How the Addition of a Mandatory Citizen Science Programme to UK GCSE and A-Level Curriculums Enhances Science Literacy, Education, and Develops Well-rounded Students

DOI

UK students face a disadvantage when confined to mandatory science studies only up until Year 11. The option to discontinue science education means that some students miss out on the chance to continue developing their scientific learning, skills, and understanding of its application. Compounded with a shortage of science-specific teachers, there is a critical concern for the quality of science education received by UK students. With its core principle being to engage the wider community to participate in science and contribute to scientific endeavors, it is suggested that citizen science become integrated into the UK education system. With a multitude of applications in fields such as ecology, biology and conservation, a diverse array of options are available to cater to individual interests. This would work to increase scientific literacy within schools developing the students ability by giving them a practical opportunity to apply their learning in a real life setting.Several academic and non-academic programmes in the UK currently offer students the opportunity to expand their horizons such as the Duke of Edinburgh and CREST Awards. The benefits of such programmes are well understood for both the development of skills and knowledge, with being highly valued in university admissions.A real-life example of mandatory non-academic programmes currently exists in the form of the IB Creativity, activity, service (CAS) programme. Which runs parallel to academic classes, and allows students to decide how they will spend their time throughout two years. There are clear guidelines as to how to log and track progress for each of the categories. This example is used as a framework to develop the Citizen Science Programme (CSP) which proposes that students from all years in secondary and further education (A-levels) be required to take part in a range of CS projects varying in scale and reach.

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.5522/04/26305087.v1
Related Identifier HasPart https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/47694709
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Metadata Access https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_datacite&identifier=oai:figshare.com:article/26305087
Provenance
Creator Skarlatidou, Artemis; Al Chihimi, Yasmin; Ka Ho, Jodie
Publisher University College London UCL
Contributor Figshare
Publication Year 2024
Rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
OpenAccess true
Contact researchdatarepository(at)ucl.ac.uk
Representation
Language English
Resource Type Poster; Image
Discipline Other