ARPHA Preprints, doi: 10.3897/arphapreprints.e83854
People-Powered Research and Experiential Learning: Unraveling Hidden Biodiversity
expand article infoMelanie Pivarski, Matt von Konrat§, Thomas Campbell|, Ayesha T. Qazi-Lampert, Laura Trouille#, Aimee Davis¤, Selma Aburahmeh|, Joseph Aguilar, Cosmin Alb, Ken Alferes, Ella Barker, Kelli J. Boulware, Sicong Cao, Christine Christian, Arturo Corona Jr., Kaltra Demiri, Daniel Evans, Connor Flavin, Victoria Gogol, Elizabeth Heublein, Edward Huang«, Jake Hutchinson, Cyrus Jackson, Odaliz Rubee Jackson, Michi Kirihara, Annette Kowalczyk, Alex Labontu, Briajia Levi«, Sylvie Martin-Eberhardt», Joann Lacey Martinec, Pansy Nguyen˄, Sarah Nolimal˅, Victoria Reese¤, Joannie Rodriguez, Yarency Rodriguez, Jacob Shuler¦, Jasmine Silvestre, Glenn Simpson|, Gabriel Somarribaˀ, Rogers Ssozi, Tomomi Suwaˁ, Cheyenne Syring, Keith Thompson¦, Caitlin Vaughn, Mario R Viramontes, Chak Shing Wong
‡ Roosevelt University, Chicago, United States of America§ Chicago Field Museum, Chicago, United States of America| Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, United States of America¶ Field Museum, Gantz Family Collections Center, Chicago, United States of America# The Adler Planetarium, Chicago, United States of America¤ Field Museum, Learning Center, Chicago, United States of America« University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign County, United States of America» Michigan State University, East Lansing, United States of America˄ Connecticut College, New London, United States of America˅ DePaul University, Chicago, United States of America¦ Field Museum, Visitor Services & Analytics, Chicago, United States of Americaˀ University of Florida, Gainsville, United States of Americaˁ Field Museum, Keller Science Action Center, Chicago, United States of America
Open Access
Abstract

Globally, thousands of institutions house nearly three billion scientific collections offering unparalleled resources that contribute to both science and society. For herbaria alone - facilities housing dried plant collections - there are over 3,000 herbaria worldwide with an estimated 350 million specimens that have been collected over the past four centuries. Digitization has greatly enhanced the use of herbarium data in scientific research, impacting diverse research areas, including biodiversity informatics, global climate change, analyses using next-generation sequencing technologies, and many others. Despite the entrance of herbaria into a new era with enhanced scientific, educational, and societal relevance, museum specimens remain underused. Natural history museums can enhance learning and engagement in science, particularly for school-age and undergraduate students. Here we outline a novel approach of a natural history museum using touchscreen technology that formed part of an interactive kiosk in a temporary museum exhibit on biological specimens. We provide some preliminary analysis investigating the efficacy of the tool, based on the Zooniverse platform, in an exhibit environment to engage patrons in the collection of biological data. We conclude there is great potential in using crowd‐sourced science coupled with online technology to unlock data and information from digital images of natural history specimens themselves. Sixty percent of the records generated by community scientists (citizen scientists) were of high enough quality to be utilized by researchers. All age groups produced valid, high quality data that could be used by researchers, including children (10 and under), teens, and adults. Significantly, the paper outlines the implementation of experiential learning through an undergraduate mathematics course that focuses on projects with actual data to gain a deep, practical knowledge of the subject, including observations, the collection of data, analysis, and problem solving. We here promote an intergenerational model including children, high school students, undergraduate students, early career scientists and senior scientists, combining experiential learning, museum patrons, researchers, and data derived from natural history collections. Natural history museums with their dual remit of education and collections-based research can play a significant role in the field of  community engagement and people-powered research. There also remains much to investigate on the use of interactive displays to help learners interpret and appreciate authentic research.

Keywords
analysis, biodiversity, bryophytes, citizen science, crowd-courced science, community science, experiential learning, families, interdisplinary research, intergenerational participation, K-12, museum, people-powered research, taxonomy, undergraduate students