Volunteers of citizen science efforts need to be well-versed on relevant skills to ensure rigorous data collection and to support education goals. Embedded assessments (EAs) may be particularly useful for assessing these skills because they can authentically and seamlessly be integrated into the learning experience. However, use of EA is limited because practitioners lack the expertise to develop and apply these complex tools. Our Embedded Assessment for Citizen Science (EA4CS) team is surveying the CS community to identify targeted skills and training and assessment of these skills, as well as developing embedded assessments for three case study projects. Our project will help understand the complexities of measuring science inquiry skills in informal environments and will produce a EA development framework to guide creation, testing, and implementation of these novel research tools.

Funding: National Science Foundation (3 years)

Partners:

• Karen Peterman, Karen Peterman Consulting
• Rachel Becker-Klein, PEER Associates
• Tina Phillips, Cornell Lab of Ornithology 
• Amy Grack-Nelson, Science Museum of Minnesota