The working group ‘Citizen Science at/with Schools’ under the direction of the OeAD Centre for Citizen Science offered an online further training course for teachers at all school types and from all over Austria for the second time. Interested parties were able to register for the course in late summer via the Vienna University of Education and were given an insight into the topic of citizen science and current projects. According to their own statements, most of the approximately 30 participants had not had any previous contact with citizen science but were motivated to make it accessible in their own teaching.
At the beginning, the working group therefore provided an insight into citizen science definitions and presented platforms and offers that are suitable for schools. Afterwards, the participants were able to exchange ideas with project leaders. The BiodiverCITY Island Hopping, Nature Calendar and Dialect Detect initiatives introduced themselves and worked with the teachers to develop ideas for how they could be integrated into the school curriculum. Finally, the group reflected on the conditions that need to be taken into account. To this end, a decision tree was presented, followed by reports from two experienced teachers who had participated in the Citizen Science Award and Sparkling Science projects.
The course will be offered again in the winter semester 2026/27. Registration is expected to be possible from mid-August via Vienna University of Education.
