Expanding the Scope and Nature of Theoretical Frameworks to Understand Adult Learning in the Participatory Sciences

Participatory science, ranging from citizen to community science, refers to ways that everyday people collaborate with scientists in meaningful ways. There are thousands of participatory projects, each of which can engage thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions of people. Projects occur across varied disciplines such as astronomy, biochemistry, conservation, engineering, and environmental sciences. Research suggests that people engaged in participatory sciences can develop skills, adopt new behaviors and attitudes, increase civic engagement, and more. Some learning outcomes may lead young people into STEM careers, and for adults, lead to everyday science learning. Studies of youth engagement in participatory sciences focus on out of school time experiences. Yet, much remains abstract and aspirational with participatory sciences for adults, which occurs during outside-of-work or leisure time. This Literature Review and Synthesis project is the next step needed to move towards understanding the participatory sciences as sites of adult lifelong learning and leisure. The disciplines, number of projects, and amount of people engaged creates high variation in project structures and outcomes and requires strengthening theoretical foundations of adult science learning in leisure contexts in order to gain new insights. Ultimately, the investigators will move the field forward, in research and practice, with stronger understanding of adult engagement in participatory sciences as a form of lifelong learning and leisure. The study also serves the national interest by improving the participatory sciences, which help advance scientific discovery in numerous disciplines. The goal of the award is to assess and bolster the theoretical foundations for understanding adult learning in the participatory sciences. The project addresses two research questions: (1) What theories have shaped understanding of the scope and nature of adult learning experiences in the contributory-style participatory sciences? (2) How can the elements and premises of leisure theories and learning theories be synthesized to improve understanding of the broad scope and nature of learning experiences in participatory sciences? The team of researchers will answer these questions through the completion of two phases. One phase is a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to characterize the theories used in existing published research about multiple types of learning in participatory sciences. The primary product will be an exhaustive list of theories that are currently used, their alignment with learning strands, and estimate of the extent of atheoretical studies. The second phase is a Theoretical Integrative Review (TIR) to inform an iteration of theory that can guide future research and practice on learning in participatory sciences. The team will engage practitioners in this work through surveys, focus groups, virtual workshops, and in developing a resource such as a toolkit. By integrating theories and knowledge from leisure studies with learning theories, this synthesis research will bring new insights, and new research questions, to inquiry about lifelong, purposeful leisure and learning in participatory sciences. This Synthesis award is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing everyone with multiple pathways for accessing and engaging in STEM learning experiences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.