Creative-Motivated Citizen Science After-School STEAM Programme for Motivating Actions Related to the Oceanic Microplastics Problem
Citizen science (CS) projects focused on microplastics (MP), small plastics that cause widespread ocean pollution, have gained interest from international research communities. However, research is lacking on designing citizen science educational programmes that promote microplastic problem-solving...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Citizen Science: Theory and Practice |
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| Online Access: | https://account.theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/index.php/up-j-cstp/article/view/664 |
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| author | Tomomi Sayuda Haruyuki Kinoshita Fumitoshi Kato Miles Pennington |
| author_facet | Tomomi Sayuda Haruyuki Kinoshita Fumitoshi Kato Miles Pennington |
| author_sort | Tomomi Sayuda |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Citizen science (CS) projects focused on microplastics (MP), small plastics that cause widespread ocean pollution, have gained interest from international research communities. However, research is lacking on designing citizen science educational programmes that promote microplastic problem-solving and enhance local understanding. These programmes could use STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) education and creative activities for children, supported by local adults such as parents and teachers. We, therefore, created a nine-week STEAM education CS after-school programme for primary school children. In addition to MP sampling, we have also incorporated elements of STEAM education, combining creative projects and motivational activities, in this creative-motivated after-school programme. Our goals are to encourage long-term community cooperation in research, learning about MP issues, and thinking about local solutions through this community participatory CS programme. As a result, our qualitative results showed that five primary school children and five community adults were actively involved in the programme. Three creative project outputs were produced, and four MP data sampling sessions were conducted. Three pairs of children and their mother participants remained engaged in this ongoing problem-solving activity 10 months after its conclusion. During our programme progression, we observed familial engagement between local children and parents, which has not commonly been studied in the context of CS programmes. We believe that designing action-motivating long-term programmes to raise participants’ awareness of issues and interest in research is important. This CS programme has the potential to encourage long-term community interaction with research and enhance community involvement in environmental issues. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6dc23c22316a4e3da9a2a143c4956cb3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2057-4991 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Citizen Science: Theory and Practice |
| spelling | doaj-art-6dc23c22316a4e3da9a2a143c4956cb32025-02-11T05:31:54ZengUbiquity PressCitizen Science: Theory and Practice2057-49912025-01-011014410.5334/cstp.664646Creative-Motivated Citizen Science After-School STEAM Programme for Motivating Actions Related to the Oceanic Microplastics ProblemTomomi Sayuda0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9362-9681Haruyuki Kinoshita1Fumitoshi Kato2https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6266-1433Miles Pennington3https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9357-9884Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, TokyoInstitute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, TokyoFaculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, KanagawaInstitute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, TokyoCitizen science (CS) projects focused on microplastics (MP), small plastics that cause widespread ocean pollution, have gained interest from international research communities. However, research is lacking on designing citizen science educational programmes that promote microplastic problem-solving and enhance local understanding. These programmes could use STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) education and creative activities for children, supported by local adults such as parents and teachers. We, therefore, created a nine-week STEAM education CS after-school programme for primary school children. In addition to MP sampling, we have also incorporated elements of STEAM education, combining creative projects and motivational activities, in this creative-motivated after-school programme. Our goals are to encourage long-term community cooperation in research, learning about MP issues, and thinking about local solutions through this community participatory CS programme. As a result, our qualitative results showed that five primary school children and five community adults were actively involved in the programme. Three creative project outputs were produced, and four MP data sampling sessions were conducted. Three pairs of children and their mother participants remained engaged in this ongoing problem-solving activity 10 months after its conclusion. During our programme progression, we observed familial engagement between local children and parents, which has not commonly been studied in the context of CS programmes. We believe that designing action-motivating long-term programmes to raise participants’ awareness of issues and interest in research is important. This CS programme has the potential to encourage long-term community interaction with research and enhance community involvement in environmental issues.https://account.theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/index.php/up-j-cstp/article/view/664citizen sciencesteam educationmicroplasticschildrencommunity |
| spellingShingle | Tomomi Sayuda Haruyuki Kinoshita Fumitoshi Kato Miles Pennington Creative-Motivated Citizen Science After-School STEAM Programme for Motivating Actions Related to the Oceanic Microplastics Problem Citizen Science: Theory and Practice citizen science steam education microplastics children community |
| title | Creative-Motivated Citizen Science After-School STEAM Programme for Motivating Actions Related to the Oceanic Microplastics Problem |
| title_full | Creative-Motivated Citizen Science After-School STEAM Programme for Motivating Actions Related to the Oceanic Microplastics Problem |
| title_fullStr | Creative-Motivated Citizen Science After-School STEAM Programme for Motivating Actions Related to the Oceanic Microplastics Problem |
| title_full_unstemmed | Creative-Motivated Citizen Science After-School STEAM Programme for Motivating Actions Related to the Oceanic Microplastics Problem |
| title_short | Creative-Motivated Citizen Science After-School STEAM Programme for Motivating Actions Related to the Oceanic Microplastics Problem |
| title_sort | creative motivated citizen science after school steam programme for motivating actions related to the oceanic microplastics problem |
| topic | citizen science steam education microplastics children community |
| url | https://account.theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/index.php/up-j-cstp/article/view/664 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tomomisayuda creativemotivatedcitizenscienceafterschoolsteamprogrammeformotivatingactionsrelatedtotheoceanicmicroplasticsproblem AT haruyukikinoshita creativemotivatedcitizenscienceafterschoolsteamprogrammeformotivatingactionsrelatedtotheoceanicmicroplasticsproblem AT fumitoshikato creativemotivatedcitizenscienceafterschoolsteamprogrammeformotivatingactionsrelatedtotheoceanicmicroplasticsproblem AT milespennington creativemotivatedcitizenscienceafterschoolsteamprogrammeformotivatingactionsrelatedtotheoceanicmicroplasticsproblem |