Teacher resources and links

To help Queensland educators incorporate citizen science into the classroom, search the list of citizen science related information below based on topic or year level.

Legend

  • Practical
    These resources provide specific year-level lesson plans aligned to the Australian Curriculum describing how to take part in a citizen science activity (such as observing species, collecting and recording litter or taking part in water quality monitoring).
  • Create-your-own
    These resources are teacher guides for citizen science projects so you can consider the information and create your own related project.
  • Topic
    These resources educate students about the focus of the project such as the Great Barrier Reef, turtles or shore birds.
  • Run by organisation
    These resources highlight information where schools can join an activity led by a citizen science group.

Listing all 31 resources

List of resources

AstroQuest

PracticalTopic

To understand how galaxies grow and evolve. Inspect images of galaxies from a computer or laptop with an internet connection. AstroQuest is a citizen scientist research project designed in a gaming format. By participating, teachers and students will not only gain an insight into galaxies that populate our Universe, they will assist astronomers with an extensive research project.

To date, in the first phase of the project, citizen scientists inspected 60,000 galaxies and helped improve the software used by astronomers around the world to classify and analyse galaxies automatically.

In 2022, our astronomers will once again need the help of the AstroQuest community. This time to process 3 million galaxies observed by some of the biggest telescopes in the world. The goal will be to find unusual galaxies that aren't what the astronomers are expecting, and to identify the few hundred thousand where the automatic codes have failed to draw the galaxy's outline correctly.

Topic
Space
Location
Australia—Statewide (online)
Year levels
Year 4; Year 5; Year 6; Year 10; Year 11; Year 12
Educational resources

Aussie Bird Count

PracticalTopic

Lesson plans and additional materials to take part in BirdLife Australia’s Aussie Bird Count, helping school communities get to know the birds in their local schoolyard.

Topic
Birds
Location
Australia—Statewide (online)
Year levels
Year 5–6
Educational resources

Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI)

PracticalTopic

The aims of this project are to:

  1. remove marine debris from the marine environment
  2. collect scientific data on what is removed
  3. use this data to track marine debris back to the source
  4. engage stakeholders and create awareness and strategies that prevent marine debris from occurring.
Topic
Litter; Marine life
Location
Australia—coastal regions
Year levels
Prep to Year 10
Educational resources

Biology and Aquatic Practices, Holloways Beach

Run by organisation

Holloways Beach Environmental Education Centre also delivers specialised programs designed for the secondary sector. The Centre is positioned to deliver the field work, data collection and practical components of the subject areas linked to the tropical estuarine/beach ecosystem. The Centre is a hub for: Mangrove Watch, and Microplastic Sampling (Ausmap)

Topic
Biodiversity; Freshwater life; Marine life; Plants; Water
Location
Queensland—Holloways Beach
Year levels
Year 5–12
Educational resources

Birds in Schools

Run by organisation

Birds in Schools is an education resource designed and delivered by BirdLife Australia in partnership with participating teachers and their schools. It is science curriculum-aligned and engages teachers and students in the scientific process, through learning to identify, investigate, and survey the birds and habitat of their school grounds. The objective of Birds in Schools is to develop and implement an action plan related to improving school biodiversity.

Topic
Birds
Location
Australia—Statewide
Year levels
Year 3–6
Educational resources

BushBlitz

Practical

Bush Blitz is Australia's largest species discovery program - we document Australia's vast biodiversity through expeditions to remote locations. Due to COVID-19, Bush Blitz expeditions are temporarily on hold and, with many of us looking for fun things to do at home, Bush Blitz is coordinating a virtual expedition that everyone can join! While we can't promise you'll find a new species, you will discovery some amazing plants and animals living in your own backyard and contribute valuable data to the Atlas of Living Australia.

Topic
Biodiversity
Location
Australia—Statewide
Year levels
Year 12
Educational resources

Bushfire Recovery Projects on DigiVol

Create-your-own

Devastating bushfires have impacted Australia’s biodiversity on a scale not previously seen since record-keeping began in the mid-1800s.

Topic
Biodiversity
Location
Global—Statewide (online)
Year levels
Prep to Year 12
Educational resources

Cooloola Waterwatch

Topic

To introduce students to the basics of groundwater and how contaminants move into  groundwater. By watching a demonstration with a groundwater model, students learn what groundwater  is, how it moves, and how contaminants may enter groundwater.

Topic
Water
Location
Queensland—Statewide
Year levels
Year 4–12
Educational resources

CoralWatch

PracticalTopic

CoralWatch has developed classroom resources including Australian curriculum linked materials. Many can be downloaded for free, others can be purchased in our online shop. As a teacher you can play a vital role in marine conservation. You can help the reef by sharing the latest science about reef ecosystems and involving students in reef monitoring. CoralWatch provides the tools and the training you need to engage students in marine science and reef monitoring.

