Cultivating future environmental stewards: A case study at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park

This study published by Friends of MacArthur Beach State Park supports previous research suggesting that participation in citizen-science programs can significantly enhance student learning and attitudes about science, while simultaneously promoting environmental stewardship. Since 1995, MacArthur Beach has been participating in REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project. In 2012, MacArthur Beach incorporated the REEF surveys into the park’s summer camp curriculum to increase monitoring efforts while also using the program as an educational tool. The utilization of the REEF program in their summer camps provides a valuable, cost-effective way of monitoring the environmental health of its nearshore marine ecosystem, while simultaneously providing the potential to have measurable impacts on the attitudes and actions of the participants. In this study, the authors used the MacArthur Beach summer camp program to quantify student learning gains and changes in attitudes toward the environment through a research-based experiential learning activity. Their findings show that providing students with the opportunity to collect scientific data through citizen-science programs can increase their understanding of local ecosystems, enhance their observation skills, and can improve their understanding of the scientific process.