Peer-reviewed article
Eco-Citizen Science for Social Good: Promoting Child Well-Being, Environmental Justice, and Inclusion
Zen Makuch, Miriam R. Aczel ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This peer-reviewed article examines how involving children in environmental citizen science projects—where non-specialists conduct research under professional guidance—can promote child development, environmental justice, and inclusion. The study focuses on how such participation benefits children's development, contributes to scientific knowledge, and builds commitment to environmental stewardship. It highlights the particular value of engaging children from underrepresented communities, including those affected by environmental injustice.
Key points
- Eco-citizen science addresses environmental justice and inclusion for children across diverse backgrounds (age, gender, race/ethnicity, social class)
- Participation in environmental citizen science projects benefits child development
- The work contributes to scientific knowledge while engaging children as participants
- Environmental citizen science can build long-term commitment to environmental stewardship and justice in adulthood
- The article calls for explicit inclusion of children in environmental citizen science as part of social good models
Limitations
This article appears to be a conceptual or literature review examining benefits and challenges rather than reporting original empirical findings with quantified outcomes. It does not provide specific evidence of impact magnitude or detailed data on child outcomes from particular projects.
Abstract
This article examines the benefits and challenges of engaging children in environmental citizen science, defined as science conducted by nonspecialists under the direction of professional scientists, to promote social good. Citizen science addresses two central elements of the social good model—environmental justice and inclusion with particular attention to diversity in age, gender, race/ethnicity, and social class in addressing environmental injustice that is more prevalent in underrepresented communities. This article evaluates how participation in citizen science projects focused on the environment (eco-citizen science) benefits the child’s development, contributes to science, and leads to commitment to environmental stewardship and justice as adults. Our work offers a novel contribution to the discourse on social good and social justice through explicitly calling for children to be included in environmental citizen science projects. We examine the benefits and challenges of involving children in scientific projects and discuss implications for policy, practice, and future research.