Topic
Great Barrier Reef; Marine life
Location
Queensland—Statewide; Moreton Bay
Year levels
Year 1; Year 2; Year 3; Year 7; Year 8; Year 9; Year 10; Year 11; Year 12
Educational resources

Fireballs in the Sky

Topic

The Fireballs in the Sky app allows you to get involved with the Desert Fireball Network research by reporting your own fireball sightings to our scientists. We use your reports to track the trajectories of meteors – from their orbit in space to where they might have landed on Earth.

Topic
Space
Location
Australia—Statewide
Year levels
Prep to Year 6
Educational resources

Fitzroy Partnership MyWater

Create-your-ownRun by organisation

Fitzroy Partnership operates their unique citizen science program, MyWater, where schools, groups and individuals can sample and test their local waterways and upload their results to the MyWater web portal. The Science Project Officer can support your group with an education session, or they can loan you one of their Water Monitoring Kits and Water Sampling and Monitoring Guides to help get you started. Upload your water sampling data to MyWater and help them build one of the largest citizen science water data samples in Australia!

Topic
Water
Location
Queensland—Fitzroy Basin
Year levels
Prep to Year 12
Educational resources

iNaturalist

Create-your-own

To empower citizens to record biodiversity. Check out Seek by iNaturalist which is an educational tool built on iNaturalist. It may be a better fit for your class than iNaturalist because it doesn't actually post observations to iNaturalist, but still provides some tools such as automated species identification and nature journaling.

Topic
Biodiversity
Location
Global—Statewide
Year levels
Prep to Year 12
Educational resources

Maggot Menageries

Create-your-own

School students in Australia can download instructions and start keeping flies and producing medicinal maggots.

MedMagLabs would welcome feedback from schools. For more information and to provide feedback on your medicinal maggot production efforts, please contact Dr Frank Stadler at MedMagLabs

Topic
Human health
Location
Australia—Statewide
Year levels
Year 9–10
Educational resources

MangroveWatch Cairns, CAFNEC

Create-your-ownRun by organisation

MangroveWatch is a citizen-science partnership between communities, schools and scientists to document changes in local mangrove habitats started by JCU TropWater and run on the ground by groups across Australia. Not only does MangroveWatch produce useful data for scientific research but it also involves community members in critical scientific processes, leading to an increase in public awareness and skill sets. Run by the Cairns and Far North Environment Group (CAFNEC).

Topic
Biodiversity; Plants; Water
Location
Queensland—Cairns
Year levels
Year 5–12
Educational resources

Nature Play Qld Bioblitz

Create-your-ownPractical

A BioBlitz is a period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species within a designated area. This helps researchers and scientists paint a concise picture of living organisms all over Australia.

Topic
Biodiversity
Location
Queensland—statewide
Year levels
Prep to Year 6
Educational resources

Port Curtis Harbour Watch

Run by organisation

To increase knowledge of the general community in relation to the science of monitoring and reporting of waterway health. Expanding Harbour Watch to include monitoring of the broader Gladstone Harbour Catchment areas (fresh/estuarine/marine). Have fun working with like-minded people. Establish baseline water quality data of waterways within the Gladstone and Boyne/Tannum regions.

Topic
Water
Location
Queensland—Gladstone
Year levels
Year 2–12
Educational resources

Reef Check

Topic

The Reef IQ Educational Program provides a range of interactive learning experiences for school students and young people in order to increase their knowledge, appreciation and conservation of coral reefs. The program includes modules that are completely classroom based allowing students to undertake simulated coral reef surveys in an indoor environment. To make it a little easier for teachers to integrate educational content, Reef IQ resources were developed to bring reefs to the classroom for Years 4-7 (although some activities can be adapted for older or younger audiences). Both courses contain suggested lesson plans with accompanying presentations, fact sheets and activities as well as curriculum links, and printable supporting resources.

Topic
Great Barrier Reef; Marine life
Location
Global—Statewide
Year levels
Year 4–7
Educational resources

Schools BioQuest

Create-your-own

The Schools BioQuest has been developed for teachers to encourage students to explore nature, learn about biodiversity, and contribute to science at the same time. Thousands of experts help players identify and learn about the species they find. These experts include leading scientists from some of the world’s most prestigious scientific institutions, such as renowned museums and universities. They also include amateur field naturalists, be they retired biologists, students, or hobbyists who can identify thousands of species.

Topic
Biodiversity
Location
Australia—Statewide
Year levels
Prep to Year 12
Educational resources

Seagrass Watch

Topic

Seagrass-Watch has created activity books and an educator’s handbook. Teachers are encouraged to use these documents as part of lessons or extra-curricula activities. You are welcome to download these documents and trial them. They also value your feedback so that they can develop tools which are useful and valuable to the learning experience.

