“What if all those people came together?”: Fostering Children’s Self-Efficacy for Environmental Action, Interest, and Content Knowledge Through Participation in a Water Quality Citizen Science Project
Author
Teed, Emma Madison
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This item will be available on: 2025-05-01
Abstract
Citizen science is the involvement of the public in scientific research through collaboration with scientists. These projects create ways for the public to be exposed to new information, spark new interests, and change motivation regarding science. Participation in citizen science projects has been shown to increase content knowledge and self-efficacy for environmental action (i.e., belief that they can take action toward environmental problems) in adults. Involving children in citizen science has also been shown to help them feel like real scientists, improve content knowledge, and encourage them to pursue a career in science. The impacts of citizen science participation on self-efficacy for environmental action has not been explored in children.
This convergent parallel mixed-methods study was completed during a summer day camp for children at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences at Contentnea Creek. Three hypotheses were explored: after participating in citizen science activities, children will have an improved self-efficacy for environmental action, display an interest in water quality, and demonstrate knowledge of water quality. I used the Self-Efficacy for Environmental Action survey, focus groups, guided reflections, and a knowledge assessment to test these hypotheses. Pre- and post- self-efficacy survey (N=20) results do not support the first hypothesis but suggest that while participants did not have an increase in self-efficacy for environmental action, they entered the program with an already high self-efficacy for environmental action and therefore may not have had much room for improvement. Through focus groups (N=4) and guided reflections (N=19), most children expressed that they gained interest in, and knowledge about, water quality and wanted to have a positive impact on the environment now or as an adult. Results from true/false knowledge questions (N=21) supported the last hypothesis that participants could demonstrate knowledge about water quality, while the focus groups and guided reflections provided context suggesting that the knowledge was likely gained through participation in the citizen science project. These results show that while children’s self-efficacy for environmental action didn’t increase, participation in the water quality citizen science project had other positive impacts on the participants. Although limited by small sample size and lack of a relevant comparison group, this research suggests that citizen science may be a useful tool for engaging children in science and enhancing their desire to have a positive impact on the environment.
Date
2023-04-13
Citation:
APA:
Teed, Emma Madison.
(April 2023).
“What if all those people came together?”: Fostering Children’s Self-Efficacy for Environmental Action, Interest, and Content Knowledge Through Participation in a Water Quality Citizen Science Project
(Master's Thesis, East Carolina University). Retrieved from the Scholarship.
(http://hdl.handle.net/10342/12864.)
MLA:
Teed, Emma Madison.
“What if all those people came together?”: Fostering Children’s Self-Efficacy for Environmental Action, Interest, and Content Knowledge Through Participation in a Water Quality Citizen Science Project.
Master's Thesis. East Carolina University,
April 2023. The Scholarship.
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/12864.
May 04, 2024.
Chicago:
Teed, Emma Madison,
““What if all those people came together?”: Fostering Children’s Self-Efficacy for Environmental Action, Interest, and Content Knowledge Through Participation in a Water Quality Citizen Science Project”
(Master's Thesis., East Carolina University,
April 2023).
AMA:
Teed, Emma Madison.
“What if all those people came together?”: Fostering Children’s Self-Efficacy for Environmental Action, Interest, and Content Knowledge Through Participation in a Water Quality Citizen Science Project
[Master's Thesis]. Greenville, NC: East Carolina University;
April 2023.
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Publisher
East Carolina University