Evolution MegaLab

PROJECT

Url:http://evolutionmegalab.org
Start date:
End date:

TEAM

Official team page:http://www.open.ac.uk/science/main/citizen-science/projects/evolution-megalab
Leader:
Institution: The Open University


Main location: Milton Keynes, UK

PROJECT DEFINITION

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Subject

Natural sciences > (nature/conservation)

Description

Quote: Did you know that, thanks to a common little snail you can find in your garden, in the park or under a hedge, you can see evolution in your own back garden? We know evolution is a very slow process and it's the tiny changes accumulating over a long, long time that got us here. And you can see some of those tiny steps and help our research by joining the Evolution MegaLab. OU Darwin page (nov 28, 2013)

Purpose.

Quote: Enthusiasm for science and the desire to share wonder, excitement and relevance of science to everyday life drives our outreach programme. Our aim is to ignite an interest in science in people who have been bored or turned off by the subject in the past. We are fortunate to have a range of staff who are not only scientists, but gifted communicators as well. They provide lecture demonstrations at science fairs and festivals and also contribute to events hosted by primary schools and amateur societies. Projects page at Open University.

Research question.

Quote: We want your help to find out whether this pattern can still be found, because there has been a big decrease in the numbers of song thrushes in England over the last 30 years. If there are fewer song thrushes about, you would expect the different snails to be less faithful to their particular habitats than they used to be. Help us find out!

ABOUT PARTICIPANT TASKS

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Tasks description.

• Register with the Evolution MegaLab.
• Print off pdfs to take out into the field. These provide information on how to conduct a snail hunt and identify banded snails: How to hunt banded snails PDF, Adult vs. Juvenile snails: How to tell them apart PDF, Recording sheet PDF
• Take part in the banded snail identification quiz to test your knowledge on identifying banded snails.
• Log in to the website to access the quiz link.
• Go on a hunt for banded snails in your garden or local park and record your results online.

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Grey typology	Participation typology	Contribution type:
Computing: NO Thinking: Somewhat Sensing: YES Gaming: NO	Crowdsourcing ☑ Distributed intelligence ☐ Participatory science ☐ Extreme citizen science ☐ Science outreach ☐	Data collection ☑ Data analysis ☐ Data interpretation ☐--------
Gaming
Genre:	Gaming elements:
Interface
Data type to manipulate: observations	interface enjoyment: rather not cool/attractive Interface usability: rather easy to use	Member profiles::N/A Member profile elements:

ABOUT GUIDANCE AND FEEDBACK

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Guidance	Feedback on
Tutorial and documentation: YES Training sequence: NO Peer to peer guidance: SOMEWHAT	individual performance: Somewhat collective performance: Somewhat research progress: Somewhat

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COMMUNITY

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Tools	News & Events
Communication: Social Network: N/A	Main news site: Frequency of project news updates: N/A Type of events: Frequency of events :
Community description
Community size (volounteers based): Role: Interaction form: Has official community manager(s): N/A Has team work N/A

Other information about community:
Community led additions:

OTHER PROJECT INFORMATION

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No [[has completion level::Medium]

http://www.open.ac.uk/science/main/citizen-science/projects/evolution-megalab

Milton Keynes, UK

No

Natural sciences nature/conservation [[Has project purpose::Quote: Enthusiasm for science and the desire to share wonder, excitement and relevance of science to everyday life drives our outreach programme. Our aim is to ignite an interest in science in people who have been bored or turned off by the subject in the past. We are fortunate to have a range of staff who are not only scientists, but gifted communicators as well. They provide lecture demonstrations at science fairs and festivals and also contribute to events hosted by primary schools and amateur societies. Projects page at Open University.]] Quote: We want your help to find out whether this pattern can still be found, because there has been a big decrease in the numbers of song thrushes in England over the last 30 years. If there are fewer song thrushes about, you would expect the different snails to be less faithful to their particular habitats than they used to be. Help us find out! Europe Evolution MegaLab

• Register with the Evolution MegaLab.
• Print off pdfs to take out into the field. These provide information on how to conduct a snail hunt and identify banded snails: How to hunt banded snails PDF, Adult vs. Juvenile snails: How to tell them apart PDF, Recording sheet PDF
• Take part in the banded snail identification quiz to test your knowledge on identifying banded snails.
• Log in to the website to access the quiz link.
• Go on a hunt for banded snails in your garden or local park and record your results online.

data collection

crowdsourcing observations, other: Thinking: somewhat Computing: no Sensing: yes Gaming: no

rather not cool/attractive rather easy to use yes N/A no N/A N/A N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Medium

Teacher's resources: A range of resources have been developed for teachers which aim to provide additional resources to help support the Evolution MegaLab in schools. You are welcome to download the data we have collected so far to use with your students.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Evolution MegaLab: a case study in citizen science methods. Worthington, Jenny P., Jonathan Silvertown, Laurence Cook, Robert Cameron, Mike Dodd, Richard M. Greenwood, Kevin McConway, Peter Skelton (2012)

Worthington, J. P., Silvertown, J., Cook, L., Cameron, R., Dodd, M., Greenwood, R. M., ... & Skelton, P. (2012). Evolution MegaLab: a case study in citizen science methods. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 3(2), 303-309.