Topic
Marine life; Plants
Location
Queensland—Statewide
Year levels
Year 1–4
Educational resources

Take 3 For the Sea

Topic

To reduce plastic pollution in the ocean. In this series of lessons for Upper Primary and Secondary students, Take 3 For the Sea look at how individual, community and global actions impact our waterways. Using a Project-Based Learning approach allows students to work collaboratively to investigate and respond to an engaging question, problem or challenge that is based on a real-world setting or scenario.

Topic
Litter
Location
Australia—Statewide
Year levels
Year 4–10
Educational resources

The GLOBE Program

Practical

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program is a NASA sponsored international science and education program that provides students and the public worldwide with the opportunity to participate in data collection and the scientific process, and contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the Earth system and global environment.

Topic
Climate
Location
Global—Statewide
Year levels
Prep to Year 12
Educational resources

TurtleSAT

Topic

The Turtle Watch Education Kit is an environmental education program (K-7) that links directly to the Australian Science Curriculum and integrates the three cross curriculum priorities and general capabilities. The overarching objective of the program is to provide a range of learning experiences that will develop the attitudes, knowledge and skills that lead to individual behaviours/actions that are supportive of sustainable life practices. Specifically, the program will provide opportunities to enhance attitudes towards the environment, particularly in relation to local turtle populations.

Topic
Freshwater life; Marine life
Location
Australia—Statewide
Year levels
Prep to Year 7
Educational resources

Virtual Reef Diver

Practical

Dive into the Great Barrier Reef from home! Learn about corals and help scientists monitor and map the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem by identifying areas of decreasing coral cover and other problem spots on the Great Barrier Reef.

Topic
Great Barrier Reef; Marine life
Location
Queensland—Statewide
Year levels
Year 11–12
Educational resources

Waterbird Tracker

Topic

Beaks, Feet and Feathers has been developed to support schools who wish to undertake teaching and learning programs in conjunction with Birds Australia. The resource is a curriculum based teaching and learning program for Primary schools. Students who participate in this program will develop an appreciation and understanding of birds and the important role they play as indicators to the health of an environment.

Topic
Birds
Location
Queensland—Statewide
Year levels
Prep to Year 6
Educational resources

Waterbug Blitz

PracticalTopic

To reinvigorate the Australian community's awareness, concern for, and care of, their local waterways.

Topic
Freshwater life; Insects
Location
Australia—Statewide
Year levels
Prep to Year 10
Educational resources

Watergum Gold Coast

Run by organisation

The hands-on and Australian Curriculum based workshops and kids programs are a great way to gain understanding of our local wildlife and nature. The programs are outdoors and weather dependent, however the Platypus and Waterbug session can be held indoors. All resources are provided. Please email info@watergum.org for more information.

Topic
Biodiversity; Freshwater life; Marine life; Water
Location
Queensland—Gold Coast
Year levels
Prep to Year 12
Educational resources

Wild pollinator count

Create-your-own

The Wild Pollinator Count gives you an opportunity to contribute to wild pollinator insect conservation in Australia. We want you to count wild pollinators in your local environment and help us build a database on wild pollinator activity.

Topic
Insects
Location
Australia—statewide
Year levels
Prep to Year 12
Educational resources

Wildlife Spotter on DigiVol

Create-your-own

Help save threatened species and preserve Australia’s iconic wildlife. Become a citizen scientist and assist researchers by looking for animals in wilderness photos taken by automated cameras around Australia. Anyone can join in and you can do it all online.

Topic
Biodiversity
Location
Global—Statewide (online)
Year levels
Prep to Year 12
Educational resources

World Mosquito Program

Create-your-own

Your school can get involved with the World Mosquito Program by teaching students about mosquito-borne diseases and how our Wolbachia method prevents their transmission. Mosquito releases are also a great way for kids to get involved and to learn about the work we're doing in their local area.

Topic
Human health; Insects
Location
Queensland—North
Year levels
Prep to Year 12
Educational resources

More information

The Australian Citizen Science Project Finder can help you can find more projects based on location or topic.

You can find more information about citizen science in Queensland and how citizen science supports teaching in several subjects.

Email the Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist if you’d like an introduction to scientists or community groups involved in citizen science at info@chiefscientist.qld.gov.au

Aren’t on the list?

If you have educational resources that we haven’t included on this page email us info@chiefscientist.qld.gov.au to be added to the list.

Queensland case study

Download the Quick guide to citizen science with school students (PDF, 1.2MB) , which includes a snapshot of the Maggot Menageries project and some recommendations for researchers and teachers who want to begin a citizen science project.

Read further details in the Citizen Science: Theory and Practice article, Maggot Menageries: High School Student Contributions to Medicinal Maggot Production in Compromised Healthcare Settings.