Science Experiments and Science Fair Ideas for Kids, Parents, and Teachers: Citizen Scientists

The Missouri Bumble Bee Atlas is a statewide community science project aimed at tracking and conserving Missouri's native bumble bees. Established in 2020, the Missouri Atlas is one of the longest-standing projects in the Midwestern region.

Be a citizen scientist! Record what you see in nature and share it with others. What you'll need: A camera, A computer or smartphone. Take pictures of interesting plants and animals you see and post them to science sites or your favorite social media apps.

MPF also welcomes citizen science efforts to document plant and animal life on its prairies. To this end, the Missouri Prairie Foundation Citizen Science Biodiversity Project is designed to document species diversity across our prairies using iNaturalist’s citizen science approach. Prairie visitors are encouraged to use iNaturalist as a learning tool, and to submit their flora and fauna observations, which will help build our data used for science and management.

Are you interested in helping expand the surveillance capabilities of the Public Health Department? Citizen science has emerged as a highly effective means to generate data on the geographical distribution of vectors. Current opportunities for citizen science through the Vector-Borne Disease Prevention program (VBDP) are listed below. These opportunities are ongoing and with your participation, VBDP will be better able to allocate and focus their resources on areas of Saint Louis County that may pose a public health risk.

You do not have to be a frog or toad expert to help with frog conservation. All you need is an interest in frogs and toads and a willingness to participate at the level of commitment you are able to. This website was created to be used as resource for both the frog enthusiast and for future/current FrogWatch Volunteers. This site includes information on frog call identification, training opportunities, our iNaturalist project, and additional resources for FrogWatch volunteers. Our FrogWatch community offers several different ways you can participate with different level of training and time commitment. You have the option to help collect data about our frog and toad populations as a user of iNaturalist (FrogWatch-Lite) or as a FrogWatch Volunteer.

This database provides a government-wide listing of citizen science and crowdsourcing projects by agency. It is designed to improve cross-agency collaboration, reveal opportunities for new and high-impact projects, and make it easier for volunteers to find projects in which they can participate. Projects submitted to the catalog are validated for agency involvement by federal employees.

NASA’s citizen science projects are collaborations between scientists and interested members of the public. Through these collaborations, volunteers (known as citizen scientists) have helped make thousands of important scientific discoveries. More than 519 NASA citizen scientists have been named as co-authors on refereed scientific publications. Want to work on some real NASA science? Click on one of the 43 projects below to get started. NASA citizen science projects are open to everyone around the world, not limited to U.S. citizens or residents.

Learn about how you can participate in citizen science projects for students in grades 3-12+ in biology, ecology, and earth science fields.

Members of the public help scientists collect data across the National Park System -- and beyond! Projects range from long-term studies over years to short-term opportunities over a few hours. Depending on the project, you may participate in a team at a scheduled time, on your own, or even virtually. Coordinated projects may take place at your home or local, state and federal lands across the nation. These are usually carried out with non-profit or educational partners.

Find volunteer opportunities that match topics you're curious or concerned about. There's something for everyone!

Citizen science is when the public takes part in the scientific process, including forming research questions, collecting, analyzing, and making conclusions about data, or developing new technologies and applications. Anyone can be a citizen scientist; the best part about citizen science is that it can take place anywhere, whether it's in our national forests and grasslands or your own backyard! Find projects by state and theme. Learn what tasks are involved and how to join a project near you.

The Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research. This research is made possible by volunteers — more than a million people around the world who come together to assist professional researchers. Our goal is to enable research that would not be possible, or practical, otherwise. Zooniverse research results in new discoveries, datasets useful to the wider research community, and many publications.