Participatory Science with UC Environmental Stewards

One requirement to become a certified California Naturalist or Climate Steward is to contribute to the adopted class participatory science project.

To describe the two approaches, a collaborative-driven "community science" and a contributory "citizen science," the CalNat program refers to them both as an inclusive Participatory Science.

Projects utilize public participation to test a scientific hypothesis and answer specific questions. Our program partners choose an existing project or develop a project for students to engage with, either once during the course or throughout the course. Students contribute to various stages of the project, including logistical development, data collection, visualization, and/or interpretation, or dissemination.

Our CalNat partners are able to choose a project that best aids their organization's mission and goals, while contributing to scientific research surrounding conservation, biodiversity, and more. We have categorized the projects by type: Water quality monitoring, Wildlife monitoring, iNaturalist/Bioblitz, Phenology, Other. Courses that have not yet reported their projects are listed as Unknown.

Our Climate Stewards partners are able to choose a project that best aids their organization's mission and goals, while contributing to scientific research surrounding climate change. We have categorized the projects by type: Environmental quality monitoring, Resilience & adaptation, Weather & climate monitoring, ISeeChange, Phenology, and Other. Courses that have not yet reported their projects are listed as Unknown.