JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGY & BIOLOGY EDUCATION, March 2016, p. 117-119
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v17i1.1082
Supplemental Materials
for
Using Citizen Science to Engage Introductory Students:
From Streams to the Solar System
Carolin Cardamone* and Lisa Lobel
Department of Mathematics & Science, Wheelock College, Boston, MA 02215
Table of Contents
(Total pages 11)
Appendix 1: Description of Asteroid Mappers activity in Introductory Solar System
Appendix 2: Homework assignment for Asteroid Mappers activity
Appendix 3: Description of Biomonitoring Field Project in Introduction to Environmental
Challenges
Appendix 4: Lab report checklist for Biomonitoring Field Project
Appendix 5: Example of midterm incorporating Biomonitoring Field Project
Appendix 6: Resources for faculty incorporating citizen science into undergraduate
curricula
*Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Mathematics
& Science, Wheelock College, 200 Riverway, Boston, MA
02215. Phone: 617-879-2256. E-mail: [email protected].
©2016 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode),
which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
JMBE ▪ 1752 N Street NW, Washington, DC 20036
(202) 942-9299 ▪ fax (202) 942-9329 ▪ [email protected]
http://jmbe.asm.org
Appendix 1: Description of Asteroid Mappers activity in Introductory Solar System.
Course Description & Goals:






Activity Goals:
1. Consider the perspective of astronomical researchers who are planning a scientific
mission to explore the asteroid belt.
2. View a variety of real images of craters on asteroids, and experience a task done by
scientific researchers (marking & measuring sizes and shapes of craters)!
3. Connect discoveries talked about on the news to the long timescale over which a space
mission is planed, developed, launched then data is received, analyzed and finally new
knowledge is developed.
Part 1: In-Class Introduction to the Mission
About 15 min of class lecture time was devoted to
an introduction to NASA’s Dawn Mission and the
Asteroid Mappers homework assignment. In
addition to slides describing the mission and the
science behind it, the students were shown video
coverage of the mission by a popular news outlet
(CNN1) and then watched a scientists speak about
the mission and the new science they hoped that it
would enable2.
The purpose of this time was to introduce the
assignment, helping students become familiar with
the website to get them thinking about the
perspective of the scientists involved in the
1
2
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/06/us/dawn-spacecraft-ceres/
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=600
1
research. Throughout the brief time during class, the potential impact of their work on our
collective understanding of asteroids was emphasized.
Part 2: Homework Assignment
After the in-class introduction, students were asked to complete the assignment for the next
class two days later. The homework assignment was aligned with each of the course goals
(above). All students completed the homework assignment (shown in Appendix 2). The
assignment equal to the credit received on other homework assignments and gave full credit to
those students who clearly answered every question, demonstrating their thinking and their
participation in the project. In this course, students are encouraged to talk to others in the class
about their assignments, but to write up their own work.
Time in the laboratory (with the class computers) was provided for students who wished to work
on this activity collaboratively, and to trouble shoot any issues that could come up as students
logged onto the assignment. Roughly ~25% of the class took advantage of this opportunity.
Part 3: Learning Reflections
In the next class meeting, students were asked to reflect on their experience with Asteroid
Mappers in a Think-Pair-Share entrance exercise. This was an informal and ungraded activity,
but provided students with the opportunity to share their experience with others and for the
instructor to connect their work to the larger science goals of the project (Robbins et al. 2014).
Entry Question (displayed in PPT):
Thinking about your participation in the Asteroid Mappers Citizen Science project:
 What did you like most and least about the project?
 How did your contributions make a difference to ‘scientific discovery’?
 What did you learn from this activity?
2
Appendix 2: Homework assignment for Asteroid Mappers activity.
Assignment 09: Vesta Mappers
Introduction: This week for homework you will be investigating real data collected by the NASA
space mission Dawn3, which has just arrived on Vesta and you will be making real contributions
to science by participating in the Citizen Science Project “Asteroid Mappers.”
Purpose: In this assignment, you will apply some of what you’ve been learning in lab about the
shape of craters, to help scientists identify craters in new images obtained from the asteroid
Vesta. Through your contributions, you will be able to explore real images from space, and see
some examples of astronomical data.
1. Visit http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/DawnCommunity/asteroid_mappers.asp to read about the
Dawn Mission and Asteroid Mappers. In your own words, describe the Dawn Mission.
You answer should identify the mission’s purpose (what scientists hope to learn) and
when it was launched.
2. Now you will participate in the Asteroid Mappers Citizen Science project:
a. Go to Asteroid Mappers: Vesta Edition, select ‘Map Vesta’ and follow the steps to
register for an account.
b. Work through the tutorial. Take note of the task and your experience with it.
c. Once you complete the tutorial, spend at least ~15 minutes classifying a variety
of images.
d. Finally, answer the questions below.
Describe the process of classifying the images – what are you asked to do and why?
Describe the images appearance - what do you see? Are all the images the same, or are some
different?
Compare what you see in these images to our Craters Lab. Do the shapes of the craters look
similar?
Given what you know about the asteroid belt, do the frequency of craters in the images meet
your expectations (be sure to connect this to your reading for class)?
3
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.html
3







4






















5
























For creating site/region specific habitat assessment data sheets
 http://water.epa.gov/scitech/monitoring/rsl/bioassessment/
A visual –based habitat assessment
 http://water.epa.gov/scitech/monitoring/rsl/bioassessment/ch05main.cfm#Section%205.2
 http://water.epa.gov/scitech/monitoring/rsl/bioassessment/app_a.cfm
Online and print resources for identifying BMIs and calculating water quality indices:
 Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Insect Identification Flashcards (5882-SA1) available from
LaMotte http://www.lamotte.com/en/education/macroinvertebrates/5882-sa1.html
 Georgia. Adopt a stream. Department of Natural Resources.
http://georgiaadoptastream.com/Manuals_etc/Bio_Chem/Bio_Chem.pdf
http://www.georgiaadoptastream.com/Manuals_etc/Bio_Chem/Macro_Key.pdf
 http://clean-water.uwex.edu/pubs/pdf/riverkey.pdf
 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Freshwater
macroinvertebrates of NY. http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/35772.html
 Stroud Water Research Center’s dichotomous key:
http://www.stroudcenter.org/lpn/LPNmanual/lpn_english/5_MacroKeyForWeb.pdf
 Thorp JH, Rogers DC. 2011. Field Guide to Freshwater Invertebrates of North America.
Elsevier Inc. 274 pp.
 WV Save Our Streams Field Guide to Aquatic Invertebrates
http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/getinvolved/sos/Documents/Benthic/WVSOS_MacroIDGui
de.pdf
 Vital Signs Mission: Water quality bioassessment
http://vitalsignsme.org/mission-bioassessment
6

http://vitalsignsme.org/sites/default/files/content/macroinvertebrate_identification_sheet.p
df
Voshell, J.R. 2002. A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North
America. McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, VA. 456 pp.
References



7
Appendix 4: Lab report checklist for Biomonitoring Field Project.






o
o
o

o

o

o















8
Appendix 5: Example of midterm incorporating Biomonitoring Field Project.



o



9





10