I analyzed GLOBE and chose the following question for discussion: “In what ways do the networked communities you examined represent this characterization of learning communities? What implications does this have for your practice and the design of learning activities?”
GLOBE (https://www.globe.gov) is an international environmental science and science education program. It represents a form of citizen science, a term coined in the 1990th. In the 19th century, nearly all scientific research was done by unpaid amateurs (Scheifinger, 2016). Then, science became an activity of professional scientists. Only in the last years, contributions by citizens are worshiped again. On example for this is GLOBE.
In my opinion, GLOBE indeed represents the four characteristics that a learning community should have, according to Bielaczyc and Collins (1999):
- Diversity of expertise among its members who are valued for their contributions and given support to develop: Within GLOBE, young people are involved in collecting data for real scientific investigations (Peneul, 2004). Researchers, students, and teachers from all over the world participate, thus GLOBE shows a high diversity of participants. Contributions by students, under guidance of teachers, are core of GLOBE and thus these contributions are valued; students are seen as “contributors to actual scientific studies” (Peneul, 2004, p. 296). Partner universities train the teachers in the use of the offered GLOBE protocols.
- A shared objective of continually advancing the collective knowledge and skills: As international education program, all participants share the objective to collect data to answer research questions and by this to advance science.
- An emphasis on learning how to learn. The core objective of GLOBE is to educate students in inquiry-based science (Peneul, 2004). Teachers are first trained and then instruct and monitor their own students in collecting data. By this, students get a better understanding on how scientific inquiry works. Students are encouraged to work on questions they are interested in.
- Mechanisms for sharing what is learned: All data collected by students are collected on the GLOBE website. Scientists, students and teachers can access the collected data, use them, and analyse them for various scientific questions. This GLOBEDataArchive is “a key element of GLOBE” (Peneul, 2004, p. 296).
So, overall, GLOBE as networked community display all attributes of a learning community.
Anyone every participated in GLOBE? Would you agree to my analysis?
References:
Bielaczyc, K., and Collins, A. (1999): Learning Communities in Classrooms: A Reconceptualization of Educational Practice. In: Reigeluth, C.M. (eds.). Instructional design theories and models, Vol. II, Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Driver, R., Asoko, H., Leach, J., Scott, P., & Mortimer, E. (1994). Constructing scientific knowledge in the classroom. Educational researcher, 23(7), 5-12.
Peneul, W.R., & Means, B. (2004). Implementation variation and fidelity in an inquiry science program: Analysis of GLOBE data reporting patterns. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(3), 294-315
Scheifinger, H., Templ, B., “Is Citizen Science the Recipe for the Survival of Paper-Based Phenological Networks in Europe?” BioScience, Oxford University Press. June 2016.