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This article highlights some Citizen Science projects that you may want to get involved with personally and/or with your students. Links to websites are provided. There are all sorts of projects for monitoring organisms including but not limited to birds, frogs, fish, ladybugs, plants, even horseshoe crabs!

NY Times article about modeling bird migration using eBird citizen science data along with habitat variables

"GLOBE at Night is an annual citizen-science campaign that encourages people all over the world to record the brightness of their night sky. For two weeks every March, when the Moon is not out during the early evening and the constellation of Orion can be seen by everyone everywhere, children and adults match the appearance of Orion with 7 star maps of progressively fainter stars found on the website, www.globeatnight.org. They then submit their measurements (e.g., which star map they chose) on-line with their date, time and location."

Community mapping, a form of citizen science whereby local people participate in geographically defining an area, is increasingly taking on greater significance--especially during times of emergency and natural disaster. Director of the University of California, Santa Barbara's Center for Spatial Studies Michael Goodchild discusses "From Community Mapping to Critical Spatial Thinking: The Changing Face of GIS"

Using mobile devices, citizen scientists collaborate to document species around the world. Imagine a field guide for every organism!

Project Noah is a tool to explore and document wildlife and a platform to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere.

Citizen Science, Inquiry, and the Outdoors Through BirdSleuth, kids become real scientists!

"Andrew Farnsworth, the project leader of BirdCast, discusses new methods to aggregate data from birders with the help of modern technology."

Become a Member of the Center for Snake Conservation to support snake research, education, and conservation. You will also receive SnakeTalk - the CSC's quarterly newsletter. Join here now!

Great tree information for everyday use with students.

ePals is the leading provider of safe collaborative technology for schools to connect and learn in a protected, project-based learning network. With classrooms in 200 countries and territories, ePals makes it easy to connect learners locally, nationally or internationally.

Engaging Students Through Global Issues is an activity-based lesson book that contains 40 inspiring lessons. These lesson plans are designed to help students understand complex global issues and sustainable solutions. Each lesson offers creative tools for students to take action in their local and global communities."

Butterflies and Moths of North America is an ambitious effort to collect, store, and share species information and occurrence data. Access species profiles, interactive distribution maps, and photographs by browsing checklists or taxonomy pages, or by searching for a species of interest.

These lessons examine how environmental issues such as deforestation are intricately linked to many other social issues, and how organizations such as the Green Belt Movement use certain strategies to mobilize citizen action toward social and environmental justice. These lessons are directed toward grades 9 through 12, and college students for use in the following subject areas: social studies, environmental studies, political science, women's studies, international studies, world history, government and civics.

How do you effectively prioritize conservation decisions for migratory species? Is it better to target species when breeding, wintering, migrating or some mix? How do you build forecast changes in climate and land use when making these decisions?