麻豆淫院

Pro-environmental behavior increases among school students who participate in insect-related citizen science projects, according to new research from the University of Adelaide.

Students who participated in the citizen science project , which engages students in the discovery of new insects, not only expressed an intention to change their personal behavior but also to encourage others to protect nature.

"As a result of their involvement in this program, students expressed intentions to further engage in insect鈥搒cience鈥搉ature activities," says the University of Adelaide's Dr. Erinn Fagan-Jeffries, who contributed to .

"In addition, teachers reported increased intentions to include insect-related topics in their teaching, which was positively associated with students' own intentions for pro-environmental behavior change.

"This suggests students' response to the project influenced their teacher's decision to include citizen science in their lessons."

School-based citizen science projects facilitate authentic scientific interactions between research and educational institutions while exposing students to scientific processes.

"Teachers' motivations for providing citizen science experiences to students was to create hands-on learning opportunities and to connect students with real science and scientists," says Professor Patrick O'Connor AM, Director of the University's School of Economics and Public Policy.

"Teachers reported interactions with researchers as invaluable. These interactions could take the form of in-person visits by team members, or even instructional videos and curriculum-linked teacher lesson plans."

Incorporating insects into school-based citizen science projects can challenge widespread human misconceptions about insects and their roles in ecosystems, and foster human鈥搃nsect connections.

"Given global concerns of rapid insect declines and the overarching biodiversity crisis, insect-focused, school-based citizen science projects can ultimately contribute towards equipping students with knowledge of, and actions to promote, insect conservation," says lead author Dr. Andy Howe, from the University of the Sunshine Coast.

"In Australia, approximately 33% of insects are formally described; the remainder exist as 'dark taxa,' to the detriment of environmental and biodiversity management initiatives.

"Encouraging more young people to engage in science not only engenders positive feelings in them towards the environment, it will also help to build the next generation of scientists who will fill in the vast knowledge gap that exists in the world of insects."