Citizen Science for Scientific Literacy and the Attainment of Sustainable Development Goals in Formal Education

Miguel Ángel Queiruga-Dios, Emilia López-Iñesta, María Diez-Ojeda, María Consuelo Sáiz-Manzanares and José Benito Vázquez Dorrío
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Miguel Ángel Queiruga-Dios: Department of Specific Didactics, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain
Emilia López-Iñesta: Department Didactics of Mathematics, Universitat de València, 46022 València, Spain
María Diez-Ojeda: Department of Specific Didactics, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain
María Consuelo Sáiz-Manzanares: Department of Health Sciences, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain
José Benito Vázquez Dorrío: Department of Applied Physics, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: Curricular integration in formal teaching of citizen science can bring to the classroom aspects of scientific literacy that encourage the involvement of citizens. In particular, these include non-epistemic aspects related to the sociology of science (which are often not transferred to the classroom). Furthermore, this practice raises awareness among students, and encourages them to become participants in the attainment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article describes a proposal for the integration of a citizen science project into the secondary education curriculum that can be reproduced in any educational center. Eighty-three secondary school pupils (14–15 years old) took part in this research at a city-center school in Northern Spain. A questionnaire based on validated studies was created and used to analyze the changes in attitudes of pupils towards science and technology and their improvement in scientific literacy in terms of scientific processes and scientific situations. The results indicate a significant improvement in the attitudes towards science and technology among the participating learners, as well as a better understanding of scientific processes and situations. Likewise, the results reflect how the implementation of the citizen science project contributes to the SDGs.

Keywords: citizen science; secondary education; scientific literacy; curricular integration; innovation; science; gender; SDG (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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