Education
education

#Welcome On this page you will find programming, activities, and resources related to formal and informal education. From here, you can: Join the conversation Learn how to integrate community science practices into your classroom Browse community science lesson plans from the Public Lab team Find activities for your classroom from the community Ask a question, answer a question, or follow future questions on education ## What Does Community Science Look Like in Your Classroom? Public Lab defines community science as community-led scientific exploration and investigation to address community-defined questions, allowing for engagement in the entirety of the scientific process. Unlike traditional citizen science, Public Lab’s approach emphasizes local and traditional knowledge, community ownership of research, and working together in scalable networks to encourage collaborative learning and civic engagement. [![Screen_Shot_2021-04-15_at_6.34.42_PM.png](/i/43663)](/i/43663?s=o) Classroom community science projects are youth-led with an approach that emphasizes participant and community ownership of research, from question identification through analysis, and working together to encourage collaborative learning and civic engagement. After identifying their interests, students conduct research as they join the efforts of people and organizations already working on these issues and take the lead in aspects of study design, data collection, and analysis. The data collected from these student-designed projects supports community action and civic engagement. [Read more about integrating community science methodologies into your classroom here](https://publiclab.org/notes/mimiss/04-16-2021/community-science-in-the-classroom). **** ## How Can You Get Involved? We're looking to build a strong community of practice where educators of all experiences can share resources, knowledge, and lend a hand. Here are some ways that you can help build Public Lab's educational community ### Join the Conversation Get notified about new #education posts by subscribing to related tags. Click the button below, and subscribe to tags like "education", "classroom", "lesson", as well as other topics that you're interested in. Subscribe ### Try These Lessons in Your Classroom and Share Your Experience After using one of these activities in person, let us know how it goes in the comments. We appreciate your feedback and encourage you to share how you modify the lesson to better fit your classroom. - [Classroom Community Science](https://publiclab.org/wiki/student-led-community-science-in-the-classroom-a-curriculum): An adaptable curricula for bringing student-led environmental projects into your classroom. - [Messages from the Mississippi](https://publiclab.org/wiki/messages-from-the-mississippi-lesson-plans): A 6-part series investigating microplastics in local bodies of water culminating in student artwork and advocacy. - [Wetlands Remote Sensing & Management](https://publiclab.org/wiki/wetlands-lesson-plans): Hands on lesson plans to introduce students in grades 8-12 to oil spill cleanup, monitoring wetlands, and managing natural resources. - [Air Quality Class](https://publiclab.org/wiki/air-quality-class): An 8-week program in which students work with air quality sensors to monitor indoor air pollutants. Participants catalog and analyze the environmental air pollutant hazards that affect neighborhood homes and will share their findings with other community members ________________ ## Activities Here are some different activities particularly suited for use in the classroom: [activities:education] **** ## Questions [questions:education] **** ## Resources To learn more about the methods, successes, and challenges in developing these programs, check out our reports and evaluations from these funded projects: 2021 National Academy of Sciences Project Evaluation: Community Science in the Classroom 2022 EPA Impact Report: Messages from the Mississippi 2022 EPA Environmental Education Evaluation: Messages from the Mississippi **For more information on funding resources for educators, [click here](http://publiclab.org/wiki/funding-sources-for-science-teachers) ** [![PartsNCraftsSpectralTurntable.jpg](/i/47464)](/i/47464?s=o)...


Author Comment Last activity Moderation
Andrew2005 "Andrew Smith 2.23.2022 I have learned various things today from Dr. Scott Coffin. He governs companies and prevents them from using microplastics. ..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
LoganRusso "From Dr. Smith's experiment, I learned that humans might already have many microplastics within them. There are other ways microplastics can invad..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
Evergarden "(Christian) Today I learned that even the tiniest bit of plastic can severely cause harm to our bodies over a period of time. Plastics so small tha..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
Andrew2005 "I've learned various of facts about microplastics today. There is a variant called nanoplastics they are so microscopic that they are comparable to..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
queenj303 "Today, I learned that microplastics the size of of a strand of hair can be lodged in the most vital organs that clean out the blood (liver, kidneys..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
chall0105 "Caleb Hall- Environmental Science- 2-22-2022 Microplastic intrusion into the human body can occur in ways other than just drinking or eating fo..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
Evergarden "(Christian) Journal Entry 1: I saw a plastic bottle on the ground when walking. Based on that, I can assume that once purchased by someone to quenc..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
adison1cooper "Adison Cooper 2/22/22 Environmental Science - Rene Phillips Dr. Rick Smith did an experiment on himself to determine weather or not microplastics ..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
LyricRousseve " Microplastic_-1-.pptx " | Read more » about 2 years ago
Jaci_D "Journal Entry 1: I was walking down the street attending a parade and saw plastic straws laying everywhere. People must've threw them all down ther..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
awandrei36 "Journal entry 1: I was walking down the street and I saw a water bottle. I think the water bottle was used a while ago because it was dirty and kin..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
dfolgar "Daniel Folgar Journal Entry 1 - I found an empty bag of doritos on the ground while on a walk. It was made by the frito lay company, to hold dori..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
adison1cooper "Journal Entry 1: I found a plastic candy wrapper on the road. I was a snickers candy wrapper. I can assume that it was used to wrap the candy bar...." | Read more » about 2 years ago
chall0105 "Journal Entry 1- Mr.Phillip's Second Block- After walking into school today i found a ballpoint pen on the ground. The writing on the side says it ..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
J_aidaM "Journal Entry 1: I was about the leave out of the house to go somewhere with my mom. I opened the door and there were cigarette buds in front of th..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
AnJah "Public Journal Entry 1 I was walking from a snowball stand and saw a fast food soda cup that looked like it was used once and just got dirty in mu..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
klanoix61 "journal entry 1: You walk down the street and see a water bottle on the ground. You in fact see multiple. An everyday item, which is used all the t..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
carlo2005 "Journal 1 Entry: One day, I found multiple water bottles laying on my lawn. They most likely came from us playing basketball a week earlier. They c..." | Read more » about 2 years ago
TheChessGym " Microplastics Are Invaders To Our Environment There is a new war on Terrorism that needs to be waged. However, this battle is not against hum..." | Read more » over 2 years ago
ambreestamant "Microplastic is an increasing problem in the environment. Microplastic particles are smaller the 5 mm in size. Plastic accumulates in soil, land, r..." | Read more » over 2 years ago
Andrew2005 "Andrew Smith 2/17/2022. Microplastics are minuscule pieces of plastics that are under 5 mm in length that contaminate our water ways. There is als..." | Read more » over 2 years ago
dragonrylee "Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life. Plastic debris can come ..." | Read more » over 2 years ago
queenj303 "Microplastics extremely small pieces of plastic debris in the environment resulting from the disposal and breakdown of consumer products and indust..." | Read more » over 2 years ago
amcreecy "Microplastics are the particles of plastic that float around and invade our water ways. They come from littered plastic bottles and other plastics...." | Read more » over 2 years ago