A University-County Collaboration to Excite Students about Citizen Science
Leigh Shaw McCue, Brianne E. Bell, Elliot Foster · 2024
This paper builds on a prior ASEE-SE contribution [1] which described implementation of SeaPerch and SeaGlide [2] into University-hosted robotics summer camps intended for middle and high school aged students, respectively.During the 2022 camp events, students displayed reluctance participating in tasks viewed as competitive, which created reason to reframe camp activities for a more collaborative approach.In parallel, two University alumni currently employed by Prince William County were in pursuit of opportunities to leverage maritime robotics in citizen science to benefit endeavors of the Watershed Division.This was part of a specific effort to assess the success of freshwater mussel reintroduction projects in local rivers and streams.With complimentary goals, the University and County began collaborating, where the County provided middle school aged campers an introduction to the ecological importance of freshwater mussels, scientific reasoning for population surveys, and basic operational requirements of robotic surveying equipment.In lieu of a final competition, the middle schoolers showcased how the SeaPerches they designed and built could be utilized in conducting freshwater mussel surveys for County employees.This paper provides a brief overview of the camp structure documented comprehensively in [1], followed by discussion of the scientific tasking provided to the campers, and observations on student engagement leveraging this citizen science emphasis.