in making and recording observations or simple measurements or screen data for specific findings.
Citizen science could become a powerful tool in STEM teaching: interest in the natural sciences and STEM education could benefit from citizen science as students will feel more involved with research.
“The kids will get an idea of what STEM areas could offer as a career choice and they will be more familiar with how science is done in real life. Our aim is to study if and how participating in this project changes the students’ conceptions about science,” Harjanne says.
According to feedback from the students and teachers contributing to research motivates the students and has engaged them successfully in STEM studies.
So far snow has been the most popular research topic. Harjanne thinks this could be due to the straightforward and scalable nature of the tasks. “Snow measurements were probably the most easily approachable topic also from the teachers’ point of view,” he says.
The project has received positive feedback also from the researchers who, according to Harjanne, are happy with the work of their teenage research assistants. The students collect real data, Hajanne emphasizes: they are a part of actual research.
“We expect all students to do their best in the project: all observations must be made carefully and recorded diligently according to the researchers’ instructions. Otherwise they are of no use to science.”
The Finnish Meteorological Institute offers information, open access data and educational resources on climate and climate change: Visit the Climate Guide portal.
Text: Maija Pollari.
