Lake suitcases as a citizen science tool

TY - ABST

T1 - Lake suitcases as a citizen science tool

AU - Egemose, Sara

AU - Mohaupt, Laura Amy

AU - Greve, Christina

AU - Okholm, Anna Louise

AU - Kaarsted, Thomas

AU - Kragh, Gitte

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Now children, young people and their families can learn more about the water quality and plant and animal life in our approx. 200,000 Danish lakes and ponds though the project “Lakes in spare time – lake ecology and citizen science” (www.sdu.dk/søerifritiden). At the same time, researchers are being helped to obtain even more knowledge about the lakes. This is done through the development of several activities in collaboration with nature schools, libraries, after-school care facilities, voluntary associations, citizens, and researchers. Through the project activities, children and young people can become juniorfreshwater biologists and contribute with new data and new knowledge about our lakes. The target groups are school children, young people, and their families.One of the project activities is ‘lake suitcases’, where citizens, associations, etc. can borrow a box of equipment including guides, manuals, etc. and explore the local lake. Afterwards they are encouraged to report back the species, water quality data or other observations on the project homepage. The suitcasescan be borrowed, e.g., at local libraries. There are suitcases with 3 different themes: Animals and plants, water quality, and lake games. From spring 2022 it is planned to have 20 suitcases of each theme available. In 2021 the prototypes were developed and tested and feedback from relevant target groups where gathered and a thorough evaluation was performed. Lists with materials, manuals, etc. is also available online on the project website so that anybody interested in making their own suitcase can either get expired or use the materials for free. At the demo, we will demonstrate the suitcases, present the first lessons learned and encourage the participants to engage in further development of the activity.

AB - Now children, young people and their families can learn more about the water quality and plant and animal life in our approx. 200,000 Danish lakes and ponds though the project “Lakes in spare time – lake ecology and citizen science” (www.sdu.dk/søerifritiden). At the same time, researchers are being helped to obtain even more knowledge about the lakes. This is done through the development of several activities in collaboration with nature schools, libraries, after-school care facilities, voluntary associations, citizens, and researchers. Through the project activities, children and young people can become juniorfreshwater biologists and contribute with new data and new knowledge about our lakes. The target groups are school children, young people, and their families.One of the project activities is ‘lake suitcases’, where citizens, associations, etc. can borrow a box of equipment including guides, manuals, etc. and explore the local lake. Afterwards they are encouraged to report back the species, water quality data or other observations on the project homepage. The suitcasescan be borrowed, e.g., at local libraries. There are suitcases with 3 different themes: Animals and plants, water quality, and lake games. From spring 2022 it is planned to have 20 suitcases of each theme available. In 2021 the prototypes were developed and tested and feedback from relevant target groups where gathered and a thorough evaluation was performed. Lists with materials, manuals, etc. is also available online on the project website so that anybody interested in making their own suitcase can either get expired or use the materials for free. At the demo, we will demonstrate the suitcases, present the first lessons learned and encourage the participants to engage in further development of the activity.

KW - Citizen science

KW - Public engagement

KW - Ecology

UR - https://conferences.au.dk/citsci2022/programme

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

T2 - Engaging Citizen Science

Y2 - 25 April 2022 through 26 April 2022

ER -