Por Diana Boaventura (Escola Superior de Educação João de Deus/MARE-ULisboa).
In a context of climate change it is important to increase society awareness on the need to preserve biodiversity and marine species sustainability. The results of a Science Education project (“EduMar/EduSea – Educate for the Sea”, SAICT-POL/23480/2016) which aimed to educate students for the preservation of the sea and its resources through citizen science are presented. More than 300 primary school students (ages 9 to 11) with the help of their teachers, participated in interdisciplinary science activities focusing on the causes and consequences of climate change in the ocean. They learned to identify rocky shore marine species and acquired ICT skills to insert photographs with a tablet in a biodiversity mapping application (iNaturalist). The effectiveness of the school community involvement in citizen science activities was examined, both for the use of data by scientists and for children’s education. The analysis of data from the online platform enabled the assessment of the percentage of correct species identified by students. From the scientist’s perspective several items were analysed regarding the image quality and use. Students recognised the importance of their participation as citizens in monitoring the effects of climate change and scientists also validated their data in the platform. The importance and employment of this action for future projects will be discussed.
