A BIODIVERSITY CITIZEN SCIENCE INITIATIVE FOR YOUTH IN HONG KONG
Citizen Science & Experiences in Nature
A PhD investigation by an experienced educator of Geography & World Issues
I'm Smriti Safaya
I grew up in Hong Kong from the age of 12. By hiking the hills, joining camping trips, and participating in the Award for Young People during my secondary school years, I began to appreciate the greenery that blankets Hong Kong. A bigger dose of Hong Kong's impressive natural landscape came during my Earth Science masters with the University of Hong Kong. During that time, I realized how fun education can be when I brought undergraduate students on field trips for experiential education.
During my professional life as a teacher at international schools in Hong Kong for 13 years, I led more than 50 trips to places around Hong Kong and internationally to benefit student learning. I've always been keen to keep education relevant to my students' lives and impactful for the greater good of the planet and people, so when I came across the world of citizen science I was excited to apply it in my teaching. After a few years of embedding citizen science in geography and science curricula, and in extracurricular activities, I became curious about the impact of these experiences on students.
I became a PhD student with the University of York (UK) to find answers to that question, working in the Department of Education, with Dr. Lynda Dunlop, and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in the Department of Environment and Geography, with Dr. Sarah West. This research involves partnering with local and international schools in Hong Kong that use or want to start using citizen science in their teaching and learning. Using surveys, observations and interviews with students and teachers, I hope to understand what role citizen science has on influencing youth values and actions related to the natural world. My PhD has a practical goal: I want to use my research findings to create teacher professional development resources and provide training on how best to embed citizen science in environmental education to make learning transformative.
I want to acknowledge funding support from the Sir Robert Black Trust Fund (Postgraduate Scholarship, 2019-2020) and the Croucher Foundation (Science Communication Scholarship, 2020-2022).