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Poster Short Abstract

During their fieldwork excursions, Biology students at RWTH Aachen monitor biodiversity and soil quality in a food forest as citizen scientists. We present initial results on students’ perceptions (N=230), biodiversity findings, and a 360° learning environment.

Poster Abstract

It is often said that higher education is too distant from real-life applications. At RWTH Aachen University, biology students now experience a different approach. Already in their second semester, they conduct ecological monitoring of a food forest during their ecology field trips. At “Natuurlijk Berghof”, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and herbs are grown sustainably and economically without the use of fertilisers or pesticides on former conventionally used grassland, according to the basic ecological principles of a natural forest system with different vegetation layers. In our project, we are investigating the effects on biodiversity and soil quality as well as the students’ understanding, attitudes, and engagement with Citizen Science. Our poster presents the concept of the course, a 360° learning environment that brings the food forest into lecture halls and classrooms, as well as initial results from our research. Preliminary survey results (N=230) indicate that the majority of students consider Citizen Science to be meaningful (76%) and a "good thing" (78%). They are predominantly confident that they understand the Citizen Science activities (73%). However, the results also show that Citizen Science is not very present in students’ everyday lives: only 10% say that people in their immediate environment are involved in Citizen Science. Only 4% consider it common to talk about citizen science. Based on the initial results, we will propose design changes for the following data collection cycles.