Dr. Ruth Förster: Transformative Learning for/in Participatory Citizen Science

Participatory Citizen Science (PCS) has the potential and is also meant to contribute to transformative science, tackling relevant societal problems and supporting profound societal change. Hence, PCS research can be understood as transformative learning (TL) process, inducing voluntarily or involuntarily profound changes in participants’ basic meaning perspectives underlying their feeling, thinking and acting. In this workshop we will focus on frameworks and methods for designing transformative, participatory citizen science. After the workshop, participants are intended to:

• Know how transformative learning (TL) can support the goals of participatory citizen science projects  
• And how to integrate TL in the design of a project. 
• Critically reflect the potentials and restrictions of transformative learning in participatory citizen science. 
• Have first ideas how to apply transformative learning in the design of citizen science projects.

In Participatory Citizen Science, diverse participants shall co-produce knowledge which is at the same time socially relevant and scientifically sound. The diversity of participants, involving actors from a variety of scientific backgrounds working alongside citizens, make participatory citizen science so powerful while also presenting real challenges. On one hand PCS offers opportunities for mutual learning among all participants. On the other hand, participants’ diverse, often implicit meaning perspectives, like worldviews or values may cause misunderstandings or strong irritation in the research process and even undermine mutual learning. Transformative Learning (TL) offers a framework and models for better understanding learning processes in PCS, including cognitive but also normative/ethical or emotional aspects of learning on individual and collective levels. Hence, insights on these processes support us to design or intervene in citizen science projects more adequately and to use their transformative power, particularly when challenges are showing up.  
In this workshop, we address these learning opportunities and challenges by introducing a participatory citizen science design model and combining it with a transformative learning model. We will blend experimentation with critical reflection on theory inviting participants to share own experiences.

For further information about Ruth Förster, see the Speakers & trainers site.

Session: Parallel Workshops 1

Date: Wednesday, June 16th (Part 1 & 2)