Evaluator: Smith, H. E., Cooper, C. B., Busch, K. C., Harper, S., Muslim, A., McKenna, K., & Cavalier, D

Evaluation Methods:

Manual qualitative analyses through deductive and inductive coding of open-ended survey responses were performed, guided by the following questions:

1. Are troops who complete the Journey achieving expected learning outcomes (informal science learning, Girl Scout Leadership Experience (GSLE) outcomes, and Girl Scout STEM outcomes?
2. Are troops’ Take Action Projects (TAPs) related to the science and environmental themes addressed throughout the Journey?
3. In what ways are troops ‘taking action’ through their TAPs?
4. What audiences are girls engaging about scientific and environmental topics?

Data merging and cleaning were performed in RStudio using R version 4.1.3 (R Core Team Citation 2022). A total of 245 completed journeys were analyzed, with participants from 231 Girl Scouts troops from 43 states and Washington, DC.

Evaluation Type: Non-experimental

Summary of Outcomes:

The study showed that the Think Like a Citizen Scientist Journey demonstrates great potential to support varied forms of learning. A wide array of cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes were identified among participants, including science identity, STEM confidence, and taking actions to address scientific and environmental challenges. The program’s scaffolded Girl Scout Journeys facilitated the girls’ progress towards achieving the learning outcomes, such as Engaging in Scientific Reasoning, Engaging in Scientific Practices, and Identifying and Solving Problems in the Community. Moreover, by facilitating knowledge sharing and providing outlets for citizen science engagement, the authors conclude that this program is an excellent model for how citizen science participation can foster community science literacy.

The analysis of learning outcomes revealed that all possible learning outcomes were represented throughout the Journeys and reflected girls’ ability to address problems in their communities, understand scientific content and knowledge, and develop STEM confidence. The most common outcome was the ability to identify and solve problems in the community, followed by understanding scientific content and knowledge. Participating girls could choose to solve any problem in the community for their Take Action Projects (TAPs), but 81% took an action related to science or the environment. Among that group, 66% of girls’ TAPs involved educating and inspiring others, 19% involved improving the environment, 9% involved citizen science, 3% promoted science literacy, and 2% involved taking civic action. The participants’ primary audiences were peers, adults, the general public, and civic leaders.

The authors also conclude that the facilitated and scaffolded nature of the learning experience, which moved girls from exploration to execution of a TAP, was a key attribute of facilitated citizen science that can foster the various learning outcomes. The TAP itself provided unique opportunities for learning and development of skills beyond the typical focus on scientific skills and content and process knowledge. These necessary, but often unmeasured, experiences and skills include raising awareness, advocating, organizing others, designing solutions, and purposefully participating in efforts to address science-related public matters. Moreover, the TAP component had broad guidelines, which the authors suggest permitted many positive and unintended learning outcomes from being youth-led. 

Another valuable outcome of this program was the participants sharing their citizen science projects and information with the wider community. As they communicated scientific information and demonstrated expertise, their own scientific understanding, degree of agency, and confidence in STEM were strengthened, along with their confidence in their ability to take action. In turn, the participants’ STEM confidence and identity were improved. There were also broader societal implications as the information and knowledge were spread among family and peers.