In citizen science, project leaders rely on volunteer contributors to collect, classify, and analyze data in both natural and digital environments. To be successful, volunteers are often provided with specialized training that supports the learning goals of the project. Yet, little is understood regarding the contextual influences of both the…

Scientific observation is a disciplinary-informed way of looking at the world that requires the coordination of domain knowledge and perceptual skills with specialized tools and techniques to systematically identify objects, organisms, specimens, or phenomena of interest. Identification is a particular form of skilled observational practice where…

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the influence of science volunteering initiatives on the experiences of women and their subsequent inclination to continue volunteering. The research sought to examine the impact of particular social cognitive variables on their eagerness to partake in events and organizations. The study…

This study sought to examine how Latina/o college graduates engage civically. Through a four-step quantitative design, we found that Latina/o college graduates vote, volunteer, advocate, donate money, serve as cultural and political resources, and run for elected office. We also identified five typologies, or classes, of civically engaged Latina/o…

Citizen science (CS) has been presented as a novel form of research relevant for social concerns and global challenges. CS transforms the roles of participants to being actively involved at various stages of research processes, CS projects are dynamic, and pluralism arises when many non-professional researchers take an active involvement in…

This phenomenological study was conducted to ascertain Generation Z's attitudes and perspectives regarding agrofood philanthropy. To effectively engage the upcoming generation as philanthropists, it is necessary to determine how they define philanthropy, what motivates them to give, how they have already participated in philanthropic efforts, and…

The South Carolina Master Naturalist Program provides nature-based education to citizen volunteers who will promote environmental stewardship and is offered at six host sites across the state. We conducted a mixed-methods evaluation (the integration of qualitative and quantitative data) of the South Carolina Master Naturalist Program. Overall, the…

Citizen science programs, which engage volunteers in varied aspeicts of scientific research projects, have been widely touted as a promising avenue for enhancing public scientific literacy and scientific civic engagement. The meanings volunteers make of citizen science experiences can influence the ways that scientific information is translated…

Since Plato and Aristotle, political theorists have discussed the important role of education in forming democratic citizens. They disagree, however, over whether public or private schools are more effective at nurturing citizenship. We conduct a statistical meta-analysis to identify the average association between private schooling and measures…

The present study advances a model of critical civic motivation grounded in expectancy-value theory and highlights diverse manifestations of motivation among marginalized adolescents. The participants were 447 high school youth (85.0% Latinx; 62.9% low-income). Two complementary methodological approaches were employed to examine civic motivation,…

For-profit colleges have long been a feature of the American higher education landscape and the quality of the education they provide has always been under question. This paper investigates the effects of attending a for-profit college on voting and volunteering as compared to individuals who attended a not-for-profit college or no college at all.…

How do European Arts and Humanities (A&H) graduates contribute to their economies and societies? This paper aims to answer this challenging research question by analysing data from the 2018 pilot Eurograduate survey of graduates. The article explores the monitoring of employment dynamics and considers the labour market outcomes of A&H…

Citizen science, a field and practice that commonly involves 'non experts' engaging in scientific activities, is an avenue of science engagement that commonly results in increased scientific knowledge, literacy, and skills for the volunteers that participate. In recent years there have been increasing efforts to better understand the myriad…

Service learning (SL) in higher education has been developed in various forms, mainly in the US, with an emphasis on linking services and learning, universities and communities. Many people view higher education as a means to a career which, in turn, renders education a subject of private interest. Owing to this, SL is expected to encourage civic…

A primary rationale for public provision of K-12 education and state financing of school spending is that education fosters civic engagement and the development of social capital. However, limited evidence exists on whether and how school spending affects civic engagement. Virtually all studies focus on the impact of educational attainment (as…