Teaching during pandemics, wildfires, and heat waves:A statement from the Citizen Scientist ProjectDear Educators,The Citizen Scientist Project is designed to build the capacity of K-12 students and educators to apply their budding C-STEM competencies to identify and address issues of community concern in collaboration with local scientists and community agencies. Through these efforts, we especially hope to increase students' environmental and climate change literacy, as well as democratize science by including more diverse voices in question-posing, data collection, data analysis, and data-informed advocacy.As our community navigates what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to teach during a global health crisis and the compounding tragedies of unpredictable wildfires and unprecedented heat, educators hold a unique and essential role in helping students make sense of what is happening and learn how they can take informed action to solve current and future issues. Citizen science offers robust opportunities for this charge. Please explore a sampling of citizen science opportunities below and reach out to Dr. Brittney Beck, Director of the Citizen Scientist Project, at bbeck4@csub.edu with questions, ideas, and opportunities to collaborate. You can also reach us on our website at citizenscientistproject.org.
