The benefits of using citizen science in schools manifest themselves in several ways: a more diversified and fun curriculum, enhanced STEM education (science, technology, engineering, maths), more opportunities to engage students outside the usual course (extracurricular activities). So, it's not surprising that more and more schools are starting to introduce citizen science into their programmes. Schools that worked with COMPAIR used citizen science to improve classroom activities, exposing students to new knowledge about air quality, the main urban pollutants, and the relationship between human activities and environmental conditions ('science'). By assembling sensors, children gained new engineering and technical skills, while the use of digital apps for data analysis increased their numerical literacy ('maths'). In addition, more creative approaches like essay writing, poetry, drawing and street performance were used outside the classroom to complement and reinforce "hard" knowledge and skills obtained from citizen science.

Case studies

Plovdiv

Earth Day is an international holiday celebrated annually on April 22. To mark the occasion, the Energy Agency Plovdiv (EAP) organised an ideathon at the Knqz Alexander I, a local primary school. The event was planned as a creative offshoot of an ongoing citizen science campaign in which students used sensors and apps to collect and make sense of gathered data on traffic and air quality. The ideathon presented an opportunity for students to leverage the acquired knowledge and express themselves artistically. They could do so by participating in one of five ideathon categories:

• Video contest
• Computer presentation
• Eco exhibition (3D model or drawing)
• "The Earth in my words" (essay or poem)
• Advertising campaign (brochures, posters, posts, news, puzzles, crosswords, performance or games)

Over 50 students aged 10-14 from 5th, 6th and 7th grades took part in the competition. Everyone who came received a certificate and a t-shirt as a token of appreciation for their contribution. Winners in each category also received a small gift. One interesting winner project was a school newspaper. It featured articles on air quality, ideas on how to reduce air pollution, and a crossword puzzle on the topic. Another project worth mentioning was the 'Earth from a bird's eye view.' It involved students assembling in the schoolyard to form the date of the holiday ('22.04'), the word Earth in Bulgarian ('ЗЕМЯ') and, owing to the shortage of students, only the last bit of the project COMPAIR ('AIR').

The Knqz Alexander I school in Plovdiv celebrates the Earth Day with a CS ideathon

After the ideathon, EAP sent a survey to students and school staff, asking them about their experience. 62% of adult respondents and 54% of children respondents said they were very satisfied with their participation. Respectively, 42% and 37% said they learned something new, while 49% of student respondents said the activities were interesting to them.

Survey responses from school staff (left) and students (right)

Although topics related to air quality were presented on multiple occasions previously, it was encouraging to see there were still some people (two-fifths of adult respondents and one-third of student respondents) who learned new things at the ideathon. That only half of the children respondents found the activities interesting is, of course, less encouraging. A possible explanation for that may be that negative responses came from students whose projects didn't win any prizes in their respective category.

Lessons from the Plovdiv campaign

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